About a year after the sad events just recorded, the day of the union of Ivar and Randalin approached. Great preparations were made in Upsalir for their wedding. The most costly tapestries that had been embroidered by the successive wives and daughters of the Hersirs of Svithjod had been taken out from the store-rooms where they had been sacredly kept, for these were only used for adorning the walls of the halls at weddings. Many of them represented romantic episodes in the courtship of the maidens who had embroidered them. Likewise the bridal bench ornamented with gold and silver and with rich carvings was brought out. How many beautiful daughters of the Hersirs of Svithjod had been seated upon those benches since Upsalir had been founded! What an array of illustrious maidens could be named! What a history could be told to us of the race descended from them! What a diversity of character and temper these women possessed! But, in despite of that splendor of life, many a young heart had been disappointed, for their union had not proved as congenial and as happy as they expected. Many of the girlish visions and dreams which belong to youth had not been fulfilled as they had hoped. The Nornir had woven a thick mist before their eyes to hide the future. Many had found that station, fame, wealth, and power did not give happiness, and had often envied the merry laughter that came from the house of the humble, and even from the cabin of the slave.

For two weeks preceding the wedding, the guests began to arrive in great numbers. The Hersirs of Gardariki, Holmgard, Fyen, Zeeland, and from the herads of Norway, were received with great honor; large houses, well furnished, were given to each high-born guest, and the servants took care that they should lack nothing. Ivar arrived with a large number of men of high birth four days before the wedding.

The day of the wedding came at last. After the guests had all assembled in the great hall, Randalin, under snowy bridal linen, entered by the woman’s door, followed by her bridesmaids. Her beautiful features were seen but dimly through the gauzy drapery, fastened with great skill, with a jewel of exquisite beauty, upon her head. On her neck could be seen through the transparent linen a necklace of gold beads, upon which the artist had lavished his greatest skill; from her belt of gold hung a bunch of keys, showing that she was to rule the household of Ivar. With a slow and majestic step she advanced towards the bridal bench, then seated herself in the midst of her ten bridesmaids. These were Alfhild, daughter of one of the Hersirs of Holmgard; Thora, daughter of one of the Hersirs of Gardariki; Hildegerd, daughter of the Hersir of the island of Funen; Svanhild, niece of the Hersir of the island of Zeeland; Randgrid, daughter of the Hersir who ruled on the southern side of the present Christiania fjord; Geirlaug, whose father ruled over a large island in Friesland; Hildigunn, the daughter of Grammar of Britain; Ingegerd, Sigrid, and Thorhalla, cousins of the bride, and daughters of very powerful Haulds, who had the blood of Odin in their veins.

Each bridesmaid seated herself according to the order of precedence. Alfhild was on the right of the bride, and Thora on the left, and then came Hildigunn and Svanhild, and the others followed. Great care had been taken to seat them according to their rank, for women were most particular in that respect, and were very jealous of their privileges, and when not properly seated often considered it a personal affront.

The bridegroom entered next, followed by his groomsmen. These were Sigurd and Sigmund, his two foster-brothers; Thorbrand, the brother of Alfhild; Thord, the brother of Thora; Geir, the brother of Hildigunn; Skeggi, the brother of Svanhild; Ingolf, the cousin of Geirbaug; Ali the Bold, and Hunding, Hroar, and Bard, who were powerful Vikings.

Ivar seated himself on the high seat opposite that of Yngvi. On his left sat Sigurd, and on his right, Sigmund; then came Thorbrand and Thord, and the rest seated themselves according to their rank. By one accord, they had given the precedence to Sigurd and Sigmund; not that they were the highest, but because they knew the love that existed between Ivar and his two foster-brothers, who had shared so many dangers together. On the side of Yngvi were the highest Hersirs of the land, and great number of lots were drawn on that day by men of equal rank for seats of honor.

The scene was one of great splendor. The women were magnificently dressed, and vied with each other in the richness of their gowns and in the beauty of their jewels. After entering the hall, they took off their festal mantles, embroidered with gold, and displayed their lovely toilets.

They all wore the “sloedur,” or festal dress, with long trains sweeping the ground. These were made of the costliest material that could be procured on the Caspian or from Greece, and embroidered with gold and silver. The bodices of the dresses in many instances did not reach so high as to cover their shoulders; and that part was covered by a guimpe of pale blue or snowy white silk, and showed dimly, to great advantage, their milk-white skin. Some wore a wide, loose, unattached collar, almost hiding the neck, richly embroidered with gold. The married women wore graceful head-dresses. The shoe-cloths were also richly embroidered, reaching nearly as high as the knee.

They wore their hair in different styles; some had it twisted in a large topknot, which was made fast with long hair-pins of gold and silver, with heads of exquisite workmanship; others had their hair pushed back, and tied in a short, loose knot, made fast with a ribbon of gold; a diadem of gold adorned the forehead of almost every woman. They wore necklaces of gold beads or mosaic, or of gold Roman coins, separated from each other by elongated beads of gold. On their arms were graceful gold bracelets, most of them spiral in shape, and upon their fingers were many rings. Belts of gold contrasted with their dresses, and showed to advantage the waists they encircled. From these hung leather or velvet bags embroidered with gold.

The groomsmen of Ivar were dressed in their most costly garments, and all wore their cloaks of dignity and rank. All the male guests were likewise in costly attire.

Then Yngvi, as high priest of the temple, consecrated the bride, and wedded Randalin to Ivar, by making over them the sign of the hammer of Thor, and invoked the goddess Var, who had listened to their vows. After this Randalin was holy, as a wife, in the sight of every man.

