Fridthjof\'s Saga
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7 FRIDTHJOF'S SAGA
By Esaias Tegne'r
NOTE BY THE TRANSLATORS
Tegne'r's poem, "Fridthjof's Saga," has been printed in Sweden in many large
editions and in almost every possible style. It has been illustrated, and it
has been set to music. It has been translated into nearly all the modern
European languages. Moreover it has been rendered into English by eighteen
different translators, and has been twice reprinted in America. Bayard Taylor
edited an American edition of a translation by Rev. William L. Blackley of
Dublin, and published it about ten years ago. Professor R. B. Anderson has
just published in his "Viking Tales," a translation made by Professor George
Stephens of Copenhagen, and which received the sanction of Bishop Tegne'r
himself.
And yet we venture to add another, and present here the _first_complete_
American translation. Mr. Taylor said in his preface to Blackley's version
that there had never been an English Fridthjof's Saga which was satisfactory
to Swedes. This is probably owing to the fact that the Swedes have become so
familiar with its original measures and so accustomed to its peculiar rhythm,
that they cannot willingly dispense with any part of the form which Tegne'r
gave it. Several of the metres employed by him were unknown to Swedish readers
until they appeared in this poem. Tegne'r's experiment of introducing them was
a successful one; and they are now, in the minds of Swedes, as much a part of
the work as the story itself. The feminine rhymes, occurring in fifteen of the
twenty-four cantos, are so melodious that no one who had heard the original,
even if he did not understand a word of it, could be quite satisfied with a
version which does not reproduce them. The feminine rhymes and the
alliteration of Canto XXI have presented obstacles which no single translation
has hitherto overcome.
The original measures the feminine rhymes and the alliteration of "Ring's
Drapa," are, in our estimation, essential features of a good rendering of the
poem, and if we have done our work well we do not fear that any one will think
there are too many translations.
For a fuller history of "Fridthjof 's Saga" than can be given in this note, we
refer the reader to Anderson's "Viking Tales," where the sagas on which this
story is founded appear in full.
The preparation of this translation has been a home work which has brightened
for us the firelight of many a pleasant evening. We publish it in full faith
that it will have a like happy effect in whatever home it may be read.
October, 1876.
CONTENTS.
Canto I. Fridthjof and Ingeborg
-
Canto II. King Bele and Thorstein
Canto III. Fridthjof's Inheritance
Canto IV. Fridthjof's Courtship
Canto V. King Ring
Canto VI. Fridthjof Plays Chess
Canto VII. Fridthjof's Happiness
Canto VIII. The Parting
Canto IX. Ingeborg's Lament
Canto X. Fridthjof at Sea
Canto XI. Fridthjof with Angantyr
Canto XII. The Return
Canto XIII. Balder's Funeral Pile
Canto XIV. Fridthjof Goes Into Exile
Canto XV. The Viking Code
Canto XVI. Fridthjof and Bjorn
Canto XVII. Fridthjof Comes to King Ring
Canto XVIII. The Ride on the Ice
Canto XIX. Fridthjof's Temptation
Canto XX. King Ring's Death
Canto XXI. Ring's Drapa
Canto XXII. The King's Election
Canto XXIII. Fridthjof at his Father's Grave
Canto XXIV. The Reconciliation
Glossary
CHARACTERS
Bele. (Pronounced Bay'-lay.) King of Sogn, in Norway.
Helge (Hel'-gay) and Halfdan. His sons.
Ingeborg. (Ing'-e-borg.) His daughter.
Thorstein. (Tor'-stine.) A peasant, -friend and companion-in-arms of King
Bele.
Fridthjof. (Freet'-yof.) Son of Thorstein.
Hilding. Foster-father and teacher of Fridthjof and Ingeborg.
Bjorn. (B'yorn.) A sworn foster-brother of Fridthjof.
Ring. King of Ringric, in Norway.
Angantyr. (Ang'-an-teer.) Ruler of the Orkney Islands.
Atle. (At'-lay.) A berserk, and one orf Angantyr's warriors.
SCENE--Northern Norway and the Orkney Islands.
FRIDTHJOF'S SAGA.
Fridthjof and Ingeborg.
