Hárbarðsljóð

¹Who is the knave of knaves, that by the sound stands yonder? _Harbard_. ²Who is the churl of churls, that cries across the water? _Thor_. ³Ferry me across the sound, to-morrow I'll regale thee. I have a basket on my back: there is no better food: at my ease I ate, before I quitted home, herrings and oats, with which I yet feel sated. _Harbard_. ⁴Thou art in haste to praise thy meal: thou surely hast no foreknowledge; for sad will be thy home: thy mother, I believe, is dead. _Thor_. ⁵Thou sayest now what seems to every one most unwelcome to know--that my mother is dead. _Harbard_. ⁶Thou dost not look like one who owns three country dwellings, bare-legged thou standest, and like a beggar clothed; thou hast not even breeches. _Thor_. ⁷Steer hitherward thy boat; I will direct thee where to land. But who owns this skiff, which by the strand thou holdest? _Harbard_. ⁸Hildolf fief is named who bade me hold it, a man in council wise, who dwells in Radso sound. Robbers he bade me not to ferry, or horse-stealers, but good men only, and those whom I well knew. Tell me then thy name, if thou wilt cross the sound. _Thor_. ⁹I my name will tell, (although I am an outlaw) and all my kin: I am Odin's son, Meili's brother, and Magni's sire, the gods' mighty leader: With Thor thou here mayest speak. I will now ask how thou art called. _Harbard_. ¹⁰I am Harbard called; seldom I my name conceal. _Thor_. ¹¹Why shouldst thou thy name conceal, unless thou crime hast perpetrated? _Harbard_. ¹²Yet, though I may crime have perpetrated, I will nathless guard my life against such as thou art; unless I death-doomed am. _Thor_.

¹³It seems to me a foul annoyance to wade across the strait to thee, and wet my garments: but I will pay thee, mannikin! for thy sharp speeches, if o'er the sound I come. _Harbard_. ¹⁴Here will I stand, and here await thee. Thou wilt have found no stouter one since Hrungnir's death. _Thor_. ¹⁵Thou now remindest me how I with Hrungnir fought, that stout-hearted Jotun, whose head was all of stone; yet I made him fall, and sink before me. What meanwhile didst thou, Harbard? _Harbard_. ¹⁶I was with Fiolvari five winters through, in the isle which Algron hight. There we could fight, and slaughter make, many perils prove, indulge in love. _Thor_. ¹⁷How did your women prove towards you? _Harbard_. ¹⁸Sprightly women we had, had they but been meek; shrewd ones we had, had they but been kind. Of sand a rope they twisted, and from the deep valley dug the earth: to them all I alone was superior in cunning. I rested with the sisters seven, and their love and pleasures shared. What meanwhile didst thou, Thor? _Thor_. ¹⁹I slew Thiassi, that stout-hearted Jotun: up I cast the eyes of Allvaldi's son into the heaven serene: they are signs the greatest of my deeds. What meanwhile didst thou, Harbard? _Harbard_. ²⁰Great seductive arts I used against the riders of the night,[36] when from their husbands I enticed them. A mighty Jotun I believed Hlebard to be: a magic wand he gave me, but from his wits I charmed him. _Thor_. ²¹With evil mind then thou didst good gifts requitè _Harbard_. ²²One tree gets that which, is from another scraped: each one in such case is for self. What meanwhile didst thou, Thor? _Thor_. ²³In the east I was, and slew the Jotun brides, crafty in evil, as they to the mountain went. Great would have been the Jotun race, had they all lived; and not a man left in Midgard. What meanwhile didst thou, Harbard? _Harbard_. ²⁴I was in Valland, and followed warfare; princes I excited, but never reconciled. Odin has all the jarls that in conflict fall; but Thor the race of thralls. _Thor_.

²⁵Unequally thou wouldst divide the folk among the Æsir, if thou but hadst the power. _Harbard_. ²⁷Harbard, thou wretch! I would strike thee dead, could I but stretch my arm across the sound. _Harbard_. ²⁸Why wouldst thou stretch thy arm across the sound, when there is altogether no offence? But what didst thou, Thor? _Thor_. ³⁰I was in the east, and with a certain lass held converse; with that fair I dallied, and long meetings had. I that gold-bright one delighted; the game amused her. _Thor_. ³¹Then you had kind damsels there? _Harbard_. ³²Of thy aid I had need, Thor! in retaining that maiden lily-fair. _Thor_. ³³I would have given it thee, if I had had the opportunity. _Harbard_. ³⁴I would have trusted thee, my confidence if thou hadst not betrayed it. _Thor_. ³⁵I am not such a heel-chafer as an old leather shoe in spring. _Harbard_. ³⁶What meanwhile didst thou, Thor? _Thor_.

³⁷The Berserkers' brides I on Læsso cudgeled; they the worst had perpetrated, the whole people, had seduced. _Harbard_. ³⁸Dastardly didst thou act, Thor! when thou didst cudgel women. _Thor_. ³⁹She-wolves they were, and scarcely women. They crushed my ship, which with props I had secured, with iron clubs threatened me, and drove away Thialfi. What meanwhile didst thou, Harbard? _Harbard_. ⁴⁰I in the army was, which was hither sent, war-banners to raise, lances to redden. _Thor_. ⁴¹Of that thou now wilt speak, as thou wentest forth us hard terms to offer. _Harbard_. ⁴²That shall be indemnified by a hand-ring, such as arbitrators give, who wish to reconcile us. _Thor_. ⁴³Where didst thou learn words than which I never heard more irritating? _Harbard_. ⁴⁴From men I learned them, from ancient men, whose home is in the woods. _Thor_. ⁴⁵Thou givest certainly a good name to grave-mounds, when thou callest them, homes in the woods. _Harbard_. ⁴⁶So speak I of such a subject. _Thor_. ⁴⁷Thy shrewd words will bring thee evil, if I resolve the sound to ford. Louder than a wolf thou wilt howl, I trow, if of my hammer thou gettest a touch. _Harbard_. ⁴⁸Sif has a gallant at home; thou wilt anxious be to find him: thou shalt that arduous work perform; it will beseem thee better. _Thor_.

⁴⁹Thou utterest what comes upmost, so that to me it be most annoying, thou dastardly varlet! I believe thou art lying. _Harbard_. ⁵⁰I believe I am telling truth. Thou art travelling slowly; thou wouldst have long since arrived, hadst thou assumed another form. _Thor_. ⁵¹Harbard! thou wretch! rather is it thou who hast detained me. _Harbard_. ⁵²I never thought that a ferryman could the course of Asa-Thor retard. _Thor_. ⁵³One advice I now will give thee: row hither with thy boat; let us cease from threats; approach the sire of Magni. _Harbard_. ⁵⁴Go farther from the sound, the passage is refused thee. _Thor_. ⁵⁵Show me then the way, if thou wilt not ferry me across the water. _Harbard_. ⁵⁶That's too little to refuse. 'Tis far to go; 'tis to the stock an hour, and to the stone another; then keep the left hand way, until thou reachest Verland; there will Fiorgyn find her son Thor, and point out to him his kinsmen's ways to Odin's land. _Thor_. ⁵⁷Can I get there to-day? _Harbard_. ⁵⁸With pain and toil thou mayest get there, while the sun is up, which, I believe, is now nigh. _Thor_. ⁵⁹Our talk shall now be short, as thou answerest with scoffing only. For refusing to ferry me I will reward thee, if another time we meet. _Harbard_. ⁶⁰Just go to where all the powers of evil may have thee.