After the death of Frode, the Danes wrongly supposed thatFridleif, who was being reared in Russia, had perished; and,thinking that the sovereignty halted for lack of an heir, andthat it could no longer be kept on in the hands of the royalline, they considered that the sceptre would be best deserved bythe man who should affix to the yet fresh grave of Frode a songof praise in his glorification, and commit the renown of the deadking to after ages by a splendid memorial. Then one HIARN, veryskilled in writing Danish poetry, wishing to give the fame of thehero some notable record of words, and tempted by the enormousprize, composed, after his own fashion, a barbarous stave. Itspurport, expressed in four lines, I have transcribed as follows:
"Frode, whom the Danes would have wished to live long, they borelong through their lands when he was dead. The great chief'sbody, with this turf heaped above it, bare earth covers under thelucid sky."
When the composer of this song had uttered it, the Danes rewardedhim with the crown. Thus they gave a kingdom for an epitaph, andthe weight of a whole empire was presented to a little string ofletters. Slender expense for so vast a guerdon! This hugepayment for a little poem exceeded the glory of Caesar'srecompense; for it was enough for the divine Julius to pensionwith a township the writer and glorifier of those conquests whichhe had achieved over the whole world. But now the spendthriftkindness of the populace squandered a kingdom on a churl. Nay,not even Africanus, when he rewarded the records of his deed,rose to the munificence of the Danes. For there the wage of thatlaborious volume was in mere gold, while here a few callow verseswon a sceptre for a peasant.
At the same time Erik, who held the governorship of Sweden, diedof disease; and his son Halfdan, who governed in his father'sstead, alarmed by the many attacks of twelve brothers ofNorwegian birth, and powerless to punish their violence, fled,hoping for reinforcements, to ask aid of Fridleif, thensojourning in Russia. Approaching him with a suppliant face, helamented that he was himself shattered and bruised by a foreignfoe, and brought a dismal plaint of his wrongs. From himFridleif heard the tidings of his father's death, and grantingthe aid he sought, went to Norway in armed array. At this timethe aforesaid brothers, their allies forsaking them, built a veryhigh rampart within an island surrounded by a swift stream, alsoextending their earthworks along the level. Trusting to thisrefuge, they harried the neighborhood with continual raids. Forthey built a bridge on which they used to get to the mainlandwhen they left the island. This bridge was fastened to the gateof the stronghold; and they worked it by the guidance of ropes,in such a way that it turned as if on some revolving hinge, andat one time let them pass across the river; while at another,drawn back from above by unseen cords, it helped to defend theentrance.
These warriors were of valiant temper, young and stalwart, ofsplendid bodily presence, renowned for victories over giants,full of trophies of conquered nations, and wealthy with spoil. Irecord the names of some of them -- for the rest have perished inantiquity -- Gerbiorn, Gunbiorn, Arinbiorn, Stenbiorn, Esbiorn,Thorbiorn, and Biorn. Biorn is said to have had a horse whichwas splendid and of exceeding speed, so that when all the restwere powerless to cross the river it alone stemmed the roaringeddy without weariness. This rapid comes down in so swift andsheer a volume that animals often lose all power of swimming init, and perish. For, trickling from the topmost crests of thehills, it comes down the steep sides, catches on the rocks, andis shattered, falling into the deep valleys with a manifoldclamour of waters; but, being straightway rebuffed by the rocksthat bar the way, it keeps the speed of its current ever at thesame even pace. And so, along the whole length of the channel,the waves are one turbid mass, and the white foam brims overeverywhere. But, after rolling out of the narrows between therocks, it spreads abroad in a slacker and stiller flood, andturns into an island a rock that lies in its course. On eitherside of the rock juts out a sheer ridge, thick with divers trees,which screen the river from distant view. Biorn had also a dogof extraordinary fierceness, a terribly vicious brute, dangerousfor people to live with, which had often singly destroyed twelvemen. But, since the tale is hearsay rather than certainty, letgood judges weigh its credit. This dog, as I have heard, was thefavourite of the giant Offot (Un-foot), and used to watch hisherd amid the pastures.
Now the warriors, who were always pillaging the neighbourhood,used often to commit great slaughters. Plundering houses,cutting down cattle, sacking everything, making great hauls ofbooty, rifling houses, then burning them, massacring male andfemale promiscuously -- these, and not honest dealings, weretheir occupations. Fridleif surprised them while on a recklessraid, and drove them all back for refuge to the stronghold; healso seized the immensely powerful horse, whose rider, in thehaste of his panic, had left it on the hither side of the riverin order to fly betimes; for he durst not take it with him overthe bridge. Then Fridleif proclaimed that he would pay theweight of the dead body in gold to any man who slew one of thosebrothers. The hope of the prize stimulated some of the championsof the king; and yet they were fired not so much withcovetousness as with valour; so, going secretly to Fridleif, theypromised to attempt the task, vowing to sacrifice their lives ifthey did not bring home the severed heads of the robbers.Fridleif praised their valour and their vows, but bidding theonlookers wait, went in the night to the river, satisfied with asingle companion. For, not to seem better provided with othermen's valour than with his own, he determined to forestall theiraid by his own courage. Thereupon he crushed and killed hiscompanion with a shower of flints, and flung his bloodless corpseinto the waves, having dressed it in his own clothes; which hestripped off, borrowing the cast-off garb of the other, so thatwhen the corpse was seen it might look as if the king hadperished. He further deliberately drew blood from the beast onwhich he had ridden, and bespattered it, so that when it cameback into camp he might make them think he himself was dead. Then he set spur to his horse and drove it into the midst of theeddies, crossed the river and alighted, and tried to climb overthe rampart that screened the stronghold by steps set up againstthe mound. When he got over the top and could grasp thebattlements with his hand, he quietly put his foot inside, and,without the knowledge of the watch, went lightly on tiptoe to thehouse into which the bandits had gone to carouse. And when hehad reached its hall, he sat down under the porch overhanging thedoor. Now the strength of their fastness made the warriors feelso safe that they were tempted to a debauch; for they thoughtthat the swiftly rushing river made their garrison inaccessible,since it seemed impossible either to swim over or to cross inboats. For no part of the river allowed of fording.
Biorn, moved by the revel, said that in his sleep he had seen abeast come out of the waters, which spouted ghastly fire from itsmouth, enveloping everything in a sheet of flame. Therefore theholes and corners of the island should, he said, be searched; norought they to trust so much to their position, as rashly to letoverweening confidence bring them to utter ruin. No situationwas so strong that the mere protection of nature was enough forit without human effort. Moreover they must take great care thatthe warning of his slumbers was not followed by a yet more gloomyand disastrous fulfilment. So they all sallied forth from thestronghold, and narrowly scanned the whole circuit of the island;and finding the horse they surmised that Fridleif had beendrowned in the waters of the river. They received the horsewithin the gates with rejoicing, supposing that it had flung offits rider and swum over. But Biorn, still scared with the memoryof the visions of the night, advised them to keep watch, since itwas not safe for them yet to put aside suspicion of danger. Thenhe went to his room to rest, with the memory of his vision deeplystored in his heart.
Meanwhile the horse, which Fridleif, in order to spread a beliefin his death, had been loosed and besprinkled with blood (thoughonly with that which lies between flesh and skin), burst allbedabbled into the camp of his soldiers. They went straight tothe river, and finding the carcase of the slave, took it for thebody of the king; the hissing eddies having cast it on the bank,dressed in brave attire. Nothing helped their mistake so much asthe swelling of the battered body; inasmuch as the skin was tornand bruised with the flints, so that all the features wereblotted out, bloodless and wan. This exasperated the championswho had just promised Fridleif to see that the robbers wereextirpated: and they approached the perilous torrent, that theymight not seem to tarnish the honour of their promise by a cravenneglect of their vow. The rest imitated their boldness, and withequal ardour went to the river, ready to avenge their king or toendure the worst. When Fridleif saw them he hastened to lowerthe bridge to the mainland; and when he had got the champions hecut down the watch at the first attack. Thus he went on toattack the rest and put them to the sword, all save Biorn; whomhe tended very carefully and cured of his wounds; whereupon,under pledge of solemn oath, he made him his colleague, thinkingit better to use his services than to boast of his death. Healso declared it would be shameful if such a flower of braverywere plucked in his first youth and perished by an untimelydeath.
Now the Danes had long ago had false tidings of Fridleif's death,and when they found that he was approaching, they sent men tofetch him, and ordered Hiarn to quit the sovereignty, because hewas thought to be holding it only on sufferance and carelessly.But he could not bring himself to resign such an honour, andchose sooner to spend his life for glory than pass into the dimlot of common men. Therefore he resolved to fight for hispresent estate, that he might not have to resume his former onestripped of his royal honours. Thus the land was estranged andvexed with the hasty commotion of civil strife; some were ofHiarn's party, while others agreed to the claims of Fridleif,because of the vast services of Frode; and the voice of thecommons was perplexed and divided, some of them respecting thingsas they were, others the memory of the past. But regard for thememory of Frode weighed most, and its sweetness gave Fridleif thebalance of popularity.
Many wise men thought that a person of peasant rank should beremoved from the sovereignty; since, contrary to the rights ofbirth, and only by the favour of fortune, he had reached anunhoped-for eminence; and in order that the unlawful occupantmight not debar the rightful heir to the office, Fridleif toldthe envoys of the Danes to return, and request Hiarn either toresign the kingdom or to meet him in battle. Hiarn thought itmore grievous than death to set lust of life before honour, andto seek safety at the cost of glory. So he met Fridleif in thefield, was crushed, and fled into Jutland, where, rallying aband, he again attacked his conqueror. But his men were allconsumed with the sword, and he fled unattended, as the islandtestifies which has taken its name from his (Hiarno). And so,feeling his lowly fortune, and seeing himself almost stripped ofhis forces by the double defeat, he turned his mind to craft, andwent to Fridleif with his face disguised, meaning to becomeintimate, and find an occasion to slay him treacherously.
