Eric smiled and said, "I hold thee to thy word, lord; perhaps I shall be
thy guest at Yule."

But Gudruda heard the thunder of the mighty Falls as the wind turned,
and cried "Nay, nay--it were thy death!"

Then Eric finds his horse and rides away across the snow.

Now it must be told of Koll the Half-witted that at length he came to
Swinefell in the north, having journeyed hard across the snow. Here
Ospakar Blacktooth had his great hall, in which day by day a hundred men
sat down to meat. Now Koll entered the hall when Ospakar was at supper,
and looked at him with big eyes, for he had never seen so wonderful a
man. He was huge in stature--his hair was black, and black his beard,
and on his lower lip there lay a great black fang. His eyes were small
and narrow, but his cheekbones were set wide apart and high, like
those of a horse. Koll thought him an ill man to deal with and half a
troll,[*] and grew afraid of his errand, since in Koll's half-wittedness
there was much cunning--for it was a cloak in which he wrapped himself.
But as Ospakar sat in the high seat, clothed in a purple robe, with
his sword Whitefire on his knee, he saw Koll, and called out in a great
voice:

[*] An able-bodied Goblin.

"Who is this red fox that creeps into my earth?"

For, to look at, Koll was very like a fox.