thanes found the steering-oar of a wrecked ship. “Look, Amlodi,” said one, “we have found a huge knife!”
“Then it was the right thing to carve so big a ham,” Amlodi replied. There was laughter at this, but in fact he meant the sea, which matched the steering-oar in vastness.
As they rode past the dunes, one said: “Look at this meal!” referring the sand.
“The tempests of the ocean have ground it small,” Amlodi replied.
“That’s not the answer of a fool,” said the thane.
“I spoke it wittingly,” replied Amlodi. And in after days the sea was known in poetry as Amlodi’s Mill.
Then the thanes left him, so he could pluck up the courage for love-making. In a dark place he encountered his foster-sister, who was the woman Feng had sent to tempt him. He took her, and would have slept with her immediately, had her brother not given him some idea that this was a trap. For the man had attached a straw to the tail of a gadfly, which he had sent in Amlodi’s direction, and Amlodi guessed from this that it was a secret warning to beware treachery. So he dragged the maid off to a distant fen, where they made love. Before they did so, Amlodi secretly laid down three objects he had gathered during the journey. Once they had lain together, he asked her earnestly to tell no one. She agreed in view of their long friendship.
When he returned home, the thanes were waiting for him. “Did you give way?” asked one slyly.
“Why, I ravished the maid,” he replied.
“Where did you commit the act?” asked another. “And what was your pillow?”
“I rested on the hoof of a donkey, a cockscomb, and a ceiling,” replied Amlodi, and all laughed at the mad reply, but in truth, it had been fragments of these three objects that Amlodi had laid down on the ground before sleeping with his foster-sister.
“Is what this madman says true?” they asked the girl.
“He did no such thing!” she replied firmly. Also Amlodi’s escort agreed that it would have been impossible.
Then Amlodi’s foster-brother said: “Latterly, I have been singly devoted to you, brother.”
In reply, Amlodi said: “I saw a certain thing bearing a straw flit by suddenly, wearing a stalk of chaff fixed to its hind parts.”
Although the others laughed, his foster brother rejoiced.
So none of them had succeeded in tricking Amlodi. But one of Feng’s thanes, in council, said: “No simple plot can prove Amlodi’s cunning. “His obstinacy is great, and his wiliness is many-sided.”
“Then what do you suggest?” asked the king.
“I have thought of a better way, which will certainly help us learn what we wish. My lord, you must leave the palace, claiming that affairs of state take you elsewhere. Closet Amlodi alone with his mother in her chamber, but first place a man in hiding in the room to listen to their speech. If Amlodi has any wits he will not hesitate to trust his mother.”
Feng nodded approvingly. He left the court claiming to be on a long journey. His thane went secretly to Gerutha’s chamber, and hid himself in the straw. But Amlodi was ready for any treachery. Afraid of eavesdroppers, he crowed like a noisy cock on entering the room, flapping his arms as if they were wings. Then he began to jump up and down on the straw to see if anything lurked there. Feeling a lump under his feet, he drove his sword in, and impaled the thane. Then he dragged the man from hiding and slew him. After that he hacked the body into pieces, seethed them in boiling water, and flung them into an open sewer for the pigs to eat. Now he returned to his mother’s chamber, where she lamented his madness. But he reproached her for her conduct, and tore her heart with his words.
When Feng returned, he could find his thane nowhere. Jokingly, he asked Amlodi, among others, if he had seen him.
“Your thane went to the sewer, but he fell in and drowned in filth,” Amlodi replied with a wild grin. “Then the swine ate him.”
Feng shook his
“Then it was the right thing to carve so big a ham,” Amlodi replied. There was laughter at this, but in fact he meant the sea, which matched the steering-oar in vastness.
As they rode past the dunes, one said: “Look at this meal!” referring the sand.
“The tempests of the ocean have ground it small,” Amlodi replied.
“That’s not the answer of a fool,” said the thane.
“I spoke it wittingly,” replied Amlodi. And in after days the sea was known in poetry as Amlodi’s Mill.
Then the thanes left him, so he could pluck up the courage for love-making. In a dark place he encountered his foster-sister, who was the woman Feng had sent to tempt him. He took her, and would have slept with her immediately, had her brother not given him some idea that this was a trap. For the man had attached a straw to the tail of a gadfly, which he had sent in Amlodi’s direction, and Amlodi guessed from this that it was a secret warning to beware treachery. So he dragged the maid off to a distant fen, where they made love. Before they did so, Amlodi secretly laid down three objects he had gathered during the journey. Once they had lain together, he asked her earnestly to tell no one. She agreed in view of their long friendship.
When he returned home, the thanes were waiting for him. “Did you give way?” asked one slyly.
“Why, I ravished the maid,” he replied.
“Where did you commit the act?” asked another. “And what was your pillow?”
“I rested on the hoof of a donkey, a cockscomb, and a ceiling,” replied Amlodi, and all laughed at the mad reply, but in truth, it had been fragments of these three objects that Amlodi had laid down on the ground before sleeping with his foster-sister.
“Is what this madman says true?” they asked the girl.
“He did no such thing!” she replied firmly. Also Amlodi’s escort agreed that it would have been impossible.
Then Amlodi’s foster-brother said: “Latterly, I have been singly devoted to you, brother.”
In reply, Amlodi said: “I saw a certain thing bearing a straw flit by suddenly, wearing a stalk of chaff fixed to its hind parts.”
Although the others laughed, his foster brother rejoiced.
So none of them had succeeded in tricking Amlodi. But one of Feng’s thanes, in council, said: “No simple plot can prove Amlodi’s cunning. “His obstinacy is great, and his wiliness is many-sided.”
“Then what do you suggest?” asked the king.
“I have thought of a better way, which will certainly help us learn what we wish. My lord, you must leave the palace, claiming that affairs of state take you elsewhere. Closet Amlodi alone with his mother in her chamber, but first place a man in hiding in the room to listen to their speech. If Amlodi has any wits he will not hesitate to trust his mother.”
Feng nodded approvingly. He left the court claiming to be on a long journey. His thane went secretly to Gerutha’s chamber, and hid himself in the straw. But Amlodi was ready for any treachery. Afraid of eavesdroppers, he crowed like a noisy cock on entering the room, flapping his arms as if they were wings. Then he began to jump up and down on the straw to see if anything lurked there. Feeling a lump under his feet, he drove his sword in, and impaled the thane. Then he dragged the man from hiding and slew him. After that he hacked the body into pieces, seethed them in boiling water, and flung them into an open sewer for the pigs to eat. Now he returned to his mother’s chamber, where she lamented his madness. But he reproached her for her conduct, and tore her heart with his words.
When Feng returned, he could find his thane nowhere. Jokingly, he asked Amlodi, among others, if he had seen him.
“Your thane went to the sewer, but he fell in and drowned in filth,” Amlodi replied with a wild grin. “Then the swine ate him.”
Feng shook his
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