T. and A. M. It requires but little imagination to
fill out the story of the brief and happy courtship; and two cantos in
"Frithjof's Saga" ("Frithof's Wooing" and "Frithjof's Happiness") supply
an abundance of hints which have a charmingly autobiographical tinge:
"He sat by her side and pressed her soft hand,
And he felt a fond pressure, responsive and bland,
Whilst his love-dreaming gaze
Was returned as the sun's in the moon's placid rays.
"They spoke of days bygone, so gladsome and gay,
When the dew was yet fresh on life's new-trodden way;
For on memory's page
Youth traces its roses; its briers old age.
"She brought him a greeting from dale and from wood,
From the bark-graven runes and the brook's silver flood;
From the dome-crowned cave
Where oaks bravely stream o'er a warrior's grave."[27]
[27] Strong's translation.
But here, happily, Tegner's life ceased to supply material for that of
his hero. For Anna Myhrman, instead of pledging her troth to a
high-born, elderly gentleman, like King Ring, married the young
University instructor, Esaias Tegner; and when her bridal wreath of
myrtle failed to arrive from the city, she twined a wreath of wild
heather instead; and very lovely she looked on her wedding-day with the
modest heather blossoms peeping forth from under her dark locks.
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