sought in either place.  By this time the king was tormented by great wonder at what was no mere likeness, but the very same face in both places.  For it seemed flatly impossible that different people should look exactly and undistinguishably alike.  At last, when the revel broke up, he courteously escorted his daughter and Erik as far as their room, as the manner is at weddings, and went back himself to bed elsewhere.

But Erik suffered Alfhild, who was destined for Frode, to lie apart, and embraced Gunwar as usual, thus outwitting the king.  So Gotar passed a sleepless night, revolving how he had been apparently deluded with a dazed and wandering mind:  for it seemed to him no mere likeness of looks, but sameness.  Thus he was filled with such wavering and doubtful judgment, that though he really discerned the truth he thought he must have been mistaken.  At last it flashed across his mind that the wall might have been tampered with.  He gave orders that it should be carefully surveyed and examined, but found no traces of a breakage:  in fact, the entire room seemed to be whole and unimpaired.  For Erik, early in the night, had patched up the damage of the broken wall, that his trick might not be detected.  Then the king sent two men privily into the bedroom of Erik to learn the truth, and bade them stand behind the hangings and note all things carefully.  They further received orders to kill Erik if they found him with Gunwar.  They went secretly into the room, and, concealing themselves in the curtained corners, beheld Erik and Gunwar in bed together with arms entwined.  Thinking them only drowsy, they waited for their deeper sleep, wishing to stay until a heavier slumber gave them a chance to commit their crime.  Erik snored lustily, and they knew it was a sure sign that he slept soundly; so they straightway came forth with drawn blades in order to butcher him.  Erik was awakened by their treacherous onset, and seeing their swords hanging over his head, called out the name of his stepmother, (Kraka), to which long ago he had been bidden to appeal when in peril, and he found a speedy help in his need.  For his shield, which hung aloft from the rafter, instantly fell and covered his unarmed body, and, as if on purpose, covered it from impalement by the cutthroats.  He did not fail to make use of his luck, but, snatching his sword, lopped off both feet of the nearest of them.  Gunwar, with equal energy, ran a spear through the other:  she had the body of a woman, but the spirit of a man.

Thus Erik escaped the trap; whereupon he went back to the sea and made ready to sail off by night.  But Roller sounded on his horn the signal for those who had been bidden to watch close by, to break into the palace.  When the king heard this, he thought it meant that the enemy was upon them, and made off hastily in a ship.  Meanwhile Brak, and those who had broken in with him, snatched up the goods of the king, and got them on board Erik’s ships.