Stories and Ballads of the Far Past: Translated from the Norse (Icelandic and Faroese) with Introductions and NotesChadwick, Nora K. (Nora Kershaw)
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Stories and Ballads of the Far Past: Translated from the Norse (Icelandic and Faroese) with Introductions and Notes
Chadwick, Nora K. (Nora Kershaw)
Folk songs, Scandinavian; Old Norse literature -- Translations into English; Sagas
Your riddle is a good one, Gestumblindi. I have guessed it.
That is a leek. Its head grows down into the ground, and its
blades upward into the air.
Gestumblindi said:
What is the marvel which I have seen outside Delling's
doorway?--Two restless, lifeless things boiling a wound-leek.
King Heithrek, read me this riddle!
Heithrek replied:
Your riddle is a good one, Gestumblindi. I have guessed it.
That is the smith's bellows which have breath, yet not life.
Gestumblindi said:
What is the marvel which I have seen outside Delling's
doorway?--White fliers smiting the rock, and black fliers
burying themselves in sand! King Heithrek, read me this
riddle!
Heithrek replied:
Your riddle is a good one, Gestumblindi. I have guessed it.
But now your riddles are growing trivial. That is hail and
rain; for hail beats upon the street; whereas rain-drops fall
into the sand and sink into the earth.
Gestumblindi said:
What is the marvel which I have seen outside Delling's
doorway? I saw a black hog wallowing in mud, yet no bristles
were standing up on his back. King Heithrek, read me this
riddle!
Heithrek replied:
Your riddle is a good one, Gestumblindi. I have guessed
it. That is a dung-beetle. But we have talked too long when
dung-beetles come to exercise the wits of great men.
Gestumblindi said:
"It is best to put off misfortune"; and though there are some
who overlook this truth, many will want to go on trying. I
myself too see now that I shall have to look out for every
possible way of escape. What is the marvel that I have seen
outside Delling's doorway? This creature has ten tongues,
twenty eyes, forty feet, and walks with difficulty. King
Heithrek, read me this riddle!
Heithrek replied:
Your riddle is a good one, Gestumblindi. I have guessed it.
That was a sow with nine little pigs.
Then the King had the sow killed and they found they had killed with
her nine little pigs, as Gestumblindi had said.
Then the King said:
I am beginning to suspect that I have to deal with a cleverer
man than myself in this business; but I don't know who you can
be.
Gestumblindi said:
I am such as you can see; and I am very anxious to save my
life and be quit of this task.
You must go on asking riddles, replied the King, till you have
exhausted your stock, or else till I fail to solve them.
Gestumblindi said:
What is the marvel which I have seen outside Delling's
doorway? It flies high, with a whistling sound like the
whirring of an eagle. Hard it is to clutch, O King. King
Heithrek, read me this riddle!
Heithrek replied:
Your riddle is a good one, Gestumblindi. I have guessed it.
That is an arrow, said the King.
Gestumblindi said:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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