A.
(in a 16th century manuscript.)
| 1 |
It was the young Sveidal,
He was playing ball:
The ball drove into the Lady's† bower,
It made his cheeks‡ turn pale.
And choose[?] your words well! |
|
| 2 |
The ball drove into the Lady's bower†,
The swain went after it:
Before he came out of there again,
Great sorrow he got in his heart. |
† Bur "bower" is repeated from the previous strophe here, but in Olrik's version, we see the ball went to the Skjød(skød) "[from the Lady's] lap, bosom" in the first verse.
|
| 3 |
“ Don't you be banging your tossed
ball at me:
There sits a maiden† in a foreign land,
She is yearning for you. |
† The Lady casts a magic spell over Sveidal so he has become lovesick with
another woman ( Mø "maiden") who lives in a foreign country.
"Thi «Jomfruen ” — hans Stivmoder — har runebundet ham for en fremmd Mø"
(* Illustreret dansk Litteraturhistorie, Vol. i, p. 90)
|
| 4 |
Never shall you savor[?] rest
And never shall you gain it :
Leading you far astray, the rueful heart,
Like a long-sought Yearning ”
|
| 5 |
It was the young Sveidal,
He swathed his head in skin:
Thus he goes into the room,
All too many of his courtiers† within.
|
† hofmænd "person of the court" or courtier
In the Axel Olrik version (op. cit.), it reads hovmænd, which E. M. Smith-Dampier construes as "head man" and translates as "captain".
|
| 6 |
“ Here you all sit, my men,
Drinking mead out of cups:
While I go to the mound,
With my dear mother† to talk ”. |
† We see now that Sveidal's mother is dead and buried up in a mountain/mound
(although her ghost is able to communicate "good advice" to her son and even impart gifts).
The Lady mentioned earlier turns out to be the Stivmoder "stepmother" (see strophe 10).
|
| 7 |
It was the young Sveidal,
Off he went a-calling:
Riven were the wall and marble-stone [asunder],
And the mound came down tumbling.
|
| 8 |
“ Who is that, there calling,
And waking me so glumly?
May I not lie in peace
Up in the bowels of black Earth? ”
|
| 9 |
“ This is young Sveidal,
The darling son of yours:
He full wishes to have good rede,
From the dear mother of his.
|
| 10 |
I have been stuck with[?] a Stepmother,
She is turning harsh on me:
She has placed in my heart a Compulsion,
For one whom I have never seen. ”
|
| 11 |
“ Shall I now arise
From sleep and harsh agony:
Out the same way,
As you shall full well fare.
|
| 12 |
I shall give you a foal,
That shall well carry you forth:
He goes as well over salty fjord
As over the green land.
|
| 13 |
I shall give you cloth,
You can spread all 'round you:
When a meal is what you wish for,
It shall assuage your complaint[?] .
|
| 14 |
I shall give you a beast-horn,
And it is clasped with gold:
When a drink is what you wish for,
Then it shall stay replete.
|
| 15 |
I shall give you The Sword,
hardened in dragon-blood:
Whereever you ride through the Mirky Shaw†,
It then burns like bonfire.
|
†
Similar to the mirky shaw (mørken Skov) here is the Mirkwood (myrkvið)
mentioned several times in the Poetic Edda — the place where the three maiden descended, to be wed by Volund and his brothers(Lay of Volund 1),
and the place where Muspilli's children shall ride forth (Lokasenna 42), etc.
Of major significance in Viktor Rydberg's reconstruction of the tale of the Sword of Victory.
Mirkwood famously occurs in the geography of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.
|
| 16 |
I shall give you a longship,
She sits at the salty fjord:
All your foes, who you will sail up against,
She'll run them under in the river.».
|
| 17 |
They hoisted up their silken sails
So high on a gilded yard:
So they sailed for the very Land,
That the Maiden was on.
|
| 18 |
They throw off anchor
On the white sand:
It was the young Sveidal,
He trod there first on Land.
|
| 19 |
It was the young Sveidal,
He goes on the white sand:
The first man he met,
Was the Herdsman in that Land.
|
| 20 |
It was the good Herdsman,
And he was allowed to question first:
“ What troubles the young swain?
