ther
king--would rather be ranked a king's wife than daughter. It is better
to embrace a monarch in one's home, than to give him homage from afar;
it is nobler to be a king's bride than his courtier. Thou, too, must
surely prefer thyself to thy wife's father for bearing the sceptre; for
nature has made each one nearest to himself. If there be a will for the
deed, a way will open; there is nothing but yields to the wit of man.
The feast must be kept, the banquet decked, the preparations looked
to, and my father bidden. The path to treachery shall be smoothed by a
pretence of friendship, for nothing cloaks a snare better than the name
of kindred. Also his soddenness shall open a short way to his slaughter;
for when the king shall be intent upon the dressing of his hair, and his
hand is upon his beard and his mind upon stories; when he has parted his
knotted locks, either with hairpin or disentangling comb, then let
him feel the touch of the steel in his flesh. Busy men commonly devise
little precaution. Let thy hand draw near to punish all his sins. It is
a righteous deed to put forth thy hand to avenge the wretched!"

Thus Ulfhild importuned, and her husband was overcome by her promptings,
and promised his help to the treachery. But meantime Hadding was warned
in a dream to beware of his son-in-law's guile. He went to the feast,
which his daughter had made ready for him with a show of love, and
posted an armed guard hard by to use against the treachery when need
was. As he ate, the henchman who was employed to do the deed of guile
silently awaited a fitting moment for his crime, his dagger hid under
his robe. The king, remarking him, blew on the trumpet a signal to the
soldiers who were stationed near; they straightway brought aid, and he
made the guile recoil on its deviser.

Meanwhile Hunding, King of the Swedes, heard false tidings that Hadding
was dead, and resolved to greet them with obsequies. So he gathered his
nobles together, and filled a jar of extraordinary size with ale, and
had this set in the midst of the feasters for their delight, and,
to omit no mark of solemnity, himself assumed a servant's part, not
hesitating to play the cupbearer. And while he was passing through the
palace in fulfilment of his office, he stumbled and fell into the jar,
and, being choked by the liquor, gave up the ghost; thus atoning either
to Orcus, whom he was appeasing by a baseless performance of the rites,
or to Hadding, about