FRITHJOF AT SEA
Now, King Helge stood
In fury on the strand,
And in embittered mood
Adjured the Storm-fiend's band.
Gloomy is the heaven growing,
Through desert skies the thunders roar,
In the deep the billows brewing
Cream with foam the surface o'er.
Lightnings cleave the storm-cloud, seeming
Blood-red gashes in its side;
And all the sea birds, wildly screaming,
Fly the terrors of
the tide.
"Storm is coming, comrades;
Its angry wings I hear
Flapping in the distance,
But fearless we may be.
Sit tranquil in the grove,
And fondly think on me,
Lovely in thy sorrow,
Beauteous Ingeborg."
Now two storm-fiends came
Against Ellida's side;
One was wind-cold Ham,
One was snowy Heyd.
Loose set they the tempest's pinions,
Down diving in ocean deep,
Billows, from unseen dominions,
To the god's abode they sweep.
All the powers of frightful death,
Astride upon the rapid wave,
Rise from the foaming depths beneath,
The bottomless, unfathomed grave.
"Fairer was our journey
Beneath the shining moon,
Over the mirrory ocean,
To Balder's sacred grove.
Warmer far than here
Was Ingborg's loving heart
Whiter than the sea-foam
Heaved her gentle breast."
Now Solundar-oe
Ariseth from the foam
Calmer the sea doth grow
As near
the port they come.
But for safety valiant Viking
Will not readily delay;
At the helm he stands, delighting
In the tempest's stormy play.
Now the sheets more close belaying,
Swifter through the surge he cleaves;
Westward, further westward flying
Lightly o'er the rapid waves.
"Yet longer do I find it sweet
To battle with the breeze,
Thunderstorm and Northman meet,
Exulting on the seas.
For shame might Ingborg blush,
If her osprey flew,
Frightened by a storm-stroke,
Heavy-winged to land."
Now ocean fierce battles;
The wave-troughs deeper grow,
The whistling cordage rattIes,
The planks creak loud below.
But though higher waves appearing
Seem like mountains to engage,
Brave Ellida, never fearing,
Mocks the angry ocean's rage.
Like a meteor, flashing brightness,
Darts she forth, with dauntless breast,
Bounding, with a roebuck's lightness,
Over trough and over crest.
"Sweeter were the kisses
Of Ingborg, in the grove,
Than here to taste in tempest
High-sprinkled, briny foam.
Better the royal daughter
Of Bele to embrace,
Than here, in anxious labor,
The tiller fast to hold."
Whirling cold and fast,
Snow-wreaths fill the sail;
Over deck and mast
Patters heavy hail.
The very stem they see no more,
So thick is darkness spread;
As gloom and horror hover o'er
The chamber of the dead.
Still to sink the sailor dashes
Implacable each angry wave;
Gray, as if bestrewn with ashes,
Yawns the endless, awful grave.
"For us, in bed of ocean, Azure
Azure pillows Ran prepares;
On thy pillow, Ingeborg,
Thou thinkest upon me.
Higher ply, my comrades,
Ellida's sturdy oars;
Good ship, heaven-fashioned,
Bear us on an hour."
O'er the side apace
Now a sea hath leapt:
In an instant's space
Clear the deck is swept.
From his arm now Frithiof hastens
To draw his ring, three marks in weight;
Like the morning sun it glistens,
The golden gift of Bele great.
With his sword in pieces cutting
The famous work of pigmies' art
Shares he quickly, none forgetting,
Unto every man a part.
"Gold is good possession
When one goes a-wooing;
Let none go empty-handed
Down to azure Ran.
Icy are her kisses,
Fickle her embraces
But well'l charm the sea-bride
With our ruddy gold."
Fiercer than at first,
Again the storm attacks,
And the sails are burst,
And the rudder cracks.
O'er the ship half buried tearing,
Now the waves an entrance gain;
At the pumps the crew, despairing,
Fall to drive them forth again.
Frithiof now no longer doubteth
That be Death hath got on board,
Still above the storm he shouteth,
Dauntless, with commanding word.
"Björn, come to the rudder;
Hold it tight as bear's hug;
Valhall's power sendeth
No such storm as this.
Now at work is magic:
Coward Helge singeth
Spells above the ocean:
I will
mount to see."
Like as martins fly,
Sped he up the mast,
And thence, seated high,
A glance around be cast.
A whale before Ellida gliding,
Like a loose island, seeth he,
And two base ocean demons riding,
Upon his back, the stormy sea.
Heyd, in snow-garb shining brightly,
In semblance of an icy bear;
Ham, his loud wings flapping widely,
Like a storm-bird high
in air.
"Now, Ellida, let us see
If in truth thou bearest
Valor in thine iron-fastened
Breast of bended oak.
Hearken to my calling,
If thou be heaven's daughter
Up! and with thy keel of copper
Sting this magic whale."
Now heed Ellida giveth
Unto her lord's behest
With a bound she cleaveth
Deep the
monster's breast.
Forth a stream of blood hath bounded,
spouting upwards to the sky,
Diving down, the brute, deep-wounded,
Sinketh, bellowing, to die.
Together now two darts are cast,
Flung by Frithiof's arm so fierce;
Through the ice-bear one hath passed,
One the storm-bird's breast doth pierce.