Introductory Note
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Bellows, Henry Adams
Thy kinsmen in birth | on the battlefield slain;
Now, Guthrun, as well | for us both shalt thou weep,
We sit doomed on our steeds, | and far hence shall we die.”
[549]
11. Then the fame-glad one— | on the steps she was—
The slender-fingered, | spake with her son:
“Ye shall danger have | if counsel ye heed not;
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
By two heroes alone | shall two hundred of Goths
Be bound or be slain | in the lofty-walled burg.”
12. From the courtyard they fared, | and fury they breathed;
The youths swiftly went | o’er the mountain wet,
On their Hunnish steeds, | death’s vengeance to have.
13. On the way they found | the man so wise; [550]
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
“What help from the weakling | brown may we have?”
14. So answered them | their half-brother then:
“So well may I | my kinsmen aid
As help one foot | from the other has.”
15. “How may a foot | its fellow aid,
Or a flesh-grown hand | another help?”
16. Then Erp spake forth, | his words were few,
As haughty he sat | on his horse’s back: [551]
“To the timid ’tis ill | the way to tell.”
A bastard they | the bold one called.
17. From their sheaths they drew | their shining swords,
Their blades, to the giantess | joy to give;
By a third they lessened | the might that was theirs,
The fighter young | to earth they felled.
18. Their cloaks they shook, | their swords they sheathed,
The high-born men | wrapped their mantles close.
19. On their road they fared | and an ill way found,
And their sister’s son | on a tree they saw,
On the wind-cold wolf-tree | west of the hall,
And cranes’-bait crawled; | none would care to linger.
[552]
20. In the hall was din, | the men drank deep,
And the horses’ hoofs | could no one hear,
Till the warrior hardy | sounded his horn.
21. Men came and the tale | to Jormunrek told