This roused Sigurd’s wrath, for he would have nought said against those who had reared him, but Regin bade him ask for one of the horses of Gripir, and banished his anger by a song of the deeds of the Choosers of the Slain.  Before the song was finished Sigurd went to King Elf and asked that he might have authority to seek a horse from King Gripir.

  Then smiled King Elf, and answered:  “A long way wilt thou ride,
  To where unpeace and troubles and the griefs of the soul abide,
  Yea unto the death at the last:  yet surely shall thou win
  The praise of many a people:  so have thy way herein. 
  Forsooth no more may we hold thee than the hazel copse may hold
  The sun of the early dawning, that turneth it all unto gold.”

  Then sweetly Sigurd thanked them; and through the night he lay
  Mid dreams of many a matter till the dawn was on the way;
  Then he shook the sleep from off him, and that dwelling of Kings he left
  And wended his ways unto Gripir.  On a crag from the mountain reft
  Was the house of the old King builded; and a mighty house it was,
  Though few were the sons of men that over its threshold would pass: 
  But the wild ernes cried about it, and the vultures toward it flew,
  And the winds from the heart of the mountains searched every chamber
       through,
  And about were meads wide-spreading; and many a beast thereon,
  Yea some that are men-folk’s terror, their sport and pasture won.

  So into the hall went Sigurd; and amidst was Gripir set
  In a chair of the sea-beast’s tooth; and his sweeping beard nigh met
  The floor that was green as the ocean, and his gown was of mountain-gold,
  And the kingly staff in his hand was knobbed with the crystal cold.

  Now the first of the twain spake Gripir:  “Hail King with the eyen bright! 
  Nought needest thou show the token, for I know of thy life and thy light. 
  And no need to tell of thy message; it was wafted here on the wind,
  That thou wouldst be coming today a horse in my meadow to find: 
  And strong must he be for the bearing of those deeds of thine that shall be. 
  Now choose thou of all the way-wearers that are running loose in my lea.”

* * * * *

  Then again gat Sigurd outward, and adown the steep he ran
  And unto the horse-fed meadow:  but lo, a grey-clad man,
  One-eyed and seeming ancient, there met him by the way: 
  And he spake:  “Thou hastest, Sigurd; yet tarry till I say
  A word that shall well bestead thee:  for I know of these mountains well
  And all the lea of Gripir, and the beasts that thereon dwell.”

  “Wouldst thou have red gold for thy tidings? art thou Gripir’s horse-herd
       then? 
  Nay sure, for thy face is shining like the battle-eager men
  My master Regin tells of:  and I love thy cloud-grey gown,
  And thy visage gleams above it like a thing my dreams have known.”