woman. In order to find some means of approaching and winning
her the more readily, he courted her father (Esbern) by showing him the
most obliging and attentive kindness. He often invited him to banquets,
and received him with lavish courtesy. When he came, he paid him the
respect of rising, and when he sat, he honoured him with a set next to
himself. He also often comforted him with gifts, and at times with the
most kindly speech. The man saw that no merits of his own could be the
cause of all this distinction, and casting over the matter every way in
his mind, he perceived that the generosity of his monarch was caused
by his love for his daughter, and that he coloured this lustful purpose
with the name of kindness. But, that he might balk the cleverness of
the lover, however well calculated, he had the girl watched all the more
carefully that he saw her beset by secret aims and obstinate methods.
But Ragnar, who was comforted by the surest tidings of her consent, went
to the farmhouse in which she was kept, and fancying that love must
find out a way, repaired alone to a certain peasant in a neighbouring
lodging. In the morning he exchanged dress with the women, and went
in female attire, and stood by his mistress as she was unwinding wool.
Cunningly, to avoid betrayal, he set his hands to the work of a maiden,
though they were little skilled in the art. In the night he embraced
the maiden and gained his desire. When her time drew near, and the girl
growing big, betrayed her outraged chastity, the father, not knowing to
whom his daughter had given herself to be defiled, persisted in asking
the girl herself who was the unknown seducer. She steadfastly affirmed
that she had had no one to share her bed except her handmaid, and he
made the affair over to the king to search into. He would not allow an
innocent servant to be branded with an extraordinary charge, and was not
ashamed to prove another's innocence by avowing his own guilt. By this
generosity he partially removed the woman's reproach, and prevented an
absurd report from being sown in the ears of the wicked. Also he added,
that the son to be born of her was of his own line, and that he wished
him to be named Ubbe. When this son had grown up somewhat, his wit,
despite his tender years, equalled the discernment of manhood. For he
took to loving his mother, since she had had converse with a noble bed,
but cast off all respect for his father, because he had stooped to