This ceremony ended, the bridegroom advanced towards Randalin, and presented her the “lin-fee,” or trousseau, in which were included beautiful bracelets, necklaces, and diadems of gold. There were several mantles of different colors, and various head-dresses, gloves, shoes, underwear of silk and linen, and night-dresses with long sleeves, of the finest linen the land could produce. Some were of silk, the material for which had been brought by Ivar from the shores of the Caspian.

Then the gifts called the bridal bench gifts followed. These were called bench gifts because each guest presented a gift to the bride while she was seated on the bridal bench. Guest after guest lay before Randalin the beautiful presents that he or she had brought for her.

A great-aunt, from the island of Fyen, gave her with her bench gift a gold coin of Tiberius, who was Roman emperor 14-37 A.D., which had come into the possession of her ancestors during the life of that emperor.

Another aunt sent her, among her presents, a gold coin of Claudius, 41-54 A.D., that had been in the possession of her kinsmen since that time.

Among the many gifts of Sigrlin, Ivar’s mother, was a gold coin of Titus, 79-81 A.D., which had been got by the ancestors of Hjorvard in the Mediterranean at the time Titus took Jerusalem.

A cousin gave her a gold coin of Decius, 249-251 A.D.; another, a gold coin of Aurelian, 270-275 A.D.

An uncle of Randalin, from southern Svithjod, gave her a gold coin of Probus, 276-282 A.D., which his son had given to him.

There were many exquisite jewels, necklaces made of rods of gold; diadems of gold, with Randalin’s name in runic letters upon them; spiral bracelets of gold; belts of gold and of silver; beautiful hair-pins of gold and silver, with ornamented tops highly finished; necklaces of mosaic beads of great beauty, and gold beads; and bracteates with gold chains of beautiful workmanship.

Gurid, an aunt of Randalin, sent her, by her son, a woman’s headgear, carefully put in a bag of velvet all embroidered with gold.

Sigurd gave her a large quantity of Grecian fabrics, and many jewels of gold. Sigmund likewise gave the rarest glassware that could be procured in Greece, or on the island of Cyprus. Gudbrand, the father of Hjalmar, had brought her many dishes of gold and silver. Sigrid, his wife, sent her beautiful tapestries which she had embroidered herself.

Thora gave a beautiful piece of tapestry which Astrid had embroidered before her death, representing Ivar playing at the ball games that had taken place the year before, while she was in Upsalir. In the background were Yngvi and the women who were looking on.

Gunnhild, her youngest sister, gave her a gold embroidered bag.

Yngvi gave his daughter as a bench gift a dower of gold and silver, and many costly objects, and also two landed estates, one in the present Courland, and the other in Venden in the present Pomerania. The presents which Randalin received that day represented a large fortune in gold and silver.

Immediately after all the bench gifts had been presented, great preparations were made for the wedding feast which took place soon afterwards. The Hersir of Svithjod had spared no expense. New vats for beer and ale had been made, and an extraordinary quantity of ale and beer had been brewed, and wine was not lacking. The tables were set with great magnificence.

The three halls had a gala appearance. The tables in front of the seat were covered with beautiful embroidered tablecloths, and were adorned with the most costly Grecian and Cypriote glasses. The dishes containing the viands were of gold and silver. The drinking horns, or vases, were of many kinds, some of solid gold, others of silver ornamented with gold, and Grecian cups of cut glass were very abundant. At night, light was furnished by big wax candles.

The great Hersirs that were present agreed to sit in turn on the high seats, to the great relief of Yngvi, who feared a contest for precedence. The viands spread on the tables were beef, roast veal, pig, venison, birds, and fish. All these were served in gold plates, and all the plates set before the guests were of silver.

Special servants, called “fillers,” saw that the horns were always full, and carried them round. The throng was so great that slaves had to be called in, who wore clean, new, white “vadmal,” or woolen, and all had their hair newly close-cropped.

Among the female slaves some were of great beauty, and had been brought from Britain, Gaul, Greece and Rome. They also filled the horns, and carried them round.

There was great drinking and much merriment, and also invocation of the gods. The wedding lasted six weeks, which corresponds to a period of a month with us. Scalds recited poetry every day before admiring audiences; and, as at the games, this feast was to be the cause of other weddings in the near future, for during it many men and women had fallen in love with one another.

No man ever heard of a greater feast. When it ended, all the guests departed with costly gifts.

The time when Randalin was to leave Upsalir, to part from all that had been dear to her in her girlhood, had arrived. A new epoch of her life had dawned upon her without her being aware of it. Her girlhood’s careless joys had departed forever. All had been so bright in her youth, that she fancied it would continue to the end of her life. She possessed Ivar, and happiness was assured to her forever.

Skuld had carefully concealed from her gaze the future. Little did she dream of the stormy billows of life ahead, of the sorrows that befall every mortal man and woman. Ivar was all to her, and for him she was willing to sacrifice even her life. Love was her own. O Skuld, how kind thou art to hide from man the decrees of the Nornir, who have shaped our lives from our birth! We came into the world through no will of our own, and we know not in the beginning of the day what fate will bring forth before night.

Randalin’s eyes, full of hope, were looking into the future. Hope and the Future, those twin sisters, were brighter in her eyes than the rays of the sun. Ivar belonged to her, and Love owned them both.

The dragon-ship that carried Ivar and Randalin to Dampstadir, carried the sweetest, the loveliest of wives, and the manliest and wisest of husbands.