But when they reached the palace he had an assembly summoned, to which he called Erik, and under the pledge of betrothal gave him his sister and command over a hundred men.

Then he added that the queen would be a weariness to him, and that the daughter of Gotar had taken his liking.

He must, therefore, have a fresh embassy, and the business could best be done by Erik, for whose efforts nothing seemed too hard.
He also said that he would stone Gotwar to death for her complicity in concealing the crime; but Hanund he would restore to her father, that he might not have a traitress against his life dwelling amongst the Danes.
Erik approved his plans, and promised his help to carry out his bidding; except that he declared that it would be better to marry the queen, when she had been put away, to Roller, of whom his sovereignty need have no fears.

This opinion Frode received reverentially, as though it were some lesson vouchsafed from above.

The queen also, that she might not seem to be driven by compulsion, complied, as women will, and declared that there was no natural necessity to grieve, and that all distress of spirit was a creature of fancy: and, moreover, that one ought not to bewail the punishment that befell one's deserts.