ODDNY
He chose a ship, but men who rode with him
Say that his horse threw him upon the shore,
His face toward the Lithe and his own fields;
As he arose he trembled at what he gazed on
(Although those men saw nothing pass or meet them)
And said … What said he, girls?
ASTRID
"Fair is the Lithe:
I never thought it was so far, so fair.
Its corn is white, its meadows green after mowing.
I will ride home again and never leave it."
ODDNY
'Tis an unlikely tale: he never said it.
No one could mind such things in such an hour.
Plainly he saw his fetch come down the sands,
And knew he need not seek another country
And take that with him to walk upon the deck
In night and storm.
GUDFINN
He, he, he! No man speaks thus.
JOFRID
No man, no man: he must be doomed somewhere.
BIARTEY
Doomed and fey, my sisters…. We are too old,
Yet I'd not marvel if we outlasted him.
Sisters, that is a fair fierce girl who spins….
My fair fierce girl, you could fight—but can you ride?
Would you not shout to be riding in a storm?
Ah—h, girls learnt riding well when I was a girl,
And foam rides on the breakers as I was taught….
My fair fierce girl, tell me your noble name.
ODDNY
My name is Oddny.
BIARTEY
Oddny, when you are old
Would you not be proud to be no man's purse-string,
But wild and wandering and friends with the earth?
Wander with us and learn to be old yet living.
We'd win fine food with you to beg for us.
STEINVOR
Despised, cast out, unclean, and loose men's night-bird.
ODDNY
When I am old I shall be some man's friend,
And hold him when the darkness comes….