Frode replied:  “I ask thee whither thou next didst bend thy course, or where the evening found thee?”

Then said Erik:  “Leaving a crag, I came to a rock, and likewise lay by a stone.”

Frode said:  “The boulders lay thick in those parts.”

Erik answered:  “Yet thicker lies the sand, plain to see.”

Frode said:  “Tell what thy business was, and whither thou struckest off thence.”

Then said Erik:  “Leaving the rock, as my ship ran on, I found a dolphin.”

Frode said:  “Now thou hast said something fresh, though both these things are common in the sea:  but I would know what path took thee after that?”

Erik answered:  “After a dolphin I went to a dolphin.”

Frode said:  “The herd of dolphins is somewhat common.”

Then said Erik:  “It does swim somewhat commonly on the waters.”

Frode said:  “I would fain blow whither thou wert borne on thy toilsome journey after leaving the dolphins?”

Erik answered:  “I soon came upon the trunk of a tree.”

Frode rejoined:  “Whither didst thou next pass on thy journey?”

Then said Erik:  “From a trunk I passed on to a log.”

Frode said:  “That spot must be thick with trees, since thou art always calling the abodes of thy hosts by the name of trunks.”

Erik replied:  “There is a thicker place in the woods.”

Frode went on:  “Relate whither thou next didst bear thy steps.”

Erik answered:  “Oft again I made my way to the lopped timbers of the woods; but, as I rested there, wolves that were sated on human carcases licked the points of the spears.  There a lance-head was shaken from the shaft of the king, and it was the grandson of Fridleif.”

Frode said:  “I am bewildered, and know not what to think about the dispute:  for thou hast beguiled my mind with very dark riddling.”

Erik answered:  “Thou owest me the prize for this contest that is finished:  for under a veil I have declared to thee certain things thou hast ill understood.  For under the name I gave before of `spear-point’ I signified Odd, whom my hand had slain.”

And when the queen also had awarded him the palm of eloquence and the prize for flow of speech, the king straightway took a bracelet from his arm, and gave it to him as the appointed reward, adding:  “I would fain learn from thyself thy debate with Grep, wherein he was not ashamed openly to avow himself vanquished.”

Then said Erik:  “He was smitten with shame for the adultery wherewith he was taxed; for since he could bring no defence, he confessed that he had committed it with thy wife.”