“Þat mælti mín móðir, at mér skyldi kaupa | fley ok fagrar árar, fara á brott með víkingum, standa upp í stafni, stýra dýrum knerri, halda svá til hafnar | hǫggva mann ok annan, hǫggva mann ok annan.”
“My mother told me
Someday I would buy
Galley with good oars
Sail to distant shores
Stand up on the prow
Noble barque I steer
Steady course for the haven
Hew many foe-men, hew many foe-men.”
- Egils saga, Lausavísur, ch. 40 (1220-1240 AD.)
One of the most renowned skaldic poets, it is said that Egil Skallagrimsson wrote these lines at the age of seven. He was known to have on multiple occasions composed poems in honor of enemies so that they would spare his life. This habit did in fact soften many of his interactions with rivals and contributed to his reputation of being able to escape complicated situations.
Like the time he was captured by Erik Bloodaxe, the last viking king of York, and saved his head from being chopped off by coming up, impromptu, with a skaldic poem praising his enemy.
Even though Erik knew what Egil was doing, he was so impressed with the creativity of the poem, he did indeed leave Egil's head in it's place.
Egil's Saga is one worth reading.
I would like to hew off the head of the individual leaving these ad posts.
ReplyDeleteThe image of the beached Viking Ship is intriguing.
ReplyDelete"The artist Vsevolod Ivanov presents us the Ancient Rus’ as he imagined it. He is deeply convinced that the history of ancient Russia is distorted or fabricated. Ivanov collects old tales and legends and creates his own vision of ancestors daily life."
Version done by the acapella group VoicePlay
ReplyDeletehttps://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bs4ZJpWJh_Q
He was a medieval rapper, maybe a beat poet. Quick with a word.
ReplyDeleteand then with his axe did Torkelsen cleave Issigurd's skull to the teeth...
ReplyDelete