The Collected Works of William Morris :: :: University of Virginia Library

O Voice amid Earth's voices
Henceforth but woe unto me!
No ring-warder so white is
That he may win look from me:
One man have I made oath for,
And well-beloved is he.”

CHAPTER XI. THE BREWING OF A WITCH-STORM

[No more now may my eyen meet the sea ungreeting]

[Ketilrid.]
No more now may my eyen meet the sea ungreeting,
Since the day my speech-friend sank below the sea banks.
I loathe the sea-flood's swartness and the swallowing billow,
Full sore for me the sorrow born in sea-wave's burden.

CHAPTER XII. OF HAKON THE EAST-MAN.

[Songs extracted from the prose narrative.]

101

[“Young now I shall not ever]

[Viglund.]
“Young now I shall not ever
Love any silken goddess,
That son of man shall say it,
Save thee alone, O Sweetling!
Therefore fair maid, remember
The oath we swore aforetime,
Howso that woman wilful
Would waste the love between us.”

105

CHAPTER XIV. KETILRID BETROTHED TO HAKON.

[Songs extracted from the prose narrative.]

106

[“Stem where the gathered gold meets]

[Viglund.]
“Stem where the gathered gold meets,
All trust I gave unto thee:
Last thought of all thoughts was it
That thou couldst wed another.
But now no oaths avail us,
Nought are our many kisses;
Late learn we of women:
Her word to me is broken.”

[“I would abide the bale-fire]

[Viglund.]
“I would abide the bale-fire,
Or bear the steel-tree's smiting,
As other men may bear it;
But heavy maidens' redes are:
Sorely to me it seemeth,
Gold spoilers' shoulder-branches,
The sweet that was my maiden
Other than mine entwining.”

110

CHAPTER XVII. THE PARTING OF VIGLUND AND KETILRID.

Songs extracted from the prose narrative.

112

[“Maiden, my songs remember]

[Viglund.]

“Maiden, my songs remember,
Fair mouth, if thou mayst learn them;
For, clasp-mead, they may gain thee
At whiles some times beguiling.
Most precious, when thou wendest
Abroad, where folk are gathered,
Me, O thou slender isle-may,
Each time shalt thou remember.”

But when they were come a little way from the garth Viglund sang another stave.

“Amid the town we twain stood,
And there she wound around me
Her hands, the hawk-eyed woman,
The fair-haired, greeting sorely.
Fast fell tears from the maiden,
And sorrow told of longing;
Her cloth the drift-white dear one
Over bright brows was drawing.”

113

[“A little way I led him]

[Ketilrid.]
“A little way I led him,
The lord of sheen, from green garth;
But farther than all faring,
My heart it followeth after.
Yea, longer had I led him,
If land lay off the haven,
And all the waste of Ægir
Were into green meads waxen.”

117

XXX. CHAPTER XX. VIGLUND COMES OUT TO ICELAND AGAIN.

[Songs extracted from the prose narrative.]

[“The linen-oak bath-lovely]

[Viglund.]
“The linen-oak bath-lovely
Laid last on me the lather:
So nought have I to hurry
Unto another head-bath.
And me no more shall any
Gold-glittering of the maidens
Henceforth, in all my life-days,
In ashen bath bewash me.”

118

[“Behold the hill whereunder]

[Viglund.]

“Behold the hill whereunder
My bond of love high-hearted,
My well-beloved one sitteth:
Lo love's eyes turn I to her.
Sweet, sing I of the gold-brent,
The proud by proud that sitteth.
O hill-side among hill-sides,
Beloved, if any have been!”

And again he sang:

“Leek-bearer, bright the looking
Over the heaths sun-litten,
The sun sinks slow thereunder:
How sore I long to be there!
Lovesome she makes the mountains;
Sweet, therefore must I hush me:
The goodliest goddess have I
To greet, who sits thereunder.”

[“Ketilrid her carle bade]

[Viglund.]
“Ketilrid her carle bade
Quail not mid swift sailing,
Though the beat of billows
Overbore the foredeck.
Still her word is with me,
Be we wight now, Trusty!
Stormy heart of sorrow
I have for Ketilrid.”