In Hilding's garden, green and fair,
Protected by his fostering care,
Two rare and stately plants were growing,
Unequaled grace and beauty showing.
The one a sturdy oak tree grew,
With lance-like stem so straight and true,
Its crown in northern tempests shaking
Like helmet plume in battle quaking.
The other like a rose sprang forth
When tardy winter leaves the north,
And spring, which in the buds lies dreaming,
Still waits with gems to set them gleaming.
Around the earth the storm-king raves,
The wrestling oak its anger braves;
The sun dissolves frost's mantle hoary,
The buds reveal their hidden glory.
So they grew up in joy and glee,
And Fridthjof was the young oak tree;
Unfolding in the vale serenely,
The rose was Ingeborg the queenly.
Saw you those two by light of day
You seem in Freyja's house to stay,
Where bride-pairs, golden-haired, were swinging,
Their way on rosy pinions winging.
But seeing them by moonlight pale
Round dancing in the leafy vale,
You'd think: The elf-king now advances,
And leads his queen in fairy dances.
How joyful 'twas, how lovely too,
When firs[ he learned his futhorc through;
No kings had e'er such honor brought them
As when to Ingeborg he taught them.
How joyously his boat would glide
With those two o'er the dark blue tide:
While he the driving sail was veering,
Her small white hands gave hearty cheering.
No bird's nest found so high a spot,
That he for her could find it not;
The eagle's nest from clouds he sundered,
And eggs and young he deftly plundered.
However swift, there ran no brook,
But o'er it Ingeborg he took;
How sweet when roaring torrents frighten,
To feel her soft arms round him tighten.
The first; spring flowers by sunshine fed,
The earliest berries turning red,
The first of autumn's golden treasure,
He proffered her with eager pleasure.
********************
But quickly sped are childhood's days,--
There stands a youth whose ardent gaze
With pleading and with hope is laden,
And there, with budding charms, a maiden.
Young Fridthjof followed oft the chase,
Which led to many a fearful place;
With neither spear nor lance defended,
The wild bear's life he quickly ended.
When, struggling, met they breast to breast,
The hunter won, though hardly pressed,
And brought the bearskin home; such prizes,
Think you, a maiden e'er despises?
For woman values courage rare;
The brave alone deserves the fair,
Each one the other's grace completing,
As brow and helmet fitly meeting.
And when in winter evenings long,
By firelight reading, in a song,
Of fair abodes in radiant heaven
To every god and goddess given,
He thought: "Of gold is Ing'borg's hair,
A net for rose and lily fair:
Like Freyja's bounteous golden tresses,
A wheat-field which the breeze caresses.
Fair Idun's beauteous bosom beats
Beneath the green silk's safe retreats,--
I know a silk whose sheen encloses
Light; fairies two, with buds of roses.
And Frigg's mild eyes are blue and clear
As heaven, when no clouds appear,--
But I know eyes beside whose sparkles
A light, blue spring day quickly darkles.
And Gerd's fair cheeks, why praise them so?
The northern-lights, on new fall'n snow,--
I know of cheeks whose rosy warnings
Portray at once two ruddy mornings.
I know a heart affection-crowned
Like Nanna's, though not so renowned
And Nanna's love, in song and story,
is justly reckoned Balder's glory.
For oh, what joy when death appears,
To have a faithful maiden's tears!
To prove a love so strong and tender,
With Hel's grim shades I'd gladly wander."
Meanwhile the princess gayly wove
In cloth, blue wave and greenest grove;
And as she sang a hero's story,
She also wove a hero's glory.
For soon there grew in snow-white wool
Bright shields from off the golden spool,
Here, red prevail the battle lances,
There, silver-stiffened armor glances.
Anon her fingers deftly trace
A hero,--see, 'tis Fridthjof's face;
And though at first almost affrighted,
She blushes, smiles and is delighted.
The birch tree's stem where Fridthjof went
Showed I and F in beauty blent;
As grew those runes in one, delighted,
So too those hearts in one united.
When Day invests the upper air,
The world-king with the golden hair,
When men to action urge each other,
They think alone of one another.
When Night pervades the upper air,
The world-queen with the raven hair,
When stars in silence greet each other,
They dream alone of one another.
