next pass on thy journey?"

Then said Erik: "From a trunk I passed on to a log."

Frode said: "That spot must be thick with trees, since thou art always
calling the abodes of thy hosts by the name of trunks."

Erik replied: "There is a thicker place in the woods."

Frode went on: "Relate whither thou next didst bear thy steps."

Erik answered: "Oft again I made my way to the lopped timbers of the
woods; but, as I rested there, wolves that were sated on human carcases
licked the points of the spears. There a lance-head was shaken from the
shaft of the king, and it was the grandson of Fridleif."

Frode said: "I am bewildered, and know not what to think about the
dispute: for thou hast beguiled my mind with very dark riddling."

Erik answered: "Thou owest me the prize for this contest that is
finished: for under a veil I have declared to thee certain things thou
hast ill understood. For under the name I gave before of `spear-point' I
signified Odd, whom my hand had slain."

And when the queen also had awarded him the palm of eloquence and the
prize for flow of speech, the king straightway took a bracelet from his
arm, and gave it to him as the appointed reward, adding: "I would fain
learn from thyself thy debate with Grep, wherein he was not ashamed
openly to avow himself vanquished."

Then said Erik: "He was smitten with shame for the adultery wherewith he
was taxed; for since he could bring no defence, he confessed that he had
committed it with thy wife."

The king turned to Hanund and asked her in what spirit she received
the charge; and she not only confessed her guilt by a cry, but also put
forth in her face a blushing signal of her sin, and gave manifest token
of her fault. The king, observing not only her words, but also the signs
of her countenance, but doubting with what sentence he should punish the
criminal, let the queen settle by her own choice the punishment which
her crime deserved. When she learnt that the sentence committed to
her concerned her own guilt, she wavered awhile as she pondered how
to appraise her transgression; but Grep sprang up and ran forward to
transfix Erik with a spear, wishing to buy off his own death by slaying
the accuser. But Roller fell on him with drawn sword, and dealt him
first the doom he had himself purposed.

Erik said: "The service of kin is best for the helpless."

And Roller said: "In sore needs good men should be dutifully summoned."

Then Frode said: "I thin