that same evening idris lay reading on the hearth-rug before a bright fire. since their return from the moorland he had found his mother unusually quiet, and he had therefore turned for companionship to his favourite book, "the life of king alfred." having reared the volume against a footstool he rested his elbows upon the floor, and his chin upon his hands, and in this attitude was soon absorbed in the doings of the saxon hero.
suddenly he looked up and addressed his mother, who was sitting in an armchair watching him.
"mother, what are runes?"
what was there in this simple question to startle mrs. breakspear, for startled she certainly was?
"why do you wish to know? who has been talking to you about runes?"
"this book says that the vikings used to carve runes on the prows of their galleys. what are runes?"
the mother's face lost its look of alarm, yet it was with some hesitancy that she replied, "they were letters used in olden times by the nations of the north."
"but how could letters carved on the prow protect the vessel?"
what a pair of earnest dark eyes were those fixed that moment upon the mother's face!
"well, as a matter of fact, they couldn't. but men fancied that they could. they were very superstitious in those days."
[pg 12]
as idris showed a desire for further knowledge, his mother continued:—"the old norsemen believed that these letters when pronounced in a certain order would have a magical effect. some runes would stop the course of the wind: others would cause an enemy's sword to break. some would make the captive's chains fall off: and others again would cause the dead to come forth from the tomb and speak. but you know, dear idie, all this is not true. the runic letters have no such power. but the old norse people believed so much in the virtue of these characters that they engraved them on the walls of their dwellings, on their armour, on their ships, on anything, in fact, which they wished to protect."
"were these letters like ours in shape?"
"very different. you would like to see some norse runes?"
mrs. breakspear rose, and going to an oak press produced a small ebony casket, whose exterior was decorated with miniature carvings of norse warriors engaged in combat.
seating herself upon the hearth-rug beside the little fellow she unlocked the casket and lifted the lid. within, upon the blue satin lining, there lay a silver ring, measuring about eight inches in circumference, and obviously of antique workmanship.
"this," said mrs. breakspear, "is a very old runic ring."
"how old?"
"more than two thousand years old. tradition says that it was made by odin himself. do you know who he was, idie?"
"the book calls him an imaginary deity. what does that mean?"
"it means a god who never lived."
"then how can the ring have been made by odin if there never was an odin?"
[pg 13]
"odin, the god, is, of course, a fable; but odin, the man, may have had a real existence. he was, so the wise tell us, a warrior, priest, and king of the north, who after death was worshipped as a deity. the legend states that, having made up his mind to die, odin gave to himself nine wounds in the form of a circle, guiding the point of his spear by this ring, which was laid on his breast for that purpose. the ring thus became sacred in the eyes of his children and descendants: and they showed their reverence for it by using it as an altar-ring in their religious ceremonies. guthrum, the famous danish warrior, was of odin's race, and this is said to have been the identical holy ring, celebrated in history, upon which he and his vikings swore to quit the kingdom of alfred."
idris listened with breathless interest. guthrum! alfred! odin! to think that his mother should possess a ring that had once belonged to these exalted characters! it was wonderful! if the relic were gifted with memory and speech what an interesting story it might unfold!
he turned the ring over in his hands. how massive it was! none of your modern, hollow bangles, but solid and weighty. the ancient silversmith had not been sparing of the metal.
"oh, couldn't we make a lot of franc-pieces out of it!" cried idris.
the outer perimeter of the ring was enamelled with purple, and decorated with a four-line inscription of tiny runic letters in gold, so clear and distinct in outline, that a runologist would have had no difficulty in reading them; though whether the characters, when read, would have yielded any meaning, is a different matter.
"are these the runes?" asked idris, pointing to them. "what funny looking things! here is one like an arrow, and here it is again, and again. why, some of[pg 14] them are like our letters. here is one like a b, and here is an r, and an x. what does all this writing mean, mother?"
"no one has ever yet been able to interpret it. when you are older, idie, you shall study runes, and then perhaps you will be able to explain the meaning."
idris knitted his little brows over the inscription as if desirous of solving the enigma there and then, without waiting till manhood's days.
