ABSTRACT
WHAT has been said above about the shrewdness of Hading is to be understood as follows. Hading, king of the Danes, passed the first years of his youth with great promise. He avoided all concern for pleasure but was continually fired by the practice of arms, considering in his valiant soul that he must spend his whole lifetime in great military endeavours. 1 2 This man made war at the town of Duna against Handvan, king of the Hellespont, who was entrenched within impregnable defence works and withstood Hading behind rebuilt fortifications. The height of the parapet prevented assailants from scaling it. Hading then ordered various kinds of birds which lodged in men’s homes there to be caught by skilled fowlers. He saw to it that ignited fungi were fixed under their wings, and they, returning to the refuge of their nests, set the whole city ablaze. The townspeople rushed about to extinguish the fire leaving the gates bare of defenders. In this way he attacked and captured Handvan and, by way of a ransom, allowed him to pay his own weight in gold. Although he might have dispatched his enemy, he preferred to grant him his life, so much did he temper savagery with mercy. 2 Nevertheless, after this, whenever a siege threatened, birds living nearby were slaughtered by royal decree. 3
Hading, king of the Danes
Town of Duna Handvan
Birds lodging in homes With ignited fungi
Artifice
Savagery to be curbed by moderation Birds are
