Note 140 — Chapter I · DENMARK.[130] 1014–1387.
Reading edition
Harald is said to have been a poet, and to have sung his own exploits. The piece (Harald’s song) has been thus translated by Bowring:—
1.
“Our ships[141] along Sicilia plied,
In those our days of strength and pride,
And Venger’s Stag[142] the warriors carried
Still on and on—nor ever tarried.
No craven coward, well I wis,
E’er track’d a dangerous path like this.
Yet Gardar’s Gerda—gold-ring’d maid![143]
Flings scorn upon the hero’s head.
2.
* * * * * * * * *
3.
“We baled the ship—we, six and ten,
As broke the mighty seas again—
As rushed the billows at our feet,
While toiling on the rowers’ seat
No craven coward, well I wis,
E’er track’d a dangerous way like this.
Yet Gardar’s Gerda—gold-ring’d maid!
Flings scorn upon the hero’s head.
4.
“Eight[144] virtues have I—I can pour
Out Odin’s drink—and forge the ore—
Upon the active horse can ride:
And I can breast the ocean-tide,
And I can glide on skates of snow,
And I can shoot, and I can row.
Yet Gardar’s Gerda—gold-ring’d maid!
Flings scorn upon the hero’s head.
5.
“Can widow, or can maid gainsay,
That we have clash’d our swords in fray,
That we have sought the Southern land,
And forced the city with our band?
At break of day our foes were slain—
And still the vestiges remain.
Yet Gardar’s Gerda—gold-ring’d maid!
Flings scorn upon the hero’s head.
6.
“And I was born in mountains where
The highland heroes wield the spear.
My war-ships, fear’d by men of flocks,
I guide across the ocean-rocks,
And long o’er ocean’s waves have bounded,
And many an ocean-isle surrounded.
Yet Gardar’s Gerda—gold-ring’d maid!
Flings scorn upon the hero’s head.”
It had before been translated by several writers, especially by Mr. Herbert, in a very different manner: that gentleman, however, had not seen the original Knytlinga Saga.