Whereat he started, and looked terrified at me. Then I laughed, and said that Grendel had told me what was in the pot, and the man, seeing that I was not angry, began to grin also, wondering. Then the meaning of the whole business seemed to come to him, and he sat down and began to laugh, looking at me from under his brows now and then, lest I should be wroth with him for the freedom. But I laughed also, and so in the end we two sat and laughed till the tears came, opposite one another, and that was a thing that I had never thought to do again. At last I stopped, and then he made haste to compose himself.
"Master," he said, "forgive me. But if you were Grendel, as I think now, there is a great fear off my mind."
"I was Grendel, Dudda," said I; "but you must have a sorely evil conscience to be so easily frighted."
"Nay, master; but from week to week I see none, least of all at midnight, and mail-clad men never at all. I think I am the only man who fears not this marsh and what may haunt it."
"That you may never boast again," said I; "for scared you were, and that badly!"
"It is between you and me, master," said he, with much cunning in his look; "as I pray the matter of what was in the cauldron may be also --"
"Well, as for that," I answered, "I ate it, and was glad of it, so I will not inquire how it came there."
But I was glad to have this secret as a sort of hold over this man, for thralls are not to be trusted far, nor was I in a mood to put much faith in any.
After that we ate in silence, and when we had finished, he put a loaf and a half cheese into a wallet, and took a staff, and asked me to command him. I knew not what the hermit had told him, so asked how much he had learned of my errand.
"That you are on king's business, master, and in haste. Moreover that your errand is secret, so that you would not be seen in town or village on your way."