Ravens

I have been fascinated by ravens since I was a boy. I watched crows, and I read of their cousins, the ravens. Tales of ravens, such as Hugin and Munin, are part of what drew me to Norse mythology and, eventually, to the sagas and poetry. The Norse had a fascination with the ravens and their eerie behavior when scavenging. The kennings list at the Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages website shows no fewer than 125 different kennings for ravens.

A few years ago, I read Mind of the Raven: Investigations and Adventures with Wolf-Birds, by Bernd Heinrich, a fascinating book which discusses the intelligence of the birds. Recently, I came across a web posting on the same subject. In the article, the authors discuss the sophisticated communications system of ravens:

[R]avens use their beaks similar to hands to show and offer objects such as moss, stones and twigs. These distinct gestures were predominantly aimed at partners of the opposite sex and resulted in frequent orientation of recipients to the object and the signallers. Subsequently, the ravens interacted with each other, for example, by example billing or joint manipulation of the object. Ravens in particular can be characterized by complex intra-pair communication, relatively long-time periods to form bonds and a relatively high degree of cooperation between partners.

It is this highly developed communications strategy that helped inspire this verse describing a pair of ravens viewing a battlefield. I hope you will enjoy it!

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(http://corvidcorner.com/wordpress/2011/05/raven-desktop-wallpaper/)

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Hrafnar (Ravens)

Old Icelandic	Line-by-Line Translation	Prose-Order Translation
Blígja um braut brandéls blóðig nágagl eygt-svart; á hvíslur hast-ligu hreyr dæmum leyndar. Hrafnar einir heyra haug-mál hrylla-liga; skipta ein-hjal skáliga skárfir roða sára. Svipa í hlóði sveita svanir fæða á bana; boginn hǫfuð heyra hag-mæltr bana-mana. Eru stolen arm-hring offran fyrir Tyrs-náð. Eru stoliinn sagar sagði fyrir Herjans. Fljúga heim môr Hugins (Hanga-drótins sam-siði) vísi bjóða vigs-menn (veg-semd syngja víg-liðs) meyja Viðris máttkar (minni halda þinna) ok syngja á heim sálnar (ok sǫgur telja soks-mans)	Gaze over road of sword-storm bloody corpse-geese black-eyed; in whispers harsh corpses talk secrets. Ravens only hear cairn-talk horrid; bandying secrets baleful sea-gulls huddle of wounds. swoop silently blood swans to feed on death; bent heads listen (to) well-spoken dead-men. are stolen arm-rings offering for Tyr's grace. are stolen tales told for Herjans Fly home swarm of Hugin (Hanged-god's companion) Guide (and) offer war-men (glory sing of war-folk) (to) maids of Viðris mighty (hold your memories) and sing home the souls (and tales tell of attack-men)	Bloody black-eyed corpse geese Gaze over sword-storm road; corpses talk secrets in harsh whispers. Only ravens hear the horrid cairn-talk seagulls of wounds huddle bandying baleful secrets Blood swans silent swoop to feed on death; bent heads listen to well-spoken dead-men. Stolen arm-rings are offerings for Tyr's grace; Stolen tales are told for Herjans Swarm of Hugin, fly home and offer to guide to war-men Viðris's mighty maids and sing home the souls. Companion of the hanged-god sing the glory of war-folks hold your memories and tell the heroes' tales

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Kennings Used

braut brandéls   >  sword-storm road  >  BATTLE-FIELD

nágagl  >  corpse-geese  >  RAVENS

skárfir sára  >  wound sea-gulls  >  RAVENS

svanir sveita  >  blood-swans  >  RAVENS

môr Hugins  >  Hugin's swarm  >  RAVENS

Hanga-drótins sam-siði  >  Hanged-god's companion  >  ODIN'S companion  >  RAVEN

meyja Viðris  >  maid of Viðris  >  ODIN'S maid  >  VALKYRIE

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One note: In the third stanza, I did a tricky - I essentially split the two half-stanzas into four lines and mixed them together. So, when you look at the Old Icelandic and Line-by-Line versions, the parenthetical lines go together, as they do in the prose order translation. This is a rarely used technique, but an interesting one to use once in a while. I'm sorry if this causes confusion.

LIKE IT?  HATE IT?

Your comments mean a great deal to me. They help guide me. Please, comment below or to my e-mail.

