Tvifaldt træl og møda duble;
brand frase, seid buble!
Andre Heks:
Møyrkjøt av ein myr-orm kald
so i gryta koke skal.
Ødle-augo, skinnveng-haar,
hundetunge, froskelaar,
slève-brodd, firfisle-svórd,
ule-veng og lyngaal-spórd
til eit seid som sinn kann rengje
hèl-sodd-heitt seg saman mengje!
This is not only accurate; it is a decidedly successful imitation of the movement of the original. Madhus has done a first-rate piece of work. The language of witch-craft is as international as the language of science. But only a poet can turn it to poetic use.
Not quite so successful is Macbeth's soliloquy when the death of Lady Macbeth is announced to him:
Det skuld'ho drygt med.
Aat slikt eit ord var komi betre stund.—
"I morgo" og "i morgo" og "i morgo,"
slik sig det smaatt fram etter, dag for dag,
til siste ord i livsens sogubok;
og kvart "i gaar" hev daarer vegen lyst
til dust og daude.
It is difficult to say just where the fault lies, but the thing seems uncouth, a trifle too colloquial and peasant-like. The fault may be the translator's, but something must also be charged to his medium. The passage in Shakespeare is simple but it breathes distinction. The Landsmaal version is merely colloquial, even banal. One fine line there is:
"til siste ord i livsens sogubok."
But the rest suggests too plainly the limitations of an uncultivated speech.