Hárbarðsljóð

"Who is the fellow yonder,

on the farther shore of the sound?"

The ferryman spake:

"What kind of a peasant is yon,

that calls o'er the bay?"

Thor spake:

"Ferry me over the sound;

I will feed thee therefor in the morning;

A basket I have on my back,

and food therein, none better;

At leisure I ate,

ere the house I left,

Of herrings and porridge,

so plenty I had."

The ferryman spake:

"Of thy morning feats art thou proud,

but the future thou knowest not wholly;

Doleful thine home-coming is:

thy mother, me thinks, is dead."

Thor spake:

"Now hast thou said

what to each must seem

The mightiest grief,

that my mother is dead."

The ferryman spake:

"Three good dwellings,

methinks, thou hast not;

Barefoot thou standest,

and wearest a beggar's dress;

Not even hose dost thou have."

Thor spake:

"Steer thou hither the boat;

the landing here shall I show thee;

But whose the craft

that thou keepest on the shore?"

The ferryman spake:

"Hildolf is he

who bade me have it,

A hero wise;

his home is at Rathsey's sound.

He bade me no robbers to steer,

nor stealers of steeds,

But worthy men,

and those whom well do I know.

Say now thy name,

if over the sound thou wilt fare."

Thor spake:

"My name indeed shall I tell,

though in danger I am,

And all my race;

I am Othin's son,

Meili's brother,

and Magni's father,

The strong one of the gods;

with Thor now speech canst thou get.

And now would I know

what name thou hast."

The ferryman spake:

"Harbarth am I,

and seldom I hide my name."

Thor spake:

"Why shouldst thou hide thy name,

if quarrel thou hast not?"

Harbarth spake:

"And though I had a quarrel,

from such as thou art

Yet none the less

my life would I guard,

Unless I be doomed to die."

Thor spake:

"Great trouble, methinks,

would it be to come to thee,

To wade the waters across,

and wet my middle;

Weakling, well shall I pay

thy mocking words,

if across the sound I come."

Harbarth spake:

"Here shall I stand

and await thee here;

Thou hast found since Hrungnir died

no fiercer man."

Thor spake:

"Fain art thou to tell

how with Hrungnir I fought,

The haughty giant,

whose head of stone was made;

And yet I felled him,

and stretched him before me.

What, Harbarth, didst thou the while?"

Harbarth spake:

"Five full winters

with Fjolvar was I,

And dwelt in the isle

that is Algrön called;

There could we fight,

and fell the slain,

Much could we seek,

and maids could master."

Thor spake:

"How won ye success with your women?"

Harbarth spake:

"Lively women we had,

if they wise for us were;

Wise were the women we had,

if they kind for us were;

For ropes of sand

they would seek to wind,

And the bottom to dig

from the deepest dale.

Wiser than all

in counsel I was,

And there I slept

by the sisters seven,

And joy full great

did I get from each.

What, Thor, didst thou the while?"

Thor spake:

"Thjazi I felled,

the giant fierce,

And I hurled the eyes

of Alvaldi's son

To the heavens hot above;

Of my deeds the mightiest

marks are these,

That all men since can see.

What, Harbarth, didst thou the while?"

Harbarth spoke:

"Much love-craft I wrought

with them who ride by night,

When I stole them by stealth from their husbands;

A giant hard

was Hlebarth, methinks:

His wand he gave me as gift,

And I stole his wits away."

Thor spake:

"Thou didst repay good gifts with evil mind."

Harbarth spake:

"The oak must have

what it shaves from another;

In such things each for himself.

What, Thor, didst thou the while?"

Thor spake:

"Eastward I fared,

of the giants I felled

Their ill-working women

who went to the mountain;

And large were the giants' throng

if all were alive;

No men would there be

in Mithgarth more.

What, Harbarth, didst thou the while?"

Harbarth spake:

"In Valland I was,

and wars I raised,

Princes I angered,

and peace brought never;

The noble who fall

in the fight hath Othin,

And Thor hath the race of the thralls."

Thor spake:

"Unequal gifts

of men wouldst thou give to the gods,

If might too much thou shouldst have."

