remember Frode, and avenge thy father's death.

"The worthless and cowardly heart shall perish, and shall not parry the
thrust of death by flight, though it bury itself in a valley, or crouch
in darkling dens.

"Once we were eleven princes, devoted followers of King Hakon, and here
Geigad sat above Helge in the order of the meal.

"Geigad used to appease the first pangs of hunger with a dry rump of
ham; and plenty of hard crust quelled the craving of his stomach.

"No one asked for a sickly morsel; all took their food in common; the
meal of mighty men cost but slight display.

"The commons shunned foreign victual, and the greatest lusted not for a
feast; even the king remembered to live temperately at little cost.

"Scorning to look at the mead, he drank the fermented juice of Ceres; he
shrank not from the use of undercooked meats, and hated the roast.

"The board used to stand with slight display, a modest salt-cellar
showed the measure of its cost; lest the wise ways of antiquity should
in any wise be changed by foreign usage.

"Of old, no man put flagons or mixing-bowls on the tables; the steward
filled the cup from the butt, and there was no abundance of adorned
vessels.

"No one who honoured past ages put the smooth wine-jars beside the
tankards, and of old no bedizened lackey heaped the platter with
dainties.

"Nor did the vainglorious host deck the meal with little salt-shell
or smooth cup; but all has been now abolished in shameful wise by the
new-fangled manners.

"Who would ever have borne to take money in ransom for the death of a
lost parent, or to have asked a foe for a gift to atone for the murder
of a father?

"What strong heir or well-starred son would have sat side by side with
such as these, letting a shameful bargain utterly unnerve the warrior?

"Wherefore, when the honours of kings are sung, and bards relate the
victories of captains, I hide my face for shame in my mantle, sick at
heart.

"For nothing shines in thy trophies, worthy to be recorded by the pen;
no heir of Frode is named in the roll of the honourable.

"Why dost thou vex me with insolent gaze, thou who honourest the foe
guilty of thy father's blood, and art thought only to take thy vengeance
with loaves and warm soup?

"When men speak well of the avengers of crimes, then long thou to lose
thy quick power of hearing, that thy impious spirit may not be ashamed.

"For oft has the virtue of another vexed a heart that kn