Poetic Edda - Thorpe Trans.
Thor
31. Then you had kind damsels there?
Harbard
32. Of thy aid I had need, Thor!
in retaining
that maiden lily-fair.
Thor
33. I would have given it thee,
if I had had the opportunity.
Harbard
34. I would have trusted thee,
my confidence
if thou hadst not betrayed it.
Thor
35. I am not such a heel-chafer
as an old leather shoe in spring.
Harbard
36. What meanwhile didst thou, Thor?
Thor
37. The Berserkers’ brides
I on Læssö cudgeled;
they the worst had perpetrated,
the whole people had seduced.
Harbard
38. Dastardly didst thou act, Thor!
when thou didst cudgel women.
Thor
39. She-wolves they were,
and scarcely women.
They crushed my ship,
which with props I had secured,
with iron clubs threatened me,
and drove away Thialfi.
What meanwhile didst thou, Harbard?
Harbard
40. I in the army was,
which was hither sent,
war-banners to raise,
lances to redden.
Thor
41. Of that thou now wilt speak,
as thou wentest forth
us hard terms to offer.
Harbard
42. That shall be indemnified
by a hand-ring,
such as arbitrators give,
who wish to reconcile us.
Thor
43. Where didst thou learn words
than which I never heard
more irritating?
Harbard
44. From men I learned them,
from ancient men,
whose home is in the woods.
Thor
45. Thou givest certainly
a good name to grave-mounds,
when thou callest them
homes in the woods.
Harbard
46. So speak I
of such a subject.
Thor
47. Thy shrewd words
will bring thee evil,
if I resolve the sound to ford.
Louder than a wold
thou wilt howl, I trow,
if of my hammer thou gettest a touch.
Harbard
48. Sif has a gallant at home;
thou wilt anxious be to find him:
thou shalt that arduous work perform;
it will beseem thee better.
Thor
49. Thou utterest what comes upmost,
so that to me it be most annoying,
thou dastardly varlet!
I believe thou art lying.
Harbard
50. I believe I am telling truth.
Thou art travelling slowly;
thou wouldst have long since arrived,
hadst thou assumed another form.
Thor
51. Harbard! thou wretch!
rather is it thou who has detained me.
Harbard
52. I never thought
that a ferryman could
the course of Asa-Thor retard.
Thor
53. One advice I now will give thee:
row hither with thy boat;
let us cease from threats;
approach the sire of Magni.
Harbard
54. Go farther from the sound,
the passage is refused thee.
Thor
55. Show me then the way,
if thou wilt not ferry me
across the water.
Harbard
56. That’s too little to refuse.
‘Tis far to go;
‘tis to the stock an hour,
and to the stone another;
then keep the left hand way,
until thou reachest Verland;
there will Fjörgyn
find her son Thor,
and point out to him
his kinsmen’s ways
to Odin’s land.
Thor
57. Can I get there to-day?
Harbard
58. With pain and toil
thou mayest get there,
while the sun is up,
which, I believe, is now nigh.
Thor
59. Our talk shall now be short,
as thou answerest with scoffing only.
For refusing to ferry me I will reward thee,
if another time we meet.
Harbard
60. Just go to where
all the powers of evil may have thee.
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