Hiarn was received by the king, hiding his purpose under thepretence of servitude. For, giving himself out as a salt-distiller, he performed base offices among the servants who didthe filthiest work. He used also to take the last place at meal-time, and he refrained from the baths, lest his multitude ofscars should betray him if he stripped. The king, in order toease his own suspicions, made him wash; and when he knew hisenemy by the scars, he said: "Tell me now, thou shameless bandit,how wouldst thou have dealt with me, if thou hadst found outplainly that I wished to murder thee?" Hiarn, stupefied, said:"Had I caught thee I would have first challenged thee, and thenfought thee, to give thee a better chance of wiping out thyreproach." Fridleif presently took him at his word, challengedhim and slew him, and buried his body in a barrow that bears thedead man's name.
Soon after FRIDLEIF was admonished by his people to think aboutmarrying, that he might prolong his line; but he maintained thatthe unmarried life was best, quoting his father Frode, on whomhis wife's wantonness had brought great dishonour. At last,yielding to the persistent entreaties of all, he proceeded tosend ambassadors to ask for the daughter of Amund, King ofNorway. One of these, named Frok, was swallowed by the waves inmid-voyage, and showed a strange portent at his death. For whenthe closing flood of billows encompassed him, blood arose in themidst of the eddy, and the whole face of the sea was steeped withan alien redness, so that the ocean, which a moment before wasfoaming and white with tempest, was presently swollen withcrimson waves, and was seen to wear a colour foreign to itsnature.
Around implacably declined to consent to the wishes of the king,and treated the legates shamefully, declaring that he spurned theembassy because the tyranny of Frode had of old borne so heavilyupon Norway. But Amund's daughter, Frogertha, not only lookingto the birth of Fridleif, but also honouring the glory of hisdeeds, began to upbraid her father, because he scorned a son-in-law whose nobility was perfect, being both sufficient in valourand flawless in birth. She added that the portentous aspect ofthe sea, when the waves were suddenly turned into blood, simplyand solely signified the defeat of Norway, and was a plainpresage of the victory of Denmark. And when Fridleif sent afurther embassy to ask for her, wishing to vanquish the refusalby persistency, Amund was indignant that a petition he had oncedenied should be obstinately pressed, and hurried the envoys todeath, wishing to offer a brutal check to the zeal of this brazenwooer. Fridleif heard news of this outrage, and summoningHalfdan and Biorn, sailed round Norway. Amund, equipped with hisnative defences, put out his fleet against him. The firth intowhich both fleets had mustered is called Frokasund. HereFridleif left the camp at night to reconnoitre; and, hearing anunusual kind of sound close to him as of brass being beaten, hestood still and looked up, and heard the following song of threeswans, who were crying above him:
"While Hythin sweeps the sea and cleaves the ravening tide, hisserf drinks out of gold and licks the cups of milk. Best is theestate of the slave on whom waits the heir, the king's son, fortheir lots are rashly interchanged." Next, after the birds hadsung, a belt fell from on high, which showed writing to interpretthe song. For while the son of Hythin, the King of Tellemark,was at his boyish play, a giant, assuming the usual appearance ofmen, had carried him off, and using him as an oarsman (havingtaken his skiff over to the neighbouring shore), was then sailingpast Fridleif while he was occupied reconnoitering. But the kingwould not suffer him to use the service of the captive youth, andlonged to rob the spoiler of his prey. The youth warned him thathe must first use sharp reviling against the giant, promisingthat he would prove easy to attack, if only he were assailed withbiting verse. Then Fridleif began thus:
"Since thou art a giant of three bodies, invincible, and almostreachest heaven with thy crest, why does this silly sword bindthy thigh? Why doth a broken spear gird thy huge side? Why,perchance, dost thou defend thy stalwart breast with a feeblesword, and forget the likeness of thy bodily stature, trusting ina short dagger, a petty weapon? Soon, soon will I balk thy boldonset, when with blunted blade thou attemptest war. Since thouart thyself a timid beast, a lump lacking proper pith, thou artswept headlong like a flying shadow, having with a fair andfamous body got a heart that is unwarlike and unstable with fear,and a spirit quite unmatched to thy limbs. Hence thy frametotters, for thy goodly presence is faulty through the overthrowof thy soul, and thy nature in all her parts is at strife. Henceshall all tribute of praise quit thee, nor shalt thou beaccounted famous among the brave, but shalt be reckoned amongranks obscure."
When he had said this he lopped off a hand and foot of the giant,made him fly, and set his prisoner free. Then he wentstraightway to the giant's headland, took the treasure out of hiscave, and carried it away. Rejoicing in these trophies, andemploying the kidnapped youth to row him over the sea, hecomposed with cheery voice the following strain:
"In the slaying of the swift monster we wielded our blood-stainedswords and our crimsoned blade, whilst thou, Amund, lord of theNorwegian ruin, wert in deep slumber; and since blind nightcovers thee, without any light of soul, thy valour has meltedaway and beguiled thee. But we crushed a giant who lost use ofhis limbs and wealth, and we pierced into the disorder of hisdreary den. There we seized and plundered his piles of gold. And now with oars we sweep the wave-wandering main, and joyouslyreturn, rowing back to the shore our booty-laden ship; we fleetover the waves in a skiff that travels the sea; gaily let usfurrow those open waters, lest the dawn come and betray us to thefoe. Lightly therefore, and pulling our hardest, let us scourthe sea, making for our camp and fleet ere Titan raise his rosyhead out of the clear waters; that when fame noises the deedabout, and Frogertha knows that the spoil has been won with agallant struggle, her heart may be stirred to be more gentle toour prayer."
On the morrow there was a great muster of the forces, andFridleif had a bloody battle with Amund, fought partly by sea andpartly by land. For not only were the lines drawn up in the opencountry, but the warriors also made an attack with their fleet.The battle which followed cost much blood. So Biorn, when hisranks gave back, unloosed his hound and sent it against theenemy; wishing to win with the biting of a dog the victory whichhe could not achieve with the sword. The enemy were by thismeans shamefully routed, for a square of the warriors ran awaywhen attacked with its teeth.
There is no saying whether their flight was more dismal or moredisgraceful. Indeed, the army of the Northmen was a thing toblush for; for an enemy crushed it by borrowing the aid of abrute. Nor was it treacherous of Fridleif to recruit the failingvalour of his men with the aid of a dog. In this war Amund fell;and his servant Ane, surnamed the Archer, challenged Fridleif tofight him; but Biorn, being a man of meaner estate, not sufferingthe king to engage with a common fellow, attacked him himself.And when Biorn had bent his bow and was fitting the arrow to thestring, suddenly a dart sent by Ane pierced the top of the cord.Soon another arrow came after it and struck amid the joints ofhis fingers. A third followed, and fell on the arrow as it waslaid to the string. For Ane, who was most dexterous at shootingarrows from a distance, had purposely only struck the weapon ofhis opponent, in order that, by showing it was in his power to dolikewise to his person, he might recall the champion from hispurpose. But Biorn abated none of his valour for this, and,scorning bodily danger, entered the fray with heart and face sosteadfast, that he seemed neither to yield anything to the skillof Ane, nor lay aside aught of his wonted courage. Thus he wouldin nowise be made to swerve from his purpose, and dauntlesslyventured on the battle. Both of them left it wounded; and foughtanother also on Agdar Ness with an emulous thirst for glory.
By the death of Amund, Fridleif was freed from a most bitter foe,and obtained a deep and tranquil peace; whereupon he forced hissavage temper to the service of delight; and, transferring hisardour to love, equipped a fleet in order to seek the marriagewhich had once been denied him. At last he set forth on hisvoyage; and his fleet being becalmed, he invaded some villages tolook for food; where, being received hospitably by a certainGrubb, and at last winning his daughter in marriage, he begat ason named Olaf. After some time had passed he also wonFrogertha; but, while going back to his own country, he had a badvoyage, and was driven on the shores of an unknown island. Acertain man appeared to him in a vision, and instructed him todig up a treasure that was buried in the ground, and also toattack the dragon that guarded it, covering himself in an ox-hideto escape the poison; teaching him also to meet the envenomedfangs with a hide stretched over his shield. Therefore, to testthe vision, he attacked the snake as it rose out of the waves,and for a long time cast spears against its scaly side; in vain,for its hard and shelly body foiled the darts flung at it. Butthe snake, shaking its mass of coils, uprooted the trees which itbrushed past by winding its tail about them. Moreover, byconstantly dragging its body, it hollowed the ground down to thesolid rock, and had made a sheer bank on either hand, just as insome places we see hills parted by an intervening valley. SoFridleif, seeing that the upper part of the creature was proofagainst attack, assailed the lower side with his sword, andpiercing the groin, drew blood from the quivering beast. When itwas dead, he unearthed the money from the underground chamber andhad it taken off in his ships.
When the year had come to an end, he took great pains toreconcile Biorn and Ane, who had often challenged and fought oneanother, and made them exchange their hatred for friendship; andeven entrusted to them his three-year-old son, Olaf, to rear. But his mistress, Juritha, the mother of Olaf, he gave inmarriage to Ane, whom he made one of his warriors; thinking thatshe would endure more calmly to be put away, if she wedded such achampion, and received his robust embrace instead of a king's.
The ancients were wont to consult the oracles of the Fatesconcerning the destinies of their children. In this way Fridleifdesired to search into the fate of his son Olaf; and, aftersolemnly offering up his vows, he went to the house of the godsin entreaty; where, looking into the chapel, he saw threemaidens, sitting on three seats. The first of them was of abenignant temper, and bestowed upon the boy abundant beauty andample store of favour in the eyes of men. The second granted himthe gift of surpassing generosity. But the third, a woman ofmore mischievous temper and malignant disposition, scorning theunanimous kindness of her sisters, and likewise wishing to martheir gifts, marked the future character of the boy with the slurof niggardliness. Thus the benefits of the others were spoilt bythe poison of a lamentable doom; and hence, by virtue of thetwofold nature of these gifts Olaf got his surname from themeanness which was mingled with his bounty. So it came aboutthat this blemish which found its way into the gift marred thewhole sweetness of its first benignity.
