“Now the anchorite even claims that the king is a warrior, which means someone dutiful - and the fulfilment of duty accounts for the value of a civil servant; and furthermore he calls him a ruler of the earth - whereas the king is here in bondage.

“Again Helgi bears these words quietly for he must not disturb the trust of his servants and elucidate them in their state of ignorance about the actual situation of power.

“Now comes the toughest test for the king: Sehermund presents him to his court as a guest who did misbehave himself, but whose bad behaviour one should not condemn because of the laws of hospitality. The sage makes this accusation although he knows exactly that the king cannot act otherwise than what he, the sage, forces him to do inescapably.

The sage pretends towards the king's retinue some freedom of action on the part of the king which he does not have anymore since long.

“And when the wishing-cow now declares before all those present that the power of a warrior may be great, but is actually small compared to the power of a sage, she expresses what the king has felt deeply. However, he could not allow his soldiers to notice what he felt since otherwise their practical understanding of the balance of powers in the state would be in disorder, and their simple way to truth would be in danger.

“Now the cow Savala even presents the ruler over the earth as a deluded man who is haunted by an immense thirst for power.

Nothing the king would like more now than being deluded because then he would not experience so clearly in what a poor position as a statesman he actually is now.

“Only for a short time he had the desire to shake off all his responsibility; but immediately he had decided to do his duty again faithfully.

And for that particular reason he saw himself obliged by the present law to make the wishing-cow available for the benefit of his people.

“He did not think of any personal advantage of his own; but now the cow even tells him before all his servants that he is deluded - indeed, only because he is a statesman unfortunately, and not a free man; and this insight which the cow is giving him, namely that he is deluded for the very reason that he is a statesman and that he has assumed all the obligations or at least accepted them, now eats him up.

“After all the experiences and insight he has gained now in the hermitage, the king can only hope that the cow, full of modesty, will knock down his personal thirst for power - which maybe in the beginning of his rule played some role but which now is only the duty of his reign; in that case he is truly freed from all responsibility, and all commitment is taken from him.

“So the face of Helgi begins to brighten up, and he gains new confidence; full of energy he does what is inevitable, what the saint has left him no choice to do: he is trying to take the cow away by force.

“Now the divine sage has created the requirement for the enlightenment of his guests, and the wishing-cow can begin to feed them miraculously.