The Younger Edda Part 13

We grind for Frode Wealth and happiness, And gold abundant On the mill of luck.

Dance on roses!

Sleep on down!

Wake when you please!

That is well ground.

Here shall no one Hurt the other, Nor in ambush lie, Nor seek to kill; Nor shall any one With sharp sword hew, Though bound he should find His brother's bane.

They stood in the hall, Their hands were resting; Then was it the first Word that he spoke: Sleep not longer Than the cuckoo on the hall, Or only while A song I sing:

Frode! you were not Wary enough,-- You friend of men,-- When maids you bought!

At their strength you looked, And at their fair faces, But you asked no questions About their descent.

Hard was Hrungner And his father; Yet was Thja.s.se Stronger than they, And Ide and Orner, Our friends, and The mountain-giants' brothers, Who fostered us two.

Not would Grotte have come From the mountain gray, Nor this hard stone Out from the earth; The maids of the mountain-giants Would not thus be grinding If we two knew Nothing of the mill.

Through winters nine Our strength increased, While below the sod We played together.

Great deeds were the maids Able to perform; Mountains they From their places moved.

The stone we rolled From the giants' dwelling, So that all the earth Did rock and quake.

So we hurled The rattling stone, The heavy block, That men caught it.

In Svithjod's land Afterward we Fire-wise women, Fared to the battle, Byrnies we burst, s.h.i.+elds we cleaved, Made our way Through gray-clad hosts.

One chief we slew, Another we aided,-- To Guthorm the Good Help we gave.

Ere Knue had fallen Nor rest we got.

Then bound we were And taken prisoners.

Such were our deeds In former days, That we heroes brave Were thought to be.

With spears sharp Heroes we pierced, So the gore did run And our swords grew red.

Now we are come To the house of the king, No one us pities.

Bond-women are we.

Dirt eats our feet, Our limbs are cold, The peace-giver[100] we turn.

Hard it is at Frode's.

The hands shall stop, The stone shall stand; Now have I ground For my part enough.

Yet to the hands No rest must be given, 'Till Frode thinks Enough has been ground.

Now hold shall the hands The lances hard, The weapons b.l.o.o.d.y,-- Wake now, Frode!

Wake now, Frode!

If you would listen To our songs,-- To sayings old.

Fire I see burn East of the burg,-- The warnews are awake.

That is called warning.

A host hither Hastily approaches To burn the king's Lofty dwelling.

No longer you will sit On the throne of Hleidra And rule o'er red Rings and the mill.

Now must we grind With all our might, No warmth will we get From the blood of the slain.

Now my father's daughter Bravely turns the mill.

The death of many Men she sees.

Now broke the large Braces 'neath the mill,-- The iron-bound braces.

Let us yet grind!

Let us yet grind!

Yrsa's son Shall on Frode revenge Halfdan's death.

He shall Yrsa's Offspring be named, And yet Yrsa's brother.

Both of us know it.

The mill turned the maidens,-- Their might they tested; Young they were, And giantesses wild.

The braces trembled.

Then fell the mill,-- In twain was broken The heavy stone.

All the old world Shook and trembled, But the giant's maid Speedily said: We have turned the mill, Frode!

Now we may stop.

By the mill long enough The maidens have stood.

[Footnote 98: These words are spoken by the maidens while they put the mill together.]

[Footnote 99: Frode.]

[Footnote 100: The mill.]

ROLF KRAKE.

A king in Denmark hight Rolf Krake, and was the most famous of all kings of olden times; moreover, he was more mild, brave and condescending than all other men. A proof of his condescension, which is very often spoken of in olden stories, was the following: There was a poor little fellow by name Vog. He once came into King Rolf's hall while the king was yet a young man, and of rather delicate growth. Then Vog went before him and looked up at him. Then said the king: What do you mean to say, my fellow, by looking so at me? Answered Vog: When I was at home I heard people say that King Rolf, at Hleidra, was the greatest man in the northlands, but now sits here in the high-seat a little crow (krake), and it they call their king. Then made answer the king: You, my fellow, have given me a name, and I shall henceforth be called Rolf Krake, but it is customary that a gift accompanies the name. Seeing that you have no gift that you can give me with the name, or that would be suitable to me, then he who has must give to the other. Then he took a gold ring off his hand and gave it to the churl. Then said Vog: You give as the best king of all, and therefore I now pledge myself to become the bane of him who becomes your bane. Said the king, laughing: A small thing makes Vog happy.

Another example is told of Rolf Krake's bravery. In Upsala reigned a king by name Adils, whose wife was Yrsa, Rolf Krake's mother. He was engaged in a war with Norway's king, Ale. They fought a battle on the ice of the lake called Wenern. King Adils sent a message to Rolf Krake, his stepson, asking him to come and help him, and promising to furnish pay for his whole army during the campaign. Furthermore King Rolf himself should have any three treasures that he might choose in Sweden.