Harbarth spake:

"Thor has might enough,

but never a heart;

For cowardly fear

in a glove wast thou fain to crawl,

And there forgot thou wast Thor;

Afraid there thou wast,

thy fear was such,

To fart or sneeze

lest Fjalar should hear."

Thor spake:

"Thou womanish Harbarth,

to hell would I smite thee straight,

Could mine arm reach over the sound."

Harbarth spake:

"Wherefore reach over the sound,

since strife we have none?

What, Thor, didst thou do then?"

Thor spake:

"Eastward I was,

and the river I guarded well,

Where the sons of Svarang

sought me there;

Stones did they hurl;

small joy did they have of winning;

Before me there

to ask for peace did they fare.

What, Harbarth, didst thou the while?"

Harbarth spake:

"Eastward I was,

and spake with a certain one,

I played with the linen-white maid,

and met her by stealth;

I gladdened the gold-decked one,

and she granted me joy."

Thor spake:

"Full fair was thy woman-finding."

Harbarth spake:

"Thy help did I need then, Thor,

to hold the white maid fast."

Thor spake:

"Gladly, had I been there,

my help to thee had been given."

Harbarth spake:

"I might have trusted thee then,

didst thou not betray thy troth."

Thor spake:

"No heel-biter am I, in truth,

like an old leather shoe in spring."

Harbarth spoke:

"What, Thor, didst thou the while?"

Thor spake:

"In Hlesey the brides

of the Berserkers slew I;

Most evil they were,

and all they betrayed."

Harbarth spake:

"Shame didst thou win,

that women thou slewest, Thor."

Thor spake:

"She-wolves they were like,

and women but little;

My ship, which well

I had trimmed, did they shake;

With clubs of iron they threatened,

and Thjalfi they drove off.

What, Harbarth, didst thou the while?"

Harbarth spake:

"In the host I was

that hither fared,

The banners to raise,

and the spear to redden."

Thor spake:

"Wilt thou now say

that hatred thou soughtest to bring us?"

Harbarth spake:

"A ring for thy hand

shall make all right for thee,

As the judge decides

who sets us two at peace."

Thor spake:

"Where foundest thou

so foul and scornful a speech?

More foul a speech

I never before have heard."

Harbarth spake:

"I learned it from men,

the men so old,

Who dwell in the hills of home."

Thor spake:

"A name full good

to heaps of stones thou givest

When thou callest them hills of home."

Harbarth spake:

"Of such things speak I so."

Thor spake:

"Ill for thee comes

thy keenness of tongue,

If the water I choose to wade;

Louder, I ween,

than a wolf thou cryest,

If a blow of my hammer thou hast."

Harbarth spake:

"Sif has a lover at home,

and him shouldst thou meet;

More fitting it were

on him to put forth thy strength."

Thor spake:

"Thy tongue still makes thee say

what seems most ill to me,

Thou witless man! Thou liest, I ween."

Harbarth spake:

"Truth do I speak,

but slow on thy way thou art;

Far hadst thou gone

if now in the boat thou hadst fared."

Thor spake:

"Thou womanish Harbarth!

here hast thou held me too long."

Harbarth spake:

"I thought not ever

that Asathor would be hindered

By a ferryman thus from faring."

Thor spake:

"One counsel I bring thee now:

row hither thy boat;

No more of scoffing;

set Magni's father across."

Harbarth spake:

"From the sound go hence;

the passage thou hast not."

Thor spake:

"The way now show me, since thou takest me not o'er the water."

Harbarth spake:

"To refuse it is little, to fare it is long;

A while to the stock, and a while to the stone;

Then the road to thy left, till Verland thou reachest;

And there shall Fjorgyn her son Thor find,

And the road of her children she shows him to Othin's realm."

Thor spake:

"May I come so far in a day?"

Harbarth spake:

"With toil and trouble perchance,

While the sun still shines, or so I think."

Thor spake:

"Short now shall be our speech, for thou speakest in mockery only;

The passage thou gavest me not I shall pay thee if ever we meet."

Harbarth spake:

"Get hence where every evil thing shall have thee!"