Why is his heart so thirsting? ”
|
| 21 |
“ His heart lies [rapt] in Compulsion
For one whom he has never seen:
The swain hight young Sveidal,
So goes The Legend of. ”
|
| 22 |
“ Here is also a Maiden on this Land,
She is taken by a strong Yearning:
For a swain hight Sveidal, [whom]
She has never with her own eyne seen. ”
|
| 23 |
“ Hark ye good Herdsman
What I say to you:
Wist thou where the Maiden is,
Hide it not from me. ”
|
| 24 |
“ Fare over by the
greenwood,
There stands my Maiden's Courtyard:
The gates are [made] of white whale-bone
And the gates are laid with Steel.
|
| 25 |
Out of my Maiden's gate
There stands a Lion so wrathful:
But [if] you are the right Sveidal,
So freely may you go in. ”
|
| 26 |
“ Is that now the Truth,
All that you say to me?:
[If] I become King of this Land
A knight I will make you. ”
|
| 27 |
He went to the golden Gate,
And there did he see:
There were all these Locks,
They undid themselves [thereupon].
|
| 28 |
The Lion with the White Bears
They fell at the Gentleman's Foot:
The Linden with her Branches
She spread underneath to the Ground†. |
† There is a parallel in the second Svipdag poem,
Fjölsvinnsmál 20-21, where the world-ash (here called Mimameiðr but otherwise known as Yggdrassill or Læraðr) spreads its branches over the entire world.
|
| 29 |
Middle of the courtyard
There he draped on his skin†:
So he goes to the High Hall
For the heathen King inside. |
†
Perhaps he is making sure he is he properly attired
before he presents himself in the king's court; Smith-Dampier
thus translates this as "vair" (type of costly fur thought to be gray squirrel).
|
| 30 |
“ Hail sittest Thou, heathen King,
Over by thine own Table:
Wilt Thou give me Thine Daughter
And let me know thy Reply?
|
| 31 |
“ I have no Daughter besides the one,
She is bound by a strong Yearning:
To a swain hight young Sveidal, [whom]
She has never with her own Eyne seen. ”
|
| 32 |
He answered the little
servant-boy,
Standing dressed in kirtle of white
“ Longing after her was Sveidal,
And now he has come hither. ”
|
| 33 |
So suddenly† comes the herald to the High Hall
To the comely
Maiden inside:
“ Now sits young Sveidal
Next to with the Father of yours. ”
|
†
brådt brådt
is apparently a Norwegian word meaning "suddenly" (thanks to Tor Gjerde on this) and thus emended.
I found the word in a line in "Hilla Lilla" performed by Garmarna.
It is a version of Hillelilles Sorg
collected by Olrik, translated by Smith-Dampier as
"The Griefs of Hillelille"
|
| 34 |
“ Then you all take away the high yard
Also[?] the bier:
Follow me to the High Hall,
To my Heart's Desire. ”
|
| 35 |
She thus spoke the comely Maiden,
She stepped onto The Door :
“ Best of Welcome young Sveidal,
My Heart's Most-Beloved ! ”
|
|
In this example it [further] goes on to say that the Maiden
asks her Father if he will let himself be baptized: otherwise she will go away with Sveidal; both father and daughter adopt the Christian Faith before The wedding is held; Sveidal dubs the Herdsman knight and sets him atop a pedestal. At the Closing it says that:
|
| 42 |
Now has young Sveidal
Recovered from all his grief:
And so has the proud Maiden,
Her there in his Arm asleep.
And choose your words well!
|
C.
(In two 17th century transcriptions.)
|
|
The beginning of this example essentially agrees with A.
Although Svendal says in verse 11: “ My sister and my stepmother have afflicted my heart with a Yearning ”, this is just merely a corruption.
|
| 13 |
“ I give you a steed
That shall be so good:
Ride him both day and night,
He will hardly ever be discouraged.
|
| 14 |
I shall give you a good Sword,
That they call Adelring:
You will never come to Strife,
[Where] you shall [not] win sure Victory. ”
| |
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