Thor was returning from a journey to the east and came to a sound;
on the other side of the sound was the ferryman with a boat.
Thor cried out:
1
Thor:
Who is that fool of fools on the far shore?
2
Harbard:
Who is that clown of clowns who calls across the fjord?
3
Thor:
Ferry me over: I will feed you this morning.
In the bag on my back are the best of foods,
Herrings and goatmeat: I am glutted with them.
Before I left home I ate my fill.
4
Harbard:
You would never praise them if you knew all:
Your kin are mourning: your mother is dead.
5
Thor:
What you say is the saddest thing
A man can hear - that my mother is dead.
6
Harbard:
You don't look like a lord with lands of your own:
Without breeches, barefooted,
You look more like a tramp.
7
Thor:
Row over your boat and beach it where I show you.
Who owns the boat you hold to the shore?
8
Harbard:
Battle-Wolf: he is wise in counsel
And sits in a hall on the sound of Radsey.
I am ordered to refuse horse-thieves and robbers,
Accept only those I can see are honest:
Tell me your name if you would travel across.
9
Thor:
I would tell you my name, tell you my lineage,
Were I an outlaw: I am Odin's son,
Meili's brother and Magni's father,
The god who throws. With Thor you deal.
In turn I bid you tell me your name.
10
Harbard:
My name is Harbard: I hide it seldom.
11
Thor:
Why hide your name if not condemned?
12
Harbard:
Though condemned, unless I be doomed to fall,
I would save my life from such as you.
13
Thor
: Demeaning it would be to wade over
And ruin my gear: you will get what you deserve
For your clodhopper's taunts if I cross the fjord.
14
Harbard:
Wade away: I will wait for you.
No harder man have you met since Hrungnir died.
15
Thor:
How dare you refer to my fight with Hrungnir,
The stout-hearted giant with a stone head!
I struck him down; he fell dead before me.
Meanwhile, what were you doing?
16
Harbard:
I was with Fjolver for five winters.
We fought battles, felled heroes,
And wooed maidens: we had much to do.
17
Thor:
How were the women you won there?
8
Harbard:
Lively they were, once they were tamed,
Wise too, once they grew faithful:
Out of sea-sand they spun ropes,
Dug out the bottoms of deep valleys.
Among those fair ones I was first in counsel:
With seven sisters I dallied And had my way with them all.
Meanwhile, what were you doing?
19
Thor:
The mighty-thewed Thjazi I slew,
Cast the eyes of the son of All-Wielder
Up into bright heaven:
They are the mightiest marks of my works,
Hereafter to be seen by all mankind.
Meanwhile, what were you doing?
20
Harbard:
With potent love-charms I lured from their husbands
Hateful night-riding hags:
A hard giant I thought Hlebard to be;
He brought me a magic branch,
But I charmed away his wits.
21
Thor:
For his good gifts you gave him evil.
22
Harbard:
One oak gets the fruit that falls from another:
It is each for himself at all times.
Meanwhile, what were you doing?
23
Thor:
I was in the east, the home of the giants,
And thrashed their brides on their way back to the fells:
The giants would rule all, if all were alive,
All men lie dead under Middle Earth.
Meanwhile, what were you doing?
24
Harbard:
I was in Gaul: I egged on to battle
Boar-helmets and forbade them peace.
To Odin belong the earls who are slain,
But Thor gets the kin of thralls.
25
Thor:
Unfairly would the gods fare at your hands,
Were you as strong as you wish.
26
Harbard:
You are strong enough but not stout-hearted,
For you cowered, Thor, in the thumb of a glove
And forgot that you were a god:
You dared not then, your dread was so great,
Either sneeze or break-wind, lest Fjalar hear.
27
Thor:
Be silent, slave! I would send you to Hel,
Could I but stretch across the fjord.
28
Harbard:
Why should you stretch?
There is no strife between us.
Meanwhile, what were you doing?
29
Thor:
I was in the east, where I held the river:
There the Sons of Svarang sought me out,
They lobbed stones but little that helped them,
I beat them down till they begged for peace.
Meanwhile, what were you doing?
30
Harbard:
I was traveling in the east where I talked and played
With a linen-white one and had a love-meeting:
I gladdened Gold-bright and gave her pleasure.
31
Thor:
You had luck in your choice of a lovely maid.
32
Harbard:
I could have used your help, then, to hold her fast.
33
Thor:
I would have helped you, had I had the chance.
34
Harbard:
I would have trusted you, had you not betrayed our pact.
35
Thor:
I am no heel-biter like an old hide-shoe in Spring.
36
Harbard:
Meanwhile, what were you doing?
37
Thor:
I battled in Hlesey with the Berserk's wives,
Who had done their worst to bewitch the folk.
38
Harbard:
It was base of you, Thor, to battle with women.
39
Thor:
No women they were, but wolves rather:
They shattered my ship on the shore where I beached it -
And chased away Thjalfi with threatening clubs.
Meanwhile, what were you doing?
40
Harbard:
I was with an army: hither we came
To raise banners and redden spears.
41
Thor:
Do you mean that you came to make war?
42
Harbard:
A ring would better the bargain for you,
A cool umpire to calm our dispute.
43
Thor:
From where did you take such taunting words?
Never have I borne with more bitter taunts.
44
Harbard:
I took them from men, from men of old
Who are housed in Earth's Wood.
45
Thor:
A goodly name you give to barrows
When you hail them as Earth's Wood.
46
Harbard:
Thus I judge such things.
47
Thor:
Little good would you get for your glibness of tongue
If I should wade through the water:
Louder than a wolf, I believe, you would presently
Howl at a tap from my hammer.
48
Harbard:
You could prove your mettle with more point at home,
Where Sif in your absence sits with a lover.
49
Thor:
What you say now is of all news the worst:
Shameless coward, I am sure that you lie.
50
Harbard:
I say it is true: you are slow on your journey.
Further would you have stepped had you started at dawn.
51
Thor:
You lie! It is you who have delayed my journey.
52
Harbard:
I never thought that Thor of the gods
Would be worsted on his way by a herdsman.
53
Thor:
Harbard, bring your boat across now:
Let us argue no more; come to Magni's father.
54
Harbard:
Depart from the fjord: your passage is denied.
55
Thor:
Then show me the way since you won't ferry me.
56
Harbard:
Little it is to deny, long it is to travel:
An hour to the stock, to the stone another,
Keep left till you reach the Land of Man;
There will Fjörgyn meet Thor, her son,
And show him the highway to Odin's land.
57
Thor: Shall I reach home today?
58
Harbard:
By sunrise with much sorrow and toil
Thor will get home, I think.
59
Thor:
We will speak no more: if we meet again,
You shall pay for your refusal to ferry me over.
60
Harbard: Drop dead!
May the demons have you!
Thu Jan 03, 2008 9:56 am