The Collected Works of William Morris With Introductions by his Daughter May Morris |
 | I. |
| II. |
| III, IV, V, VI. |
| VII. |
| IX. |
| X. |
| XII. |
| XIV. |
| XV. |
| XVI. |
| XVII. |
| XXI. |
 | XXIV. |
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 | CHAP. IX. FRITHIOF BRINGS THE TRIBUTE
TO THE KINGS.
The Collected Works of William Morris |  |
67
CHAP. IX. FRITHIOF BRINGS THE TRIBUTE TO THE KINGS.
[Songs extracted from the prose narrative.]
[“Frank and free]
[Frithiof.]“Frank and free,
With my father dead,
In Foreness old
We drank aforetime.
Now my abode
Behold I burned;
For many ill deeds
The kings must I pay.”
68
[“All alone go I]
[Frithiof.]“All alone go I
Unto the stead;
No folk I need
For the finding of kings;
But cast ye the fire
O'er the kings' dwelling,
If I come not again
In the cool of the even.”
[“Have here thy scat]
[Frithiof.]“Have here thy scat,
High lord of the warriors!
Heed that and thy teeth,
Lest all tumble about thee!
Lo the silver abideth
At the bight of this bag here,
That Biorn and I
Betwixt us have borne thee.”
69
[“The heavy purse smote Helgi]
[Frithiof.]
“The heavy purse smote Helgi
Hard 'midst his scoundrel's visage:
Lowly bowed Halfdan's brother,
Fell bundling 'mid the high seat:
There Baldur fell a-burning.
But first my bright ring gat I.
Fast from the roaring fire
I dragged the bent crone forward.”
Hard 'midst his scoundrel's visage:
Lowly bowed Halfdan's brother,
Fell bundling 'mid the high seat:
There Baldur fell a-burning.
But first my bright ring gat I.
Fast from the roaring fire
I dragged the bent crone forward.”
Men say that Frithiof cast a firebrand up on to the roof, so that the hall was all ablaze, and therewith sang a stave:
“Down stride we toward the sea-strand,
And strong deeds set a-going,
For now the blue flame bickers
Amidst of Baldur's Meadow.”
And strong deeds set a-going,
For now the blue flame bickers
Amidst of Baldur's Meadow.”
| CHAP. IX. FRITHIOF BRINGS THE TRIBUTE
TO THE KINGS.
The Collected Works of William Morris | |