The shield's shelter for thee
So long as thou thyself
Dost hold and stand
Fast by thy people."

Then he handed him the spear, saying:

"Runes of victory I, sure of triumph,
Carved for thee myself
On the sharp spear's handle.
To mortal man never
Lower it vanquished,
Nor let its shaft be shattered.
Some day, full lightly,
From thy faithful hand
When, white-bearded, thou dost win
On thy shield the battle death
'Mid blissful victory--
Then, from thy faithful hand,
Lightly will take it
On swan-wings downward to thee floating,
Shining in beauty,
Valhalla's fairest Valkyria,
And bear thee, loyal one,
Upward to Odin."

Lastly, he put on the belt from which the sword hung in its sheath,
saying:

"As the belt now girdles thee,
So, as its own doth hold thee
The Alemanni army.
As the belt is for thee
Ornament and defence,
So art thou, as one link,
Ornament and defence
To us, the Alemanni."

Then Sippilo drew the short sword from its sheath, held the hilt toward
the shining sun, and said:

"This bright sword will I wield
For my free nation,
For its rights, its renown,
And for Sippilo's kinsmen!
Should I e'er do aught else,
May the keen, shining edge,
The sharp blade, the wise blade--
For this oath it knoweth--
Deal my faithless heart a death-blow!
Sun, thou dost see it;
The Lofty One heard it,
And Zio is witness,
With the Alemanni's
High-crested army."

The boy now leaped joyously down the steps and, proud of his new
weapons, took his place beside his brother amid loud shouts of applause
from the multitude, especially his kinsmen and those who had the stag's
antlers inscribed on their shields.

"Now the next act of justice. One who is absent wishes to free his
bondman in the assembly. Suomar, son of Suobert, who is on guard in the
eastern marshes, liberates his slave Zercho. I have bought his freedom
for the sake of good service rendered to the army; his master, to whom
a messenger was sent,