Sailed with the amber,
Sailed with the foam-wealth.
Among strange peoples,
Winning me wave-flame,[*]
Winning me war-fame,
Winning me women.
Soon shall I slay thee,
Sacker of Cities!"

[*] Gold.

With that, and with a cry, he rushed on the Wanderer, his great axe
swung aloft, to fell him at a blow.

But while the giant had been singing, the Wanderer had shifted his place
a little, so that the red blaze of the setting sun was in his face. And
as the mighty man came on, the Wanderer lifted up his golden shield and
caught the sunlight on it, and flashed it full in the giant's eyes,
so that he was dazzled, and could not see to strike. Then the Wanderer
smote at his naked right arm, and struck it on the joint of the elbow;
with all his force he smote, and the short sword of Euryalus bit deep,
and the arm fell, with the axe in the hand-grip. But so terrible was the
stroke that bronze might not abide it, and the blade was shattered from
the ivory handle.

"Didst thou feel aught, thou Man-eater?" cried Odysseus, jeering, for he
knew from the song of the giant that he was face to face with a wanderer
from an evil race, that of old had smitten his ships and devoured his
men--the Laestrygons of the land of the Midnight Sun, the Man-eaters.

But the giant caught up his club of pine-tree in his left hand, the
severed right arm still clinging to it. And he gnawed on the handle
of the stone axe with his teeth, and bit the very stone, and his lips
foamed, for a fury came upon him. Roaring aloud, suddenly he smote at
the Wanderer's head, and beat down his shield, and crushed his golden
helm so that he fell on one knee, and all was darkness around him. But
his hands lit on a great stone, for the place where they fought was the
holy place of an ancient temple, old and ruined before King Mena's day.
He grasped the stone with both hands; it was the basalt head of a fallen
statue of a God or a man, of a king long nameless, or of a forgotten
God. With a mighty strain the Wanderer lifted it as he rose, it was a
weight of a chariot's burden, and poising it, he hurled it straight
at the breast of the Laestrygon, who had drawn back, whirling his axe,
before he smote another blow. But ere ever the stroke fell, the huge
stone struck him full and broke in his breast bone, and he staggered
long, and fell like a tree, and the black blood came up through his
bearded lips, and his life left him.