When Fridleif had returned from Norway, and was traveling throughSweden, he took on himself to act as ambassador, and suedsuccessfully for Hythin's daughter, whom he had once rescued froma monster, to be the wife of Halfdan, he being still unwedded.Meantime his wife Frogertha bore a son FRODE, who afterwards gothis surname from his noble munificence. And thus Frode, becauseof the memory of his grandsire's prosperity, which he recalled byhis name, became from his very cradle and earliest childhood sucha darling of all men, that he was not suffered even to step orstand on the ground, but was continually cherished in people'slaps and kissed. Thus he was not assigned to one upbringer only,but was in a manner everybody's fosterling. And, after hisfather's death, while he was in his twelfth year, Swerting andHanef, the kings of Saxony, disowned his sway, and tried to rebelopenly. He overcame them in battle, and imposed on the conqueredpeoples a poll-tax of a coin, which they were to pay as hisslaves. For he showed himself so generous that he doubled theancient pay of the soldiers: a fashion of bounty which then wasnovel. For he did not, as despots do, expose himself to thevulgar allurements of vice, but strove to covet ardentlywhatsoever he saw was nearest honour; to make his wealth publicproperty; to surpass all other men in bounty, to forestall themall in offices of kindness; and, hardest of all, to conquer envyby virtue. By this means the youth soon won such favour with allmen, that he not only equalled in renown the honours of hisforefathers, but surpassed the most ancient records of kings.
At the same time one Starkad, the son of Storwerk, escaped alone,either by force or fortune, from a wreck in which his friendsperished, and was received by Frode as his guest for hisincredible excellence both of mind and body. And, after beingfor some little time his comrade, he was dressed in a better andmore comely fashion every day, and was at last given a noblevessel, and bidden to ply the calling of a rover, with the chargeof guarding the sea. For nature had gifted him with a body ofsuperhuman excellence; and his greatness of spirit equalled it,so that folk thought him behind no man in valour. So far did hisglory spread, that the renown of his name and deeds continuesfamous even yet. He shone out among our own countrymen by hisglorious roll of exploits, and he had also won a most splendidrecord among all the provinces of the Swedes and Saxons.Tradition says that he was born originally in the country whichborders Sweden on the east, where barbarous hordes of Esthoniansand other nations now dwell far and wide. But a fabulous yetcommon rumour has invented tales about his birth which arecontrary to reason and flatly incredible. For some relate thathe was sprung from giants, and betrayed his monstrous birth by anextraordinary number of hands, four of which, engendered by thesuperfluity of his nature, they declare that the god Thor toreoff, shattering the framework of the sinews and wrenching fromhis whole body the monstrous bunches of fingers; so that he hadbut two left, and that his body, which had before swollen to thesize of a giant's, and, by reason of its shapeless crowd of limbslooked gigantic, was thenceforth chastened to a betterappearance, and kept within the bounds of human shortness.
For there were of old certain men versed in sorcery, Thor,namely, and Odin, and many others, who were cunning in contrivingmarvellous sleights; and they, winning the minds of the simple,began to claim the rank of gods. For, in particular, theyensnared Norway, Sweden and Denmark in the vainest credulity, andby prompting these lands to worship them, infected them withtheir imposture. The effects of their deceit spread so far, thatall other men adored a sort of divine power in them, and,thinking them either gods or in league with gods, offered upsolemn prayers to these inventors of sorceries, and gave toblasphemous error the honour due to religion. Hence it has comeabout that the holy days, in their regular course, are calledamong us by the names of these men; for the ancient Latins areknown to have named these days severally, either after the titlesof their own gods, or after the planets, seven in number. But itcan be plainly inferred from the mere names of the holy days thatthe objects worshipped by our countrymen were not the same asthose whom the most ancient of the Romans called Jove andMercury, nor those to whom Greece and Latium paid idolatroushomage. For the days, called among our countrymen Thors-day orOdins-day, the ancients termed severally the holy day of Jove orof Mercury. If, therefore, according to the distinction impliedin the interpretation I have quoted, we take it that Thor is Joveand Odin Mercury, it follows that Jove was the son of Mercury;that is, if the assertion of our countrymen holds, among whom itis told as a matter of common belief, that Thor was Odin's son.Therefore, when the Latins, believing to the contrary effect,declare that Mercury was sprung from Jove, then, if theirdeclaration is to stand, we are driven to consider that Thor wasnot the same as Jove, and that Odin was also different fromMercury. Some say that the gods, whom our countrymen worshipped,shared only the title with those honoured by Greece or Latium,but that, being in a manner nearly equal to them in dignity, theyborrowed from them the worship as well as the name. This must besufficient discourse upon the deities of Danish antiquity. Ihave expounded this briefly for the general profit, that myreaders may know clearly to what worship in its heathensuperstition our country has bowed the knee. Now I will go backto my subject where I left it.
Ancient tradition says that Starkad, whom I mentioned above,offered the first-fruits of his deeds to the favour of the godsby slaying Wikar, the king of the Norwegians. The affair,according to the version of some people, happened as follows: --
Odin once wished to slay Wikar by a grievous death; but, loth todo the deed openly, he graced Starkad, who was already remarkablefor his extraordinary size, not only with bravery, but also withskill in the composing of spells, that he might the more readilyuse his services to accomplish the destruction of the king. Forthat was how he hoped that Starkad would show himself gratefulfor the honour he paid him. For the same reason he also endowedhim with three spans of mortal life, that he might be able tocommit in them as many abominable deeds. So Odin resolved thatStarkad's days should be prolonged by the following crime:Starkad presently went to Wikar and dwelt awhile in his company,hiding treachery under homage. At last he went with him sea-roving. And in a certain place they were troubled with prolongedand bitter storms; and when the winds checked their voyage somuch that they had to lie still most of the year, they thoughtthat the gods must be appeased with human blood. When the lotswere cast into the urn it so fell that the king was required fordeath as a victim. Then Starkad made a noose of withies andbound the king in it; saying that for a brief instant he shouldpay the mere semblance of a penalty. But the tightness of theknot acted according to its nature, and cut off his last breathas he hung. And while he was still quivering Starkad rent awaywith his steel the remnant of his life; thus disclosing histreachery when he ought to have brought aid. I do not think thatI need examine the version which relates that the pliant withies,hardened with the sudden grip, acted like a noose of iron.
When Starkad had thus treacherously acted he took Wikar's shipand went to one Bemon, the most courageous of all the rovers ofDenmark, in order to take up the life of a pirate. For Bemon'spartner, named Frakk, weary of the toil of sea-roving, had latelywithdrawn from partnership with him, after first making a money-bargain. Now Starkad and Bemon were so careful to keeptemperate, that they are said never to have indulged inintoxicating drink, for fear that continence, the greatest bondof bravery, might be expelled by the power of wantonness. Sowhen, after overthrowing provinces far and wide, they invadedRussia also in their lust for empire, the natives, trustinglittle in their walls or arms, began to bar the advance of theenemy with nails of uncommon sharpness, that they might checktheir inroad, though they could not curb their onset in battle;and that the ground might secretly wound the soles of the menwhom their army shrank from confronting in the field. But noteven such a barrier could serve to keep off the foe. The Daneswere cunning enough to foil the pains of the Russians. For theystraightway shod themselves with wooden clogs, and trod withunhurt steps upon the points that lay beneath their soles. Nowthis iron thing is divided into four spikes, which are soarranged that on whatsoever side chance may cast it, it standssteadily on three equal feet. Then they struck into the pathlessglades, where the woods were thickets, and expelled Flokk, thechief of the Russians, from the mountain hiding-places into whichhe had crept. And here they got so much booty, that there wasnot one of them but went back to the fleet laden with gold andsilver.
Now when Bemon was dead, Starkad was summoned because of hisvalour by the champions of Permland. And when he had done manynoteworthy deeds among them, he went into the land of the Swedes,where he lived at leisure for seven years' space with the sons ofFrey. At last he left them and betook himself to Hakon, thetyrant of Denmark, because when stationed at Upsala, at the timeof the sacrifices, he was disgusted by the effeminate gesturesand the clapping of the mimes on the stage, and by the unmanlyclatter of the bells. Hence it is clear how far he kept his soulfrom lasciviousness, not even enduring to look upon it. Thusdoes virtue withstand wantonness.
Starkad took his fleet to the shore of Ireland with Hakon, inorder that even the furthest kingdoms of the world might not beuntouched by the Danish arms. The king of the island at thistime was Hugleik, who, though he had a well-filled treasury, wasyet so prone to avarice, that once, when he gave a pair of shoeswhich had been adorned by the hand of a careful craftsman, hetook off the ties, and by thus removing the latches turned hispresent into a slight. This unhandsome act blemished his gift somuch that he seemed to reap hatred for it instead of thanks. Thus he used never to be generous to any respectable man, but tospend all his bounty upon mimes and jugglers. For so base afellow was bound to keep friendly company with the base, and sucha slough of vices to wheedle his partners in sin with panderingendearments.
Still Hugleik had the friendship of Geigad and Swipdag, nobles oftried valour, who, by the lustre of their warlike deeds, shoneout among their unmanly companions like jewels embedded inordure; these alone were found to defend the riches of the king.When a battle began between Hugleik and Hakon, the hordes ofmimes, whose light-mindedness unsteadied their bodies, broketheir ranks and scurried off in panic; and this shameful flightwas their sole requital for all their king's benefits. ThenGeigad and Swipdag faced all those thousands of the enemy single-handed, and fought with such incredible courage, that they seemedto do the part not merely of two warriors, but of a whole army.Geigad, moreover, dealt Hakon, who pressed him hard, such a woundin the breast that he exposed the upper part of his liver. Itwas here that Starkad, while he was attacking Geigad with hissword, received a very sore wound on the head; wherefore heafterwards related in a certain song that a ghastlier wound hadnever befallen him at any time; for, though the divisions of hisgashed head were bound up by the surrounding outer skin, yet thelivid unseen wound concealed a foul gangrene below.
Starkad conquered, killed Hugleik and routed the Irish; and hadthe actors beaten whom chance made prisoner; thinking it betterto order a pack of buffoons to be ludicrously punished by theloss of their skins than to command a more deadly punishment andtake their lives. Thus he visited with a disgracefulchastisement the baseborn throng of professional jugglers, andwas content to punish them with the disgusting flouts of thelash. Then the Danes ordered that the wealth of the king shouldbe brought out of the treasury in the city of Dublin and publiclypillaged. For so vast a treasure had been found that none tookmuch pains to divide it strictly.