"Thou Earth, who in the spring-time fair,
Bedeck'st with flowers thine emerald hair,
Give me the best; in wreaths I'll wind them,
And round my Fridthjof's brow will bind them."
"Thou sea, who mak'st thy dark caves bright
With myriad pearls' refulgent light,
Give me the best; I'll weave the clearest
A necklace for my Ing'borg dearest."
"Thou ornament of Odin's throne,
Eye of the world, O golden sun,
Wert thou but mine, thy blazing splendor
I'd give a shield to my defender."
"Thou guide in Odin's house at night,
Thou pale moon with thy lovely light,
Were thou but mine, thy pearly lustre
'Mid Ing'borg's golden hair should cluster."
But Hilding said: "My foster-son,
Your reason is by love outrun;
The norns are partial in bestowing
The blood that in her veins is flowing.
To Odin high, where bright stars shine,
Ascendeth her ancestral line;
No hope may son of Thorstein nourish,
For like with like alone can flourish."
But Fridthjof smiled: "My race," he said,
"Goes down unto the valiant dead;
The forest-king I slew, and merit
Thereby, the honor kings inherit.
"The free-born man will never yield,
He owns the world's unconquered field;
For fate can bind what she has broken,
And hope is crowned with kingly token.
"All power is noble; Thor presides
In Thrudvang, where all strength abides;
There worth, and not descent, is leader,--
The sword is e'er a valiant pleader.
"I'd fight the world for my sweet bride,
Yea, though the thunder-god defied.
Be glad and brave, my lily, never
Shah mortal dare our lives to sever."
II.
King Bele And Thorstein.
King Bele, sword-supported, in the palace stood;
And with him Thorstein, Viking's son, the peasant good.
His ancient war companion, grown old in glory,
His brow was scarred like rune-stones, his hair was hoary.
They stood, as on the mountain two temples stand
To honored gods devoted, now half in sand;
And many words of wisdom the walls are saying,
And holy recollections through domes are straying.
"The evening steals upon me," king Bele said,
"The helmet now is heavy, and stale the mead;
The fate of man grows darker, but all the clearer
High Valhal shines before me, as death draws nearer.
"My sons I here have summoned, and Thorstein's son
For they should cling together, as we have done;
But I would give the eaglets some words of warning--
Words may in death be sleeping ere dawns the morning."
Obedient to the mandate, the three advance--
First, Helge, dark and gloomy, with sullen glance;
He dwelt amid diviners; the hand he proffered
Was red with blood of victims, on altars offered.
The next who came was Halfdan, a light-haired swain:
His countenance was noble, but weak and vain;
He gaily bore a falchion, with which he gestured,
And seemed a youthful maiden, in armor vestured.
And after them came Fridthjof, in mantle blue;
He was stronger than the others, and taller, too;
He stood between the brothers, by contrast seeming
Like noon 'twixt night and morning, in splendor beaming.
"Ye sons," the king said gently, "my son goes down;
Together rule the kingdom and take the crown;
For unity is power, and no endeavor,
While lance with ring is circled, its stem can sever.
"Let power stand as sentry on every hand,
And freedom bloom protected throughout the land:
The sword is for protection, and not for plunder.
And shields are locks for peasants no foe can sunder.
"How foolish is the ruler his land to oppress,
For the people give the power which kings possess;
The crown of leafy verdure which decks the mountain
Will wither if the sunshine dries up the fountain.
"On four gigantic pillars is heaven's throne--
The throne of nations resteth on law alone!
Destruction waits on judgment; if misdirected;
By right are men ennobled and kings perfected.
"In Disarsal, O Helge, the high gods dwell--
Not pinioned as the snail is within his shell;
As far as daylight flieth, or thought's swift pinion,
Far as resound the echoes, is gods' dominion.
The offered hawk gives tokens which oft deceive.
Not all runes monumental can we believe:
But an honest heart, O Helge, of pure endeavor,
With Odin's runes is written, misleading never.
"Be not severe, king Helge, but firm and staid;
The sword that bites the sharpest has the limberest blade.
Kings are adorned by mercy, as shields by flowers,
And spring can more accomplish than winter's powers.
"A man, however mighty, deprived of friends,
Like tree of bark denuded, how soon life ends!
