THE COLLECTED POEMS OF HENRIK IBSEN Translated by John ...

61
for your backing so far and goodwill,—
when I come out, I trust you’re inclined
to back me a little while still! —
Ibsen and his friends ran a student paper called ‘The Man’ until they decided to change its
name to ‘Andhrimner’, after the cook who provided food for the gods in Valhalla..
HELGE HUNDINGSBANE
(by Brynjolf Bjarme)
1 HELGE’S EARLY DAYS
Why have the ravens settled
Upon the castle’s height?
Why sang the fowl of Odin
So lustily by night?
“Tis meet in sooth our singing,
This kingly roof our stay,
For there’s been born a warrior
Of kingly blood today.
“From kingly blood descended
He’ll wish some day to wield
And slake the sword-tongue thirsting
For blood of kings a-field.
“From kingly blood descended
Right soon he will provide
A dish for hungry ravens
That greet this eventide.”
The Norns have met in Braalund
High conference to hold,
And in the midnight silence
They spin their web of gold.
To east and west they shuttle
And each knot firmly takes,
For if that web is broken
Young Helge’s life-thread breaks.
King Sigmund’s proud young offspring
Sleeps in the royal hall,
A stone bench for his cradle
A bear-skin for his shawl.
And there the king stands gazing,
His pleasure unconfined,
Paternal joy disporting
Within the monarch’s mind.