Esaias Tegnér

“ Soon with war-shield, so I reasoned, he will come against my land;
And he came, but clad in tatters, beggar's staff within his hand.
"Wherefore now cast down your eyelids? Once, like you, I too was young;
From the first is life a struggle, and fresh youth its Berserk-gang.
Hardly pressed and tried it must be, that its onset triumph not;
I have proved you and forgiven. I have pitied and forgot.
"Now am I grown old and weary, in the grave shall rest me soon,
Therefore take O youth, my kingdom, take my queen, she is thine own;
Be my son, till then remaining still my guest as heretofore. ”

“ Then to Frithiof his son, he said: “The years have whispered many a counsel in my ear for thee, my son. As Odin’s birds hover about the burial mound, so do the teachings of experience linger on the lips of age. This above all else lay thou to heart: honor the gods. From them alone spring all blessing and prosperity, even as it is they who send the storm-wind and the life-giving sun-rays. They gaze into the heart’s most secret depths, whither no man’s eye can penetrate. Avoid evil: long years must oft do penance for one hour’s sin. ”

“ With swimmer bold, who with thy billows fought!
I know thee, too, thou vale where oft we plighted
Eternal faith! Alas! earth holds it not!
Ye birchen trees, whose bark I carved delighted
With many runes, still wedded to the spot
Your white stems stand, crown-capped with sunshine golden,
All save myself unchanged since days now olden.
"Is all unchanged? Where, then, is Framness' dwelling,
And Balder's temple on the sacred shore?
At thought of childhood's dales my heart is swelling.
But fire and sword devoured them, they're no more. ”

“ Ah, bloody is the day that sees their strife with the powers of evil! The golden-combed cock that sits on Odin’s golden palace doth shrilly call to arms. Bursting his chains, up springs the giant wolf from the abyss; the earth-enveloping serpent writhes in fury; boiling and foaming, the sea o’erflows the land; the whole earth shakes; mountains crash together; the Tree of Life groans and trembles; in terror flee the shades that hover about the path of the dead. On the corpse-ship, made from the nails of the unburied dead, Loke, the wolf Fenris, and the giant Hrymer ride to join the battle. ”

“ Wert thou but mine, thy blazing splendor
I'd give a shield to my defender."
"Thou guide in Odin's house at night,
Thou pale moon with thy lovely light,
Were thou but mine, thy pearly lustre
'Mid Ing'borg's golden hair should cluster."
But Hilding said: "My foster-son,
Your reason is by love outrun;
The norns are partial in bestowing
The blood that in her veins is flowing.
To Odin high, where bright stars shine,
Ascendeth her ancestral line;
No hope may son of Thorstein nourish,
For like with like alone can flourish." ”

“ Balder was a son of the all-powerful Odin and the fair Earth-goddess Frigga, beautiful as the day and so bright that a shining splendor surrounded him as he traversed the dome of heaven on his white steed, swifter than thought. All evil, hatred, and strife were abhorrent to him. Eloquent, wise, mild, and just, he ever sought to promote peace, to avert misfortune, and to ease pain and sorrow. Sometimes, assuming human shape, he would mingle in the combat, but never, even in the heat of battle, did he lift his sword against a mortal. ”

“ Valhal's gods
No longer love me; I've offended them.
And Balder, 'neath whose shelter I reside,
Is wroth with me, because a human love
Is too unholy for the sight of gods,
And earthly joy must never risk itself
Beneath the temple-arch in which the grave,
The haughty powers have fixed their dwelling-place.
And yet what fault is mine? and wherefore frowns
The pious god upon a maiden's love?
Is it not pure as Urd's bright sparkling fount,
And innocent as Gefjon's morning dream?
The shining sun doth never turn away
From loving ones, its pure and watchful eyes. ”

“ Take Ingeborg as thy wife, and be a father to my infant son. Ever through life hath peace been dearest to me; well have I loved to sit with friends about the board; yet with a strong hand have I guarded throne and honor, and cloven many a shield on sea and land; nor ever hath man seen my cheek turn pale. Victory hath been mine, and glory. One boon only have the gods denied me—to mount to Valhalla from the battle-field. Death by the sword is the death of heroes; to linger on,—the straw death,—never such will Ring live to endure!” And therewith he plunged his sword into his breast. ”