But he by friends surrounded, like trees shall flourish,
Whose crowns, in groves protected, the brooklets nourish.
"Boast not ancestral wisdom; each man alone
A single bowstring uses, and that his own;
What matters it to any the worth that's buried?
By its own waves the current o'er seas is carried.
"A joyous spirit, Halfdan, advantage brings,
But idle talk is needless, and most, to kings;
Of hops, as well as honey, is mead compounded,
Let sports on vigor, lances on steel, be founded.
"No man has too much wisdom, though learned he be,
And much too little, many less learned than he;
To fools, though high in station, no praise is meted,
The wise hy all are honored, though lowly seated.
"The steadfast friend, O Halfdan! of mingled blood,
Lives near indeed, though distant be his abode;
But to thy foeman's dwelling the way is weary,--
Though standing by thy pathway, 'tis far and dreary.
"For friend choose not the first one that's so disposed,--
An empty house stands open, a full one closed;
Choose one, the best, O Halfdan, nor seek another,
The world soon knows the secrets of three together."
These words then Thorstein uttered in clearest tone:
"King Bele unto Odin goes not alone;
We've always stood together, whatever tried us,
And death, now drawing near, shall not divide us.
"Fridthjof, old age hath whispered in my rapt ear
Full many words of wisdom, which thou must hear.
Birds fly from graves to Odin, with wisdom freighted,
The words by old men spoken, should not be slighted.
"First, give the high gods honor; for good or ill,
Storms come as well as sunshine, by Heaven's will.
The gods perceive the secrets in thy possession.
And years must make atonement for each transgression.
"Obey the king: most wisely rules one alone,
The eyes of night are many, day has but one.
The better are contented by best directed,--
The blade must have a handle to be perfected.
Great strength is heaven's dower; but, Fridthjof, learn
That power devoid of wisdom, can little earn.
Strong bears by one are taken,--one man of reason;
Set shields to turn the sword stroke, let law stop treason.
"A few may fear the haughty, whom all despise,
And with the proud in spirit, destruction lies:
Those once flew high, who're now on crutches creeping;
The winds rule fortune, weather, time of reaping.
"The day thou'lt rightly prize, whose sun has sunk,
Advice when it is followed, and ale when drunk.
The hopes of youth on shadows are often rested,
But strength of sword and friendship, by use are 'tested.
"Trust not the snow of spring-time, nor night-old ice;
The serpent when he sleepeth, nor girl's advice;
The mind of changeful woman not long abideth,
And fickleness of spirit, 'neath flower-tints hideth.
"All men will surely perish with all they prize,
But one thing know I, Fridthjof, which never dies,--
And that is reputation', therefore, ever
The noble action strive for, the good endeavor."
So warned the aged chieftains in the palace hall.
As since the skald has chanted in Ha'vama'l,
So passed these sayings pithy through generations;
And still from graves they whisper 'mid northern nations.
Then many words and heartfelt, these warriors found
To tell their lasting friendship, so wide renowned.
How friends till death, if fortune or frowned or slighted.
Like two hands clasped together they stood united.
"And back to back in battle we held the field,
And which way norns did threaten, they smote a shield;
Before you now to Valhal we old men hasten,
And may their fathers' spirit our children's chasten."
The king said much concerning brave Fridthjof's worth,
Heroic power surpassing all royal birth;
And much was said by Thorstein, how graces cluster
Round Northland's honored monarchs, with Asa-lustre.
"But hold ye fast together, ye children three,
The Northland then your conqueror shall never see;
For royalty and power, when duly ordered,
Are like a bright shield golden, by blue steel bordered.
"Salute my daughter Ing'borg, the rosebud sweet,
In quiet was she nurtured, as seemed meet:
Protect her, lest the storm-king, with cruel power,
Should fasten in his helmet my tender flower.
"I lay on thee, king Helge, a father's care,
Love Ing'borg as a daughter, the jewel rare!
Restraint galls noble spirits, but gentle manner
Will lead both man and woman to right and honor.
"But lay us now, ye children, in two mound-graves.
Close where the blue gulf tosses its ceaseless waves;
Our souls shall then forever enjoy the ringing
Of dirges which in breaking the waves are singing.