After this, Starkad was commissioned, together with Win, thechief of the Sclavs, to check the revolt of the East. They,having fought against the armies of the Kurlanders, the Sembs,the Sangals, and, finally, all the Easterlings, won splendidvictories everywhere.
A champion of great repute, named Wisin, settled upon a rock inRussia named Ana-fial, and harried both neighbouring and distantprovinces with all kinds of outrage. This man used to blunt theedge of every weapon by merely looking at it. He was made sobold in consequence, by having lost all fear of wounds, that heused to carry off the wives of distinguished men and drag them tooutrage before the eyes of their husbands. Starkad was roused bythe tale of this villainy, and went to Russia to destroy thecriminal; thinking nothing too hard to overcome, he challengedWisin, attacked him, made even his tricks useless to him, andslew him. For Starkad covered his blade with a very fine skin,that it might not met the eye of the sorcerer; and neither thepower of his sleights nor his great strength were any help toWisin, for he had to yield to Starkad. Then Starkad, trusting inhis bodily strength, fought with and overcame a giant atByzantium, reputed invincible, named Tanne, and drove him to flyan outlaw to unknown quarters of the earth. Therefore, findingthat he was too mighty for any hard fate to overcome him, he wentto the country of Poland, and conquered in a duel a champion whomour countrymen name Wasce; but the Teutons, arranging the lettersdifferently, call him Wilzce.
Meanwhile the Saxons began to attempt a revolt, and to considerparticularly how they could destroy Frode, who was unconquered inwar, by some other way than an open conflict. Thinking that itwould be best done by a duel, they sent men to provoke the kingwith a challenge, knowing that he was always ready to court anyhazard, and that his high spirit would not yield to anyadmonition whatever. They fancied that this was the best time toattack him, because they knew that Starkad, whose valour most mendreaded, was away on business. But while Frode hesitated, andsaid that he would talk with his friends about the answer to begiven, Starkad, who had just returned from his sea-roving,appeared, and blamed such a challenge, principally (he said)because it was fitting for kings to fight only with their equals,and because they should not take up arms against men of thepeople; but it was more fitting for himself, who was born in alowlier station, to manage the battle.
The Saxons approached Hame, who was accounted their most famouschampion, with many offers, and promised him that, if he wouldlend his services for the duel they would pay him his own weightin gold. The fighter was tempted by the money, and, with all theovation of a military procession, they attended him to the groundappointed for the combat. Thereupon the Danes, decked in warlikearray, led Starkad, who was to represent his king, out to theduelling-ground. Hame, in his youthful assurance, despised himas withered with age, and chose to grapple rather than fight withan outworn old man. Attacking Starkad, he would have flung himtottering to the earth, but that fortune, who would not sufferthe old man to be conquered, prevented him from being hurt. Forhe is said to have been so crushed by the fist of Hame, as hedashed on him, that he touched the earth with his chin,supporting himself on his knees. But he made up nobly for histottering; for, as soon as he could raise his knee and free hishand to draw his sword, he clove Hame through the middle of thebody. Many lands and sixty bondmen apiece were the reward of thevictory.
After Hame was killed in this manner the sway of the Danes overthe Saxons grew so insolent, that they were forced to pay everyyear a small tax for each of their limbs that was a cubit (ell)long, in token of their slavery. This Hanef could not bear, andhe meditated war in his desire to remove the tribute. Steadfastlove of his country filled his heart every day with greatercompassion for the oppressed; and, longing to spend his life forthe freedom of his countrymen, he openly showed a disposition torebel. Frode took his forces over the Elbe, and killed him nearthe village of Hanofra (Hanover), so named after Hanef. ButSwerting, though he was equally moved by the distress of hiscountrymen, said nothing about the ills of his land, and revolveda plan for freedom with a spirit yet more dogged than Hanef's. Men often doubt whether this zeal was liker to vice or to virtue;but I certainly censure it as criminal, because it was producedby a treacherous desire to revolt. It may have seemed mostexpedient to seek the freedom of the country, but it was notlawful to strive after this freedom by craft and treachery.Therefore, since the deed of Swerting was far from honourable,neither will it be called expedient; for it is nobler to attackopenly him whom you mean to attack, and to exhibit hatred in thelight of day, than to disguise a real wish to do harm under aspurious show of friendship. But the gains of crime areinglorious, its fruits are brief and fading. For even as thatsoul is slippery, which hides its insolent treachery by stealthyarts, so is it right that whatsoever is akin to guilt should befrail and fleeting. For guilt has been usually found to comehome to its author; and rumour relates that such was the fate ofSwerting. For he had resolved to surprise the king under thepretence of a banquet, and burn him to death; but the kingforestalled and slew him, though slain by him in return. Hencethe crime of one proved the destruction of both; and thus, thoughthe trick succeeded against the foe, it did not bestow immunityon its author.
Frode was succeeded by his son Ingild, whose soul was pervertedfrom honour. He forsook the examples of his forefathers, andutterly enthralled himself to the lures of the most wantonprofligacy. Thus he had not a shadow of goodness andrighteousness, but embraced vices instead of virtue; he cut thesinews of self-control, neglected the duties of his kinglystation, and sank into a filthy slave of riot. Indeed, hefostered everything that was adverse or ill-fitted to an orderlylife. He tainted the glories of his father and grandfather bypractising the foulest lusts, and bedimmed the brightest honoursof his ancestors by most shameful deeds. For he was so prone togluttony, that he had no desire to avenge his father, or repelthe aggressions of his foes; and so, could he but gratify hisgullet, he thought that decency and self-control need be observedin nothing. By idleness and sloth he stained his gloriouslineage, living a loose and sensual life; and his soul, sodegenerate, so far perverted and astray from the steps of hisfathers, he loved to plunge into most abominable gulfs offoulness. Fowl-fatteners, scullions, frying-pans, countlesscook-houses, different cooks to roast or spice the banquet -- thechoosing of these stood to him for glory. As to arms,soldiering, and wars, he could endure neither to train himself tothem, nor to let others practise them. Thus he cast away all theambitions of a man and aspired to those of women; for hisincontinent itching of palate stirred in him love of everykitchen-stench. Ever breathing of his debauch, and stripped ofevery rag of soberness, with his foul breath he belched theundigested filth in his belly. He was as infamous in wantonnessas Frode was illustrious in war. So utterly had his spirit beenenfeebled by the untimely seductions of gluttony. Starkad was sodisgusted at the excess of Ingild, that he forsook hisfriendship, and sought the fellowship of Halfdan, the King ofSwedes, preferring work to idleness. Thus he could not bear somuch as to countenance excessive indulgence. Now the sons ofSwerting, fearing that they would have to pay to Ingild thepenalty of their father's crime, were fain to forestall hisvengeance by a gift, and gave him their sister in marriage.Antiquity relates that she bore him sons, Frode, Fridleif,Ingild, and Olaf (whom some say was the son of Ingild's sister).
Ingild's sister Helga had been led by amorous wooing to returnthe flame of a certain low-born goldsmith, who was apt for softwords, and furnished with divers of the little gifts which bestcharm a woman's wishes. For since the death of the king therehad been none to honour the virtues of the father by attention tothe child; she had lacked protection, and had no guardians. WhenStarkad had learnt this from the repeated tales of travellers, hecould not bear to let the wantonness of the smith passunpunished. For he was always heedful to bear kindness in mind,and as ready to punish arrogance. So he hastened to chastisesuch bold and enormous insolence, wishing to repay the orphanward the benefits he had of old received from Frode. Then hetravelled through Sweden, went into the house of the smith, andposted himself near the threshold muffling his face in a cap toavoid discovery. The smith, who had not learnt the lesson that"strong hands are sometimes found under a mean garment", reviledhim, and bade him quickly leave the house, saying that he shouldhave the last broken victuals among the crowd of paupers. Butthe old man, whose ingrained self-control lent him patience, wasnevertheless fain to rest there, and gradually study thewantonness of his host. For his reason was stronger than hisimpetuosity, and curbed his increasing rage. Then the smithapproached the girl with open shamelessness, and cast himself inher lap, offering the hair of his head to be combed out by hermaidenly hands.
Also he thrust forward his loin cloth, and required her help inpicking out the fleas; and exacted from this woman of lordlylineage that she should not blush to put her sweet fingers in afoul apron. Then, believing that he was free to have hispleasure, he ventured to put his longing palms within her gownand to set his unsteady hands close to her breast. But she,looking narrowly, was aware of the presence of the old man whomshe once had known, and felt ashamed. She spurned the wanton andlibidinous fingering, and repulsed the unchaste hands, tellingthe man also that he had need of arms, and urging him to ceasehis lewd sport.
Starkad, who had sat down by the door, with the hat muffling hishead, had already become so deeply enraged at this sight, that hecould not find patience to hold his hand any longer, but put awayhis covering and clapped his right hand to his sword to draw it.Then the smith, whose only skill was in lewdness, faltered withsudden alarm, and finding that it had come to fighting, gave upall hope of defending himself, and saw in flight the only remedyfor his need. Thus it was as hard to break out of the door, ofwhich the enemy held the approach, as it was grievous to awaitthe smiter within the house. At last necessity forced him to putan end to his delay, and he judged that a hazard wherein therelay but the smallest chance of safety was more desirable thansure and manifest danger. Also, hard as it was to fly, thedanger being so close, yet he desired flight because it seemed tobring him aid, and to be the nearer way to safety; and he castaside delay, which seemed to be an evil bringing not the smallesthelp, but perhaps irretrievable ruin. But just as he gained thethreshold, the old man watching at the door smote him through thehams, and there, half dead, he tottered and fell. For the smiterthought he ought carefully to avoid lending his illustrious handsto the death of a vile cinder-blower, and considered thatignominy would punish his shameless passion worse than death.Thus some men think that he who suffers misfortune is worsepunished than he who is slain outright. Thus it was broughtabout, that the maiden, who had never had parents to tend her,came to behave like a woman of well-trained nature, and did thepart, as it were, of a zealous guardian to herself. And whenStarkad, looking round, saw that the household sorrowed over thelate loss of their master, he heaped shame on the wounded manwith more invective, and thus began to mock:
"Why is the house silent and aghast? What makes this new grief?Or where now rest that doting husband whom the steel has justpunished for his shameful love? Keeps he still aught of hispride and lazy wantonness? Holds he to his quest, glows his lustas hot as before? Let him while away an hour with me inconverse, and allay with friendly words my hatred of yesterday.Let your visage come forth with better cheer; let not lamentationresound in the house, or suffer the faces to become dulled withsorrow.