New verse for Haakonar saga eiki

Today (sorry for being quiet for a bit) a new verse for Haakonar saga eiki, chapter three. It is a two-parter, a dialogue between the King and Boris. The first helmingr is spoken by the King; the second by kol-skeggr.

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Sonr Þorvalds sköruligr stófni trjá né heldur --- hagr ert þu á hjálm-Griður hríð fleinþollarr gegn þer? Fjall-skógs myrki fylkir frá mér lundr þinn örugg en hjálm-Griður mín heilla hjakk fleinþollar blakka

Stalwart son of Thorvaldr stems of trees don´t stop you - handy are you with battle-witch while spear-firs attack you? mountain forest dark king your grove is safe from me but my battle-witch lucky hacks spear-firs black

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NOTES

Only two kennings here:

hjálm-Gríður : helmet-Gríður [troll-woman] :  AXE
fleinþollarrr :  spear firs : WARRIORS

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Please, leave me comments below!

Haakonr saga eiki, Chapter One

At long last, you have before the first chapter of Haakonr saga eiki (The Saga of Haakon-oak), as Hakon oak-tall would likely have been called in ON.  Of course, it starts with a bit of family history.  This brief chapter has no poetry in it, but it is in Old Icelandic, at least as good as I can get.  If you see errors that I should correct, please drop me a line at fridrikrinngamli@gmail.com or fridrikr@thescorre.org, or simply post your correction in a comment.  This struggling neophyte in Old Icelandic would appreciate any help he can get.

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Kapituli fyrsti -- Inn sonnar Þorvalds

Þorvaldr hét maðr, sonr Dagar.  Þorvaldr var maðr sterkr ok auð-angraðr.  Enn er hannvar á unga aldri, lá hann í vikingu ok herjaði.  Hann gerðist enn auð-kýfingr ok goðí.  Hann var giptask á Þorarna Þorarinsdottir.

Þorvaldr átti þrír sonar, hétum Dalr, Boris, ok Hakonr.  Dalr var lág-vaxinn ok sterkr.  Hann var fyrsti soninn ok kallaðr Dalr bola-kalfr.  Inn annar sonr hét Boris.  Hann var höfði hærri a Dalr ok mið-digr.  Han var kallaðr Boris bjór-tunna.  Inn þriðji hét Haakon.  Hann var mestr ok sterkast.  Hann var kallaðr Haakonr eiki.

Þorvaldstadir at svartárdalr var ból-staðdr Þorvalds ok var auðigr með sauði ok fé ok hesti.  Ok sonnar Þorvalds átt enn bjarn-hunn kallað   tanngnjóstr þat þeir glímaðum.

Chapter one -- the sons of Thorvald

Thorvald was the name of a man, the son of Dag.  Thorvald was a strong man and easily angered.  When he was a young man, he went viking and raided.  He became a heaper up of riches and a chieftain.  He was married to Thorarna Thorarin´s daughter.

Thorvald had three sons named Dale, Boris, and Haakon.   Dale was short, but strong. He was the first son ok was called   Dale bull-calf.  The second son was named Boris.  He was a he was a head taller than Dale and stout waited.  He was called Boris beer-barrel.   The third son was named Haakon.  He was the tallest and strongest.  He was called Haakon-oak.

Thorvaldstead in the Black River valley was Thorvalds home-stead  and it was rich with sheep and cattle and horses.  Thorvald´s sons also owned a young-bear called  “gnaw-tooth” which they wrestled.

A Pre-War Poem

Hej!


This weekend I head to War!  In Cooper's Lake Campground, near Butler/New Castle, PA, the SCA will be holding the 40th edition of the Pennsic War and I'll be there with 12,000 of my closest friends.  For those of you who will be there, look for me around Highrafters Camp or at Heralds Point or the Pennsic University where I'll be teaching.  I also suspect that I'll bring home more poetry and a continuation of the Haakon Saga (the Pennsic atmosphere seems to be conducive to writing), as well as various new possessions.


Today, in advance of vacation, I'm posting short verse.


The first, "The Silk Flood" (a verse meant to be the stef describing a poet's work) is written in a form Snorri calls iðurmæltr "repeatedly said", an echoic verse in which the last emphasized syllable in each line is echoed in the first syllable of the next.  An example from the Old Icelandic corpus (Heilagra meyja drápa ‘Drápa about Holy Maidens’, verse 5):



Sæt Máría gjǫrði at gráta 
gráti mædd í sonarins láti,

lát Júðanna fældi at fljóði,

fljóðit horfði á krossinn rjóðan;

rjóðandi þá flaut ok flóði

flóð táranna niðr um móður,

móður brjóstit strengt af stríði

stríðit bar sem engi síðan.


