THE SCENE: The Danish king Gram hated Sweden so much that when he killed two bandits in the Swedish hinterland, he worked hard to reverse the good he had done
THE TEXT: Travelling further he learnt from those he met that he would be waylaid on the road by two brigands. When they rushed eagerly forward to rob him, he dispatched them with a single blow. Afterwards, not wishing to appear to have conferred a benefit on enemy territory, he tied their dead bodies to planks and stretched them upright in such a way that they seemed to be standing. Those they had preyed on whilst they were alive would still be menaced in appearance by their corpses. Even after death they should be fearsome and obstruct the way no less in semblance than they did in deed. Men agree that by such an extraordinary action after slaying the robbers he showed that he had worked in his own interest, not that of the Swedes, whom he hated so much.
– Gesta Danorum, Saxo Grammaticus, 12th Century AD
