Then Erik went to the harbour, not far from which Frode was tarrying, and, the moment that he stepped out of the ship, tripped inadvertently, and came tumbling to the ground.

He found in the slip a presage of a lucky issue, and forecast better results from this mean beginning.

When Grep heard of his coming, he hastened down to the sea, intending to assail with chosen and pointed phrases the man whom he had heard was better-spoken than all other folk.

Grep's eloquence was not so much excellent as impudent, for he surpassed all in stubbornness of speech.
So he began the dispute with reviling, and assailed Erik as follows: Grep: "Fool, who art thou?
What idle quest is thine?
Tell me, whence or whither dost thou journey?
What is thy road?
What thy desire?
Who thy father?
What thy lineage?
Those have strength beyond others who have never left their own homes, and the Luck of kings is their houseluck.
For the things of a vile man are acceptable unto few, and seldom are the deeds of the hated pleasing." Erik: "Ragnar is my father; eloquence clothes my tongue; I have ever loved virtue only.

Wisdom hath been my one desire; I have travelled many ways over the world, and seen the different manners of men.