Fridthjofs Saga | Page 4

translation. Mr. Taylor said in his preface to Blackley's
version that there had never been an English Fridthjof's Saga which
was satisfactory to Swedes. This is probably owing to the fact that the
Swedes have become so familiar with its original measures and so
accustomed to its peculiar rhythm, that they cannot willingly dispense
with any part of the form which Tegne'r gave it. Several of the metres
employed by him were unknown to Swedish readers until they
appeared in this poem. Tegne'r's experiment of introducing them was a
successful one; and they are now, in the minds of Swedes, as much a
part of the work as the story itself. The feminine rhymes, occurring in
fifteen of the twenty-four cantos, are so melodious that no one who had
heard the original, even if he did not understand a word of it, could be
quite satisfied with a version which does not reproduce them. The
feminine rhymes and the alliteration of Canto XXI have presented
obstacles which no single translation has hitherto overcome.
The original measures the feminine rhymes and the alliteration of
"Ring's Drapa," are, in our estimation, essential features of a good
rendering of the poem, and if we have done our work well we do not
fear that any one will think there are too many translations.

For a fuller history of "Fridthjof 's Saga" than can be given in this note,
we refer the reader to Anderson's "Viking Tales," where the sagas on
which this story is founded appear in full.
The preparation of this translation has been a home work which has
brightened for us the firelight of many a pleasant evening. We publish
it in full faith that it will have a like happy effect in whatever home it
may be read.
October, 1876.

CONTENTS.
Canto I. Fridthjof and Ingeborg
-
Canto II. King Bele and Thorstein
Canto III. Fridthjof's Inheritance
Canto IV. Fridthjof's Courtship
Canto V. King Ring
Canto VI. Fridthjof Plays Chess
Canto VII. Fridthjof's Happiness
Canto VIII. The Parting
Canto IX. Ingeborg's Lament
Canto X. Fridthjof at Sea
Canto XI. Fridthjof with Angantyr
Canto XII. The Return

Canto XIII. Balder's Funeral Pile
Canto XIV. Fridthjof Goes Into Exile
Canto XV. The Viking Code
Canto XVI. Fridthjof and Bjorn
Canto XVII. Fridthjof Comes to King Ring
Canto XVIII. The Ride on the Ice
Canto XIX. Fridthjof's Temptation
Canto XX. King Ring's Death
Canto XXI. Ring's Drapa
Canto XXII. The King's Election
Canto XXIII. Fridthjof at his Father's Grave
Canto XXIV. The Reconciliation
Glossary
CHARACTERS
Bele. (Pronounced Bay'-lay.) King of Sogn, in Norway.
Helge (Hel'-gay) and Halfdan. His sons.
Ingeborg. (Ing'-e-borg.) His daughter.
Thorstein. (Tor'-stine.) A peasant, -friend and companion-in-arms of
King Bele.
Fridthjof. (Freet'-yof.) Son of Thorstein.
Hilding. Foster-father and teacher of Fridthjof and Ingeborg.

Bjorn. (B'yorn.) A sworn foster-brother of Fridthjof.
Ring. King of Ringric, in Norway.
Angantyr. (Ang'-an-teer.) Ruler of the Orkney Islands.
Atle. (At'-lay.) A berserk, and one orf Angantyr's warriors.
SCENE--Northern Norway and the Orkney Islands.
FRIDTHJOF'S SAGA.
Fridthjof and Ingeborg.
In Hilding's garden, green and fair,
Protected by his fostering care,

Two rare and stately plants were growing,
Unequaled grace and
beauty showing.
The one a sturdy oak tree grew,
With lance-like stem so straight and
true,
Its crown in northern tempests shaking
Like helmet plume in
battle quaking.
The other like a rose sprang forth
When tardy winter leaves the north,

And spring, which in the buds lies dreaming,
Still waits with gems
to set them gleaming.
Around the earth the storm-king raves,
The wrestling oak its anger
braves;
The sun dissolves frost's mantle hoary,
The buds reveal
their hidden glory.
So they grew up in joy and glee,
And Fridthjof was the young oak
tree;
Unfolding in the vale serenely,
The rose was Ingeborg the
queenly.
Saw you those two by light of day
You seem in Freyja's house to stay,

Where bride-pairs, golden-haired, were swinging,
Their way on
rosy pinions winging.

But seeing them by moonlight pale
Round dancing in the leafy vale,

You'd think: The elf-king now advances,
And leads his queen in
fairy dances.
How joyful 'twas, how lovely too,
When firs[ he learned his futhorc
through;
No kings had e'er such honor brought them
As when to
Ingeborg he taught them.
How joyously his boat would glide
With those two o'er the dark blue
tide:
While he the driving sail was veering,
Her small white hands
gave hearty cheering.
No bird's nest found so high a spot,
That he for her could find it not;

The eagle's nest from clouds he sundered,
And eggs and young he
deftly plundered.
However swift, there ran no brook,
But o'er it Ingeborg he took;

How sweet when roaring torrents frighten,
To feel her soft arms
round him tighten.
The first; spring flowers by sunshine fed,
The earliest berries turning
red,
The first of autumn's golden treasure,
He proffered her with
eager pleasure.

But quickly sped are childhood's days,--
There stands a youth whose
ardent gaze
With pleading and with hope is laden,
And there, with