Then out spoke Vidrik Verlandson,
And he spoke in wrathful mood;
“O, I’ll be first of the band, this day,
All through the Birting wood.”
Then out spoke Vidrik Verlandson,
And he spoke with lofty pride;
“The smith he forg’d me a faulchion good,
That can steel, like cloth, divide.”
They were three hundred valorous knights,
Unto Birting’s land that rode;
They go in quest of Langben the Jutt,
To the gloomy wood, his abode.
Then out spoke Vidrik Verlandson;
“A wondrous game we’ll play;
For I will ride in the green wood first,
If ye’ll but trust me away.”
Then answer’d bold King Diderik,
He answer’d hastily then;
“When thou therein shalt have found the Jutt
Come back for me and my men.”
It was Vidrik Verlandson,
In the forest alone he sped;
And there he found so little a way,
Which up to the Giant led.
It was Vidrik Verlandson,
He came unto Birting’s hill;
There black and dread lay Langben the Jutt,
He lay stretch’d out, and still.
It was Vidrik Verlandson,
With his lance touch’d him on the knee;
“Wake up! wake up! now Langben the Jutt,
Thou sleepest full sound, I see.”
“Here have I lain, for many a year,
’Mid the leaf and the dew-wet herb;
But never, till now, came a warrior by,
That has dar’d my sleep to disturb.”
“Here stand I, Vidrik Verlandson,
With a sword, so good, at my side;
I came to wake thee up from thy sleep,
Betide whatever betide.”