ht not get her own way herein, she said, "Have thy will
in this matter, O my lord, for it is seemly so to be."

And now she holds the funeral feast for her brother by the aid and
counsel of the king, and makes ready all things therefor or in the best of
wise, and bade thither many great men.

At that feast, Borghild the queen bare the drink to folk, and she came
over against Sinfjofli with a great horn, and said--

"Fall to now and drink, fair stepson!"

Then he took the horn to him, and looked therein, and said--

"Nay, for the drink is charmed drink"

Then said Sigmund, "Give it unto me then;" and therewith he took the
horn and drank it off.

But the queen said to Sinfjotli, "Why must other men needs drink thine
ale for thee?" And she came again the second time with the horn, and
said, "Come now and drink!" and goaded him with many words.

And he took the horn, and said--

"Guile is in the drink."

And thereon, Sigmund cried out--

"Give it then unto me!"

Again, the third time, she came to him, and bade him drink off his
drink, if he had the heart of a Volsung; then he laid hand on the horn,
but said--

"Venom is therein."

"Nay, let the lip strain it out then, O son," quoth Sigmund; and by then
was he exceeding drunk with drink, and therefore spake he in that wise.

So Sinfjotli drank, and straightway fell down dead to the ground.

Sigmund rose up, and sorrowed nigh to death over him; then he took the
corpse in his arms and fared away to the wood, and went till he came to
a certain firth; and there he saw a man in a little boat; and that man
asked if he would be wafted by him over the firth, and he said yea
thereto; but so little was the boat, that they might not all go in it
at once, so the corpse was first laid therein, while Sigmund went by
the firth-side. But therewith the boat and the man therein vanished away
from before Sigmund's eyes. (2)

So thereafter Sigmund turned back home, and drave away the queen, and a
little after she died. But Sigmund the king yet ruled his realm, and is
deemed ever the greatest champion and king of the old law.

ENDNOTES:
(1) Weregild, fine for man-slaying ("wer", man, and "gild", a
payment).
(2) The man in the boat is Odin, doubtless.

CHAPTER XI. Of King Sigmund's last Battle, and of how he must yield up his
Sword again.

There was a king called Eylimi, mighty and of great fame, and his
daughter was called Hjordis, the fairest and