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"Then do thou also hear, oh King, the counsel of the stranger!" cried out Ingo, indignantly. "Do not thou think to marry the noble maiden to another man; for as long as I can move an arm, no other shall take her to his house. Already has Theodulf been stretched once in the grass by my sword; it was an accident that he escaped death: I bar the bridal path to him, and equally to any one of thy people."

Now the King laughed so loud that he shook with it. "The longer thou speakest, the more I love to hear thee, even though thou talkest defiantly to me. Thou thinkest after the fashion of a traveling hero, and I am confident that thou wilt show thyself so in deeds. Constrain the father, lay Theodulf, the bombastic fool, low in his blood, and carry off thy wife to the bridal bed. With all my heart I will give my aid that all this may be successful."

Ingo examined suspiciously the demeanor of the King, who sat so joyful before him, thinking that perhaps the wine had distracted his thoughts, and he said:

"The meaning of thy words, my lord, is concealed from me; thou praisest and blamest me for the same thing. How canst thou be glad to hear what appears to thee insufferable? and how canst thou help in a wooing which thou thyself wilt hinder, even if the bride's father does not do so?"

But King Bisino replied:

"Sit down again to thy drinking-horn. Much which brings a man to honor is thine, but the most difficult of all thou canst not gain. Thou hast not a king's skill. Thy thoughts hasten straight forward, as the hound on the track of the deer. But a king can not be simple-minded, either in his favor or his revenge; he must think of many things; he can not fully trust any one, and he must know how to use every man for his own advantage. Thus I would grant the noble maiden, Irmgard, rather to thee than to many others --- the maiden, understand me, but not her inheritance, and not the dominion in the forest arbor after the death of her father."

Ingo seated himself beside him, and bent his head obediently to hear further.

"Since I have been King," continued the other, "my authority has been insecure through the audacity of the forest people, and the power of their Prince, Answald; and long have I sought an opportunity to become their master. Therefore thou wast insupportable to me in the forest arbor, because thou mightest become a leader of their bands. And if thy Vandal brood were to be established round the Prince's seat, I should have to destroy thee as mine enemy, even though I were well-disposed toward thee. Bethink thee of that, Hero! Yet if thou gain the daughter by a deed of violence, as an enemy of the father --- as heroes are wont to do when their desire leads them to it --- the child inheritress will disappear from the house, and I need not fear that the dominion should pass to another race of Princes. Dost thou now understand what I mean, headstrong Ingo?"

"I desire the noble maiden, and not the Prince's seat in thy land. But it would be bitter to me that my wife should lose her birthright because she has married me."

"Leave that to me," replied the King, coldly. "If thou choose to take the woman with thee into a foreign country, I will be a good comrade on thy side; only thou must not compel me, as King, to maintain the right of the country against thee. Hero Ingo, see that thou gain thy wife by a daring deed, and I will extol thee."

"If thou grant me the wife, oh King, grant me also a castle or house, in which I can conceal her from pursuers," cried out Ingo, laying hold of the King's hand imploringly.

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