attacked
the witches, who ran at them, with a shower of spears from every side;
and with the missiles from their bows and slings they crushed the
array of monsters. There could be no stronger or more successful way
to repulse them; but only twenty men out of all the king's company
were rescued by the intervention of this archery; the rest were torn in
pieces by the monsters. The survivors returned to the river, and were
ferried over by Gudmund, who entertained them at his house. Long and
often as he besought them, he could not keep them back; so at last he
gave them presents and let them go.

Buchi relaxed his watch upon himself; his self-control became unstrung,
and he forsook the virtue in which he hitherto rejoiced. For he
conceived an incurable love for one of the daughters of Gudmund, and
embraced her; but he obtained a bride to his undoing, for soon his brain
suddenly began to whirl, and he lost his recollection. Thus the hero who
had subdued all the monsters and overcome all the perils was mastered by
passion for one girl; his soul strayed far from temperance, and he lay
under a wretched sensual yoke. For the sake of respect, he started to
accompany the departing king; but as he was about to ford the river
in his carriage, his wheels sank deep, he was caught up in the violent
eddies and destroyed.

The king bewailed his friend's disaster and departed hastening on his
voyage. This was at first prosperous, but afterwards he was tossed by
bad weather; his men perished of hunger, and but few survived, so that
he began to feel awe in his heart, and fell to making vows to heaven,
thinking the gods alone could help him in his extreme need. At last the
others besought sundry powers among the gods, and thought they ought to
sacrifice to the majesty of divers deities; but the king, offering both
vows and peace-offerings to Utgarda-Loki, obtained that fair season of
weather for which he prayed.

Coming home, and feeling that he had passed through all these seas and
toils, he thought it was time for his spirit, wearied with calamities,
to withdraw from his labours. So he took a queen from Sweden, and
exchanged his old pursuits for meditative leisure. His life was
prolonged in the utmost peace and quietness; but when he had almost come
to the end of his days, certain men persuaded him by likely arguments
that souls were immortal; so that he was constantly turning over in his
mind the questions, to what abode he was to far