quarters, Uffe clove him through with the first stroke of his blade.  The sound revived Wermund, who said that he heard the sword of his son, and asked “on what particular part he had dealt the blow?” Then the retainers answered that it had gone through no one limb, but the man’s whole frame; whereat Wermund drew back from the precipice and came on the bridge, longing now as passionately to live as he had just wished to die.  Then Uffe, wishing to destroy his remaining foe after the fashion of the first, incited the prince with vehement words to offer some sacrifice by way of requital to the shade of the servant slain in his cause.  Drawing him by those appeals, and warily noting the right spot to plant his blow, he turned the other edge of his sword to the front, fearing that the thin side of his blade was too frail for his strength, and smote with a piercing stroke through the prince’s body.  When Wermund heard it, he said that the sound of his sword “Skrep” had reached his ear for the second time.  Then, when the judges announced that his son had killed both enemies, he burst into tears from excess of joy.  Thus gladness bedewed the cheeks which sorrow could not moisten.  So while the Saxons, sad and shamefaced, bore their champions to burial with bitter shame, the Danes welcomed Uffe and bounded for joy.  Then no more was heard of the disgrace of the murder of Athisl, and there was an end of the taunts of the Saxons.

Thus the realm of Saxony was transferred to the Danes, and Uffe, after his father, undertook its government; and he, who had not been thought equal to administering a single kingdom properly, was now appointed to manage both.  Most men have called him Olaf, and he has won the name of “the Gentle” for his forbearing spirit.  His later deeds, lost in antiquity, have lacked formal record.  But it may well be supposed that when their beginnings were so notable, their sequel was glorious.  I am so brief in considering his doings, because the lustre of the famous men of our nation has been lost to memory and praise by the lack of writings.  But if by good luck our land had in old time been endowed with the Latin tongue, there would have been countless volumes to read of the exploits of the Danes.

Uffe was succeeded by his son Dan, who carried his arms against foreigners, and increased his sovereignty with many a trophy; but he tarnished the brightness of the glory he had won by foul and abominable presumption; falling so far away from the honour of his famous father, who surpassed all others in modesty, that he contrariwise was puffed up and proudly exalted in spirit, so that he scorned all other men.  He also squandered the goods of his father on infamies, as well as his own winnings from the spoils of foreign nations; and he devoured in expenditure on luxuries the wealth which should have ministered to his royal estate.  Thus do sons sometimes, like monstrous births, degenerate from their ancestors.