Free Six Sagas of Adventure by Ben Waggoner (trans) Page B

that’s why you’ve left home: you must be feeling terrible about suffering hunger and hardship. It’s a dreadful misfortune when you can’t keep up your strength, and so very difficult for men like yourselves to have to suffer. It was a very wise course to seek help at the likeliest place, rather than blundering around in misery. I think well of you for hoping for some help from us. I will quickly explain to you the help you can receive in our kingdom: we will permit you one month of safe conduct throughout our kingdom, if you’re willing to stay here and be grateful. And if another king offers you such help, then I would really expect that you would go there, and take all these people with you, instead of starving. Don’t go spreading the nonsense that you asked for a woman’s hand in marriage, neither my daughter’s nor anyone else’s, because that can’t be anything but empty words as long as you’re in such a state from poverty and famine. But when this time is over, matters will look more hopeful again when you go home, and you won’t need to trouble yourselves about that.”

    CHAPTER IX

    King Hrolf listened carefully to the king’s words. When the king ended his speech, Hrolf said, “My lord, it’s not true that we’re short of food in our land, or that we need anyone’s charity to help our people. Had this disaster struck us, we would rather have gone somewhere else than here. Your taunting seems uncalled for.”  The men saw that King Hring was getting very angry, though he said little. The kings parted right then, and the men went off to their beds. King Hrolf and his men were brought to an outbuilding to sleep.
    King Eirek also went to his bed. The queen was already there, and they began talking among themselves. She asked, “Has King Hrolf come to meet us?”
    “Certainly,” said the king.
    “What do you think of King Hrolf?” she asked.
    “That doesn’t take long to tell,” said King Eirek. “I have never seen a bigger and stronger man, nor one more handsome and courteous, as I can see from his appearance. Nor have I seen anyone better shaped in every way.”
    The queen said, “I’m told that either you’ve discussed something with him, or else you’ve put his wisdom to the test.”
    The king told her how their entire conversation had gone. “And I think,” he said, “that he is far ahead of other men, both in wisdom and in most achievements—and in patience.”
    The queen said, “Then this has begun badly, for you to have treated a ruler like King Hrolf so poorly. For that, you and your kingdom will suffer severe trouble from him for a long time. Although you may think he has a small kingdom, what I think is that his boldness and bravery, along with his kingly nature, would be of more use than the huge hosts of some other king in the Northlands, because I’ve been informed that he is far superior to other kings.”
    The king said, “Not only is he greatly superior to other men, you admire this king a great deal. What is your advice now?”
    The queen said, “My advice is brief, my lord. I want for you to apologize to King Hrolf. I tell you truly that it will be difficult for you to match him in tenacity or in fighting ability, because he has support from the Danish king. He plans everything with King Hring, his foster-father.”
    The king replied, “Maybe we’ve misjudged the situation. What must I now say or do that will please him well?”
    The queen said, “My advice is this: when they come to their seats in the morning, and you have all drunk for a while, you should speak cheerfully with King Hrolf and ask about the mighty deeds that he has accomplished. I guess that he’ll be reserved, and your conversation will not have slipped his mind. Then you should ask why he’s come here, and pretend that he had never brought up his mission to you. But if he hints or brings up anything you’ve said, then say that you don’t remember that you two had talked about anything