400 POETRY OR SCALDSHIP, MUSIC AND MENTAL EXERCISES. 



Heidrek. 



If thou art the one tkou sayest, 



Then thou art wiser 



Than I expected ; 



Thou talkest of 



A sow outside 



Which walked in the yard ; 



She was slaughtered 



At the king's will, 



And she was with nine pigs. 



Gest. 



Who are those two 



That to the thing? 



They have three eyes both, 



Ten feet, 



And one tail have they both. 



Thus they pass over lands. 



Heidrek. 



It is Odin 



When riding along on Sleipnir ; 



He has one eye, 



His horse two, 



The drosul x 



Runs on eight feet, 



Ygg 2 on two, 



The horse has one tail. 



Gest. 



Tell me that only, 

 As thou seemest to be 

 Wiser than any king ; 

 What did Odin say 

 Into the ear of Baldr 

 Before he was carried on the pyre ? 



Heidrek. 



This is wonder and wickedness, 



And cravenness only, 



Jugglery and trickery only ; 



But no one knows those words of 



thine 



Except thyself, 

 Thou evil and wretched being. 



The king burnt with anger, 



He drew Tyrfiug 3 



And wanted to strike Gest; 



But he turned himself 



Into the shape of a hawk, 



And thus saved his life. 



The hawk attempted 



To escape by the light-holes, 



But the king struck after him ; 



He cut off the tip of his tail 



And shortened his feathers, 



Therefore the hawk has a docked tail. 



" The sword hit the tail, and took off what it touched, and 

 therefore the hawk has a short tail ever after ; then the sword 

 hit a man of the hird, and he was at once slain. Odin then said : 

 'Because thou, King Heidrek, drewest thy sword and wantedst 

 to slay me, and thyself brokest the truce which thou hadst set 

 between us, the worst of thralls shall be thy slayers.' Then 

 Odin flew away, and thus they parted " (Hervarar Saga, c. 15). 



Fig. 1349. Gilt silver fibula, one -quarter real size Zeeland. 



1 Horse. 



Odiii. 



3 His sword. 



