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ANCIENT LAY OF GUDRUN.
221
“In the fair garth methought
Had saplings fallen
E’en such as I would
Should have waxen ever;
Uprooted were these,
And reddened with blood,
And borne to the bench,
And folk bade me eat of them.

“Methought from my hand then
Went hawks a-flying
Lacking their meat
To the land of all ill;
Methought that their hearts
Mingled with honey,
Swollen with blood
I ate amid sorrow.

“Lo, next two whelps
From my hands I loosened,
Joyless were both,
And both a-howling;
And now their flesh
Became naught but corpses,
Whereof must I eat
But sore against my will.”

“O’er the prey of the fishers
Will folk give doom;
From the bright white fish
The heads will they take;