Here in the north each night is a whole winter long. Yet the place is fair enough, doubt it not! Thou shalt see sights here such as thou hast not seen in the halls of the English king. We shall be together as sisters whilst thou bidest with me; we shall go down to the sea when the storm begins once more; thou shalt see the billows rushing upon the land like wild, white-maned horses – and then the whales far out in the offing! They dash one against another like steel-clad knights! Ha, what joy to be a witching-wife and ride on the whale’s back – to speed before the skiff, and wake the storm, and lure men to the deeps with lovely songs of sorcery!
Henrik Ibsen (1828 – 1906)
The Vikings at Helgeland
Henrik Johan Ibsen was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. “The Vikings at Helgeland” was written during 1857 and first performed at Christiania Norske Theater in Oslo on 24 November 1858. The scenes take place during the time of Erik Blood-axe (c. 930–934) in the north of Norway in historic Helgeland. The play takes place at a time in which Norwegian society was adjusting from the tradition of Old Norse Sagas to the new era of Christianity.
