FRAGMENT OF AN EDDA.
At the downcome of darkness
Up to the trenches
Fared he forth,
Sidni the Storeman.
On bent back
Bore he the Rum Jar,
Bringing a boon
To the Folk in the Front Line.
Scatheful the sky
With no stars shining;
Monstrous the mud
That lay deep on the Duck Boards.
A weary while
Wandered he on;
No wit he wotted
Of fate that followed
Stalking his steps.
So passed he the posts
All silent and sunken
In mire and murk,
Till fearful he felt for
The doubtful Duck Boards
No longer beneath him.
Then spake Sidni,
Steward of Stores:
"Now know I well
I have come to the Country
That men name No Man's;"
And with woe his heart
Waxed heavy within him
For horror of Hun Folk
Who crawl in the craters.
Then there arose
Dim in the darkness
The face and form
Of Heinrik the Hun
With hand upheld
Bearing a bomb.
But fear filled the heart
Of Sidni the Storeman,
And with force of fear
Raising the Rum Jar
Drave he adrad
At the face of the foeman.
Down sank the Slayer
Smitten asunder
And over his face
Unloosed ran the liquor.
Then Heinrik the Hun
Sang he this Swan Song:
"Hero, I hail thee,
Godlike who givest
Fire and Sweetness
Born of a blow.
Loki art thou,
Or Wotan the one-eyed
Coming to call me
Away to Walhall.
Happy I haste
To the Hall of the Heroes;
Point thou the Path!
I come! I come!"
But fast with the force
Of the fear that was in him
Fled Sidni the Storeman
Back to the Britons
And came by chance
Straightway to his section,
Bearing the Rum Jar
Now lacking the liquor.
Then, puffing with pride
And the pace of his running,
Told he a tale
Of the Slaying of Seven;
But little belief
In the count of the killing
Gat Sid from the section,
Wrathy withal
At the loss of the liquor.
And one thing Erb,
Erb that erstwhile
Hight his old Pal,
Had for an answer:
"Bale hast thou brought
And rede of bale
Have I for thee."
Then troth they took
And oath swear betwixt them
That for four years full
Or the War's duration
He should draw and drink
Sid's ration of Rum.
So doom was decreed
For the loss of the liquor.
But Sidni the Storeman
Transferred to the Transport.
"UNION OF DEMONCRATIC CONTROL."
Leicester Daily Mercury.
Is this a misprint or a criticism?