And as the queen mourned over the lifeless body she heard the sound of many ships upon the seashore, and she said to her handmaid: "Let us now exchange garments and flee into the woods, and do thou play the part of king's daughter, and I will be thy handmaid." Then there came up a great band of Vikings from the shore, and their leader was Alf, son of the King of Denmark. And they saw how a great company of men lay slain, and also how two women had escaped into the woods. So Alf bade his followers go seek the maidens, and bring them before him. This they did, and when he questioned them, the handmaid spoke as though she were queen, and answered for both, and told of the fall of King Sigmund, and who it was who had brought the war trouble into the land. Then the prince asked if they knew where the wealth of the king was hidden, and the maiden replied: "Ay, we know full well where it is laid." And she guided them to the place, and this pleased the prince, and he put the treasure aboard his ships, and took the women also with him. But first he gave ear to the tale of Sigmund, and it won his admiration, and he caused the king to be buried as beseemed his rank and valour. Then did Hiordis and the handmaid sail away with Alf to his own land. CHAPTER XVII The Story of the Magic Gold _This is the tale the Northmen tell of how Sigurd was nurtured in Denmark._ When Hiordis and her handmaid came to the kingdom of Prince Alf, they were treated with all honour and goodwill. But soon the queen-mother of Prince Alf called him to her and said: "Tell me, my son, why the fairer of these women has the fewer rings and the commoner garments? For methinks that she whom you have held of least account is the nobler of the two." And he answered: "I, too, have had my doubts, since she is little like a bond-servant, and when we first met she greeted me in noble wise. But let us make trial of the matter." So it came to pass that, as they sat at table, the prince said: "How is it that you know the hour for rising in the winter mornings, seeing that there are then no lights in heaven?" And the handmaid, who was playing the part of mistress, forgot herself, and answered: "At a certain hour I was ever wont to drink milk before wending to feed the cows; and now that I no longer do this, I still awake thereby at that self-same time." At this the prince laughed aloud, saying: "That is ill manners for a king's daughter." Then he turned to Hiordis and asked her the same question, and she answered unthinkingly: "My father once gave me a little gold ring of such a nature that it grows cold on my finger in the day-dawning; and that is the sign by which I know it is time to rise." Then the prince sprang up, saying: "Gold rings for a bond-maid! Come now, thou has deceived me, for I perceive that thou art a king's daughter." So the queen told him the whole truth, and then was she held in the greatest honour.