Eric Brighteyes | Page 3

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Etext prepared by John Bickers, [email protected] Dagny,
[email protected] and Emma Dudding, [email protected]

Eric Brighteyes
by H. Rider Haggard

DEDICATION
Madam,
You have graciously conveyed to me the intelligence that during the
weary weeks spent far from his home--in alternate hope and fear, in
suffering and mortal trial--a Prince whose memory all men must
reverence, the Emperor Frederick, found pleasure in the reading of my
stories: that "they interested and fascinated him."
While the world was watching daily at the bedside of your Majesty's

Imperial husband, while many were endeavouring to learn courage in
our supremest need from the spectacle of that heroic patience, a distant
writer little knew that it had been his fortune to bring to such a sufferer
an hour's forgetfulness of sorrow and pain.
This knowledge, to an author, is far dearer than any praise, and it is in
gratitude that, with your Majesty's permission, I venture to dedicate to
you the tale of Eric Brighteyes.
The late Emperor, at heart a lover of peace, though by duty a soldier of
soldiers, might perhaps have cared to interest himself in a warrior of
long ago, a hero of our Northern stock, whose days were spent in strife,
and whose latest desire was Rest. But it may not be; like the Golden
Eric of this Saga, and after a nobler fashion, he has passed through the
Hundred Gates into the Valhalla of Renown.
To you, then, Madam, I dedicate this book, a token, however slight and
unworthy, of profound respect and sympathy.
I am, Madam, Your Majesty's most obedient servant, H. Rider
Haggard.
November 17, 1889. To H.I.M. Victoria, Empress Frederick of
Germany.

INTRODUCTION
"Eric Brighteyes" is a romance founded on the Icelandic Sagas. "What
is a saga?" "Is it a fable or a true story?" The answer is not altogether
simple. For such sagas as those of Burnt Njal and Grettir the Strong
partake both of truth and fiction: historians dispute as to the proportions.
This was the manner of the saga's growth: In the early days of the
Iceland community--that republic of aristocrats-- say, between the dates
900 and 1100 of our era, a quarrel would arise between two great
families. As in the case of the Njal Saga, its cause, probably, was the ill
doings of some noble woman. This quarrel would lead to manslaughter.
Then blood called for blood, and a vendetta was set on