other, to the fact that the word "hjalti" is just the word that the
author must have in order to explain the origin of Hjalti's name.

A little more ought to be said about the propping-up of the dragon. That
it served an excellent purpose is evident. It provided the occasion for
Hjalti's asking for the king's sword, in the use of which he displayed
his courage and from which he received his new name. Furthermore,
Bjarki's interest in having Hott attack the beast and display his
courage indicated that he knew that the beast was dead and that he had a
special interest in having Hott recognized as a brave man. This, again,
indicated that Bjarki had himself killed the beast and been the cause of
the change in Hott's nature, for both of which he receives due credit.
But it may be asked, when Bjarki propped the dead beast up, how could he
know that events would take the turn they did? He could not know it. He
relied on his resourcefulness to handle the situation, a resourcefulness
on which he had drawn with success before. He was on hand in the morning
to take note of developments, and we can imagine several possibilities
that he might have had in mind. Had the king proposed that no risk
should be taken with the beast, Bjarki could have requested and secured
permission to attack it, taking Hott with him. Had the king himself
proposed to attack the beast, or had he proposed that his warriors
should attack it in a body, Bjarki could have said, "No, the king must
not expose himself," or, "The king must not expose so many of his men at
once; let me go." To which the king could have assented, whereupon
Bjarki could have taken Hott with him and let Hott, at the last, proceed
against the beast alone and knock it over. One can imagine other
possibilities, which it is not necessary to enumerate here. To be sure,
none of them would be so fortunate as the one represented as having
occurred; but they would have enabled Hott to gain the reputation of
being a brave man, and that is all Bjarki contemplated. That all turned