“No man of my family has ever been baptized,” said Östen. “Only our slaves are Christians.”
“You are evidently unaware,” said Orm, “that Christ specifically commanded that all men should be baptized, including Smalanders. Father Willibald can quote you the passage.”
“His very words,” said Father Willibald. “He said: ‘Go ye out into the world and preach my gospel to all men, and baptize them.’ He also said, on another occasion: ‘He that believeth and is baptized, his soul shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall burn in hell-fire.”’
“You see?” said Orm. “The choice is yours:
Thou shalt to hell
Without thy head,
Or else with water
Be baptizèd.”
“Your sins are many and great,” said Father Willibald, “and your spiritual condition most foul; but it is so with most men in this land. If, though, you allow yourself to be baptized, you will be numbered among the blessed and, by Christ’s mercy, stand in the ranks of the saved when He appears in the sky to judge mankind, which is due to happen very shortly.”
“One other thing,” said Orm; “from the moment that you are baptized, God gives you His support: and you have doubtless observed, from the result of your attempt to kill me, that His hand is strong. I myself have never prospered so well as since I began to follow Christ. All that you have to do is to renounce your old gods and say: ‘There is no god save God, and Christ is His Prophet.”’
“Not His Prophet!” said Father Willibald severely. “His Son!”
“His Son,” said Orm quickly. “That is what I meant to say. I knew the text well; I was not thinking, and my tongue slipped, because of the false beliefs I used to hold in the days when I served Almansur of Córdoba, in the Andalusians’ land. But that was long ago, and it is now four years since I was baptized by a holy bishop in England, ever since when Christ has supported me in all my enterprises. He delivers my enemies into my hand, so that not only men such as you are powerless to harm me, but King Sven also. And I have gained many other advantages besides. I was born with excellent luck, but it has increased considerably since I went over to Christ.”
“There is no denying,” said Östen, “that your luck is better than mine.”
“But it only became as good as it is now,” said Orm, “after I got baptized. For in former days, when I knew no religion save that of the old gods, I suffered many misfortunes, and sat for two years as a slave in Almansur’s galley, chained to a bench with iron. It is true that I won this sword you see here, which is the finest weapon that was ever forged, so that Styrbjörn himself, who knew more about swords than any other man, vowed when he weighed it in his hand in King Harald’s hall that he had never seen a better; but even that was scant compensation for all that I underwent to secure it. Then I embraced the religion of the Andalusians, at the bidding of my master Almansur, and thereby won a necklace, a jewel of royal worth. But for that necklace’s sake I was wounded almost to death in King Harald’s hall, despite my good Andalusian chain shirt, and if it had not been for this little priest and his healing skill I should have died from that wound. Then, at last, I became baptized and came under the protection of Christ and straightway won King Harald’s daughter, whom I count the most precious jewel that I own. And now you yourself have witnessed how Christ helped me to overcome you and all the men you brought with you to kill me. If you consider the matter well, you will, being a wise man, realize that you will not lose anything by being baptized, but will, instead, gain much profit, even if you do not regard it as important that your head should remain on its shoulders.”
This was the longest sermon that anyone heard from Orm in the whole of his life, and Father Willibald told him afterwards that he had acquitted himself by no means poorly, considering his inexperience in the art.
Östen sat and pondered for a long while. Then he said: “If all that you say is true, I must agree that you have not lost by becoming a Christian, but have rather gained; for it is no small feat to have won King Harald’s daughter, nor are the wares that you have got from me to be despised. But in Smaland, where I live, there are Christian men who are thralls, and they have little to show for their religion; and I cannot be sure whether I may not have their luck instead of yours. But there is one thing I wish to know. If I do as you bid me, what do you intend to do with me then?”
“Set you free, and let you depart in peace,” replied Orm. “And your men with you.”
Östen eyed him suspiciously, but at length he nodded.
“If you are ready to swear this before us all,” he said, “I shall believe that you mean to keep your word. Though what good it can do you to see me baptized is more than I can understand.”
“It is no more than just,” said Orm, “that I should do something to please God and His Son, after all that They have done for me.”
CHAPTER FIVE
CONCERNING THE GREAT CHRISTENING FEAST, AND HOW THE FIRST SMALANDERS CAME TO BE BAPTIZED
WHEN the bees had swarmed and the first hay had been garnered, Orm held his great christening feast. As he had intended from the first, it lasted for three days, and was, in every way, a feast unlike all other feasts, not least in that no weapon was blooded from beginning to end of it, despite the fact that every evening all the guests were as drunk as a man could wish to be at a great lord’s banquet. The only misfortune occurred on the first evening, when, in the first flush of intoxication, two young men went to play with the great hounds in their kennel. One of them came smartly out again, having sustained nothing worse than a few gashes and the transformation of his clothes into ribbons; but the other attempted to withstand their assault, and it was only after much screaming that two women of the household, who were known to the hounds, rushed in and rescued him with his arms and legs lacerated and one ear missing. When the news of this reached the feasters, it occasioned much merriment, and the hounds were praised as a credit to the district; but there were no further attempts to play with them.
Asa and Ylva had difficulty in finding room for all the guests to sleep, for more had come than had been invited, and many had brought their sons and daughters with them; and though many of the older guests fell contentedly asleep each evening on the benches on which they had dined, or on the floor beneath, and remained there throughout the night, thereby saving much trouble, still, in spite of this, there was little room to spare. The young people managed well enough, for the girls were bedded in one barn and the boys in another, in good, soft hay; and though a surprising number of them experienced difficulty in finding their right barn, or in remaining in it once they had found it, still, no complaints were heard on this score. In the morning the girls mumbled blushingly to their mothers of the strayings that had taken place and of the difficulty of distinguishing one bank of hay from another, and were warned to take care that no other man stumbled over their legs on the following night, since to trip up two different men on successive nights was a thing that might damage a girl’s reputation; after which there ensued lengthy and amiable discussions between various parents, so that by the time the feast ended seven or eight marriages were as good as arranged. The news of these happenings delighted Orm and Ylva, for it was a sign that their guests, both young and old, were enjoying the feast; and only Father Willibald muttered blackly to himself, without, however, making any representations about the way things were going.