y; and
he returned in all haste into the room, and, placing himself before
the kind, said, "Short is the hour for acting, and long the hour for
feasting." The king cast his eyes upon him, and said, "What now is in
the way?" Eyvind said--

"Up king! the avengers are at hand!
Eirik's bold sons approach the land!
The Judgment of the sword they crave
Against their foe. Thy wrath I brave;
Tho' well I know 'tis no light thing
To bring war-tidings to the king
And tell him 'tis no time to rest.
Up! gird your armour to your breast:
Thy honour's dearer than my life;
Therefore I say, up to the strife!"

Then said the king, "Thou art too brave a fellow, Eyvind, to bring us
any false alarm of war." The others all said it was a true report. The
king ordered the tables to be removed, and then he went out to look at
the ships; and when it could be clearly seen that these were ships of
war, the king asked his men what resolution they should take--whether
to give battle with the men they had, or go on board ship and sail away
northwards along the land. "For it is easy to see," said he, "that we
must now fight against a much greater force than we ever had against
us before; although we thought just the same the last time we fought
against Gunhild's sons." No one was in a hurry to give an answer to the
king; but at last Eyvind replied to the king's speech:--

"Thou who in the battle-plain
Hast often poured the sharp spear-rain!
Ill it beseems our warriors brave
To fly upon the ocean wave:
To fly upon the blue wave north,
When Harald from the south comes forth,
With many a ship riding in pride
Upon the foaming ocean-tide;
With many a ship and southern viking,--
Let us take shield in hand, brave king!"

The king replied, "Thy counsel, Eyvind, is manly, and after my own
heart; but I will hear the opinion of others upon this matter." Now as
the king's men thought they discerned what way the king was inclined to
take, they answered that they would rather fall bravely and like men,
than fly before the Danes; adding, that they had often gained the
victory against greater odds of numbers. The king thanked them for their
resolution, and bade them arm themselves; and all the men did so. The
king put on his armour, and girded on his sword Kvernbit, and put a gilt
helmet upon his head, and took a spear (Kesja) in his hand, and a shield
by