“One summer when King Olaf’s men had been gathering land-taxes he asked where they were best treated. They said by an old bondi who knew many things before they happened, and who had answered many of their questions, and they thought he understood the voice of birds.” ... The king took this bondi on board his ship to show the way along the coast.
“As they were rowing a crow flew over the ship with loud shrieks. The bondi looked at it. The King said: ‘Does it mean anything to thee?’ ‘It does, lord,’ answered he. Another crow flew over the ship, shrieking. The bondi forgot to row, and his oar got loose in his hand. The king said: ‘Thou art very attentive to the crow, or to what it says, bondi.’ He answered: ‘I have some misgivings, lord.’ A crow passed over the ship a third time, shrieking louder than the two others, and flying nearer the ship. The bondi rose and stopped rowing. The king said: ‘This signifies much to thee, or what does it tell?’ The bondi answered: ‘That which it is unlikely that I or it knows.’ The king said: ‘Tell me.’ The bondi sang:—
The one winter old crow tells,
It knows not;
The two winters old one tells,
I believe it not;
But the three winters old one tells,
Which I think not likely,
That I row
On a mare’s head,