e himself in a concealed part of the room and listen
heedfully to what they talked about. For if the son had any wits at all
he would not hesitate to speak out in the hearing of his mother, or fear
to trust himself to the fidelity of her who bore him. The speaker,
loth to seem readier to devise than to carry out the plot, zealously
proffered himself as the agent of the eavesdropping. Feng rejoiced at
the scheme, and departed on pretence of a long journey. Now he who had
given this counsel repaired privily to the room where Amleth was shut up
with his mother, and lay flown skulking in the straw. But Amleth had
his antidote for the treachery. Afraid of being overheard by some
eavesdropper, he at first resorted to his usual imbecile ways, and
crowed like a noisy cock, beating his arms together to mimic the
flapping of wings. Then he mounted the straw and began to swing his
body and jump again and again, wishing to try if aught lurked there in
hiding. Feeling a lump beneath his feet, he drove his sword into
the spot, and impaled him who lay hid. Then he dragged him from his
concealment and slew him. Then, cutting his body into morsels, he
seethed it in boiling water, and flung it through the mouth of an
open sewer for the swine to eat, bestrewing the stinking mire with his
hapless limbs. Having in this wise eluded the snare, he went back to the
room. Then his mother set up a great wailing, and began to lament her
son's folly to his face; but he said: "Most infamous of women; dost
thou seek with such lying lamentations to hide thy most heavy guilt?
Wantoning like a harlot, thou hast entered a wicked and abominable state
of wedlock, embracing with incestuous bosom thy husband's slayer, and
wheedling with filthy lures of blandishment him who had slain the father
of thy son. This, forsooth, is the way that the mares couple with the
vanquishers of their mates; for brute beasts are naturally incited to
pair indiscriminately; and it would seem that thou, like them, hast
clean forgot thy first husband. As for me, not idly do I wear the mask
of folly; for I doubt not that he who destroyed his brother will riot as
ruthlessly in the blood of his kindred. Therefore it is better to choose
the garb of dulness than that of sense, and to borrow some protection
from a show of utter frenzy. Yet the passion to avenge my father still
burns in my heart; but I am watching the chances, I await the fitting
hour. There is a place for all things; agai