Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - The Frithiof-Saga - XXIV. Reconciliation
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
j FRITHIOF’S SAGA 226
And all its sinews are of brazen metal forged.
But void, and desolate, and fruitless, it must lie,
Till Piety, like heavenly sunlight, shines thereon.
Then grass grows green, and spreads a carpet flower-weft;
Then lift the trees their crowns, then gleams the golden
fruit,
And man and beast draw life from mother Nature’s breast;
So is it, too, with Asker’s offspring. Odin hath
Two weights within the balance of each mortal life,
Each counterpoising each, when fairly stands the scale,
And they are named, the Love of Heaven, the Might of
Earth.
Full strong is Thor,0 youth, when close he clasps around
His mighty loins the magic belt,and strikes amain;
And wise is Odin, when on Urda’s silver wave
He gazeth down, and round about his ravens fly,
And bring him tidings up from earth to lofty heaven;
Yet pale grew both, and half was quenched the gleam that
decked
Their royal crowns, when Balder, pious Balder, fell;
The clasping link was he in Valhall’s wreath of gods.
Then yellow grew the splendor of the tree of Time;
And Nidhogg gnawed upon its root; then loose were set
The powers of aged Night; the Midgard serpent raised
To heaven its coils envenomed, and Fenris howled;
From Muspelheim the sword of Surtur lightened forth.
Since then, where’er the eye can turn, the battle fierce
Throughout creation rageth on; in Valhall crows
The cock gold-crested, and the red one crows to war,
On earth and deep beneath the earth. Yet erst was peace,
Not only in the hall of gods, but here on earth:
In breast of men, as well as breast of lofty gods.
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
