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A stranger entered the hall,
An old and grey-coated man.
So slouched was his hat
That one of his eyes was hidden;
- But the other flashed
- So that all feared it:
- Overwhelming
- Its menace they found;
- I alone
- Suffered, when looked on,
Sweet pain, sad delight,
Sorrow and solace in one.
- On me glancing,
- He scowled at the others,
As he swung a sword in his hands.
- This sword he plunged
- In the ash-tree’s stem,
To the hilt driving it home.
The weapon he gains in guerdon
Who draws it from its place.
- Though sore they struggled,
- Not one of the heroes
Could win the weapon for his ;
- Coming, going,
- The guests essayed it,
The strongest tugged at the steel;
Not an inch it stirred in the stem;
In silence yonder it cleaves.
I knew then who he was
That in sorrow greeted me.
- I know too
- Now for whom
The sword was stuck in the tree.
- O might I to-day
- Find here the friend
- Brought from afar
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