Mail (Adelaide, SA : 1912 - 1954), Saturday 18 April 1914, page 9


IN MEMORY OF. OODNADATTA. THE WANDERER'S NECKLACE. By H. KIDEE HAGGARD. From Oodnadatta in the veer of grace 3S13 by Byzantium in the ninth century is a far cry) but through his dedication to his friend and colleague Sir Edgar Vincent, the author links up the ancient capital of the East with the euphoniously named township in the heart of Australia, wiich was visited by the Overseas Commission last year. The story of the Wanderer's Necklace purports, to be the narrative of a former life, which has returned to the author in a series of scenes or pictures, and the. first ecenes are laid in Jutland. Olaf, the eon of Thorvald and the Lady Thora, is betrothed to Iduna the Fair, who is a beautiful tjut false-hearted dtaneeL Iduna challenges Olaf to bring her a necklace of inlaid shells and emerald beetles which was supposed to be round the .neck, of a dead chief who had lived hundreds of years befqre. Olaf. with his faithful nurse Freydisa, descended into the monad where the ancient warrior was buried, and brought away the necklace, and also a sword of great strength and exquisite workmanship. Iduna is enraptured with tht\ jewels; but she is 'false to' Olaf, and by her arts she induces Steinar, the adopted son of Thorvald, who has recently come into 'great possessions, to betray his foster brother. The guilty lovers flee on the eve of the wedding day. but the fierce Jpclanders pursue them, and Bteinar is sacrificed to the gods of the Northmen as a trothbreaker. Olaf intercedes for him in vain, and in anger hews in pieces a statue of Odin. The scene of the larger part of the boot is laid in Byzantium, where ? we find Olaf captain of the guard of 4b4 Empress Irene, who with her young eon Gonstantine the Sixth is Joint ruler of the - Eastern Empire. Irene is in love with Olaf. who, however, has no love for her.' He has heard a legend about the warrior's necklace, and he believes that he will find a woman who will wear the. counterpart of the strand ha has in his possession. After ?tnany days he finds his ideal in the perron of the Egyptian girl Heliodore, but ma troubles are by no means over. He has the wrath of the Empress to fear, as well as the jealousy of the Roman officers, and in ' a time when swift assassination iras rife his life is' in constant danger till he returns to the 'home of his fathers to end his days. The' book has the real Haggard touch, and thtaph. like other of the author's books, it lacks the rush and the magic of 'King Solomon's Mines' and some of the earner stories, it is not' only pTpi*inp- but moving as well. Our copy tame from E. S. Wigg & Son.