oller's shield and deprived him of it,
and at last hewed off his foot and drove him lifeless to the ground.
Then, not to fail of his compact, he buried him royally, gave him a howe
of lordly make and pompous obsequies. Then he pursued and slew Koller's
sister Sela, who was a skilled warrior and experienced in roving.

He had now passed three years in valiant deeds of war; and, in order to
win higher rank in Rorik's favour, he assigned to him the best trophies
and the pick of the plunder. His friendship with Rorik enabled him
to woo and will in marriage his daughter Gerutha, who bore him a son
Amleth.

Such great good fortune stung Feng with jealousy, so that he resolved
treacherously to waylay his brother, thus showing that goodness is not
safe even from those of a man's own house. And behold, when a chance
came to murder him, his bloody hand sated the deadly passion of his
soul. Then he took the wife of the brother he had butchered, capping
unnatural murder with incest. For whoso yields to one iniquity, speedily
falls an easier victim to the next, the first being an incentive to
the second. Also, the man veiled the monstrosity of his deed with such
hardihood of cunning, that he made up a mock pretence of goodwill
to excuse his crime, and glossed over fratricide with a show of
righteousness. Gerutha, said he, though so gentle that she would do no
man the slightest hurt, had been visited with her husband's extremest
hate; and it was all to save her that he had slain his brother; for he
thought it shameful that a lady so meek and unrancorous should suffer
the heavy disdain of her husband. Nor did his smooth words fail in their
intent; for at courts, where fools are sometimes favoured and backbiters
preferred, a lie lacks not credit. Nor did Feng keep from shameful
embraces the hands that had slain a brother; pursuing with equal guilt
both of his wicked and impious deeds.

Amleth beheld all this, but feared lest too shrewd a behaviour might
make his uncle suspect him. So he chose to feign dulness, and pretend
an utter lack of wits. This cunning course not only concealed his
intelligence but ensured his safety. Every day he remained in his
mother's house utterly listless and unclean, flinging himself on the
ground and bespattering his person with foul and filthy dirt. His
discoloured face and visage smutched with slime denoted foolish and
grotesque madness. All he said was of a piece with these follies; all
he did savour