"When the moon's pale beams the mountains and valleys fill,
And midnight's dew is falling on grove and hill;
Then will we sit, O Thorstein, above our pillows,
And talk about the future, across the billows.
"And now, farewell, ye children, our work is done;
Unto the Allfather gladly we hasten on,
Like weary rivers longing for sea's caressing;
On you be Thor's and Odin's and Frey's rich blessing."
III
Buried were Bele and Thorstein together, as they had commanded;
High rose their grave-mounds on each side the gulf by the blue rolling water,
Death having sundered the hearts that in life were so closely united.
Helge and Halfdan, by will of the people, took jointly the kingdom
Left by their father; but Fridthjof, an only son, heired alone Framness,
Took unmolested possession, and settled himself there in quiet.
Stretching around him for twelve miles unbroken his acres extended;
Three sides were dale, hill and mountain, the fourth side looked out on the
ocean;
Crowned were the hill-tops with forests of birch-wood, but, on their sides
sloping,
Golden corn plentiful grew, and like billows the tall rye was waving.
Many in number the lakes which their mirrors held up for the mountains;
Held them up, too, for the woods in whose thickets the high-horned elks
wandered,
Making there kingly roads, drinking from running brooks counted by hundreds.
But in the valleys wide, on the smooth greensward were quietly grazing
Glossy-skinned herds, which with udders distended now long for the milk-pail.
Scattered among them were myriads of white-wooled sheep, constantly moving,
Looking like fleecy clouds sailing serenely across the blue heavens,
Wafted now hither now thither in crowds by the winds in the spring-time.
Twelve times two coursers, fierce whirlwinds, defiant though fettered,
Stood in the rows of stalls, stamping and restless, the meadow-hay chewing,
Knotted their long manes with red, and their hoofs were with iron shoes
glistening.
Standing apart was the drinking-hall, built of the choicest fir timber;
Counting ten twelves to the hundred, not five hundred warriors assembled
Filled up the spacious apartment, when all met to drink mead at Yule-time.
Down through the middle, from end to end, ran a strong table of stone-oak,
Polished with wax and like steel shining; carved on two pillars of elm-wood,
Far at one end, Frey and Odin supported the dais of honor,
Odin with lordly look, Frey with the sun for a crest on his bonnet.
'Twixt the two, on a bear-skin (black as a coal was this bear-skin,
Scarlet the mouth, while the tips of the claws were with bright silver
shining),
Thorstein among his friends sat--hospitality ministering to Gladness.
Oft when the moon in the heavens was riding, the old man related
Wonders of foreign lands seen by him when as a viking he journeyed,
Far on the waves of the Baltic, the White, and the Northern seas tossing.
Mutely the company listened. Fixed were their eyes on the speaker,
Even as bees upon roses; the poet was thinking of Brage,*
*(Bra'-gay)
Brage with silver beard flowing, and tongue clothed in wisdom the choicest,
Sitting 'neath shadowy birches, telling a story by Mimer's
Unceasingly murmuring fountain, he too a saga unending.
Covered with straw was the floor, and upon a walled hearth in the center,
Constantly burned, warm and cheerful, a fire, while down the wide chimney
Twinkling stars, heavenly friends, glanced upon guest and hall, quite
unforbidden.
Studded with nails were the walls, and upon them were hanging
Helmets and coats-of-mail closely together; also between them
Here and there flashed down a sword, like a meteor shooting at evening.
Brighter than helmet or sword were the sparkling shields ranged round the
chamber;
Bright as the time of the sun were they, clear as the moon's disc of silver.
Oft as the horns needed filling, there passed round the table a maiden;
Modestly blushing she cast down her eyes, her beautiful image
Mirrored appeared in the shields, and gladdened the heart of each warrior.
Rich was the house, and the eye of the stranger, whichever way gazing,
Rested on cellar well filled, or on pantry or press overflowing.
Jewels the rarest, trophies of conquest, gleamed in profusion;
Gold carved in runes with great skill, and wonderful things wrought in silver.
Chief in this limitless treasure three things were most of all valued.
First of the three was a sword, which from sire and from grandsire descended.
Called Angervadil, or grief-wader, sometimes, too, brother of lightning.
