Styrbiorn the Strong · Chapter
III: Queen Sigrid the Haughty explained
King Eric visits Skogul-Tosti and meets his daughter Sigrid.
What happens
King Eric visits Skogul-Tosti and meets his daughter Sigrid. After a feast, the King proposes marriage, but Sigrid initially refuses, believing he is wooing on behalf of Styrbiorn. When King Eric reveals he seeks her hand for himself, she hesitates, torn between pride and ambition, and the chapter ends with her silent deliberation.
Themes in this chapter
Power and Ambition
Sigrid's ambition to become queen and King Eric's desire for a powerful match drive the chapter's central conflict.
Love and Destruction
The tension between Sigrid's pride and the King's forceful courtship hints at a potentially destructive relationship.
Honor and Shame
Tosti's concern for his reputation and Sigrid's haughty refusal of suitors reflect the importance of honor in social standing.
Characters to notice
- King Eric
King Eric visits Skogul-Tosti, feasts for nine days, and woos Sigrid for himself after she mistakes his intent.
- Tosti
Skogul-Tosti, father of Sigrid, hosts King Eric and arranges the meeting, leaving the choice of marriage to his daughter.
- Sigrid
Sigrid the Haughty, daughter of Tosti, initially refuses King Eric's suit when she thinks it is for Styrbiorn, then hesitates when he proposes for himself.
- Gudrid
Gudrid, Tosti's wife, is skeptical of Sigrid's compliance and warns her husband not to be too certain of the match.
- Styrbiorn the Strong
Styrbiorn is mentioned as the intended match for Sigrid, but she scorns him as 'no better than a cat's son.'
Key passages
“She, glancing with her dark eyes first in her father's face then in the King's, reached out her hand now to the great golden drinking horn which a thrall, obedient to her father's nod, proffered to her full of mead so that the foam of it ran down the sides.”
Sigrid looked at her father and the King, then took the horn of mead offered by a servant.
This moment shows Sigrid's composure and the formal ritual of serving drink at a feast.
“I ken a verse: An eagle sat upon a stane! And I ken another: An eagle sat upon a stane! And I ken a third: An eagle sat upon a stane! The first is like 'em all: An eagle sat upon a stane!”
Sigrid recites a mocking verse implying that all suitors are the same to her.
Her verse expresses her frustration with repeated marriage proposals.
“Must I answer you, Lord, as to the King? or as to an old man come a-wooing?”
Sigrid challenges King Eric, asking whether she must answer him as her sovereign or as an elderly suitor.
This taunt reveals her defiance and pride, though she immediately fears she has gone too far.