; the festive
celebration of the funeral rites; Amleth, in answer to questions,
pointing to the sticks in place of his attendants, acting as cupbearer,
and purposely drawing his sword and pricking his fingers; the sword
riveted through, the swelling cheers of the banquet, the dance growing
fast and furious; the hangings flung upon the sleepers, then fastened
with the interlacing crooks, and wrapped tightly round them as they
slumbered; the brand set to the mansion, the burning of the guests, the
royal palace consumed with fire and tottering down; the visit to the
sleeping-room of Feng, the theft of his sword, the useless one set
in its place; and the king slain with his own sword's point by his
stepson's hand. All this was there, painted upon Amleth's battle-shield
by a careful craftsman in the choicest of handiwork; he copied truth in
his figures, and embodied real deeds in his outlines. Moreover, Amleth's
followers, to increase the splendour of their presence, wore shields
which were gilt over.

The King of Britain received them very graciously, and treated them with
costly and royal pomp. During the feast he asked anxiously whether Feng
was alive and prosperous. His son-in-law told him that the man of whose
welfare he was vainly inquiring had perished by the sword. With a flood
of questions he tried to find out who had slain Feng, and learnt that
the messenger of his death was likewise its author. And when the king
heard this, he was secretly aghast, because he found that an old promise
to avenge Feng now devolved upon himself. For Feng and he had determined
of old, by a mutual compact, that one of them should act as avenger of
the other. Thus the king was drawn one way by his love for his daughter
and his affection for his son-in-law; another way by his regard for his
friend, and moreover by his strict oath and the sanctity of their mutual
declarations, which it was impious to violate. At last he slighted
the ties of kinship, and sworn faith prevailed. His heart turned to
vengeance, and he put the sanctity of his oath before family bonds.
But since it was thought sin to wrong the holy ties of hospitality, he
preferred to execrate his revenge by the hand of another, wishing
to mask his secret crime with a show of innocence. So he veiled his
treachery with attentions, and hid his intent to harm under a show of
zealous goodwill. His queen having lately died of illness, he requested
Amleth to undertake the mission of ma