Now it is to be told of Gunnlaug that he went from Sweden
the same summer that Raven went to Iceland, and good gifts he had from King
Olaf at parting.
King Ethelred welcomed Gunnlaug worthily, and that winter he
was with the king, and was held in great honour.
In those days Knut the Great, son of Svein, ruled Denmark,
and had new-taken his father's heritage, and he vowed ever to wage war on
England, for that his father had won a great realm there before he died west in
that same land.
And at that time there was a great army of Danish men west
there, whose chief was Heming, the son of Earl Strut-Harald, and brother to
Earl Sigvaldi, and he held for King Knut that land that Svein had won.
Now in the spring Gunnlaug asked the king for leave to go
away, but he said, "It ill beseems that thou, my man, shouldst go away
now, when all bodes such mighty war in the land."
Gunnlaug said, "Thou shalt rule, lord; but give me
leave next summer to depart, if the Danes come not."
The king answered, "Then we shall see."
Now this summer went by, and the next winter, but no Danes
came; and after midsummer Gunnlaug got his leave to depart from the king, and
went thence east to Norway, and found Earl Eric in Thrandheim, at Hladir, and
the earl greeted him well, and bade him abide with him. Gunnlaug thanked him
for his offer, but said he would first go out to Iceland, to look to his
promised maiden.
The earl said, "Now all ships bound for Iceland have
sailed."
Then said one of the court, "Here lay, yesterday,
Hallfred Troublous-Skald, out tinder Agdaness."
The earl answered, "That may well be; he sailed hence
five nights ago."
Then Earl Eric had Gunnlaug rowed put to Hallfred, who
greeted him with joy; and forthwith a fair wind bore them from land, and they
were right merry.
This was late in the summer: but now Hallfred said to
Gunnlaug, "Hast thou heard of how Raven, the son of Onund, is wooing Helga
the Fair?"
Gunnlaug said he had heard thereof but dimly. Hallfred tells
him all he knew of it, and therewith, too, that it was the talk of many men
that Raven was in nowise less brave a man than Gunnlaug. Then Gunnlaug sang
this stave:—
"Light the weather wafteth;
But
if this east wind drifted
Week-long, wild upon us
Little were I recking;
More this word I mind of
Me
with Raven mated,
Than gain for me the gold-foe
Of
days to make me grey-haired."
Then Hallfred said, "Well, fellow, may'st thou fare
better in thy strife with Raven than I did in mine. I brought my ship some
winters ago into Leiruvag, and had to pay a half-mark in silver to a
house-carle of Raven's, but I held it back from him. So Raven rode at us with
sixty men, and cut the moorings of the ship, and she was driven up on the
shallows, and we were bound for a wreck. Then I had to give selfdoom to Raven,
and a whole mark I had to pay; and that is the tale of my dealings with
him."
Then they two talked together alone of Helga the Fair, and
Gunnlaug praised her much for her goodliness; and Gunnlaug sang:—
"He who brand of battle
Beareth over-wary,
Never love shall let him
Hold the linen-folded;
For
we when we were younger
In
many a way were playing
On
the outward nesses
From golden land outstanding."
"Well sung!" said Hallfred.
----------------------
From: THE STORY/SAGA OF GUNNLAUG THE WORM-TONGUE AND RAVEN THE SKALD
Translated
From The Icelandic EIRIKR MAGNUSSON & WILLIAM MORRIS
Download this saga as
a PDF ebook from: http://store.payloadz.com/go?id=1012130
A percentage of the profits from the sale of this book will
be donated to UNICEF.
No comments:
Post a Comment