Note 64 — HERVA, [64] AT THE TOMB OF ARGANTYR. A RUNIC DIALOGUE.

Doctor Hicks’ literal prose translation in his Thesaurus Septentrionalis, of this ancient Norse Poem, is here given to gratify the reader’s curiosity; also to show that it is used only as an outline, and that the following Poem is a bold Paraphrase, not a Translation. The expressions in Dr Hicks’ prose, have a vulgar familiarity, injurious to the sublimity of the original conception. A close translation, in English verse, will be found in a valuable collection of Runic Odes, by the ingenious and learned Mr Mathias. After his example, some slight changes have been made in the names, for their better accommodation to the verse.

Hervor.—“Awake, Argantyr!—Hervor, the daughter of thee and Sauferlama, doth awaken thee! Give me out of the tomb the hardened sword which the dwarfs made for Sauferlama.”

“Hervardur, Hiarvardur, Hrani,—with helmet and coat of mail, and a sharp sword, with shield and accoutrements, and a bloody spear, I awaken you all under the roots of trees. “Are the sons of Andgrym, who delighted in mischief, now become dust and ashes?—Can none of Eyvor’s sons speak to me out of the habitations of the dead?”—

“Hervardur, Hiarvardur, Hrani!—so may you all be within your ribs, as a thing that is hanged up to putrify among insects, unless you cause Argantyr to deliver up to me the Sword which the Dwarfs made, and the glorious belt!”