feared
to expose his deed to the fickle judgment of his countrymen, and thought
it well to lie in hiding till he had learnt what way the mob of the
uncouth populace was tending. So the whole neighbourhood, who had
watched the blaze during the night, and in the morning desired to know
the cause of the fire they had seen, perceived the royal palace fallen
in ashes; and, on searching through its ruins, which were yet warm,
found only some shapeless remains of burnt corpses. For the devouring
flame had consumed everything so utterly that not a single token was
left to inform them of the cause of such a disaster. Also they saw the
body of Feng lying pierced by the sword, amid his blood-stained raiment.
Some were seized with open anger, others with grief, and some with
secret delight. One party bewailed the death of their leader, the other
gave thanks that the tyranny of the fratricide was now laid at rest.
Thus the occurrence of the king's slaughter was greeted by the beholders
with diverse minds.

Amleth, finding the people so quiet, made bold to leave his hiding.
Summoning those in whom he knew the memory of his father to be
fast-rooted, he went to the assembly and there made a speech after this
manner:

"Nobles! Let not any who are troubled by the piteous end of Horwendil
be worried by the sight of this disaster before you; be not ye, I say,
distressed, who have remained loyal to your king and duteous to your
father. Behold the corpse, not of a prince, but of a fratricide. Indeed,
it was a sorrier sight when ye saw our prince lying lamentably butchered
by a most infamous fratricide-brother, let me not call him. With your
own compassionating eyes ye have beheld the mangled limbs of Horwendil;
they have seen his body done to death with many wounds. Surely that most
abominable butcher only deprived his king of life that he might despoil
his country of freedom! The hand that slew him made you slaves. Who
then so mad as to choose Feng the cruel before Horwendil the righteous?
Remember how benignantly Horwendil fostered you, how justly he dealt
with you, how kindly he loved you. Remember how you lost the mildest of
princes and the justest of fathers, while in his place was put a tyrant
and an assassin set up; how your rights were confiscated; how everything
was plague-stricken; how the country was stained with infamies; how the
yoke was planted on your necks, and how, your free will was forfeited!
And now all this is over; fo