"Wishing to know who burned with love for the maiden, and wasdeeply enamoured of my beloved ward, I put on a cap, lest myfamiliar face might betray me. Then comes in that wanton smith,with lewd steps, bending his thighs this way and that withstudied gesture, and likewise making eyes as he ducked all ways.His covering was a mantle fringed with beaver, his sandals wereinlaid with gems, his cloak was decked with gold. Gorgeousribbons bound his plaited hair, and a many-coloured band drewtight his straying locks. Hence grew a sluggish and puffed-uptemper; he fancied that wealth was birth, and money forefathers,and reckoned his fortune more by riches than by blood. Hencecame pride unto him, and arrogance led to fine attire. For thewretch began to think that his dress made him equal to thehigh-born; he, the cinder-blower, who hunts the winds with hides,and puffs with constant draught, who rakes the ashes with hisfingers, and often by drawing back the bellows takes in the air,and with a little fan makes a breath and kindles the smoulderingfires! Then he goes to the lap of the girl, and leaning close,says, `Maiden, comb my hair and catch the skipping fleas, andremove what stings my skin.' Then he sat and spread his armsthat sweated under the gold, lolling on the smooth cushion andleaning back on his elbow, wishing to flaunt his adornment, justas a barking brute unfolds the gathered coils of its twistedtail. But she knew me, and began to check her lover and rebuffhis wanton hands; and, declaring that it was I, she said,`Refrain thy fingers, check thy promptings, take heed to appeasethe old man sitting close by the doors. The sport will turn tosorrow. I think Starkad is here, and his slow gaze scans thydoings.' The smith answered: `Turn not pale at the peacefulraven and the ragged old man; never has that mighty one whom thoufearest stooped to such common and base attire. The strong manloves shining raiment, and looks for clothes to match hiscourage.' Then I uncovered and drew my sword, and as the smithfled I clove his privy parts; his hams were laid open, cut awayfrom the bone; they showed his entrails. Presently I rise andcrush the girl's mouth with my fist, and draw blood from herbruised nostril. Then her lips, used to evil laughter, were wetwith tears mingled with blood, and foolish love paid for all thesins it committed with soft eyes. Over is the sport of thehapless woman who rushed on, blind with desire, like a maddenedmare, and makes her lust the grave of her beauty. Thou deservestto be sold for a price to foreign peoples and to grind at themill, unless blood pressed from thy breasts prove thee falselyaccused, and thy nipple's lack of milk clear thee of the crime.Howbeit, I think thee free from this fault; yet bear not tokensof suspicion, nor lay thyself open to lying tongues, nor givethyself to the chattering populace to gird at. Rumour hurtsmany, and a lying slander often harms. A little word deceivesthe thoughts of common men. Respect thy grandsires, honour thyfathers, forget not thy parents, value thy forefathers; let thyflesh and blood keep its fame. What madness came on thee? Andthou, shameless smith, what fate drove thee in thy lust toattempt a high-born race? Or who sped thee, maiden, worthy ofthe lordliest pillows, to loves obscure? Tell me, how durst thoutaste with thy rosy lips a mouth reeking of ashes, or endure onthy breast hands filthy with charcoal, or bring close to thy sidethe arms that turn the live coals over, and put the palmshardened with the use of the tongs to thy pure cheeks, andembrace the head sprinkled with embers, taking it to thy brightarms?
"I remember how smiths differ from one another, for once theysmote me. All share alike the name of their calling, but thehearts beneath are different in temper. I judge those best whoweld warriors' swords and spears for the battle, whose tempershows their courage, who betoken their hearts by the sternness oftheir calling, whose work declares their prowess. There are alsosome to whom the hollow mould yields bronze, as they make thelikeness of divers things in molten gold, who smelt the veins andrecast the metal. But Nature has fashioned these of a softertemper, and has crushed with cowardice the hands which she hasgifted with rare skill. Often such men, while the heat of theblast melts the bronze that is poured in the mould, craftilyfilch flakes of gold from the lumps, when the vessel thirstsafter the metal they have stolen."
So speaking, Starkad got as much pleasure from his words as fromhis works, and went back to Halfdan, embracing his service withthe closest friendship, and never ceasing from the exercise ofwar; so that he weaned his mind from delights, and vexed it withincessant application to arms.
Now Ingild had two sisters, Helga and Asa; Helga was of full ageto marry, while Asa was younger and unripe for wedlock. ThenHelge the Norwegian was moved with desire to ask for Helga forhis wife, and embarked. Now he had equipped his vessel soluxuriously that he had lordly sails decked with gold, held upalso on gilded masts, and tied with crimson ropes. When hearrived Ingild promised to grant him his wish if, to test hisreputation publicly, he would first venture to meet in battle thechampions pitted against him. Helge did not flinch at the terms;he answered that he would most gladly abide by the compact. Andso the troth-plight of the future marriage was most ceremoniouslysolemnized.
A story is remembered that there had grown up at the same time, on the Isle of Zealand, the nine sons of a certain prince, allhighly gifted with strength and valour, the eldest of whom wasAnganty. This last was a rival suitor for the same maiden; andwhen he saw that the match which he had been denied was promisedto Helge, he challenged him to a struggle, wishing to fight awayhis vexation. Helge agreed to the proposed combat. The hour ofthe fight was appointed for the wedding-day by the common wish ofboth. For any man who, being challenged, refused to fight, usedto be covered with disgrace in the sight of all men. Thus Helgewas tortured on the one side by the shame of refusing the battle,on the other by the dread of waging it. For he thought himselfattacked unfairly and counter to the universal laws of combat, ashe had apparently undertaken to fight nine men single-handed.While he was thus reflecting his betrothed told him that he wouldneed help, and counselled him to refrain from the battle, whereinit seemed he would encounter only death and disgrace, especiallyas he had not stipulated for any definite limit to the number ofthose who were to be his opponents. He should therefore avoidthe peril, and consult his safety by appealing to Starkad, whowas sojourning among the Swedes; since it was his way to help thedistressed, and often to interpose successfully to retrieve somedismal mischance.
Then Helge, who liked the counsel thus given very well, took asmall escort and went into Sweden; and when he reached its mostfamous city, Upsala, he forbore to enter, but sent in a messengerwho was to invite Starkad to the wedding of Frode's daughter,after first greeting him respectfully to try him. This courtesystung Starkad like an insult. He looked sternly on the youth,and said, "That had he not had his beloved Frode named in hisinstructions, he should have paid dearly for his senselessmission. He must think that Starkad, like some buffoon ortrencherman, was accustomed to rush off to the reek of a distantkitchen for the sake of a richer diet." Helge, when his servanthad told him this, greeted the old man in the name of Frode'sdaughter, and asked him to share a battle which he had acceptedupon being challenged, saying that he was not equal to it byhimself, the terms of the agreement being such as to leave thenumber of his adversaries uncertain. Starkad, when he had heardthe time and place of the combat, not only received the suppliantwell, but also encouraged him with the offer of aid, and told himto go back to Denmark with his companions, telling him that hewould find his way to him by a short and secret path. Helgedeparted, and if we may trust report, Starkad, by sheer speed offoot, travelled in one day's journeying over as great a space asthose who went before him are said to have accomplished intwelve; so that both parties, by a chance meeting, reached theirjourney's end, the palace of Ingild, at the very same time. HereStarkad passed, just as the servants did, along the tables filledwith guests; and the aforementioned nine, howling horribly withrepulsive gestures, and running about as if they were on thestage, encouraged one another to the battle. Some say that theybarked like furious dogs at the champion as he approached. Starkad rebuked them for making themselves look ridiculous withsuch an unnatural visage, and for clowning with wide grinningcheeks; for from this, he declared, soft and effeminateprofligates derived their wanton incontinence. When Starkad wasasked banteringly by the nine whether he had valour enough tofight, he answered that doubtless he was strong enough to meet,not merely one, but any number that might come against him. Andwhen the nine heard this they understood that this was the manwhom they had heard would come to the succour of Helge from afar.Starkad also, to protect the bride-chamber with a more diligentguard, voluntarily took charge of the watch; and, drawing backthe doors of the bedroom, barred them with a sword instead of abolt, meaning to post himself so as to give undisturbed quiet totheir bridal.
When Helge woke, and, shaking off the torpor of sleep, rememberedhis pledge, he thought of buckling on his armour. But, seeingthat a little of the darkness of night yet remained, and wishingto wait for the hour of dawn, he began to ponder the perilousbusiness at hand, when sleep stole on him and sweetly seized him,so that he took himself back to bed laden with slumber. Starkad,coming in on him at daybreak, saw him locked asleep in the armsof his wife, and would not suffer him to be vexed with a suddenshock, or summoned from his quiet slumbers; lest he should seemto usurp the duty of wakening him and breaking upon the sweetnessof so new a union, all because of cowardice. He thought it,therefore, more handsome to meet the peril alone than to gain acomrade by disturbing the pleasure of another. So he quietlyretraced his steps, and scorning his enemies, entered the fieldwhich in our tongue is called Roliung, and finding a seat underthe slope of a certain hill, he exposed himself to wind and snow.Then, as though the gentle airs of spring weather were breathingupon him, he put off his cloak, and set to picking out the fleas.He also cast on the briars a purple mantle which Helga had latelygiven him, that no clothing might seem to lend him shelteragainst the raging shafts of hail. Then the champions came andclimbed the hill on the opposite side; and, seeking a spotsheltered from the winds wherein to sit, they lit a fire anddrove off the cold. At last, not seeing Starkad, they sent a manto the crest of the hill, to watch his coming more clearly, asfrom a watch-tower. This man climbed to the top of the loftymountain, and saw, on its sloping side, an old man coveredshoulder-high with the snow that showered down. He asked him ifhe was the man who was to fight according to the promise. Starkad declared that he was. Then the rest came up and askedhim whether he had resolved to meet them all at once or one byone. But he said, "Whenever a surly pack of curs yelps at me, Icommonly send them flying all at once, and not in turn." Thus helet them know that he would rather fight with-them all togetherthan one by one, thinking that his enemies should be spurned withwords first and deeds afterwards.