119

[“The fight-grove of Van's fire]

[Ketilrid.]
“The fight-grove of Van's fire,
The fair, I knew at even—
Marvel that he would meet me!
I knew gold-master Trusty.
The ship of gold all slender
To such an one is wedded,
That ne'er another older
In all the world one findeth.”

120

CHAPTER XXI. GUESTING AT GAUTWICK.

[Songs extracted from the prose narrative.]

[“Nought shall I say thee lie now]

[Viglund.]
“Nought shall I say thee lie now:
Ne'er saw I eyen sweeter
Since when we twain were sundered,
O sweet one of the worm-lair.
This craven carle her clippeth;
Shall I not carve from off him
His head? all grief go with him!—
Grief from the gold one gat I.”

[“Never, burnt-rings' breaker]

[Viglund.]
“Never, burnt-rings' breaker,
Shall ye be brought together,
If felon's deed thou doest
On Fafnir's-land's good dealer.
Not ever, nor in all things,
Availeth shielded onset;
Aright must we arede us,
O brother wise in trials.”

121

[“My friend, mind here the maiden]

[Viglund.]
“My friend, mind here the maiden
Who murdereth all thy gladness;
See there thy fair fame's furtherer,
Who seemeth fain of saying:
Though one, the lovely woman,
Hath wasted all thy life-joy,
Yet keep it close within thee,
Nor cry aloud thereover.”

[“The white hands' ice-hill's wearer]

[Viglund.]
“The white hands' ice-hill's wearer
Hath wasted all my joyance:
O strong against me straineth
The stream of heaped-up waters!
This sapling oak thy wife here
From out my heart ne'er goeth;
Well of tormenting wotteth
The woman mid her playing.”

122

[“O battles' thunder-bearer]

[The mistress.]
“O battles' thunder-bearer
Be glad and shift thy board-piece
On to this square thou seest;
So saith the staff of hangings.”

[“Again to-day gold-goddess]

[The master.]
“Again to-day gold-goddess
Against her husband turneth,
Though I the wealth-god owe thee
For nought but eld meseemeth.”

[“O slender sweet, O fair-browed]

[Viglund.]
“O slender sweet, O fair-browed,
Meseemeth this thy husband
As ferry-boat all foredone
Amid the Skerries floating.
But thee, when I behold thee
Go forth so mighty waxen,
'Tis as a ship all stately
O'er sea-mews' pasture sweeping.”

123

[“Friend, watch and ward now hold thou]

[Erne.]

“Friend, watch and ward now hold thou
Of this thy wife, the fair one;
And heed lest that spear-Goddess
Should go about to waste me.
If oft we meet without doors,
I and the twined-thread's Goddess,
Who knows whose most she should be,
Or mine or thine, that gold-wife?”

And another stave he sang:

“Fight-grove full fain would not
Be found amidst of man-folk,
So tame to maids' enticing
To take a man's wife wedded.
But if amid the mirk-tide
She came here made as woman,
I cannot soothly swear it
But soft I should enfold her.”

[“Another man's wife love I]

[Erne.]
“Another man's wife love I,
Unmanly am I holden,
Though old, and on her beam-ends,
Fallen is the fallow oak-keel.
I wot not if another,
At any time hereafter,
Shall be as sweet unto me—
The ship drave out of peril.”

124

[“Sweet linen-bride, full seldom]

[Erne.]
“Sweet linen-bride, full seldom
In such wise would I find thee,
An hoary dotard's hand-claws
Hanging about thee, bright one.
Rather, O wristfires' lady,
Would I around thy midmost
Cast as my longing led me,
These lands of gold light-shining.”

CHAPTER XXII. A WEDDING AT GAUTWICK.

[Songs extracted from the prose narrative.]

126

[Whoso thinketh this good game]

Whoso thinketh this good game,
God keep us all from hurt and grame;
And may all things have such an end
That all we unto God may wend.
He who to tell this tale hath will,
He needeth no long time be still;
For here we cast off pain and woe,
Here noble deeds may Champions know,
Manners and tales and glorious lore,
And truth withal that shall endure,
Thanks to him who hearkened it,
Yea and unto him who writ,
And Thorgeir that engrossed it fair.
God's and Mary's grace be here!

TWO SONS & A FATHER DID WRITE THIS BOOK: PRAY YE TO GOD FOR THEM ALL. AMEN.