And so after a while another thief came forward, a crofter by name Ro. He brought Queen Alfhild’s silver goblet, as well as more of the gold. Him too the king rewarded well, giving him woodland that he could have in freehold after he had cleared it, along with the means to hire help for that work.
Thereon the two thieves who were left gave themselves up and returned their shares of the loot. Hadding bestowed rings • on them and made known that there would be a folkmoot again, at which he would put all four of them to rights with the law and give them in full everything he had promised.
Wind boomed and rain showers lashed at that meeting. The king stood before it, facing the thieves, and cried through the weather, “Here are those who would have robbed us of things that are holy. I swore that whoever brought the treasure back should have reward and honors like to those that were faithless Glum’s. Now let me fulfill my oath. They too shall hang.”
“What?” blared Bosi, and lunged at him. It took three guards to wrestle the smith to a standstill. He struggled in their grasp and raved. The other three were easier.
Hadding smiled at them. “What higher honor can you have than to go to Odin?” he said. His hand chopped downward. “Take them away”
He left their widows and children in peace, nor did he snatch from these any of what he had given the men. Still, he did not think Bosi’s son would want to join his housecarles.
Word went around Denmark. Here, men said, was a king shrewd as well as hard. Those who followed him could hope for much.
Throughout that winter and spring he readied for war. He knew he could not go straight at Uppsala as he had wanted to. He must never again leave his kingdom open to such raids as it had suffered. Rather, let most men stay behind to watch over their homes. He would take a well-chosen troop each summer and harry the Swedes. Thus he could wear them down, until when at length the kings met on a battlefield he would overcome once for all.
So it came about. Sometimes his longships prowled around the shores, their crews striking as if out of nowhere, to kill, sack, burn, and bear away captives to thralldom. Sometimes a host ferried across the water and went deeply inland, bearing the same havoc. King Uffi fought back as best he could, and many of those fights were hard, but he never had enough forewarning and the Danes always went up against mere shire-levies. These they could either overwhelm or beat to a draw.
When each warfaring season was past, Hadding returned to Denmark and spent months faring through the land. He gave judgments that folk deemed were wise and often kindly; he gave freely not only to the well-born and the yeomen he met but also to the poor; as a go between, he brought deadly feuds to an end; he started the clearing of wildernesses, the building of thorps and marts and shipyards; he found openings for lowly youths who wanted to better themselves; by his gifts, words, and smiles he brought a flowering in skaldcraft and handicraft; by his dealings with the Jutish, Anglian, and Saxon kings, he safeguarded and heartened trade. It was often said that he seemed to be two different men, one ruthlessly warlike, one a forethoughtful landfather.
With all this, he found no time for seeking a wife.
Thus it went for five years, until his doom overtook him anew.
XV
Too long have we fought with that wolf where and when and how he chooses,” said King Uffi in Uppsala.
“What else can we do?” asked his younger brother, Hunding. “If we brought together a great host, that would leave helpless the shires from which so many men were drawn. He would go reave unhindered. Ever oftener I wonder if we might not best make peace with him. If he got sureties that Denmark would be safe from us, he might well give up his thin claim to kingship here.”
Uffi’s fist thudded on the arm of his high seat. “Peace between him and me? Never while we are both alive!” He was a big man like their father, Asmund, with much the same face, though his locks were brown and as yet had no gray in them. Folk reckoned him wilier; he thought ahead. Today he narrowed his eyes and spoke softly. “A wolf leaps into a sheepfold, takes a lamb in its jaws, and is off before the hounds can give chase. If one of them does catch up with him, he slashes it bloody and lopes onward into the wilds where the rest soon lose his spoor. Shall the shepherd therefore yield and let him have the flock? No, a wise man lures the wolf into a trap.”
“Hadding is himself wise,” Hunding said. “That’s why I think we should ask what he wants for a peace with us. It may be less than what this unending war is costing. Meanwhile, he’ll know any trap for what it is, and stay clear.”
“Not if it’s a kind of which he’s never heard.” Uffi looked around at his redesmen and headmen. “Here is what I have in mind. During this winter, we’ll stack wood everywhere for beacon fires. Come spring, we’ll post fast-riding scouts about the kingdom. Thus we will know where he fares. Between the north end of Gotland and the mainland we’ll keep more ships at sea than he has ever brought with him. If he wants to fight them, good, he’s done for. But likelier he’ll sheer southward.
“Now he’s already picked those shores bare. If he wants to do more harm and take more booty, he must go well inland. Wherever
