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Read Ebook: The Nightingale the Valkyrie and Raven and Other Ballads by Wise Thomas James Editor Borrow George Translator
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Ebook has 94 lines and 6393 words, and 2 pages
Translator: George Borrow
Editor: Thomas J. Wise
THE NIGHTINGALE THE VALKYRIE AND RAVEN AND OTHER BALLADS
BY GEORGE BORROW
LONDON: PRINTED FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION
THE NIGHTINGALE, OR THE TRANSFORMED DAMSEL
I know where stands a Castellaye, Its turrets are so fairly gilt; With silver are its gates inlaid, Its walls of marble stone are built.
Within it stands a linden tree, With lovely leaves its boughs are hung, Therein doth dwell a nightingale, And sweetly moves that bird its tongue.
A gallant knight came riding by, He heard its dulcet ditty ring; And sorely, sorely, wondered he At midnight hour that it should sing.
"And hear, thou little Nightingale, If thou to me wilt sing a lay, Thy feathers I'll with gold bedeck, Thy neck with costly pearls array."
"With golden feathers others lure, Such gifts for me have value slight; I am a strange and lonely bird, But little known to mortal wight."
"And thou, a strange wild bird thou be, Whom other mortals little know; Yet hunger pinches thee, and cold, When falls the cruel winter snow."
"I laugh at hunger, laugh at snow, Which falls so wide on hill and lea; But I am vexed by secret care, I know not either joy or glee.
"Betwixt the hills and valleys deep Away the rapid rivers flow; But ah! remembrance of true love From out the mind will never go.
"O I had once a handsome love, A famous knight of valour he; But ah! my step-dame all o'erturn'd, She vowed our marriage ne'er should be.
"She changed me to a Nightingale, Bade me around the world to fly; My Brother she changed to a wolf so gray, Bade him into the forest hie.
"She told him, as the wood he sought, That he should win his shape no more, 'Till he had drunk her heart's blood out, And that befell when years were o'er.
"It happened on a summer tide, Amidst the wood she wandered gay, My brother saw and watched her close, From 'neath the bushes where he lay.
"He seized her quickly by the foot, All with his laidly wolfish claw; Tore out her heart, and drank her blood, And thus released himself he saw.
"Yet I am still a little bird, And o'er the verdant meads I fly; So sorrowful I pass my life, But mostly 'neath the winter's sky.
"But God be thanked, he me has waked, And speech from him my tongue has won; For fifteen years I have not spoke As I with thee, Sir Knight, have done.
"But ever with a mournful voice, Have sung the green wood bough upon; And had no better dwelling place Than gloomy forests, sad and lone."
"Now hear, thou little Nightingale, This simple thing would I propose, In winter sit within my bower, And hie thee forth when summer blows."
"O many thanks, thou handsome knight Thy offer would I accept full fane; But ah, my step-dame that forbade Whilst still in feather I remain."
The Nightingale sat musing deep, Unto the knight she paid no heed, Until he seized her by the foot, For God I ween had so decreed.
He carried her to his chamber in, The doors and windows fast he made; Then changed she to the strangest beasts That ever mortal eye survey'd.
A lion now, and now a bear, And now a coil of hissing snakes; At last a Dragon she became, And furious she the knight attacks.
He cut her with a little knife, So that her blood did stain the floor; Then straight before his eye there stood A Damsel bright as any flower.
"Now, Damsel fair, I've rescued thee From thraldom drear and secret care; Now tell me of thy ancestry, Thy parents and thy race declare."
"My father he was England's King, My mother was his lovely Queen; My brother once a grey wolf was, And trotted o'er the wold so green."
"If England's King thy father was, And thy dear mother England's Queen, Thou art my sister's daughter then, Who long a Nightingale has been."
O there was joy throughout the land, And all the court was filled with glee; The Knight has caught the Nightingale, That dwelt within the linden tree.
THE VALKYRIE AND RAVEN
Ye men wearing bracelets Be mute whilst I sing Of Harald the hero-- High Norroway's king; I'll duly declare A discourse which I heard, Betwixt a bright maiden And black raven bird.
The Valkyrie's vext No war-field to find; The speech she knew well Of the wild feather'd kind, And thus she bespake him Who bears the brown bill, So proud as he perch'd on The peak of the hill.
"What do you here, ravens, And whence come ye, say, Your heads turn'd direct to The dying sun's ray? Bits of flesh hold your claws-- There's blood flowing free From your beaks, surely nigh Dead bodies there be."
Then wiping his beak, Bloody red, on the rock, The eagle's sworn brother Thus answer'd and spoke: "Harald we've follow'd, Of Halfdan the son, Ever since from the egg That we egress have won."
"Then ye know, bird, the king, Whose keep is in Kvine, The young king--the Norse king-- Whose keels cut the brine; Red-rimm'd are his bucklers, Betarr'd are his oars-- His sails are all bleach'd With the sea-spray and showers."
"Abroad will drink Yule, The young king, and will try To wake up, O maiden, The wild game of Frey, Of the warmth of the hearth He weary is grown; He loathes the close chamber And cushions of down.
"Heard ye not the hard fight Near Hafirsfirth beach, 'Twixt the king of high kindred And Kotva the rich? Sail'd ships from the East Prepared for war stern; Their dragon heads gaped, Their gilded sides burn.
"They were fill'd with proud freemen Well furnish'd with shields, And the very best weapons The western land yields; Grimly the Baresarkers Grinn'd, biting steel,-- Howl'd the wolf-heathens War madness they feel.
"They moved 'gainst the monarch Whose might makes them pine, 'Gainst the king--the Norse king-- Who keeps court at Utstein; Flinch'd the king's bark at first, For they ply'd her right well-- There was hammering on helmets Ere Haklangr fell.
"Left the land to the lad With the locks long and full, Rich Kotva, the lord, Thick of neck, like the bull; 'Neath the thwarts themselves threw, They who'd wounds, in despair, Their heads to the keel And their heels to the air.
"On their shoulders their shields, Such as Swafni's roof form, Flinging swift as a fence From the fierce stony storm; The yeomen affrighted From Hafirsfirth speed, And arrived at their homes They call hoarsely for mead.
"The slain strew the strand To the very great joy Of ourselves and of Odin, The chief of one eye."
"Of his wars and his prowess With wonder I've heard; Now speak of his wives And his women, O bird!"
"He had damsels from Holmygg And Hordaland, too; And damsels from Hedemark Dainty of hue; But he sent them with gifts To their countries again, When he wedded Ranhilda The beautiful Dane."
"I warrant he's bounteous! And well doth reward The warriors and gallants His kingdom who guard."
"O, yes, he is bounteous! And bravely they fare Who in Harald's dominions Hew food for the bear; With coin he presents them, And keen polish'd glaives, With mail from Hungaria And Osterland slaves."
"O happy lives have they Who help him in war, Can run to the mast-head Or manage the oar; Make the row-locks to creak, And the row-bench to crack, And in their lord's service Are never found slack."
"Wolf-heathens they hight, To the thick of the fray Ruddy shields who do bear, And with swords clear away; None but those who know nought Of terror can stand When stout and strong men Shiver buckler with brand."
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