King Skule—Let that wait. Tell me, Skald, you who have fared far abroad in strange lands—have you ever seen a woman love another's child? Not only be kind to it—'tis not that I mean; but love it, love it with the warmest passion of her soul.
Jatgeir—That can only those women do who have no child of their own to love.
King Skule—Only those women—?
Jatgeir—And chiefly women who are barren.
King Skule—Chiefly the barren—? They love the children of others with all their warmest passion?
Jatgeir—That will oftentimes befall.
King Skule—And does it not sometimes befall that such a barren woman will slay another's child, because she herself has none?
Jatgeir—Ay, ay; but in that she does unwisely.
King Skule—Unwisely?