y feigned death, and fell like one
lifeless. Her servants asked the reason why she fell so suddenly; and
she declared that the refuge of the sons of Harald was inscrutable;
for their wondrous might qualified even the most awful effects of her
spells. Thus she was content with a slight benefit, and could not
bear to await a greater reward at the king's hands. After this Ragnar,
finding that the belief concerning himself and his wards was becoming
rife in common talk, took them, both away into Funen. Here he was taken
by Frode, and confessed that he had put the young men in safe keeping;
and he prayed the king to spare the wards whom he had made fatherless,
and not to think it a piece of good fortune to be guilty of two
unnatural murders. By this speech he changed the king's cruelty into
shame; and he promised that if they attempted any plots in their own
land, he would give information to the king. Thus he gained safety for
his wards, and lived many years in freedom from terror.

When the boys grew up, they went to Zealand, and were bidden by their
friends to avenge their father. They vowed that they and their uncle
should not both live out the year. When Ragnar found this out, he went
by night to the palace, prompted by the recollection of his covenant,
and announced that he was come privily to tell the king something he had
promised. But the king was asleep, and he would not suffer them to wake
him up, because Frode had been used to punish any disturbance of his
rest with the sword. So mighty a matter was it thought of old to break
the slumbers of a king by untimely intrusion. Frode heard this from the
sentries in the morning; and when he perceived that Ragnar had come
to tell him of the treachery, he gathered together his soldiers, and
resolved to forestall deceit by ruthless measures. Harald's sons had
no help for it but to feign madness. For when they found themselves
suddenly attacked, they began to behave like maniacs, as if they were
distraught. And when Frode thought that they were possessed, he gave
up his purpose, thinking it shameful to attack with the sword those who
seemed to be turning the sword against themselves. But he was burned
to death by them on the following night, and was punished as befitted a
fratricide. For they attacked the palace, and first crushing the queen
with a mass of stones and then, having set fire to the house, they
forced Frode to crawl into a narrow cave that had been cut out long