My verse:


segðú fjöl-dýr silk-Syf 
silki-röddu brodda 
broddinn riða brandéls 
brandi-æfi væfi.
vefari af vill-draumr 
draum-maðr fekk inn-saumar 
saumlauss féll straumr-silki 
silki-blaut þinn hlaup-mál 


Prose order translation:


speak glorious silk-Syf [POET] / 
silken-voice goads us / 
goading fever of sword storms / 
sword-ages you weave / 
weaver of the wild dream / 
the dreamer grasps the seams / 
seamless flows the silk-stream / 
silky smooth your word-flood.

English translation:

Speak o glorious silk-Syf
Silken voices fill us -
Filled with sword din's fever 
Fevered tales you're weaving.
Weaver of our wild dreams
Dreamers grasp your seemings
Seamless runs the silk-stream
Silky-smooth your speeches.


The second pair of lausaversir is from a series of "practice poems" I wrote during last winter, 
exercises to keep my hand in as it were.  It's in English (forgive me, please!).  
The two verses together describe a phenomenon noted by my Laurel - 
morning with a large number of blackbirds roosting in the trees over his car:


Odin's heralds unleash
Untold voices under 
skald-lord's window. Sunna's 
song-thralls end our long sleep.


Rain from war-gulls rattles
Wrath on gold-slopes Hrafni
Fire-drake shivers frightened
Flees from corse-hawks leavings


Hope you enjoy these.  Comments are gratefully accepted!

THE NEW PROJECT

Ok.  I promised that I'd give you the first part of THE NEW PROJECT™ as soon as I finished it.  Well, given that nothing is ever truly finished, here it is.  This is an attempt at writing a piece of a prose saga, a þættr (short story), if you like.  It is very loosely based on the early days of the four shires in Western New York and Pennsylvania, or the Western Regions: the Debateable Lands, Thescorre, the Rhydderich Hael, and Myrkfaellin.  Please note that I said very loosely.  Thus its names: Fylkis saga vestrmarki  "The Saga of the Shires of the West-Marches".  The notion is that we find most OI verse interpolated and inserted into prose passages.  So, this is an attempt to shows what that would look like.  Actually, in a manuscript, it would look like this: GKS 1009 folio 5r with the verse written like prose.

My two greatest fears are: first, I got the vocabulary wrong.  Idiomatic language can be rough.  Second, and greatest, that I completely got the grammar wrong.  If you read OI and can help me with gentle commentary and correction, I'll greatly appreciate and gratefully accept it.

So, here you go, first in my attempt at OI; then, in English.

Fylkis saga vestrmarki  Chapter One (Fyrstr Kapital )

Langt síðan, það bar til að það var strííð á meðai inn fykis vestrmarkar ok reyfarar. Inn máttkar fyrðar af Hrafn-heim ok fylkingar Hala-stjarna ok is-drekki her-lið gnáttu með inn kussarar.  Hræs lanar hlaðit.  Úlfar hákku ok hrafnar háfu sam-drykkja.  Fengu úsigr fylkis-folk.   Válandi fólka heyrði megin konungr austan-verðr.  Sín drottning syrgði af angist þeirra.  Sendi inn konungr sín goðr riddari leggja á grið ok frið.  Þannig var það að Friðrekr mattkar siglað til vestrmark. Svá inn gamli segir:

1. Friðrek ræsir fremð inn

frið-skjöldri gráskegg vissin

haf-skip siglir  hlyðir 

humra til Austur rumlend.

Metendr leiða morgum

morðáls til villi-borgar;

öskranfossdœl ásetta

ískaldr reista dísasalr.

2. Siglt of uppdal stag lautr

sildar Traunda strauma.

Telgjaðr drekka til-eygðr

tingls-marr gulla þinga.

Barða höggorms byrskíð

bakað á fjördr blákald.

