Denmark -- History -- To 1241; Folklore -- Scandinavia
"Scorning to look at the mead, he drank the fermented juice of Ceres; he
shrank not from the use of undercooked meats, and hated the roast.
"The board used to stand with slight display, a modest salt-cellar
showed the measure of its cost; lest the wise ways of antiquity should
in any wise be changed by foreign usage.
"Of old, no man put flagons or mixing-bowls on the tables; the steward
filled the cup from the butt, and there was no abundance of adorned
vessels.
"No one who honoured past ages put the smooth wine-jars beside the
tankards, and of old no bedizened lackey heaped the platter with
dainties.
"Nor did the vainglorious host deck the meal with little salt-shell
or smooth cup; but all has been now abolished in shameful wise by the
new-fangled manners.
"Who would ever have borne to take money in ransom for the death of a
lost parent, or to have asked a foe for a gift to atone for the murder
of a father?
"What strong heir or well-starred son would have sat side by side with
such as these, letting a shameful bargain utterly unnerve the warrior?
"Wherefore, when the honours of kings are sung, and bards relate the
victories of captains, I hide my face for shame in my mantle, sick at
heart.
"For nothing shines in thy trophies, worthy to be recorded by the pen;
no heir of Frode is named in the roll of the honourable.
"Why dost thou vex me with insolent gaze, thou who honourest the foe
guilty of thy father's blood, and art thought only to take thy vengeance
with loaves and warm soup?
"When men speak well of the avengers of crimes, then long thou to lose
thy quick power of hearing, that thy impious spirit may not be ashamed.
"For oft has the virtue of another vexed a heart that knows its guilt,
and the malice in the breast is abashed by the fair report of the good.
"Though thou go to the East, or live sequestered in the countries of
the West, or whether, driven thence, thou seek the midmost place of the
earth;
"Whether thou revisit the cold quarter of the heaven where the pole is
to be seen, and carries on the sphere with its swift spin, and looks
down upon the neighbouring Bear;
"Shame shall accompany thee far, and shall smite thy countenance with
heavy disgrace, when the united assembly of the great kings is taking
pastime.
"Since everlasting dishonour awaits thee, thou canst not come amidst
the ranks of the famous; and in every clime thou shalt pass thy days in
infamy.
"The fates have given Frode an offspring born into the world when gods
were adverse, whose desires have been enthralled by crime and ignoble
lust.
"Even as in a ship all things foul gather to the filthy hollow of the
bilge, even so hath a flood of vices poured into Ingild.
"Therefore, in terror of thy shame being published, thou shalt lie
crushed in the corners of the land, sluggish on thy foul hearth, and
never to be seen in the array of the famous.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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