The fight began furiously almost immediately, and he felled sixof them without receiving any wound in return; and though theremaining three wounded him so hard in seventeen places that mostof his bowels gushed out of his belly, he slew themnotwithstanding, like their brethren. Disembowelled, withfailing strength, he suffered from dreadful straits of thirst,and, crawling on his knees in his desire to find a draught, helonged for water from the streamlet that ran close by. But whenhe saw it was tainted with gore he was disgusted at the look ofthe water, and refrained from its infected draught. For Angantyhad been struck down in the waves of the river, and had dyed itscourse so deep with his red blood that it seemed now to flow notwith water, but with some ruddy liquid. So Starkad thought itnobler that his bodily strength should fail than that he shouldborrow strength from so foul a beverage. Therefore, his forcebeing all but spent, he wriggled on his knees, up to a rock thathappened to be lying near, and for some little while lay leaningagainst it. A hollow in its surface is still to be seen, just asif his weight as he lay had marked it with a distinct impressionof his body. But I think this appearance is due to humanhandiwork, for it seems to pass all belief that the hard anduncleavable rock should so imitate the softness of wax, as,merely by the contact of a man leaning on it, to present theappearance of a man having sat there, and assume concavity forever.
A certain man, who chanced to be passing by in a cart, sawStarkad wounded almost all over his body. Equally aghast andamazed, he turned and drove closer, asking what reward he shouldhave if he were to tend and heal his wounds. But Starkad wouldrather be tortured by grievous wounds than use the service of aman of base estate, and first asked his birth and calling. Theman said that his profession was that of a sergeant. Starkad,not content with despising him, also spurned him with revilings,because, neglecting all honourable business, he followed thecalling of a hanger-on; and because he had tarnished his wholecareer with ill repute, thinking the losses of the poor his owngains; suffering none to be innocent, ready to inflict wrongfulaccusation upon all men, most delighted at any lamentable turn inthe fortunes of another; and toiling most at his own design,namely of treacherously spying out all men's doings, and seekingsome traitorous occasion to censure the character of theinnocent.
As this first man departed, another came up, promising aid andremedies. Like the last comer, he was bidden to declare hiscondition; and he said that he had a certain man's handmaid towife, and was doing peasant service to her master in order to sether free. Starkad refused to accept his help, because he hadmarried in a shameful way by taking a slave to his embrace. Hadhe had a shred of virtue he should at least have disdained to beintimate with the slave of another, but should have enjoyed somefreeborn partner of his bed. What a mighty man, then, must wedeem Starkad, who, when enveloped in the most deadly perils,showed himself as great in refusing aid as in receiving wounds!
When this man departed a woman chanced to approach and walk pastthe old man. She came up to him in order to wipe his wounds, butwas first bidden to declare what was her birth and calling. Shesaid that she was a handmaid used to grinding at the mill. Starkad then asked her if she had children; and when he was toldthat she had a female child, he told her to go home and give thebreast to her squalling daughter; for he thought it most uncomelythat he should borrow help from a woman of the lowest degree.Moreover, he knew that she could nourish her own flesh and bloodwith milk better than she could minister to the wounds of astranger.
As the woman was departing, a young man came riding up in a cart.He saw the old man, and drew near to minister to his wounds. Onbeing asked who he was, he said his father was a labourer, andadded that he was used to the labours of a peasant. Starkadpraised his origin, and pronounced that his calling was also mostworthy of honour; for, he said, such men sought a livelihood byhonourable traffic in their labour, inasmuch as they knew not ofany gain, save what they had earned by the sweat of their brow.He also thought that a country life was justly to be preferredeven to the most splendid riches; for the most wholesome fruitsof it seemed to be born and reared in the shelter of a middleestate, halfway between magnificence and squalor. But he did notwish to pass the kindness of the youth unrequited, and rewardedthe esteem he had shown him with the mantle he had cast among thethorns. So the peasant's son approached, replaced the parts ofhis belly that had been torn away, and bound up with a plait ofwithies the mass of intestines that had fallen out. Then he tookthe old man to his car, and with the most zealous respect carriedhim away to the palace.
Meantime Helga, in language betokening the greatest wariness,began to instruct her husband, saying that she knew that Starkad,as soon as he came back from conquering the champions, wouldpunish him for his absence, thinking that he had inclined more tosloth and lust than to his promise to fight as appointed. Therefore he must withstand Starkad boldly, because he alwaysspared the brave but loathed the coward. Helge respected equallyher prophecy and her counsel, and braced his soul and body with aglow of valorous enterprise. Starkad, when he had been driven tothe palace, heedless of the pain of his wounds, leaped swiftlyout of the cart, and just like a man who was well from top totoe, burst into the bridal-chamber, shattering the doors with hisfist. Then Helge leapt from his bed, and, as he had been taughtby the counsel of his wife, plunged his blade full at Starkad'sforehead. And since he seemed to be meditating a second blow,and to be about to make another thrust with his sword, Helga flewquickly from the couch, caught up a shield, and, by interposingit, saved the old man from impending destruction; for,notwithstanding, Helge with a stronger stroke of his blade smotethe shield right through to the boss. Thus the praiseworthy witof the woman aided her friend, and her hand saved him whom hercounsel had injured; for she protected the old man by her deed,as well as her husband by her warning. Starkad was induced bythis to let Helge go scot-free; saying that a man whose ready andassured courage so surely betokened manliness, ought to bespared; for he vowed that a man ill deserved death whose bravespirit was graced with such a dogged will to resist.
Starkad went back to Sweden before his wounds had been treatedwith medicine, or covered with a single scar. Halfdan had beenkilled by his rivals; and Starkad, after quelling certain rebels,set up Siward as the heir to his father's sovereignty. With himhe sojourned a long time; but when he heard -- for the rumourspread -- that Ingild, the son of Frode (who had beentreacherously slain), was perversely minded, and instead ofpunishing his father's murderers, bestowed upon them kindness andfriendship, he was vexed with stinging wrath at so dreadful acrime. And, resenting that a youth of such great parts shouldhave renounced his descent from his glorious father, he hung onhis shoulders a mighty mass of charcoal, as though it were somecostly burden, and made his way to Denmark. When asked by thosehe met why he was taking along so unusual a load, he said that hewould sharpen the dull wits of King Ingild to a point by bits ofcharcoal. So he accomplished a swift and headlong journey, asthough at a single breath, by a short and speedy track; and atlast, becoming the guest of Ingild, he went up, as his customwas, in to the seat appointed for the great men; for he had been used to occupy the highest post of distinction with the kings ofthe last generation.
When the queen came in, and saw him covered over with filth andclad in the mean, patched clothes of a peasant, the ugliness ofher guest's dress made her judge him with little heed; and,measuring the man by the clothes, she reproached him withcrassness of wit, because he had gone before greater men intaking his place at table, and had assumed a seat that was toogood for his boorish attire. She bade him quit the place, thathe might not touch the cushions with his dress, which was foulerthan it should have been. For she put down to crassness andbrazenness what Starkad only did from proper pride; she knew notthat on a high seat of honour the mind sometimes shines brighterthan the raiment. The spirited old man obeyed, though vexed atthe rebuff, and with marvellous self-control choked down theinsult which his bravery so ill deserved; uttering at thisdisgrace he had received neither word nor groan. But he couldnot long bear to hide the bitterness of his anger in silence.Rising, and retreating to the furthest end of the palace, heflung his body against the walls; and strong as they were, he sobattered them with the shock, that the beams quaked mightily; andhe nearly brought the house down in a crash. Thus, stung notonly with his rebuff, but with the shame of having poverty castin his teeth, he unsheathed his wrath against the insultingspeech of the queen with inexorable sternness.
Ingild, on his return from hunting, scanned him closely, and,when he noticed that he neither looked cheerfully about, nor paidhim the respect of rising, saw by the sternness written on hisbrow that it was Starkad. For when he noted his hands horny withfighting, his scars in front, the force and fire of his eye, heperceived that a man whose body was seamed with so many traces ofwounds had no weakling soul. He therefore rebuked his wife, andcharged her roundly to put away her haughty tempers, and tosoothe and soften with kind words and gentle offices the man shehad reviled; to comfort him with food and drink, and refresh himwith kindly converse; saying, that this man had been appointedhis tutor by his father long ago, and had been a most tenderguardian of his childhood. Then, learning too late the temper ofthe old man, she turned her harshness into gentleness, andrespectfully waited on him whom she had rebuffed and railed atwith bitter revilings. The angry hostess changed her part, andbecame the most fawning of flatterers. She wished to check hisanger with her attentiveness; and her fault was the less,inasmuch as she was so quick in ministering to him after she hadbeen chidden. But she paid dearly for it, for she presentlybeheld stained with the blood of her brethren the place where shehad flouted and rebuffed the brave old man from his seat.
Now, in the evening, Ingild took his meal with the sons ofSwerting, and fell to a magnificent feast, loading the tableswith the profusest dishes. With friendly invitation he kept theold man back from leaving the revel too early; as though thedelights of elaborate dainties could have undermined that staunchand sturdy virtue! But when Starkad had set eyes on thesethings, he scorned so wanton a use of them; and, not to give waya whit to foreign fashions, he steeled his appetite against thesetempting delicacies with the self-restraint which was hisgreatest strength. He would not suffer his repute as a soldierto be impaired by the allurements of an orgy. For his valourloved thrift, and was a stranger to all superfluity of food, andaverse to feasting in excess. For his was a courage which neverat any moment had time to make luxury of aught account, andalways forewent pleasure to pay due heed to virtue. So, when hesaw that the antique character of self-restraint, and all goodold customs, were being corrupted by new-fangled luxury andsumptuosity, he wished to be provided with a morsel fitter for apeasant, and scorned the costly and lavish feast.