Mikil-sigr vannt á móti

merglauss þar reyfarar

Flyði á skipgengum höf til vesturs lendir reyfarar bautinn, meðan Friðrekr setja í brandr þorpar þeirra.  Frið-görvir drengi-ligr inn þrið-fylkis sam-einaði ok af þeirra fólk-tjaldum  ein fylkingarr-brodd flykaut.  Inn fylkis-fólk sinn gagni faginn ok báðu Frederick þeirra konung.  Svá skaldi segir:

3. Pruðr, vask með þér, þjóðann, 

þat haust frá komt austan; 

einn, stillir, mátt alla 

jǫrð hegna, svá fregnið; 

himin þóttisk þá heiðan 

hafa, es landa krafðir, 

ljos-bera, ok lifðir, 

landfolk tekit hǫndum.

Hann ferðaðist síðan fótgangandi ok á hestbaki.  Hann könnuðu hæðum oc dala,  eptir-leitan fyrir einn huldu-fanz af eldr-sǫgu.  Eptir marg-nátta, hann fundinn einn myrkfælsdala innan grœn-holt oc vatna-djúp.  Þar lifði folk all-froðu.  Þau hlýðusk á konunginn oc kom þat ásamt með þeim.  At þessu, svörðu hollustu-eiðr á Friðrek konung.   Fyrstr-konunginn var mönnum mikil öfuss á því.

Hann siglt sex í norðr, upp lœkar oc þjóðár, til haf inn-landi, oc skip-farað til sinn heim.  Loks heim, einn mikill fagnaðar-öl þeir fagnað þat allir ok sérhverir drekkað eitt öldr.  Friðrek var hjarta-prúðast konnunga.  Svá inn gamli segir:

4. Sal þin var upp sendir 

    seima til al-beimar.

    Veitir pella veizlan

    val-born kema hábarð.

    Hunangsbára hornar

    heðra drakk í gleði.

    Rota húfur roskinn

    risnu-maðr hávaði.

Translation:

Long ago, it happened that there was strife between the Western-forest shires and pirates.  The mighty firth of Raven-home, the Tail-Star army, and the Ice-Drake troops clashed with the Corsairs.  Corpses piled grew.  Wolves gorged and ravens caroused.  The shire-folk suffered. The mighty king of the Eastern Lands heard the people´s wailings.  His queen mourned for their anguish. The king sent his good knight to impose truce and peace.  Thus it was that might Frederick sailed to the West-march.  As the ancient skald says:

(Verse 1) Grizzled grey-beard Frederick the "Peace-Shield" advancer of honor, you sailed the warship from the lobster-slopes [OCEANS] to the Eastern lands.  You lead many testers of the battle eel [SWORD > WARRIORS] to the wild hills; you settled in the ice-cold valley of the roaring waterfall; you built a temple.

(Verse 2) You sailed the ox of the hollows of the herring [SHIP] Trundle across inland streams.  You carved the squint-eyed Dragons golden fleet (tingls-marr-þinga > SHIP-THING > FLEET).  You beat  the vipers breeze-skis [SHIPS] roasted them at the black-waved fjord.  You won a great victory against the marrowless pirates 

The beaten pirates fled far over the inland seas to the west, while the Frederick put fire to their villages.  The brave “peace-maker” brought the three shire-folk together and made an army of their folk-bands.  The people rejoiced in his victory and proclaimed him their king.  As the skald says:

(Verse 3) Brave king, I was with you that autumn when you came from the East; lord, you alone can secure the entire country; that was heard.  The countrymen thought they caught bright heaven with their hands when you claimed the lands, Light-bearer, and were alive.

He then traveled by foot and horseback exploring the hills and dales, searching for a hidden tribe that was rumored in ancient tales.  Among the deep lakes and the green woods, he soon discovered the dark fells dale, where a learned people lived.  These folk heard of the great King and swiftly swore their fealty to him alone.  Frederick, the first king of these lands, was gladdened by this.

He returned to his own home, sailing north on the rivers to the Inland Seas.  Finally home, they held a great joyful feast and all came.  Frederick was the most generous [Hjarta-prúðr  > Valiant hearted > Generous] of kings. As the old-one said:

(Verse 4) Dispenser of gold [GENEROUS MAN] your hall was open to all men.  The well-born came to feast at your high-table, giver of costly materials [GENEROUS MAN].  Horns of honey waves [MEAD] <they> drank here in joy.  Hospitable man you served ripe root-caps [MUSHROOMS].


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Finally, a tip of the hat to Jackson Crawford, who is my inspiration to madness.  His most recent posting, Gunnar Fire-Iron, Skáld of the Wild West, is a very good attempt at writing poetry in an ON form.  You should go read it.