"I do not wish to conquer; I seek to protect you and your grandmother."

"The head of our clan will protect us--Suomar, her son, my uncle and
guardian."

"Suomar thought that you would be safer on Odin's Mountain."

"Because my good uncle did not suspect that you were only trying to win
fresh renown by new couplets. Something like this:

'Bitterly bites Bissula! But back
Repentant she ran, in fear of the Romans;
To Adalo, the Adeling!'

You hear--I too can make verses."

"Evil words," said Waldrun reprovingly, "which were not given to you by
Odin the Wise, but by Loki! Why do you scorn the protection your
neighbor offers? You grew up together like brother and sister, constant
playfellows on the shore and the lake."

"Until the neighbor discovered that he was the rich, strong young
noble, skilled in song; the 'handsome' Adalo--as all the silly girls
whisper. He handsome? He is hideous. His name is forever ringing in
one's ears throughout the whole region in every dwelling along the
lake. Who is the boldest hero in the Roman war? The stoutest swimmer,
the most successful hunter? The victor in wrestling, hurling stones,
casting the spear? Who leaps highest in the sword dance? To whom do
even the gray-beards listen in the Council? At whom do the maidens peep
at the sun-festival? Adalo! Adalo! Adalo!--The arrogant fellow! It is
unbearable."

The angry maiden pressed both little clenched hands over her eyes to
shut out the sight of the foe she so fervently hated.

"Would arrogance bring me here with this entreaty?"

"Ay; sheer arrogance! When, during the spinning in the winter and the
hay-making in the autumn, the girls talked about you, I said little; I
only listened. It was rumored that Jetto, the rich lord of the manor,
was beginning--he took the first step--to treat with Adalo concerning a
marriage with his daughter, Jettaberga. Jettaberga is the handsomest
girl in the lake region--"

"That is not true," said Adalo earnestly.

"Her kinsmen, next to your own family, have the largest number of
spears and of cattle, are the richest in shields and in lands."

"That is true," he answered, nodding assent. "But Adalo refused the
offer as soon as it was sufficiently well known in the neighborhood
that Jetto himself had proposed to give him his daughter because both
clans would have profited by the alliance--"

"Especially Jetto!" interrupted Waldrun. "And because Jettaberga
tho