Valdemar and Tove (B)

Gay went the dance in King Valdemar’s hall,
There danced the Queen with maidens small;
—By my troth; King Valdemar he wooed them both.

There danced the Queen with maidens fair,
There danced Tove with waving hair.

“Harken now, Tove, my playfellow sweet!
Gird up thy silk skirts around thy feet.”

“Small praise from me the King should gain
If I might not trail a silken train.”

“Tove, my playfellow, tell to me
How did the King get his will o’ thee?”

“The King he won his will of me,
For stronger than I the King was he.

“I was but a maiden small
Dwelling in my father’s hall.

“So little and fair by the door stood I
When the King and all his merry men they came a-riding by.

“By nine, by ten, his knights he sent,
But never for their commands I went.

“The King he came himself with all his merry men,
And I, Tovelille, must follow then!”

“Tove, my playfellow, tell thou me
What bridal-gift he gave to thee.”

“He gave me a chest of golden sheen
Such as was never in Denmark seen.

“He gave to me nine rings of gold
That Sweden’s Queen did have and hold.

“He clad me in silk and in scarlet gay;
Thou and all thy maidens ne’er went in such array.”

Up spake Queen Soffi in anger wild:
“’Twas enough, I trow, for a yeoman’s child!

“By God the Lord, while I breathe and live,
Less by half to thee shall he give!”

The Queen she wrapped her in cloak of vair,
To speak with King Valdemar did she fare.

“Now answer what I ask of thee;
Why lovest thou Tove more than me?”

“For this Tovelille to me is dear,
Because she hath two sons that serve my person near.

“When Flensborg town I first rode by
Christopher bore my banner so high.

“When first I rode to Holsterland
Knud bore my banner in his right hand.”

Winters twain were gone and past
Ere the Queen got her will at last.

All on a holy Christmas day
Tove sought the kirk to pray.

Tovelille fared forth in the street,
Golden silk and samite went floating round her feet.

Forth from her window the Queen did spy,
She saw proud Tovelil passing by.

The Queen she spake to her maidens three:
“Now bid proud Tovelil come to me!”

Tove wrapped her in cloak of vair,
And unto Soffi’s bower did fare.

“Lithe now and listen, proud Tove, to me;
I will seek the bath to-night with thee.”

“Ne’er of the bath can I have my fill;
I’ll do thy bidding with right good-will!”

The Queen she spake to her pages three:
“Take heed that the bath is hot for me!

“Heat it hot, and heat it red!
There shall Tovelil lie dead!”

Tovelil went in before.
The Queen herself she locked the door.

“Here is no water, here is no lye!
Let me out for the sake of God on high!”

Christopher went riding by,
He heard his mother wail and cry.

He struck the door a blow so stout
That bolt and nail came leaping out.

He burst the door with rage and wrath,
He bore his mother forth from the bath.

He bore her out where the blossoms blow,
But she was dead ere first cock-crow.
—By my troth; King Valdemar he wooed them both.