King Eric said:
'I need not to count the crimes on thy hands,
for they are so many and great that each one might
well warrant that thou go not hence alive.
Thou hast nothing else to expect but that here thou must die.
This thou mightest know before,
that thou wouldst get no terms from me.'
Gunnhilda said:
'Why shall not Egil be slain at once?
Rememberest thou no more, O king,
what Egil hath done to thee—slain thy friends and kin, ay,
even thine own son to boot, and cursed thyself?
Where ever was it known that a king was thus dealt with?'

Arinbjorn said:
'If Egil have spoken evil of the king,
for that he can now atone
in words of praise that shall live for all time.'
Gunnhilda said:
'We will hear none of his praise.
O king, bid Egil be led out and beheaded.
I will neither hear his words nor see him.'
Then said Arinbjorn:
'The king will not let himself be
egged on to all thy dastardly work.
He will not have Egil slain by night,
for night-slaying is murder.'
The king said:
'So shall it be, Arinbjorn,
as thou demandest.
Egil shall live this night.
Take thou him home with thee,
and bring him to me in the morning.'