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"Speak!
speak! thou fearful guest!
Who, with thy hollow
breast
Still in rude armour drest,
Comest to daunt
me!
Wrapt not in Eastern balms,
But with thy
fleshless palms
Stretched, as if asking alms,
Why
dost thou haunt me?"
Then, from those cavernous
eyes
Pale flashes seemed to rise,
As when the
Northern skies
Gleam in December;
And, like the
water's flow
Under December's snow,
Came a dull
voice of woe
From the heart's chamber.
"I was
a Viking old!
My deeds, though manifold,
No Skald
in song has told,
No Saga taught thee!
Take heed,
that in thy verse
Thou dost the tale rehearse,
Else dread a dead man's curse!
For this I sought
thee.
"Far in the Northern land,
By the wild
Baltic's strand,
I, with my childish hand,
Tamed
the ger-falcon;
And, with my skates fast-bound,
Skimmed the half-frozen Sound,
That the poor
whimpering hound
Trembled to walk on.
"Oft to
his frozen lair
Tracked I the grisly bear,
While
from my path the hare
Fled like a shadow;
Oft
through the forest dark
Followed the werewolf's bark,
Until the soaring lark
Sang from the meadow.
"But when I older grew,
Joining a corsair's crew,
O'er the dark sea I flew
With the marauders.
Wild
was the life we led;
Many the souls that sped,
Many the hearts that bled,
By our stern orders.
"Many a wassail-bout
Wore the long Winter out;
Often our midnight shout
Set the cocks crowing,
As
we the Berserk's tale
Measured in cups of ale,
Draining the oaken pail,
Filled to o'erflowing.
"Once as I told in glee
Tales of the stormy sea,
Soft eyes did gaze on me,
Burning yet tender;
And
as the white stars shine
On the dark Norway pine,
On that dark heart of mine
Fell their soft splendour.
"I wooed the blue-eyed maid,
Yielding, yet half
afraid,
And in the forest's shade
Our vows were
plighted.
Under its loosened vest
Fluttered her
little breast,
Like birds within their nest
By the
hawk frighted.
"Bright in her father's hall
Shields gleamed upon the wall,
Loud sang the
minstrels all,
Chanting his glory;
When of old
Hildebrand
I asked his daughter's hand,
Mute did
the minstrels stand
To hear my story.
"While
the brown ale he quaffed,
Loud then the champion
laughed,
And as the wind-gusts waft
The sea-foam
brightly,
So the loud laugh of scorn,
Out of those
lips unshorn,
From the deep drinking-horn
Blew the
foam lightly.
"She was a prince's child,
I but
a Viking wild,
And though she blushed and smiled,
I was discarded!
Should not the dove so white
Follow the sea-mew's flight,
Why did they leave that
night
Her nest unguarded?
"Scarce had I put to
sea,
Bearing the maid with me, -
Fairest of all
was she
Among the Norsemen! -
When on the white
sea-strand,
Waving his armed hand,
Saw we old
Hildebrand,
With twenty horsemen.
"Then
launched they to the blast,
Bent like a reed each
mast,
Yet we were gaining fast,
When the wind
failed us;
And with a sudden flaw
Came round the
gusty Skaw,
So that our foe we saw
Laugh as he
hailed us.
"And as to catch the gale
Round
veered the flapping sail,
`Death!' was the helmsman's
hail,
`Death without quarter!'
Mid-ships with iron
keel
Struck we her ribs of steel;
Down her black
hulk did reel
Through the black water!
"As
with his wings aslant,
Sails the fierce cormorant,
Seeking some rocky haunt,
With his prey laden;
So
toward the open main,
Beating to sea again,
Through the wild hurricane,
Bore I the maiden.
"Three weeks we westward bore,
And when the storm
was o'er,
Cloud-like we saw the shore
Stretching
to leeward;
There for my lady's bower
Built I the
lofty tower,
Which, to this very hour,
Stands
looking seaward.
"There lived we many years:
Time dried the maiden's tears;
She had forgot her
fears,
She was a mother;
Death closed her mild
blue eyes,
Under that tower she lies;
Ne'er shall
the sun arise
On such another!
"Still grew my
bosom then,
Still as a stagnant fen!
Hateful to me
were men,
The sunlight hateful!
In the vast forest
here,
Clad in my warlike gear,
Fell I upon my
spear,
O, death was grateful!
"Thus, seamed
with many scars,
Bursting these prison-bars,
Up to
its native stars
My soul ascended!
There from the
flowing bowl
Deep drinks the warrior's soul,
Skoal!
to the Northland! skoal!"
- Thus the tale ended.
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