“ As far as daylight flieth, or thought's swift pinion,
Far as resound the echoes, is gods' dominion.
The offered hawk gives tokens which oft deceive.
Not all runes monumental can we believe:
But an honest heart, O Helge, of pure endeavor,
With Odin's runes is written, misleading never.
"Be not severe, king Helge, but firm and staid;
The sword that bites the sharpest has the limberest blade.
Kings are adorned by mercy, as shields by flowers,
And spring can more accomplish than winter's powers.
"A man, however mighty, deprived of friends,
Like tree of bark denuded, how soon life ends! ”

“ Honor comes not nameless to the banquet, Frithiof! Ever open-faced she meets men’s glances, clear as sunlight is her shield. The fame of Frithiof’s deeds has reached us,—a terror both of gods and men; careless alike of cloven shield or burning temple; the mightiest warrior known in all the land. And this bold hero, this fierce viking, creeps, a beggar, to our hall! Nay, cast not down thy eyes before me. I, too, have once been young and felt as thou. Youth, well I know, hath fiery passions. ”

“ With keel and bow,
And blood-rain showers
In oaken bowers.
The good steel blade
Is seed-corn made.
The fields bring yearly
Not honor merely,
But gold as well.
Oh, kindly swell,
Thou ocean billow!
Thee will I follow.
My father's grave
Calm waters lave
(How still he sleepeth
Where green grass creepeth) .
Mine blue shall be,
Flecked like the sea;
Forever floating,
On tempest gloating,
And fathoms deep
Draw men to sleep;
To me thou'rt given
For life a haven;
My grave thou'lt be,
Thou ocean free. ”

“ One handle only hath the sword; he who grasps it elsewhere wounds his hand. Strength is a gift of the gods; but without judgment, force is of small avail. The bear has the strength of twelve men, yet he is slain by one. Against the sword-thrust hold the shield; against violence, the law. Guard thy heart from pride; few are moved to fear thereby, but all to hate. The more arrogant thou growest, the nearer is thy fall. Many have I seen soar high, who now must go on crutches. Praise not the day before its end, the mead before ’tis drunk, nor the counsel before ’tis proved. ”

“ By the lance, as did Odin, we'll die, if need,—
And thus ensure us
A welcome to Hel, and heaven secure us."
Then Fridthjof unloos'd the dragon,—and proud,
With full swelling canvas, the waves she plowed,
And swiftly over
The bay to the palace she bore the lover.
The kings were at Bele's grave met that day,—
To administer justice and counsel weigh;
Fridthjof advances,—
His voice sounds afar like clashing lances.
"Ye kings, lovely Ing'borg, the people's pride,
I choose, from all women, to be my bride;
The king intended
Our lives thus united in one should be blended. ”

“ This life, too, hath its atonement—dim type of that still higher yet to come. Earth is but Heaven’s shadow; human life the outer court of Balder’s heavenly temple. Decked with purple is the proud steed led to sacrifice—a symbol, rightly read, that blood is the red dawn of every day of grace. Yet by the sacrifice of no other may thine own guilt be redeemed. The wrongs that man commits he must himself atone for. The sacrifice All-Father demands from thee, more sweet to him than blood and reek of victim, is thy fierce hate and burning vengeance offered on the altar of thy heart. ”

“ To honored gods devoted, now half in sand;
And many words of wisdom the walls are saying,
And holy recollections through domes are straying.
"The evening steals upon me," king Bele said,
"The helmet now is heavy, and stale the mead;
The fate of man grows darker, but all the clearer
High Valhal shines before me, as death draws nearer.
"My sons I here have summoned, and Thorstein's son
For they should cling together, as we have done;
But I would give the eaglets some words of warning—
Words may in death be sleeping ere dawns the morning." ”

“ Then in full circle of the warriors, ’mid glittering steel will I demand thee from thy brother as my wife. Till then farewell, and keep me ever in thy thoughts. In memory of our childhood’s love take thou this arm-ring, a treasured heirloom of my father’s house: all the wonders of the heavens are carved upon it—but the world’s best wonder is a faithful heart. See! how it gleams on thy white arm like a glow-worm upon a lily’s stem!”
Thus they parted, and “Ellida” bore the hero swiftly away, while Ingeborg, sad and hopeless, betook her to her bower. ”