Viking Tales of the North
Fridthjof's Saga
Canto
XVI.
Bjorn
and Fridthjof.
Fridthjof.
Bjorn! I’m awearied of surge
and of sea!
Billows, at best, are
tumultuous urchins;
Northalnd’s firm, fast-rooted,
dear belov’d mountains
Wondrously tempt me, afar though they be.
Happy whom never his land
has outdriven,
None ever chas’d from his father’s green grave!
Ah! too long , yes too
long, have I striven,
Peaceless and sad, on this ocean’s wild wave!
Bjorn.
Ocean is good, blame it not;
for out yonder
Freedom and gladness abide
on its breast;
Nothing know I of weak
womanish rest,
Onward I love with the billows to wander.
When I am old, on the
blossoming earth
I, too, will grow soil-fast as the grass is;
Goblet and battle shall
now be my mirth;
Now I’ll enjoy each young
hour as it passes!
Fridthjof.
Yet, by hard ice we are hunted
on land;
See! round our keel the
big waves lie all lifeless.
Winter I waste not, the
long and the strifeless,
Here ‘mong the rocks of a desolate strand.
Yule shall again in the
Northland delight me,
Guesting with Ring and the bride that he stole.
Yes! I’ll again view those
locks streaming brightly;
Tones still so lov’d shall yet speak to my soul!
Bjorn.
Good! hint no longer. Revenge
is our duty!
Ring shall
acknowledge a viking’s dire.
Sudden
at midnight his palace we’ll fire;
First burn the old warrior, the ravish the beauty.
Haply it chances in vikinga-wise,
Isle-duel worthy the chieftain thou deemest;
Or, thou mayst challenge
to host-fight on ice;
Say! I’m prepar’d for whatever thou schemest!
Fridthjof.
Arson, oh name not, — and
think not of war:
Peaceful I go. The good
king has not wrong’d me;
She, too, is guiltless.
Yes! gods avenge strongly —
I their insulter — the crime they abhor.
Little on earth may I
hope. There remaineth
Now but to part from the bride I hold dear.
Part, ah! for aye. when
soft spring again reigneth,
Then, if not sooner, I haste to thee here.
Bjorn.
Fridthjof, I cannot excuse,
man, thy madness.
What! for a woman lament
so sore!
Women, good lack! the
whole earth swarm o’er;
Thousands, one gone, will soon banish thy sadness.
Quick, if thou wilt, where
the south sun glows;
Cargoes as lambs and as red as the rose,
Gentle as lambs and as
red as the rose,
Then draw me lots, or divide them like brothers.
Fridthjof.
Bjorn, thou art open and glad,
like as Frey;
Boldness in fight, skill
in counsel, thou showest;
Odin and Thor both together
thou knowest;
Freyja, the heav’nly, thou dost not obey.
- Speak we not
now of the power each god keepeth;
Rouse not, enrage not, the eternal
again;
Sooner or later, the sparkle
that sleepeth
Wakes in the bosom of gods and of men.
Bjorn.
Go not alone, Seldom way-laid
returneth.
Fridthjof.
Well am I followed: My sword’s
at my side.
Bjorn.
Hagbart, forget not, of hanging
died.
Fridthjof.
He who is taken, his hanging
well earneth.
Bjorn.
Fall’st thou, war-brother, I’ll
‘venge thee well;
Blood-eagle lines on thy foe shall be flowing.
Fridthjof.
Bjorn ‘tis not needed. The cock’s
loud crowing
Hears he no longer than
I. Farewell!
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