Spurning profuse indulgence in food, Starkad took some smoky andrather rancid fare, appeasing his hunger with a bitter relishbecause more simply; and being unwilling to enfeeble his truevalour with the tainted sweetness of sophisticated foreigndainties, or break the rule of antique plainness by such strangeidolatries of the belly. He was also very wroth that they shouldgo, to the extravagance of having the same meat both roasted andboiled at the same meal; for he considered an eatable which wassteeped in the vapours of the kitchen, and which the skill of thecook rubbed over with many kinds of flavours, in the light of amonstrosity.
Unlike Starkad Ingild flung the example of his ancestors to thewinds, and gave himself freer licence of innovation in thefashions of the table than the custom of his fathers allowed. For when he had once abandoned himself to the manners ofTeutonland, he did not blush to yield to its unmanly wantonness.No slight incentives to debauchery have flowed down our country'sthroat from that sink of a land. Hence came magnificent dishes,sumptuous kitchens, the base service of cooks, and all sorts ofabominable sausages. Hence came our adoption, wandering from theways of our fathers, of a more dissolute dress. Thus ourcountry, which cherished self-restraint as its native quality,has gone begging to our neighbours for luxury; whose allurementsso charmed Ingild, that he did not think it shameful to requitewrongs with kindness; nor did the grievous murder of his fathermake him heave one sigh of bitterness when it crossed his mind.
But the queen would not depart without effecting her purpose.Thinking that presents would be the best way to banish the oldman's anger, she took off her own head a band of marvelloushandiwork, and put it in his lap as he supped: desiring to buyhis favour since she could not blunt his courage. But Starkad,whose bitter resentment was not yet abated, flung it back in theface of the giver, thinking that in such a gift there was morescorn than respect. And he was wise not to put this strangeornament of female dress upon the head that was all bescarred andused to the helmet; for he knew that the locks of a man ought notto wear a woman's head-band. Thus he avenged slight with slight,and repaid with retorted scorn the disdain he had received;thereby bearing himself well-nigh as nobly in avenging hisdisgrace as he had borne himself in enduring it.
To the soul of Starkad reverence for Frode was grappled withhooks of love. Drawn to him by deeds of bounty, countlesskindnesses, he could not be wheedled into giving up his purposeof revenge by any sort of alluring complaisance. Even now, whenFrode was no more, he was eager to pay the gratitude due to hisbenefits, and to requite the kindness of the dead, whose lovingdisposition and generous friendship he had experienced while helived. For he bore graven so deeply in his heart the grievouspicture of Frode's murder, that his honour for that most famouscaptain could never be plucked from the inmost chamber of hissoul; and therefore he did not hesitate to rank his ancientfriendship before the present kindness. Besides, when herecalled the previous affront, he could not thank thecomplaisance that followed; he could not put aside thedisgraceful wound to his self-respect. For the memory ofbenefits or injuries ever sticks more firmly in the minds ofbrave men than in those of weaklings. For he had not the habitsof those who follow their friends in prosperity and quit them inadversity, who pay more regard to fortune than to looks, and sitcloser to their own gain than to charity toward others.
But the woman held to her purpose, seeing that even so she couldnot win the old man to convivial mirth. Continuing with yet morelavish courtesy her efforts to soothe him, and to heap morehonours on the guest, she bade a piper strike up, and startedmusic to melt his unbending rage. For she wanted to unnerve hisstubborn nature by means of cunning sounds. But the cajolery ofpipe or string was just as powerless to enfeeble that doggedwarrior. When he heard it, he felt that the respect paid himsavoured more of pretence than of love. Hence the crestfallenperformer seemed to be playing to a statue rather than a man, andlearnt that it is vain for buffoons to assail with, their tricksa settled and weighty sternness, and that a mighty mass cannot beshaken with the idle puffing of the lips. For Starkad had sethis face so firmly in his stubborn wrath, that he seemed not awhit easier to move than ever. For the inflexibility which heowed his vows was not softened either by the strain of the luteor the enticements of the palate; and he thought that morerespect should be paid to his strenuous and manly purpose than tothe tickling of the ears or the lures of the feast. Accordinglyhe flung the bone, which he had stripped in eating the meat, inthe face of the harlequin, and drove the wind violently out ofhis puffed cheeks, so that they collapsed. By this he showed howhis austerity loathed the clatter of the stage; for his ears werestopped with anger and open to no influence of delight. Thisreward, befitting an actor, punished an unseemly performance witha shameful wage. For Starkad excellently judged the man'sdeserts, and bestowed a shankbone for the piper to pipe on,requiting his soft service with a hard fee. None could saywhether the actor piped or wept the louder; he showed by hisbitter flood of tears how little place bravery has in the breastsof the dissolute. For the fellow was a mere minion of pleasure,and had never learnt to bear the assaults of calamity. Thisman's hurt was ominous of the carnage that was to follow at thefeast. Right well did Starkad's spirit, heedful of sternness,hold with stubborn gravity to steadfast revenge; for he was asmuch disgusted at the lute as others were delighted, and repaidthe unwelcome service by insultingly flinging a bone; thusavowing that he owed a greater debt to the glorious dust of hismighty friend than to his shameless and infamous ward.
But when Starkad saw that the slayers of Frode were in highfavour with the king, his stern glances expressed the mightywrath which he harboured, and his face betrayed what he felt. The visible fury of his gaze betokened the secret tempest in hisheart. At last, when Ingild tried to appease him with royalfare, he spurned the dainty. Satisfied with cheap and commonfood, he utterly spurned outlandish delicacies; he was used toplain diet, and would not pamper his palate with any delightfulflavour. When he was asked why he had refused the generousattention of the king with such a clouded brow, he said that hehad come to Denmark to find the son of Frode, not a man whocrammed his proud and gluttonous stomach with rich elaboratefeasts. For the Teuton extravagance which the king favoured hadled him, in his longing for the pleasures of abundance, to set tothe fire again, for roasting, dishes which had been alreadyboiled. Thereupon he could not forbear from attacking Ingild'scharacter, but poured out the whole bitterness of his reproacheson his head. He condemned his unfilial spirit, because he gapedwith repletion and vented his squeamishness in filthy hawkings;because, following the lures of the Saxons, he strayed anddeparted far from soberness; because he was so lacking in manhoodas not to pursue even the faintest shadow of it. But, declaredStarkad, he bore the heaviest load of infamy, because, even whenhe first began to see service, he forgot to avenge his father, towhose butchers, forsaking the law of nature, he was kind andattentive. Men whose deserts were most vile he welcomed withloving affection; and not only did he let those go scot-free,whom he should have punished most sharply, but he even judgedthem fit persons to live with and entertain at his table, whereashe should rather have put them to death. Hereupon Starkad isalso said to have sung as follows:
"Let the unwarlike youth yield to the aged, let him honour allthe years of him that is old. When a man is brave, let nonereproach the number of his days.
"Though the hair of the ancient whiten with age, their valourstays still the same; nor shall the lapse of time have power toweaken their manly heart.
"I am elbowed away by the offensive guest, who taints with vicehis outward show of goodness, whilst he is the slave of his bellyand prefers his daily dainties to anything.
"When I was counted as a comrade of Frode, I ever sat in themidst of warriors on a high seat in the hall, and I was the firstof the princes to take my meal.
"Now, the lot of a nobler age is reversed; I am shut in a corner,I am like the fish that seeks shelter as it wanders to and frohidden in the waters.
"I, who used surely in the former age to lie back on a couchhandsomely spread, am now thrust among the hindmost and drivenfrom the crowded hall.
"Perchance I had been driven on my back at the doors, had not thewall struck my side and turned me back, and had not the beam, inthe way made it hard for me to fly when I was thrust forth.
"I am baited with the jeers of the court-folk; I am not receivedas a guest should be; I am girded at with harsh gibing, and stungwith babbling taunts.
"I am a stranger, and would gladly know what news are spreadabroad by busy rumour; what is the course of events; what theorder of the land; what is doing in your country.
"Thou, Ingild, buried in sin, why dost thou tarry in the task ofavenging thy father? Wilt thou think tranquilly of the slaughterof thy righteous sire?
"Why dost thou, sluggard, think only of feasting, and lean thybelly back in ease, more effeminate than harlots? Is theavenging of thy slaughtered father a little thing to thee?
"When last I left thee, Frode, I learned by my prophetic soulthat thou, mightiest of kings, wouldst surely perish by the swordof enemies.
"And while I travelled long in the land, a warning groan rose inmy soul, which augured that thereafter I was never to see theemore.
"Wo is me, that then I was far away, harrying the farthestpeoples of the earth, when the traitorous guest aimed craftily atthe throat of his king.
"Else I would either have shown myself the avenger of my lord, orhave shared his fate and fallen where he fell, and would joyfullyhave followed the blessed king in one and the same death.
"I have not come to indulge in gluttonous feasting, the sinwhereof I will strive to chastise; nor will I take mine ease, northe delights of the fat belly.
"No famous king has ever set me before in the middle by thestrangers. I have been wont to sit in the highest seats amongfriends.
"I have come from Sweden, travelling over wide lands, thinkingthat I should be rewarded, if only I had the joy to find the sonof my beloved Frode.
"But I sought a brave man, and I have come to a glutton, a kingwho is the slave of his belly and of vice, whose liking has beenturned back towards wantonness by filthy pleasure.
"Famous is the speech men think that Halfdan spoke: he warned usit would soon come to pass that an understanding father shouldbeget a witless son.
"Though the heir be deemed degenerate, I will not suffer thewealth of mighty Frode to profit strangers or to be made publiclike plunder."
At these words the queen trembled, and she took from her head theribbon with which she happened, in woman's fashion, to beadorning her hair, and proffered it to the enraged old man, asthough she could avert his anger with a gift. Starkad in angerflung it back most ignominiously in the face of the giver, andbegan again in a loud voice:
"Take hence, I pray thee, thy woman's gift, and set back thyheadgear on thy head; no brave man assumes the chaplets thatbefit Love only.
"For it is amiss that the hair of men that are ready for battleshould be bound back with wreathed gold; such attire is right forthe throngs of the soft and effeminate.
"But take this gift to thy husband, who loves luxury, whosefinger itches, while he turns over the rump and handles the fleshof the bird roasted brown.
"The flighty and skittish wife of Ingild longs to observe thefashions of the Teutons; she prepares the orgy and makes readythe artificial dainties.
