there was little liking between them; and, when she had heard the
maiden's tale, Groa laughed aloud:

"Dost think me blind, girl?" she said; "all of this I have seen, yea and
foreseen, and I tell thee thou art mad. Let this yeoman Eric go and I
will find thee finer fowl to fly at."

"Nay, that I will not," quoth Swanhild: "for I love this man alone, and
I would win him; and Gudruda I hate, and I would overthrow her. Give me
of thy counsel."

Groa laughed again. "Things must be as they are fated. This now is my
rede: Asmund would turn Gudruda's beauty to account, and that man must
be rich in friends and money who gets her to wife, and in this matter
the mind of Björn is as the mind of his father. Now we will watch, and,
when a good time chances, we will bear tales of Gudruda to Asmund and to
her brother Björn, and swear that she oversteps her modesty with
Eric. Then shall Asmund be wroth and drive Eric from Gudruda's side.
Meanwhile, I will do this: In the north there dwells a man mighty in all
things and blown up with pride. He is named Ospakar Blacktooth. His wife
is but lately dead, and he has given out that he will wed the fairest
maid in Iceland. Now, it is in my mind to send Koll the Half-witted, my
thrall, whom Asmund gave to me, to Ospakar as though by chance. He is a
great talker and very clever, for in his half-wits is more cunning than
in the brains of most; and he shall so bepraise Gudruda's beauty that
Ospakar will come hither to ask her in marriage; and in this fashion, if
things go well, thou shalt be rid of thy rival, and I of one who looks
scornfully upon me. But, if this fail, then there are two roads left
on which strong feet may travel to their end; and of these, one is that
thou shouldest win Eric away with thine own beauty, and that is not