It hit him not; and calmly he said:
"None wait for me in the halls of the dead,
But thou who afar the sea hast ploughèd
Canst hasten home, or hie thee thither.--
All that under thee thou hast bowèd
Must pass to me; so came I hither!
For me thou gatheredst, to me it falleth;
My time hath come, for me it calleth."
The other laughed from his height in scorn:
"Verily if thou indeed so longest,
Come prove thee to be my warrior strongest!"
"That can I not, I'm a chieftain born.
I must command for I know my way;
The new can never the old obey."
But for the answer in vain he listened
Then down he sprang, his eyes they glistened:
"Ye warriors! your chieftain the duty owes
To prove to whom Odin his favour shows.
Then heroes! serve ye the one he aideth.
Shame to him that his yoke evadeth!"
Red in wroth grew the chieftain's face;
Sprang in the sea and swam to land;
The other leapt hastily down to the strand
And took him up in his strong embrace.
But the chieftain saw in the light of his eyes,
That his soul was of noble and lofty guise.
"Throw him arms across for none he weareth,"
On board he cried;--"if the day beareth
Thee victory, say that himself he gave
The sword that brought him a hasty grave."