1828] eae yea 
. HAROLD HARKUNG, 
« Hence, then, proud scorner of the power of Urfred! hence to 
unknown seas, where thy pennon shall droop idly on the mast, and thy 
sail hang loose and quivering ; where the dauntless riders of the ocean 
shall sink, powerless and unresisting, before an unseen enemy! Hence, 
and learn how swiftly comes the vengeance of the gods on those who 
mock their favoured servants !” : 
Such were the accents which pursued the young and valiant Harold 
Harrung, as he launched his gallant ship, in those far-distant days when 
the children of Norway were rulers and dwellers on the deep. The 
betrothed husband of the beauteous Ulla, the favourite leader of a bold 
and numerous crew, he had vowed to undertake a distant voyage, and 
to return with spoils sufficient to render his bridal splendid, as became 
that of Odin’s lineal offspring. But the imprudence of Harold was, 
alas! as pre-eminent as his valour ; and, in his recklessness of danger, 
he neglected to propitiate, by gifts or flattery, the favour of the sor- 
ceress, Urfred—-the most powerful of those who were then universally 
believed to direct the elements at will. He made no prayer to her for 
prosperous winds ; he even treated with scorn her prophetic warnings, 
and thus drew upon himself those maledictions which filled the bravest 
of his followers with dread, and caused Harold himself to wish in secret 
that the hour of his return to the embraces of Ulla were now come, not- 
withstanding his ardent anticipation of a successful descent upon the 
shores of Spain. But he carefully concealed such feelings as he cheered 
his drooping warriors to spread their broad canvass to the wind; and a 
favourable breeze from the north-east soon bore them far away from the 
Norwegian coast, till the cloudlike hills melted into air, and the sinking 
sun gleamed only on a world of waters. 
It was high morning, and the young hero still rested half-slumbering 
on his couch of reindeer-skins, when the aged pilot roused him to point 
out the tokens of an impending storm, which his experience warned him 
__ would be violent. But the bold sea-kings of those days were too much 
_aecustomed to brave the utmost fury of the elements, in their small and 
fragile barks, to tremble at the coming of the tempest ; and the delay of 
a few days, which might result from driving out of their course, was all 
that Harold feared. But there were some among that crew, who, while 
_ they remembered the threatenings of the sorceress, could not, without 
some sinking of the heart, mark cloud upon cloud piling in awful accu- 
_ mulation toward the south, or watch the rapidly-increasing swell that 
_ came from that quarter, though the vessel now lay rolling heavily, with- 
out a breath to fill her flapping canvass. Suddenly, the cry of the steers- 
-man was heard to take in every sail; and, ere this could be more than 
partially accomplished, a blast, that swept off the whole surface of the 
sea into a mist of foam, snapt the stout mast in twain, and the vessel was 
in a moment driving northward with portentous swiftness. Four days 
and nights did that resolute crew in vain expect the lulling of the gale ; 
_ though its violence abated, it still drove them powerless before it, unable 
to use oar or sail. On the sixth morning, it grew calm ; and all snatehed 
a brief space of delicious slumber, before they gathered round their 
leader, to consult on their perilous situation. The land was not in sight, 
and in what direction any lay, the most experienced of the crew were 
ignorant ; but the intense cold which benumbed their hardy limbs, and 
M.M. New Series—Vou. VI. No.31. ») 
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