That a longer version of this ballad once existed is proved by the fact that verse 8 of both Schrˆter's and Hammershaimb's versions states that Guest the Blind[1] propounds thirty riddles to King Heithrek--about the same number as are to be found in the Saga, though only some six riddles and the answers to four others have come down to us. Hammershaimb attributed the loss of the others to the fact that the ballad is no longer one of those used in the dance. He was of opinion that the riddles propounded in the _RÌma_ are not the same as those found in the Saga; but it is to be noticed that the subjects of the riddles are in four cases the same, and in the other cases the subjects have the same characteristics, though the riddles themselves are not identical. It would therefore seem on the whole that the subjects of the _G·tu RÌma_ were originally identical with those of the Saga, but that they have become corrupted and possibly confused in the popular mind. [Footnote 1: Presumably a corruption of _Gestumblindi_.] G¡TU RÕMA. 1. Guest goes wandering from the hall, Silent and blind is he; Meets he with an eldern man All with hair so grey. 2. Meets he with an eldern man, All with hair so grey; "Why art thou so silent, Guest the Blind, And wherefore dost thou stray?" 3. "It is not so wonderful Though I of speech am slow; For riddles have brought me to an evil pass, And I lose my head tomorrow. 4. "It is not so wonderful Though mournful am I and slow; For riddles have brought me to an evil pass, And I lose my life tomorrow." 5. "How much of the red, red gold Wilt thou give to me, If I go in before King Heithrek And ask thy riddles for thee?" 6. "Twelve marks of the red, red gold Will I give to thee, If thou wilt go in before King Heithrek, And ransom my head for me." 7. "Go thou into thy courtyard And look to thy dwelling, thou, While I go in before King Heithrek, And ask him riddles now." 8. "Thirty are the riddles And one will I propose ... (_Riddles lost._) 9. (_First two lines lost._) Thunder is the red drum Which beats over all the world." 10. "O hearken now, Heithrek my King, Where dost thou know the neighbours, Both of whom use the same door, And neither one knows the other?" 11. "My thought and thy thought, No neighbour is one to other; Both of them use the same door, Yet neither knows the other." 12. "O hearken now, Heithrek my King, Where dost thou know the brothers Who roll far away on the outer reefs, And have neither fathers nor mothers?" 13. "The Western flow and the Eastern flow, Well may they be called brothers; They roll far away on the outer reefs And have neither fathers nor mothers."