But Rolf Krake could not go to his a.s.sistance, on account of the war which he was then waging against the Saxons. Still he sent twelve berserks to King Adils. Among them were Bodvar Bjarke, Hjalte the Valiant, Hvitserk the Keen, Vot, Vidsete, and the brothers Svipday and Beigud. In that war fell King Ale and a large part of his army. Then King Adils took from the dead King Ale the helmet called Hildesvin, and his horse called Rafn. Then the berserks each demanded three pounds of gold in pay for their service, and also asked for the treasures which they had chosen for Rolf Krake, and which they now desired to bring to him. These were the helmet Hildegolt; the byrnie Finnsleif, which no steel could scathe; and the gold ring called Sviagris, which had belonged to Adils' forefathers. But the king refused to surrender any of these treasures, nor did he give the berserks any pay. The berserks then returned home, and were much dissatisfied. They reported all to King Rolf, who straightway busked himself to fare against Upsala; and when he came with his s.h.i.+ps into the river Fyre, he rode against Upsala, and with him his twelve berserks, all peaceless. Yrsa, his mother, received him and took him to his lodgings, but not to the king's hall. Large fires were kindled for them, and ale was brought them to drink. Then came King Adils' men in and bore fuel onto the fireplace, and made a fire so great that it burnt the clothes of Rolf and his berserks, saying: Is it true that neither fire nor steel will put Rolf Krake and his berserks to flight? Then Rolf Krake and all his men sprang up, and he said:

Let us increase the blaze In Adils' chambers.

He took his s.h.i.+eld and cast it into the fire, and sprang over the fire while the s.h.i.+eld was burning, and cried:

From the fire flees not he Who over it leaps.

The same did also his men, one after the other, and then they took those who had put fuel on the fire and cast them into it. Now Yrsa came and handed Rolf Krake a deer's horn full of gold, and with it she gave him the ring Sviagris, and requested them to ride straightway to their army.

They sprang upon their horses and rode away over the Fyrisvold. Then they saw that King Adils was riding after them with his whole army, all armed, and was going to slay them. Rolf Krake took gold out of the horn with his right hand, and scattered it over the whole way. But when the Swedes saw it they leaped out of their saddles, and each one took as much as he could. King Adils bade them ride, and he himself rode on with all his might. The name of his horse was Slungner, the fastest of all horses. When Rolf Krake saw that King Adils was riding near him, he took the ring Sviagris and threw it to him, asking him to take it as a gift.

King Adils rode to the ring, picked it up with the end of his spear, and let it slide down to his hand. Then Rolf Krake turned round and saw that the other was stooping. Said he: Like a swine I have now bended the foremost of all Swedes. Thus they parted. Hence gold is called the seed of Krake or of Fyrisvold.

HOGNE AND HILD.

A king by name Hogne had a daughter by name Hild. Her a king, by name Hedin, son of Hjarrande, made a prisoner of war, while King Hogne had fared to the trysting of the kings. But when he learned that there had been harrying in his kingdom, and that his daughter had been taken away, he rode with his army in search of Hedin, and learned that he had sailed northward along the coast. When King Hogne came to Norway, he found out that Hedin had sailed westward into the sea. Then Hogne sailed after him to the Orkneys. And when he came to the island called Ha, then Hedin was there before him with his host. Then Hild went to meet her father, and offered him as a reconciliation from Hedin a necklace; but if he was not willing to accept this, she said that Hedin was prepared for a battle, and Hogne might expect no clemency from him. Hogne answered his daughter harshly. When she returned to Hedin, she told him that Hogne would not be reconciled, and bade him busk himself for the battle. And so both parties did; they landed on the island and marshaled their hosts. Then Hedin called to Hogne, his father-in-law, offering him a reconciliation and much gold as a ransom. Hogne answered: Too late do you offer to make peace with me, for now I have drawn the sword Dainsleif, which was smithied by the dwarfs, and must be the death of a man whenever it is drawn; its blows never miss the mark, and the wounds made by it never heal. Said Hedin: You boast the sword, but not the victory. That I call a good sword that is always faithful to its master. Then they began the battle which is called the Hjadninga-vig (the slaying of the Hedin_ians_); they fought the whole day, and in the evening the kings fared back to their s.h.i.+ps. But in the night Hild went to the battlefield, and waked up with sorcery all the dead that had fallen. The next day the kings went to the battlefield and fought, and so did also all they who had fallen the day before. Thus the battle continued from day to day; and all they who fell, and all the swords that lay on the field of battle, and all the s.h.i.+elds, became stone. But as soon as day dawned all the dead arose again and fought, and all the weapons became new again, and in songs it is said that the Hjadnings will so continue until Ragnarok.