Far, far away in the East it was forged--so at least says the story--
Tempered in fire by the dwarfs. Bjorn Bluetooth the first one who bore it.
Bjorn lost at once both the sword and his life in a bravely-fought battle,
Southward in Groning Sound, where he struggled with Vifil the powerful.
Vifil's possessions descended to Viking.
At Woolen-Acre,
Old and infirm, there lived a great king with a beautiful daughter.
See, from the depths of the forest there cometh a giant misshapen,
Higher in stature than man, a monster ferocious and shaggy,
Boldly demanding a hand-to-hand combat, or kingdom and daughter.
No one, however, accepted the challenge, for none had a weapon
Able his hard skull to pierce, and therefore they called him the Iron-skull.
Viking, whose winters scarce fifteen had numbered, nobly advancing,
Entered the fray, secure in his strong arm and good Angervadil.
Cleft at one blow the hideous goblin, and rescued the maiden.
Viking bequeathed the good weapon to Thorstein, his son, and Thorstein,
To Odin ascended, bequeathed it to Fridthjof. Whenever he drew it,
Light filled the hall as when northern lights entered, or lightning flashed
through it.
Hammered of gold was the hilt, with strange letters 'twas covered;
Wonderful mysteries were they in Northland, but known to the people
Who dwell near the gates of the sun, where our fathers lived ere they came
hither.
Faint were the runes when the land was in quiet throughout all its borders;
But when the followers of Hild were summoned, then were they burning
Red as the comb of a cock when he fighteth. Lost was the warrior
Who met, on the field of encounter, the blade with its red letters glowing.
Highly renowned was that sword, and of swords was the chief in the Northland.
Next highly prized was the ponderous arm-ring, widely notorious,
Forged by the Vulcan of northern tradition, the halting smith Volund;
Three marks it weighed, and gold was the metal of which it was fashioned;
Carved were the heavens with twelve towering castles, where dwell the
immortals,--
Emblem of changing months, called by the poets the sun's glorious dwelling.
First there was Frey's castle Alfheim, that is the sun, which born newly,
Starts once again to ascend the steep pathway of Heaven at Yule-time.
There too was Sokvabek; seated within it were Odin and Saga
Drinking together their wine from a gold shell,--that shell is the Ocean,
Colored with gold from the glow of the morning. Saga is Spring-time,
Writ on the green of the fresh springing field, with flowers for letters.
Balder, the kingly, is pictured there, throned on the sun at midsummer,
Which pours from the firmament riches untold,-- personified goodness;
For lights are the good, radiant, resplendent, but the evil are darkness.
Constantly rising the sun groweth weary; the good also falter,
Giddy with walking precipitous heights; sighing they downward
Sink to the land of the shades,--down to Hel. That is of Balder
The funeral pile. Glitner, the castle of Peace, is there; seated
Within it was Forse'te',* scales in hand, meting out justice.
*For-se-te
Many more pictures with these there engraven, betoken the conflict
Waged against darkness, on earth and in heaven; bright were they shining,
Wrought by a master's hand on the broad arm-ring. Clustering rubies
Crown its high center, e'en as in summer the sun crowns the heavens.
Long was the circlet a family heir-loom. On the side of the mother
Traced they their pedigree back to old Volund, ancestor mighty.
Once, says tradition, the jewel was stolen by robber named Soti,
Roaming abroad through the seas. Long was it ere 'twas recovered.
Finally (so runs the story) 'twas said that the robber had buried
Himself with his ship, and. his treasure, deep on the far coast of Britain.
Pleasure or quiet he found not, a ghost was his irksome companion.
Hearing the rumor, Thorstein with Bele the dragon ship mounted,
Dashed through the foaming waves, straight to the place of the sepulcher
steering.
Wide as a temple's arch, or a king's gateway, bedded in gravel,
Covered with grassy turf, arched to the top, the tomb rose forbidding.
Light issued from it. Through a small crevice within the closed portal,
Peered the two champions. There the pitched viking ship
Stood with its masts, its yards and its anchor. High in the stern sheets
Was seated a terrible figure, clad in a mantle all flaming,
Furious demon scouring a blade that with blood spots was covered.
Vain was his labor, naught could remove them. All his rich booty
Round him was scattered, and on his arm was the ring he had stolen.
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