University of Virginia Library


205

CHAPTER LXXXVI. HOW THORBIORN ANGLE BROUGHT GRETTIR'S HEAD TO BIARG.

[Songs extracted from the prose narrative.]


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[“A greedy head I bring with me]

[Angle.]
“A greedy head I bring with me
Up from the borders of the sea;
Now may the needle-pliers weep,
The red-haired outlaw lies asleep;
Gold-bearer, cast adown thine eyes,
And see how on the pavement lies
The peace-destroying head brought low,
That but for salt had gone ere now.”

[“O thou poor wretch, as sheep that flee]

[The good wife.]
“O thou poor wretch, as sheep that flee
To treacherous ice when wolves they see,
So in the waves would ye have drowned
Your shame and fear, had ye but found
That steel-god hale upon the isle:
Now heavy shame, woe worth the while!
Hangs over the north country-side,
Nor I my loathing care to hide.”