Then the woman raised her head and sang again:
"He is a fool
Who leaves old rule.
Set heart 'gainst head.
How then butter thy bread?"
Then Hiarandi said to Asdis: "No man has ever yet set beacons against shipwreck. All men agree to take the fortune of the sea; and what is cast on a man's beaches, that is his by old custom."
"Thinkest thou that is right?" asked Asdis.
"Moreover," went on Hiarandi, "the sea is but giving me again what it took away."
"Never can the sea," answered Asdis, "give thee true happiness through other men's misfortunes."
"Remember the boy," said Hiarandi. "Shall I leave him with nothing to begin the world with? For my own earnings bring me at most a mark of silver in the year."