The forests filled with
out-laws; neither peasant nor wayfarer, nor yet monk or nun in their
quiet retreat, was safe from outrage; and pirates swarmed again in
bay and sound, where for two generations there had been peace. The
twice-perjured Bishop Valdemar left his cloister cell once more and
girt on the sword, to take the kingdom he coveted by storm.
He was met by King Valdemar's kinsman and friend, Albert of
Orlamunde, who hastened to the frontier with all the men he could
gather. They halted him with a treaty of peace that offered to set
Valdemar free if he would take his kingdom as a fief of the German
crown. He, Albert, so it was written, was to keep all his lands and
more, would he but sign it. He did not stop to hear the rest, but
slashed the parchment into ribbons with his sword, and ordered an
instant advance. The bishop he made short work of, and he was heard
of no more. But in the battle with the German princes Albert was
defeated and taken prisoner. The door of King Valdemar's dungeon was
opened only to let his friend in.
After two years and a half in chains, Valdemar was ransomed by his
people with a great sum of gold. The Danish women gave their rings
and their jewels to bring back their king. They flocked about him
when he returned, and received him like the conqueror of old; but he
rode among them gray and stern, and his thoughts were far away.
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