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Here is Samuel Laing's translation of the three stanzas on the harrying of Denmark.
"Harald! thou hast the isle laid waste,
The Sealand men away hast chased,
And the wild wolf by daylight roams
Through their deserted silent homes.
Fiona too could not withstand
The fury of thy wasting hand.
Helms burst, shields broke, — Fiona's bounds
Were filled with death's terrific sounds.
Red flashing in the southern sky,
The clear flame sweeping broad and high,
From fair Roskilde's lofty towers,
On lowly huts its fire-rain pours;
And shows the housemates' silent train
In terror scouring o'er the plain,
Seeking the forest's deepest glen,
To house with wolves, and 'scape from men.
Few were they of escape to tell,
For, sorrow-worn, the people fell:
The only captives from the fray
Were lovely maidens led away.
And in wild terror to the strand,
Down to the ships, the linked band
Of fair-haired girls is roughly driven,
Their soft skins by the irons riven."[1]
This is free but quite spirited, which is a break from the dry academic translations. Haukur (talk) 12:34, 24 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]