"For she tickles the palate with a new-fangled feast; she pursuesthe zest of an unknown flavour, raging to load all the tableswith dishes yet more richly than before.
"She gives her lord wine to drink in bowls, pondering all thingswith zealous preparation; she bids the cooked meats be roasted,and intends them for a second fire.
"Wantonly she feeds her husband like a hog; a shameless whore,trusting....
"She roasts the boiled, and recooks the roasted meats, planningthe meal with spendthrift extravagance, careless of right andwrong, practising sin, a foul woman.
"Wanton in arrogance, a soldier of Love, longing for dainties,she abjures the fair ways of self-control, and also providesdevices for gluttony.
"With craving stomach she desires turnip strained in a smoothpan, cakes with thin juice, and shellfish in rows.
"I do not remember the Great Frode putting his hand to the sinewsof birds, or tearing the rump of a cooked fowl with crookedthumb.
"What former king could have been so gluttonous as to stir thestinking filthy flesh, or rummage in the foul back of a bird withplucking fingers?
"The food of valiant men is raw; no need, methinks, of sumptuoustables for those whose stubborn souls are bent on warfare.
"It had been fitter for thee to have torn the stiff beard, bitinghard with thy teeth, than greedily to have drained the bowl ofmilk with thy wide mouth.
"We fled from the offence of the sumptuous kitchen; we stayed ourstomach with rancid fare; few in the old days loved cookedjuices.
"A dish with no sauce of herbs gave us the flesh of rams andswine. We partook temperately, tainting nothing with boldexcess.
"Thou who now lickest the milk-white fat, put on, prithee, thespirit of a man; remember Frode, and avenge thy father's death.
"The worthless and cowardly heart shall perish, and shall notparry the thrust of death by flight, though it bury itself in avalley, or crouch in darkling dens.
"Once we were eleven princes, devoted followers of King Hakon,and here Geigad sat above Helge in the order of the meal.
"Geigad used to appease the first pangs of hunger with a dry rumpof ham; and plenty of hard crust quelled the craving of hisstomach.
"No one asked for a sickly morsel; all took their food in common;the meal of mighty men cost but slight display.
"The commons shunned foreign victual, and the greatest lusted notfor a feast; even the king remembered to live temperately atlittle cost.
"Scorning to look at the mead, he drank the fermented juice ofCeres; he shrank not from the use of undercooked meats, and hatedthe roast.
"The board used to stand with slight display, a modest salt-cellar showed the measure of its cost; lest the wise ways ofantiquity should in any wise be changed by foreign usage.
"Of old, no man put flagons or mixing-bowls on the tables; thesteward filled the cup from the butt, and there was no abundanceof adorned vessels.
"No one who honoured past ages put the smooth wine-jars besidethe tankards, and of old no bedizened lackey heaped the platterwith dainties.
"Nor did the vainglorious host deck the meal with little salt-shell or smooth cup; but all has been now abolished in shamefulwise by the new-fangled manners.
"Who would ever have borne to take money in ransom for the deathof a lost parent, or to have asked a foe for a gift to atone forthe murder of a father?
"What strong heir or well-starred son would have sat side by sidewith such as these, letting a shameful bargain utterly unnervethe warrior?
"Wherefore, when the honours of kings are sung, and bards relatethe victories of captains, I hide my face for shame in my mantle,sick at heart.
"For nothing shines in thy trophies, worthy to be recorded by thepen; no heir of Frode is named in the roll of the honourable.
"Why dost thou vex me with insolent gaze, thou who honourest thefoe guilty of thy father's blood, and art thought only to takethy vengeance with loaves and warm soup?
"When men speak well of the avengers of crimes, then long thou tolose thy quick power of hearing, that thy impious spirit may notbe ashamed.
"For oft has the virtue of another vexed a heart that knows itsguilt, and the malice in the breast is abashed by the fair reportof the good.
"Though thou go to the East, or live sequestered in the countriesof the West, or whether, driven thence, thou seek the midmostplace of the earth;
"Whether thou revisit the cold quarter of the heaven where thepole is to be seen, and carries on the sphere with its swiftspin, and looks down upon the neighbouring Bear;
"Shame shall accompany thee far, and shall smite thy countenancewith heavy disgrace, when the united assembly of the great kingsis taking pastime.
"Since everlasting dishonour awaits thee, thou canst not comeamidst the ranks of the famous; and in every clime thou shaltpass thy days in infamy.
"The fates have given Frode an offspring born into the world whengods were adverse, whose desires have been enthralled by crimeand ignoble lust.
"Even as in a ship all things foul gather to the filthy hollow ofthe bilge, even so hath a flood of vices poured into Ingild.
"Therefore, in terror of thy shame being published, thou shaltlie crushed in the corners of the land, sluggish on thy foulhearth, and never to be seen in the array of the famous.
"Then shalt thou shake thy beard at thine evil fate, kept down bythe taunts of thy mistresses, when thy paramour galls thy earwith her querulous cries.
"Since chill fear retards thy soul, and thou dreadest to becomethe avenger of thy sire, thou art utterly degenerate, and thyways are like a slave's.
"It would have needed scant preparation to destroy thee; even asif a man should catch and cut the throat of a kid, or slit theweazand of a soft sheep and butcher it.
"Behold, a son of the tyrant Swerting shall take the inheritanceof Denmark after thee; he whose slothful sister thou keepest ininfamous union.
"Whilst thou delightest to honour thy bride, laden with gems andshining in gold apparel, we burn with all indignation that islinked with shame, lamenting thy infamies.
"When thou art stirred by furious lust, our mind is troubled, andrecalls the fashion of ancient times, and bids us grieve sorely.
"For we rate otherwise than thou the crime of the foes whom nowthou holdest in honour; wherefore the face of this age is aburden to me, remembering the ancient ways.
"I would crave no greater blessing, O Frode, if I might see thoseguilty of thy murder duly punished for such a crime."
Now he prevailed so well by this stirring counsel, that hisreproach served like a flint wherewith to strike a blazing flameof valour in the soul that had been chill and slack. For theking had at first heard the song inattentively; but, stirred bythe earnest admonition of his guardian, he conceived in his hearta tardy fire of revenge; and, forgetting the reveller, he changedinto the foeman. At last he leapt up from where he lay, andpoured the whole flood of his anger on those at table with him;insomuch that he unsheathed his sword upon the sons of Swertingwith bloody ruthlessness, and aimed with drawn blade at thethroats of those whose gullets he had pampered with the pleasuresof the table. These men he forthwith slew; and by so doing hedrowned the holy rites of the table in blood. He sundered thefeeble bond of their league, and exchanged a shameful revel forenormous cruelty; the host became the foe, and that vilest slaveof excess the bloodthirsty agent of revenge. For the vigorouspleading of his counsellor bred a breath of courage in his softand unmanly youth; it drew out his valour from its lurking-place,and renewed it, and so fashioned it that the authors of a mostgrievous murder were punished even as they deserved. For theyoung man's valour had been not quenched, but only in exile, andthe aid of an old man had drawn it out into the light; and it accomplished a deed which was all the greater for its tardiness;for it was somewhat nobler to steep the cups in blood than inwine. What a spirit, then, must we think that old man had, whoby his eloquent adjuration expelled from that king's mind itsinfinite sin, and who, bursting the bonds of iniquity, implanteda most effectual seed of virtue. Starkad aided the king withequal achievements; and not only showed the most complete couragein his own person, but summoned back that which had been rootedout of the heart of another. When the deed was done, he thusbegun:
"King Ingild, farewell; thy heart, full of valour, hath now showna deed of daring. The spirit that reigns in thy body is revealedby its fair beginning; nor did there lack deep counsel in thyheart, though thou wert silent till this hour; for thou dostredress by thy bravery what delay had lost, and redeemest thesloth of thy spirit by mighty valour. Come now, let us rout therest, and let none escape the peril which all alike deserve. Letthe crime come home to the culprit; let the sin return and crushits contriver.
"Let the servants take up in a car the bodies of the slain, andlet the attendant quickly bear out the carcases. Justly shallthey lack the last rites; they are unworthy to be covered with amound; let no funeral procession or pyre suffer them the holyhonour of a barrow; let them be scattered to rot in the fields,to be consumed by the beaks of birds; let them taint the countryall about with their deadly corruption.
"Do thou too, king, if thou hast any wit, flee thy savage bride,lest the she-wolf bring forth a litter like herself, and a beastspring from thee that shall hurt its own father.
"Tell me, Rote, continual derider of cowards, thinkest thou thatwe have avenged Frode enough, when we have spent seven deaths onthe vengeance of one? Lo, those are borne out dead who paidhomage not to thy sway in deed, but only in show, and thoughobsequious they planned treachery. But I always cherished thishope, that noble fathers have noble offspring, who will follow intheir character the lot which they received by their birth.Therefore, Ingild, better now than in time past dost thou deserveto be called lord of Leire and of Denmark.
"When, O King Hakon, I was a beardless youth, and followed thyleading and command in warfare, I hated luxury and wanton souls,and practiced only wars. Training body and mind together, Ibanished every unholy thing from my soul, and shunned thepleasures of the belly, loving deeds of prowess. For those thatfollowed the calling of arms had rough clothing and common gearand short slumbers and scanty rest. Toil drove ease far away,and the time ran by at scanty cost. Not as with some men now,the light of whose reason is obscured by insatiate greed with itsblind maw. Some one of these clad in a covering of curiouslywrought raiment effeminately guides the fleet-footed (steed), andunknots his dishevelled locks, and lets his hair fly abroadloosely.
"He loves to plead often in the court, and to covet a basepittance, and with this pursuit he comforts his sluggish life,doing with venal tongue the business entrusted to him.
"He outrages the laws by force, he makes armed assault upon men'srights, he tramples on the innocent, he feeds on the wealth ofothers, he practices debauchery and gluttony, he vexes goodfellowship with biting jeers, and goes after harlots as a hoeafter the grass.
"The coward falls when battles are lulled in peace. Though hewho fears death lie in the heart of the valley, no mantlet shallshelter him. His final fate carries off every living man; doomis not to be averted by skulking. But I, who have shaken thewhole world with my slaughters, shall I enjoy a peaceful death?Shall I be taken up to the stars in a quiet end? Shall I die inmy bed without a wound?"