l in common, and also
entirely covered on the inside with hanging tapestries. Gunwar sat by
Gotar, but Erik sat close between Kraka on the one side and Alfhild on
the other. Amid the merrymaking, he gradually drew a lath out of the
wall, and made an opening large enough to allow the passage of a human
body; and thus, without the knowledge of the guests, he made a space
wide enough to go through. Then, in the course of the feast, he began to
question his betrothed closely whether she would rather marry himself or
Frode: especially since, if due heed were paid to matches, the daughter
of a king ought to go to the arms of one as noble as herself, so that
the lowliness of one of the pair might not impair the lordliness of the
other. She said that she would never marry against the permission of her
father; but he turned her aversion into compliance by promises that she
should be queen, and that she should be richer than all other women, for
she was captivated by the promise of wealth quite as much as of glory.
There is also a tradition that Kraka turned the maiden's inclinations to
Frode by a drink which she mixed and gave to her.

Now Gotar, after the feast, in order to make the marriage-mirth go fast
and furious, went to the revel of Erik. As he passed out, Gunwar, as
she had been previously bidden, went through the hole in the party-wall
where the lath had been removed, and took the seat next to Erik. Gotar
marvelled that she was sitting there by his side, and began to ask
eagerly how and why she had come there. She said that she was Gunwar's
sister, and that the king was deceived by the likeness of their looks.
And when the king, in order to look into the matter, hurried back to the
royal room, Gunwar returned through the back door by which she had come
and sat in her old place in the sight of all. Gotar, when he saw her,
could scarcely believe his eyes, and in the utmost doubt whether he had
recognized her aright, he retraced his steps to Erik; and there he saw
before him Gunwar, who had got back in her own fashion. And so, as often
as he changed to go from one hall to the other, he found her whom he
sought in either place. By this time the king was tormented by great
wonder at what was no mere likeness, but the very same face in both
places. For it seemed flatly impossible that different people should
look exactly and undistinguishably alike. At last, when the revel broke
up, he courteously escorted his daughter and Eri