Source text: “The Lay of Hervor”

Hervararkviða

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English translation made by AI from the Old Norse.

1

A young maiden has met
in Munarvag,
at sunset,
a man tending a herd.
The herdsman said:
“Who has come alone
to the island?
Go quickly
to find lodging!”
Hervor said:

2

“I will not go
to find lodging,
for I know none
of the islanders;
tell me quickly,
before you leave here:
where are the burial mounds
said to be Hjorvard’s?”
The herdsman said:

3

“Do not ask about that;
you are not wise,
friend of Vikings,
you have lost your way;
let us hurry away
as fast as our feet can carry us;
everything out here
is uncanny to men!”
Hervor said:

4

“I offer you a necklace
in payment for your words;
a friend of warriors
will not be easily deterred:
no one can give me
treasures so lovely,
rings so fair,
that I will not go.”
The herdsman said:

5

“Foolish, I think,
is the man who ventures here
all alone
in the dark night;
fire is abroad,
the mounds are opening,
earth and marsh are burning;
let us hurry faster.”
Hervor said:

6

“Let us not take fright
at such snorting,
though all over the island
fires may burn;
let us not allow
dead warriors
to scare us so quickly;
let us talk together.”

7

Then the herdsman
hurried to the woods,
far from speech
with this maiden;
but a stubborn
spirit in her breast
at such things
swells within Hervor.
She now saw the mound-fires .... and walks towards the mounds without fear, and she waded through the fires as through smoke, until she came to the berserks’ mound. Then she said:

8

“Wake, Angantyr!
Hervor wakes you,
the only daughter
of you and Svava;
give me from the mound
the sharp sword
that the dwarfs forged
for Svafrlami.

9

Hervard, Hjorvard,
Hrani, Angantyr!
I wake you all
beneath the roots of trees,
with helmet and mail-coat,
with sharp sword,
with shield and war-gear,
with blood-red spear.

10

You have become indeed,
sons of Arngrim,
you harmful sons,
nothing but more earth,
since not one
of Eyfura’s sons
will speak with me
in Munarvag.

11

Hervard, Hjorvard,
Hrani, Angantyr!
May you all feel
within your ribs
as though you were withering
in a mound of ants,
unless you give me the sword
that Dvalin forged;
it ill befits the dead
to hide a precious weapon.”
Then Angantyr answers:

12

“Hervor, daughter,
why do you call so?
Full of dreadful spells,
you go to your own ruin!
You have become mad
and lost your senses,
your thoughts gone astray,
waking dead men.

13

My father did not bury me,
nor did other kinsmen;
the two who survived
had Tyrfing;
yet in the end
one alone became its owner.”
Hervor said:

14

“Tell me only the truth:
may the god leave you
unharmed in your mound
only if you do not have
Tyrfing with you;
you are reluctant to grant
an inheritance, Angantyr,
to your only child.”
Angantyr said:

15

“Hel’s gate has fallen,
the mounds are opening,
the whole island’s rim
seems wrapped in fire;
it is dreadful outside
to look around;
hurry, maiden, if you can,
to your ships.”
Hervor said:

16

“No pyres you kindle
at night burn so fiercely
that I am afraid
of your fires;
the maiden’s heart
does not tremble,
though she sees a dead man
standing in the doorway.”
Angantyr said:

17

“I tell you, Hervor,
—listen further,
wise daughter—
what will come to pass:
this Tyrfing will,
if you could believe it,
maiden, destroy
your entire family.

18

You will bear a son
who will later
carry Tyrfing
and trust in its might;
Heidrek is the name
people will give him;
he will be the mightiest man raised
beneath the sun’s canopy.”
Hervor said:

19

“I lay this curse
upon you dead men:
you shall
all lie
dead among the dead,
rotting in the grave;
give me, Angantyr,
out of the mound
the dwarfs’ handiwork;
you cannot keep it hidden.”
Angantyr said:

20

“I say you are unlike,
young maiden,
other mortals,
for you roam among mounds at night
with an engraved spear
and Gothic steel,
with helmet and mail-coat,
before the hall’s doors.”
Hervor said:

21

“I thought myself
a human being until now,
before I resolved
to visit your halls;
give me from the mound
the hater of mail-coats,
the peril of shields,
Hjalmar’s bane.”
Angantyr said:

22

“Beneath my shoulders lies
Hjalmar’s bane,
wrapped all around
in fire;
I know no maiden
anywhere on earth
who would dare take
that sword in her hands.”
Hervor said:

23

“I will take it
and hold in my hands
the sharp sword,
if I can have it;
I do not fear
the burning fire;
the flames subside at once
when I look across them.”
Angantyr said:

24

“You have a foolish
mind, Hervor,
for with open eyes
you rush into fire;
I would sooner give you
the sword from the mound,
young maiden;
I cannot deny you.”
Hervor said:

25

“You have done well,
descendant of Vikings,
in giving me
the sword from the mound;
I think myself better off now,
prince,
than if I had gained
all of Norway.”
Angantyr said:

26

“You do not know
—wretched is your lot,
woman of treacherous counsels—
what you should rejoice in;
this Tyrfing will,
if you could believe it,
maiden, destroy
your entire family.”
Hervor said:

27

“I will go
to the steed of the waves;
the ruler’s daughter
is in good spirits now;
little do I care,
descendant of princes,
how my sons
may quarrel hereafter.”
Angantyr said:

28

“You shall possess it
and long enjoy it;
keep sheathed
Hjalmar’s bane;
do not touch the edges,
poison is in both;
that bringer of men’s doom
is worse than sickness.

29

Farewell, daughter;
readily would I give you
the lives of twelve men,
if you could believe it,
strength and endurance,
all the good things
that Arngrim’s sons
left behind them.”
Hervor said:

30

“Dwell, all of you,
—I long to be gone—
unharmed in the mound;
I want to leave here quickly;
I felt most of all
between worlds just now,
when all around me
fires were burning.”