"Naught; but he is godar."
"Aye," said I. "So I must die, that is all. What said Ragnar Lodbrok about that?"
And I spoke to him the brave words that his forefather sang as he died, and which he loved:
"Whether in weapon play
Under the war cloud,
Full in the face of Death
Fearless he fronts him,
Death is the bane of
The man who is bravest,
He loveth life best who
Furthest from danger lives.
Sooth is the saying that
Strongest the Norns are.
Lo! at my life's end
I laugh--and I die."
"Nay, my brother," said Halfden earnestly; "think of me, and of Osritha, and seem to bow at least."
That word spoken by my friend was the hardest I ever had to bear, for now I was drawn by the love that had been so newly given me. And I put my hands before my face and thought, while he went on:
"If I were asked to give up these gods of ours, who, as it seems to me, pay mighty little heed to us--and I knew that good exchange was offered me--well then--I should--"
I ended that word for him.
"You would do even as your father, and say that unless for better reason than gain--aye, however longed for--you would not."
"Aye--maybe I would, after all," he answered, and was silent.