Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Heinemann Volume 2).djvu/282

 known there goes a spice of lying to every skald-work, and yours was not without it.

Lying, Sir Marshal?

Ay; you say no man knows where King Håkon is hiding; that is not true; we have certain tidings that Håkon is at Nidaros.

[Smiling.] He has claimed homage for the King-child, and given it the kingly title.

That have I heard; but I knew not that any man could give away that which he himself does not possess.

'Tis easiest to give what you yourself do not possess.

But it can scarce be easy to beg your way in midwinter from Bergen to Nidaros.

The fortunes of the Birchlegs move in a ring; they began hungry and frozen, and now they end in like case.

'Tis rumoured in Bergen that Håkon has forsworn the Church and all that is holy; he heard not mass on New Year's day.