"Yet," I added, "never will I face Iduna more without the necklace, if it can be found." So we struck sparks on to the tinder, and from them lit the two lamps of seal oil.

Then I crept into the hole, Freydisa following me, to find myself in a narrow passage built of rough stones and roofed with flat slabs of water-worn rock.

This tunnel, save for a little dry soil that had sifted into it through the cracks between the stones, was quite clear.

We crawled along it without difficulty till we came to the tomb chamber, which was in the centre of the mound, but at a higher level than the entrance.

For the passage sloped upwards, doubtless to allow for drainage.