Arinbjorn thanked the king for his words:
'We hope, my lord, that henceforth Egil's cause will take a better turn.
And though Egil has done great wrong against thee, yet look thou on this,
that he has suffered much from thee and thy kin.
King Harold thy father took the life of Thorolf, a man of renown,
Egil's father's brother, for the slander of bad men, for no crime at all.
And thou, O king, didst break the law in Egil's case for the sake of Bergonund;
nay further thou didst wish to doom his death, and didst slay his men,
and plunder all his goods, and withal didst make him an outlaw and drive him from the land. And Egil is one who will stand no teasing.
But in every cause under judgment one must look on the act with its reasons.
I will now have Egil in keeping for the night.'

Then Arinbjorn and Egil went back to the house,
and when they came in they two went into a small
upper room and talked over this matter. Arinbjorn said:
'The king just now was very wroth, yet methought
his mood rather softened before the end,
and fortune will now decide what may be the upshot.
I know that Gunnhilda will set all her mind on marring your cause.
Now I would fain that we take this counsel:
that you be awake through the night,
and compose a song of praise about king Eric.
I should think it had best be a poem of twenty stanzas,
and you might recite it to-morrow when we come before the king.
Thus did Bragi my kinsman, when he was under
the wrath of Bjorn king of Sweden;
he composed a poem of praise about him in one night,
and for it received his head.
Now may we also have the same luck with the king,
that you may make your peace with him,
if you can offer him the poem of praise.'