Go we in then where the fires are
Burning brightly all the evening.
The Earl stayed a long time in Hjaltland, and in the autumn he went south to the Orkneys, and resided in his dominions. That autumn two Hjaltlanders[[373]] came to him. One was named Armód, a poet; the other was Oddi the little, the son of Glúm: he made verses well. The Earl received them both as his men. The Earl had a grand Yule feast, to which he invited guests, and gave his men presents. He handed a spear, inlaid with gold, to the poet Armód, shook it at him, and told him to make a song on the spur of the moment:
Princely gifts the battle-fanner
With no niggard hand distributes:
Scaldic honours are not measured
By the gifts bestowed on others.
The defender of his country,
And the best of all commanders,
With his own hand brings to Armód