winding bank,
and all bent their eyes upon this scene. Wermund planted himself on the
end of the bridge, determined to perish in the waters if defeat were
the lot of his son: he would rather share the fall of his own flesh and
blood than behold, with heart full of anguish, the destruction of his
own country. Both the warriors assaulted Uffe; but, distrusting his
sword, he parried the blows of both with his shield, being determined
to wait patiently and see which of the two he must beware of most
heedfully, so that he might reach that one at all events with a single
stroke of his blade. Wermund, thinking that his feebleness was at fault,
that he took the blows so patiently, dragged himself little by little,
in his longing for death, forward to the western edge of the bridge,
meaning to fling himself down and perish, should all be over with his
son.

Fortune shielded the old father, for Uffe told the prince to engage with
him more briskly, and to do some deed of prowess worthy of his famous
race; lest the lowborn squire should seem braver than the prince. Then,
in order to try the bravery of the champion, he bade him not skulk
timorously at his master's heels, but requite by noble deeds of combat
the trust placed in him by his prince, who had chosen him to be his
single partner in the battle. The other complied, and when shame drove
him to fight at close quarters, Uffe clove him through with the first
stroke of his blade. The sound revived Wermund, who said that he heard
the sword of his son, and asked "on what particular part he had dealt
the blow?" Then the retainers answered that it had gone through no one
limb, but the man's whole frame; whereat Wermund drew back from the
precipice and came on the bridge, longing now as passionately to live as
he had just wished to die. Then Uffe, wishing to destroy his remaining
foe after the fashion of the first, incited the prince with vehement
words to offer some sacrifice by way of requital to the shade of the
servant slain in his cause. Drawing him by those appeals, and warily
noting the right spot to plant his blow, he turned the other edge of
his sword to the front, fearing that the thin side of his blade was too
frail for his strength, and smote with a piercing stroke through the
prince's body. When Wermund heard it, he said that the sound of his
sword "Skrep" had reached his ear for the second time. Then, when the
judges announced that his son had killed both enemies, he bur