THE LAY OF HARBARD.
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Sæmundur fróði, Snorri Sturluson, Blackwell, Joseph Andrew, and Thorpe, Benjamin
Thor journeying from the eastern parts came to a strait or sound, on the other side of which was a ferryman with his boat. Thor cried out:—
1. Who is the knave of knaves, that by the sound stands yonder?
Harbard.
2. Who is the churl of churls, that cries across the water?
Thor.
3. Ferry me across the sound, to-morrow I'll regale thee. I have a basket on my back: there is no better food: at my ease I ate, before I quitted home, herrings and oats, with which I yet feel sated.
Harbard.
4. Thou art in haste to praise thy meal: thou surely hast no foreknowledge; for sad will be thy home: thy mother, I believe, is dead.
Thor.
5. Thou sayest now what seems to every one most unwelcome to know—that my mother is dead.
Harbard.
6. Thou dost not look like one who owns three country dwellings, bare-legged thou standest, and like a beggar clothed; thou hast not even breeches.
Thor.
7. Steer hitherward thy boat; I will direct thee where to land. But who owns this skiff, which by the strand thou holdest?
Harbard.
8. Hildolf fief is named who bade me hold it, a man in council wise, who dwells in Radso sound. Robbers he bade me not to ferry, or horse-stealers, but good men only, and those whom I well knew. Tell me then thy name, if thou wilt cross the sound.
Thor.
9. I my name will tell, (although I am an outlaw) and all my kin: I am Odin's son, Meili's brother, and Magni's sire, the gods' mighty leader: With Thor thou here mayest speak. I will now ask how thou art called.
Harbard.
10. I am Harbard called; seldom I my name conceal.
Thor.
11. Why shouldst thou thy name conceal, unless thou crime hast perpetrated?
Harbard.
12. Yet, though I may crime have perpetrated, I will nathless guard my life against such as thou art; unless I death-doomed am.
Thor.
13. It seems to me a foul annoyance to wade across the strait to thee, and wet my garments: but I will pay thee, mannikin! for thy sharp speeches, if o'er the sound I come.
Harbard.
14. Here will I stand, and here await thee. Thou wilt have found no stouter one since Hrungnir's death.
Thor.
15. Thou now remindest me how I with Hrungnir fought, that stout-hearted Jotun, whose head was all of stone; yet I made him fall, and sink before me. What meanwhile didst thou, Harbard?
Harbard.
16. I was with Fiolvari five winters through, in the isle which Algron hight. There we could fight, and slaughter make, many perils prove, indulge in love.
Thor.
17. How did your women prove towards you?
Harbard.
18. Sprightly women we had, had they but been meek; shrewd ones we had, had they but been kind. Of sand a rope they twisted, and from the deep valley dug the earth: to them all I alone was superior in cunning. I rested with the sisters seven, and their love and pleasures shared. What meanwhile didst thou, Thor?
Thor.
19. I slew Thiassi, that stout-hearted Jotun: up I cast the eyes of Allvaldi's son into the heaven serene: they are signs the greatest of my deeds. What meanwhile didst thou, Harbard?
Harbard.
20. Great seductive arts I used against the riders of the night,[36] when from their husbands I enticed them. A mighty Jotun I believed Hlebard to be: a magic wand he gave me, but from his wits I charmed him.