The dead Christian priest desired that the sleeping woman
should be lifted on the horse, but the horse sank beneath the load,
as if he had been a funeral pall fluttering in the wind. But the
sign of the cross made the airy phantom strong, and then the three
rode away from the marsh to firm ground.
At the same moment the c**k crew in the Viking's castle,
and the dream figures dissolved and floated away in the air, but
mother and daughter stood opposite to each other.
"Am I looking at my own image in the deep water?" said the
mother.
"Is it myself that I see represented on a white shield?"
cried the daughter.
Then they came nearer to each other in a fond embrace. The
mother's heart beat quickly, and she understood the quickened
pulses. "My child!" she exclaimed, "the flower of
