2040liegeman leal and their lives as well.
Then, over the ale, on this heirloom gazing,
some ash-wielder old[1] who has all in mind
that spear-death of men,[2]—he is stern of mood,
heavy at heart,—in the hero young
2045tests the temper and tries the soul
and war-hate wakens, with words like these:—
Canst thou not, comrade, ken that sword
which to the fray thy father carried
in his final feud, ’neath the fighting-mask,
2050dearest of blades, when the Danish slew him
and wielded the war-place on Withergild’s fall,[3]
after havoc of heroes, those hardy Scyldings?
Now, the son of a certain slaughtering Dane,
proud of his treasure, paces this hall,
2055joys in the killing, and carries the jewel[4]
that rightfully ought to he owned by thee!
Thus he urges and eggs him all the time
with keenest words, till occasion offers
that Freawaru’s thane, for his father’s deed,
- ↑ In Saxo (Bk. VI) Starcatherus sees that the slayers of Frotho, father of Ingellus, are high in favor with the latter king, and sings a song of reproach at the banquet. At first he complains of the neglect of himself in his old age and of the king’s gluttony; then he passes to taunts of cowardice and an appeal for vengeance on the murderers.
- ↑ That is, their disastrous battle and the slaying of their king.
- ↑ Withergild is mentioned in Widsith, v. 124, and must be a proper name. If it were taken otherwise, it might be translated “when recompence, chance to recover losses, was out of the question.”
- ↑ The sword, here called “treasure” or “jewel” in no strained figure. It is unnecessary to turn it into a collar or other adornment.
on to vengeance. At his instigation the Dane is killed; but the murderer, afraid of results, and knowing the land, escapes. So the old feud must break out again.