There is small choice between being skinned alive and being boiled in a brass caldron. I did not feel called upon to manifest my preferences, and took no part whatever in the debate. Already those who wished to flay me cast savage glances at those who insisted that I be boiled, and carried their hands to their knives, when one of the black warriors proposed a compromise to the chief:
"Riowag, do you want to deliver the Gaul to the priestess Elwig?"
"Yes," answered the chief; "yes, I want to, and it shall be done as I order!"
"And the rest of you," proceeded the conciliatory black warrior, "you wish to offer the Gaul's skin to the chief Neroweg?"
"That is what we propose to do!"
"Very well, you can be accommodated, both."
A profound silence fell all around at these conciliatory words. The black warrior proceeded:
"First, flay him alive, you will then have his skin; after that Elwig will boil his body in her caldron."
The compromise seemed at first to satisfy both parties, but Riowag, the captain of the band, objected:
"Do you not know that Elwig needs a living prisoner to render her auguries certain? You would be giving her only a corpse if you first flay the Gaul."