Is it not enough ?" He spake sternly for all that he smiled, and Hallblithe said: "O King, have pity on me!" "Yea," said the King; "pity thee I do: but I will live despite thy sorrow; my pity of thee shall not slay me, or make thee happy.

Even in such wise didst thou pity my daughter." Said Hallblithe: "Thou art mighty, O King, and maybe the mightiest.

Wilt thou not help me ?" "How can I help thee ?" said the King, "thou who wilt not help thyself.
Thou hast seen what thou shouldst do: do it then and be holpen." Then said Hallblithe: "Wilt thou not slay me, O King, since thou wilt not do aught else ?" "Nay," said the King, "thy slaying wilt not serve me nor mine: I will neither help nor hinder.

Thou art free to seek thy love wheresoever thou wilt in this my realm.

Depart in peace!" Hallblithe saw that the King was angry, though he smiled upon him; yet so coldly, that the face of him froze the very marrow of Hallblithe's bones: and he said within himself: "This King of lies shall not slay me, though mine anguish be hard to bear: for I am alive, and it may be that my love is in this land, and I may find her here, and how to reach another land I know not." So he turned from before the face of the King as the sun was setting, and he went down the land southward betwixt the mountains and the sea, not heeding whether it were night or day; and he went on till it was long past midnight, and then for mere weariness laid him down under a tree, not knowing where he was, and fell asleep.
And in the morning he woke up to the bright sun, and found folk standing round about him, both men and women, and their sheep were anigh them, for they were shepherd folk.