of his court. It purposes to be a dialogue between a Valkyrie, or chooser of the slain, and a Raven, and gives a graphic account of Harald’s wars and domestic matters:
Ye men wearing bracelets
Be mute whilst I sing
Of Harald the hero—
High Norroway’s king;
I’ll duly declare
A discourse which I heard,
Betwixt a bright maiden
And black raven bird.
The Valkyrie’s vext
No war-field to find;
The speech she knew well
Of the wild feather’d kind,
And thus she bespake him
Who bears the brown bill,
So proud as he perch’d on
The peak of the hill.
“What do ye here, ravens,
And whence come ye say,
Your heads turn’d direct to
The dying sun’s ray?
Bits of flesh hold your claws—
There’s blood flowing free
From your beaks, surely nigh
Dead bodies there be.”
Then wiping his beak,
Bloody red on the rock,
The eagle’s sworn brother
Thus answer’d and spoke:
“Harald we’ve follow’d,
Of Halfdan the son,
Ever since from the egg
That we egress have won.”
“Then ye know, bird, the king,
Whose keep is in Kvine,
The young king—the Norse king—
Whose keels cut the brine;
Red-rimm’d are his bucklers,
Betarr’d are his oars—
His sails are all bleach’d
With the sea-spray and showers.”
“Abroad will drink Yule,[1]
The young king, and will try
To wake up, O maiden,
The wild game of Frey,[2]
Of the warmth of the hearth
He weary is grown;
He loathes the close chamber
And cushions of down.
“Heard ye not the hard fight
Near Hafirsfirth beach,
’Twixt the king of high kindred
And Kotva the rich?
Sail’d ships from the East
Prepared for war stern;
Their dragon heads gaped,
Their gilded sides burn.
“They were fill’d with proud freemen
Well furnish’d with shields,
And the very best weapons
The western land yields;
Grimly the Baresarkers
Grinn’d, biting steel,—
Howl’d the wolf-heathens
War madness they feel.
“They moved ’gainst the monarch
Whose might makes them pine,
’Gainst the king—the Norse king—
Who keeps court at Utstein;
Flinch’d the king’s bark at first,
For they ply’d her right well—
There was hammering on helmets
Ere Haklangr fell.
“Left the land to the lad
With the locks long and full,
Rich Kotva, the lord,
Thick of neck, like the bull;
’Neath the thwarts themselves threw,
They who’d wounds, in despair,
Their heads to the keel
And their heels to the air.
“On their shoulders their shields,
Such as Swafnir’s[3] roof form,
Flinging swift as a fence
From the fierce stony storm;
The yeomen affrighted
From Hafirsfirth speed,
And arrived at their homes
They call hoarsely for mead.
“The slain strew the strand
To the very great joy
Of ourselves and of Odin,
The chief of one eye.”
VALKYRIE.
“Of his wars and his prowess
With wonder I’ve heard;
Now speak of his wives
And his women, O bird!”
RAVEN.
“He had damsels from Holmrygg
And Hordaland, too;
And damsels from Hedemark
Dainty of hue;
But he sent them with gifts
To their countries again,
When he wedded Ranhilda
The beautiful Dane.”
VALKYRIE.
I warrant he’s bounteous,
And well doth reward
The warriors and gallants
His kingdom who guard.
RAVEN.
O, yes, he is bounteous!
And bravely they fare
Who in Harald’s dominions
Hew food for the bear;
With coin he presents them,
And keen polish’d glaives,
With mail from Hungaria
And Osterland slaves.
O happy lives have they
Who help him in war,
Can run to the mast-head
Or manage the oar;
Make the row-locks to creak,
And the row-bench to crack,
And in their lord’s service
Are never found slack.
