“Adils asked Svipdag to help him as much now as all the Berserks had done before, especially as the Queen wanted him in their place. Svipdag stayed there for some while” (Hrólf Kraki, c. 18, 19). “Now the winter passed, and the time came when the Berserks of King Hrólf were expected home. Bödvar asked Hjalti about their customs; he answered that it was their habit when they came home to the hird to walk first up to the king, and then to every man, and ask if the man thought himself their equal. The king used to answer, that is hard to tell as you are such valiant men, and as you have won renown in bloody battles against several people in the southern and northern half of the world. He gives this answer more from his good-will than unmanliness, for he knows their temper and they win great victories and much property for him. They then walk up to every man in the hall and put the same question, and no one answers that he is their equal. Bödvar said: ‘Few good warriors are here with Hrólf, as they are all cowed by the Berserks.’ No more was said. Next yule-eve Bödvar had been one year with Hrólf, and when they sat at table the door of the hall was thrown open, and in came twelve Berserks, all over grey with iron (coat of mail), which looked like broken ice. Bödvar asked Hjalti in a low voice if he dared try himself against one of them. ‘Yes,’ said Hjalti, ‘not against one, but against all of them, for I cannot get frightened though there is an overwhelming strength against me, and not one of them shall scare me.’ The Berserks first walked up the hall, and saw that the champions of Hrólf had increased in number since they left. They looked carefully at the new men, and thought that one of them was no small man, and it is told that the one who walked foremost was a little startled. They went as they used before King Hrólf, and asked him the customary question; he answered what he thought fit, as he was wont. They walked up to every man in the hall, and last up to the comrades (Bödvar and Hjalti); the foremost one then asked Bödvar if he thought himself his equal. Bödvar said he thought himself not equal, but superior to him in anything they might try; that foul son of a mare should not treat him like a sow. He jumped up at the Berserk who was in full war dress, and threw him down so strongly that he came near breaking his bones; Hjalti did the same, so that a great tumult arose in the hall, and the king saw that a great loss was likely to take place if his men were to be killed. He rushed from his high seat to Bödvar, and asked him to take it all in a quiet and friendly manner. Bödvar said the Berserk should lose his life unless he acknowledged himself to be a lesser man than he. The king said that would be easily done, and allowed the Berserks to rise to their feet. Hjalti did the same after the king’s order. Every man sat down in his seat, and the Berserks likewise in theirs with grief in their mind. The