SIGURD (shaking his head). It cannot be; we must part again.
HIORDIS. Nay, we must not. I love thee, that may I now say unashamed;
for my love is no mere dalliance, like a weak woman's; were I a man--
by all the Mighty Ones, I could still love thee, even as now I do! Up
then, Sigurd! Happiness is worth a daring deed; we are both free if
we but will it, and then the game is won.
SIGURD. Free? What meanest thou?
HIORDIS. What is Dagny to thee? What can she be to thee? No more
than I count Gunnar in my secret heart. What matters it though two
worthless lives be wrecked?
SIGURD. Hiordis, Hiordis!
HIORDIS. Let Gunnar stay where he is; let Dagny fare with her father
to Iceland; I will follow thee in harness of steel, withersoever thou
wendest. (SIGURD makes a movement.) Not as thy wife will I follow
thee; for I have belonged to another, and the woman lives that has
lain by thy side. No, Sigurd, not as they wife, but like those mighty
women, like Hilde's sisters,[1] will I follow thee, and fire thee to
strife and to manly deeds, so that thy name shall be heard over every
land. In the sword-game will I stand by thy side; I will fare forth
among thy warriors on the stormy viking-raids; and when the death-
song is sung, it shall tell of Sigurd and Hiordis in one!
[1] The Valkyries.
SIGURD. Once was that my fairest dream; now, it is too late.
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