Then leapt up a man from the end-long table nigh to Fox, and cried out: “Yea, folk! they are gone, and we deem that runagates of thy kindred, O new-come man, have stolen them from us; wherefor they shall one day pay us.”
Then laughed the Puny Fox and said: “Some would say that stealing Hallblithe was like stealing a lion, and that he might take care of himself; though he was not as big as I am.”
Said the last speaker: “Did thy kin or didst thou steal him, O evil man?”
“Yea, I stole him,” quoth Fox, “but by sleight, and not by might.”
Then uprose great uproar in the hall, but the chieftain on the high-seat cried out: “Peace, peace!” and the noise abated, and the chieftain said: “Dost thou mean that thou comest hither to give us thine head for making away with Hallblithe and the Hostage?”
“I mean to ask rather,” said the Fox, “what thou wilt give me for the bodies of these twain?”
Said the chieftain: “A boat-load of gold were not too much if thou shouldst live a little longer.”
Quoth the Puny Fox: “Well, in anywise I will go and bring in the bodies aforesaid, and leave my reward to the goodwill of the Ravens.”
Therewith he turned about to go, but lo! there already in the door stood Hallblithe holding the Hostage by the hand; and many in the hall saw them, for the door was wide. Then they came in and stood by the side of the Puny Fox, and all men in the hall arose and shouted for joy. But when the tumult was a little abated, the Puny Fox cried out: “O chieftain, and all ye folk! if a boat-load of gold were not too much reward for the bringing back the dead bodies of your friends, what reward shall he have who hath brought back their bodies and the souls therein?”
Said the chieftain: “The man shall choose his own reward.” And the men in the hall shouted their yeasay.