nor might he work against the fate shapen for him; so
he gave his word to go, and tells Hogni his brother thereof.

But he answered, "Thy word given must even stand now, nor will I fail to
follow thee, but most loth am I to this journey."

ENDNOTES:
(1) Service-tree; "pyrus sorbus domestica", or "p. s.
tormentalis.

CHAPTER XXXV. The Dreams of the Wives of the Giukings.

So when men had drunk their fill, they fared to sleep; then falls
Kostbera to beholding the runes, and spelling over the letters, and sees
that beneath were other things cut, and that the runes are guileful;
yet because of her wisdom she had skill to read them aright. So then she
goes to bed by her husband; but when they awoke, she spake unto Hogni--

"Thou art minded to wend away from home--ill-counselled is that; abide
till another time! Scarce a keen reader of runes art thou, if thou
deemest thou hast beheld in them the bidding of thy sister to this
journey: lo, I read the runes, and had marvel of so wise a woman
as Gudrun is, that she should have miscut them; but that which lieth
underneath beareth your bane with it,--yea, either she lacked a letter,
or others have dealt guilefully with the runes.

"And now hearken to my dream; for therein methought there fell in upon
us here a river exceeding strong, and brake up the timbers of the hall."

He answered, "Full oft are ye evil of mind, ye women, but for me, I
was not made in such wise as to meet men with evil who deserve no evil;
belike he will give us good welcome."

She answered, "Well, the thing must ye yourselves prove, but no
friendship follows this bidding:--but yet again I dreamed that another
river fell in here with a great and grimly rush, and tore up the dais
of the hall, and brake the legs of both you brethren; surely that
betokeneth somewhat."

He answers, "Meadows along our way, whereas thou didst dream of the
river; for when we go through the meadows, plentifully doth the seeds of
the hay hang about our legs."

"Again I dreamed," she says, "that thy cloak was afire, and that the
flame blazed up above the hall."

Says he, "Well, I wot what that shall betoken; here lieth my fair-dyed
raiment, and it shall burn and blaze, whereas thou dreamedst of the
cloak."

"Methought a bear came in," she says, "and brake up the king's
high-seat, and shook his paws in such a wise that we were all adrad
thereat, and he gat us all together into the mouth of him, so that we