"did odin engrave these letters?" he asked.
"he may have done so. he is said to have been the inventor of runes, you know."
as idris turned the ring around in his hand his eye became attracted by a broad, black stain on the inner perimeter.
"what is this dark mark?"
his mother hesitated ere replying:—
"it is perhaps a blood-stain."
"why isn't it red like blood?"
"a blood-stain soon turns black. i have said that this was an altar-ring. let me tell you what is meant by that. you know if you go into la chapelle des pêcheurs you will see upon the altar a—what, idie?"
"a crucifix," was the prompt reply.
"well, if you had gone into any temple of the northmen—and their temples were often nothing more than a circle of tall stones in the depth of a forest—you would have seen on their altar a large silver ring. and just as catholics nowadays kiss a crucifix and swear to speak the truth, so in old norse times men employed a ring for the same purpose. before they took the oath the ring was dipped in the blood of the sacrifice. then if a man broke his word it was believed that the god to whom the sacrifice had been offered would most surely punish him."
[pg 15]
the book that idris had been reading contained an account of the norse mode of sacrificing: and so with his eye still on the dark stain, he said:—
"mother, didn't the old norsemen sometimes offer up men on their altars?"
"sometimes they did."
"then this stain may be a man's blood?"
"it is very likely."
"perhaps the very blood of odin, made when he gave himself the nine wounds," said idris, in a tone of glee, and fascinated by the ring, as children often are fascinated by things gruesome. "what a long time the stain has lasted! but it can't be odin's blood," he continued, with an air of mournfulness: "the stain would have worn off long ago.—i would like to know whose blood it is!"
"hush! hush! we do not yet know that it is human blood. come, you must not talk any more about such dreadful things."
and sensible that the conversation had taken a turn not at all suited to a tender mind, mrs. breakspear tried to divert his thoughts. putting away the altar-ring, she seated herself beside him, and drawing him partly within her embrace, she said, "now what shall i talk about?"—which was her usual preface when beginning his instruction in history, geography, and the like.
"tell me about vikings—all about them," he replied with the air of one capable of taking in the whole cycle of scandinavian lore.
as mrs. breakspear had made a study of northern history, she was able to gratify her little son's request by regaling him with a variety of tales drawn from icelandic sagas and early saxon chronicles. for more than two hours idris sat entranced, listening to the doings, good and bad, of the famous sea-kings of old.
[pg 16]
"i wish," he cried, when his mother had finished her stories for the night, "i wish i were a viking, like mr. rollo and mr. eric the red. it would be fine."
for several days idris would listen to no history that did not relate to vikings. he took likewise to drawing norse galleys from his mother's description of them, giving to every vessel the orthodox raven-standard, dragon-prow, and a row of shields hung all around above the water-line. and he somewhat startled the good curé of quilaix, who had made a morning-call upon mrs. breakspear: for when told to hand the reverend gentleman a glass of wine, he held the drink aloft with the cry of "skoal to the northland, skoal!" adding immediately afterwards, "runes! runes! i wish some one would teach me how to read runes. won't you, monsieur?"
runes! monsieur le curé had had a reputation for scholarship once upon a time: but thirty years incessantly spent in doing good among the people of his parish had left him so little time for study that he could now read his greek testament only by the aid of the french translation.
"and why do you wish to learn runes, my little man?" he said, patting the boy on the head.
"because—because——" began idris; but, observing that his mother was pressing her finger upon her lip as a sign for him to be silent, he stopped short, and mrs. breakspear adroitly turned the conversation to other matters. after the departure of the curé, she said:—
"idie, you must never let any one know that we have that runic ring in our possession."
"why not?" he asked in surprise.
"because there are men who desire to lay their hands upon it, and if they learn that it is in this house they may try to steal it; nay, will perhaps kill us in order to[pg 17] obtain it. the ring has been the cause of one murder, and if you speak of it out of doors it may be the cause of another. remember, then, you must not mention the ring to any one. remember, remember!"
