n the honours of
rank. According to some, he was the son of Odin, and when he begged the
immortal gods to grant him a boon, received the privilege that no man
should conquer him, save he who at the time of the conflict could catch
up in his hand the dust lying beneath Froger's feet. When Frode found
that Heaven had endowed this king with such might, he challenged him to
a duel, meaning to try to outwit the favour of the gods. So at first,
feigning inexperience, he besought the king for a lesson in fighting,
knowing (he said) his skill and experience in the same. The other,
rejoicing that his enemy not only yielded to his pretensions, but even
made him a request, said that he was wise to submit his youthful mind to
an old man's wisdom; for his unscarred face and his brow, ploughed by
no marks of battle, showed that his knowledge of such matters was but
slender. So he marked off on the ground two square spaces with sides
an ell long, opposite one another, meaning to begin by instructing him
about the use of these plots. When they had been marked off, each took
the side assigned to him. Then Frode asked Froger to exchange arms and
ground with him, and the request was readily granted. For Froger was
excited with the dashing of his enemy's arms, because Frode wore a
gold-hilted sword, a breastplate equally bright, and a headpiece most
brilliantly adorned in the same manner. So Frode caught up some dust
from the ground whence Froger had gone, and thought that he had been
granted an omen of victory. Nor was he deceived in his presage; for he
straightway slew Froger, and by this petty trick won the greatest name
for bravery; for he gained by craft what had been permitted to no man's
strength before.

After him DAN came to the throne. When he was in the twelfth year of his
age, he was wearied by the insolence of the embassies, which commanded
him either to fight the Saxons or to pay them tribute. Ashamed, he
preferred fighting to payment and was moved to die stoutly rather than
live a coward. So he elected to fight; and the warriors of the Danes
filled the Elbe with such a throng of vessels, that the decks of the
ships lashed together made it quite easy to cross, as though along a
continuous bridge. The end was that the King of Saxony had to accept the
very terms he was demanding from the Danes.

After Dan, FRIDLEIF, surnamed the Swift, assumed the sovereignty. During
his reign, Huyrwil, the lord of Oland, made a league with th