'and has landed here suddenly even now with an army,
that he may take up his winter-quarters here with his host.
Now he commandeth thee to divide thy secret treasures
and thine ancestors' wealth quickly with him,
and thou shalt be his under-king, if thou desire to live,
because thou hast not the power that thou mayst withstand him.'
So then king Edmund called a bishop
who was handiest to him, and consulted with him
how he should answer the savage Hingwar.
Then the bishop feared for this terrible misfortune,
and for the king's life, and said that it seemed best to him
that he should submit to that which Hingwar bade him.
Then the king kept silence and looked on the ground,
and said to him at last even like a king;
' Behold, thou bishop, the poor people of this land
are brought to shame, and it were now dearer to me
that I should fall in fight against him who would possess
my people's inheritance.' And the bishop said,
' Alas, thou dear king thy people lie slain,
and thou hast not sufficient forces with which thou mayest fight,
and these seamen will come and will bind thee alive,
unless thou save thy life by means of flight,
or thus save thyself by yielding to him.'
Then said Edmund the king, full brave as he was;
' This I desire and wish in my mind,
that I should not be left alone after my dear thanes,
who even in their beds, with their bairns and their wives,
have by these seamen been suddenly slain.