Trafika Europe 14 - Italian Piazza

Lawrence Millman

fel l , and they fel l only on Svein’s holding in Sudurnes. Then the bel lwether of a sudden went bl ind. A cow bore a fish-headed calf who moaned in a human voice: “Oh my sorrow! I am a doomed soul!” Gudrun told Svein that she feared her chi ld would turn out different from other chi ldren. Perhaps it would be a deformed monster with horns or a tai l. Or maybe it would have an extra head. Svein told her not to talk of such things. For he knew that many a monster is first conceived by a woman’s tongue. And then Gudrun gave birth to a son. His mother checked his body careful ly, but she could locate no deformities. In fact, he did not seem very different from other boys. If anything, he seemed too strong, too healthy for a normal chi ld. Indeed, he had vigor even as he lay on his mother ’s breast to drink. He wi l l be a warrior young and die in battle, Gudrun thought. “Bring him to me, woman,” Svein announced. According to ancient custom, Gudrun placed her infant son on the floor and waited for Svein’s decision: whether the boy should get his love and protection, or whether that boy should be left on a blustery mountain-top for the eagles or whoever might want a foster-son. But Svein saw with great satisfaction that the boy had the face and thus perchance the nature of his

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