Hildina ballad translation, help needed

[Dagfinn]

I've tried to make a literal (word-by-word) translation of the Hildina Ballad into English; Davis Graeme's 'translation' is actually a kind of 're-composing', even though it tells the same story.

 

I've re-used the 12 first verses from the Foula Heritage Site (translated by whom?), but made a few changes to make it a more literal translation.

 

Of course it is not possible to translate from one language to another 100% correct, but we can try to get as close as possible.

 

One problem is that several verses of the ballad are obviously missing, so that the story actually makes big 'jumps' sometimes, and a few verses also lack lines, that must have been there originally.

 

Can someone please read my English translation (v. 13-35) and tell me if it's understandable and inform me if there are any grammatical or syntax errors in my lines?

 

Note, there are 4 'starring' persons involved:

 

The Earl of Orkney

The King of Norway

The King's daughter 'Hildina'

A Norwegian? 'rival' to the Earl, sometimes spelled 'Hiluge' sometimes 'Hilugin'

 

Translation into English

(verses 1-12 from the Foula Heritage Page, with a few changes made by me; verses 13-35 translated by me

 

1. It was the Earl of Orkney

And counsel of his kin sought he,

Whether he should the maiden

Free from her misery.

- "Free her from her gleaming hall,

 

2. "If thou free the maid from her gleaming hall,

O kinsman dear of mine,

Ever while the world shall last

Thy fame will forever last."

 

Verse(s) missing?

The story shifts from the Earl of Orkney, to the King of Norway

 

3.Home came the king,

Home from the ship's levy

The lady Hildina she was gone,

And only her stepmother there found he.

 

4."Be he in whatever land,

This will I prove true,

He shall be hanged from the highest tree

That ever upward grew."

 

5.If the Earl makes it to Orkney,

in St. Magnus’ Church he will hide.

And in Orkney ever he will remain

Haste after him with speed

 

6.The King he stood before his lady,

And a box on her ear gave he,—

And all adown her lily white cheeks

The tears did flow truly.

 

Verse(s) missing?

The story ‘jumps’ from Norway to Orkney

 

7.The Earl he stood before Hildina,

And a pat on her cheek gave he,—

"O which of us two wouldst thou have lie dead,

Thy father dear or me?

 

8."I would rather see my father doomed,

And everything that bears his name,

If so my own true lord and I

May long rule in Orkney.

 

9."Now thou shall take in hand thy steed,

And ride thou down to the strand;

And greet my father full blithely,

And gladly will he clasp thy hand."

 

Verse(s) missing

The story ‘jumps’ into the conversation between the Earl and the King (on the strand?)

 

10.The King he now made answer—

So sore displeased was he—

What have you got to pay me

As dowry for my daughter?

 

11."Thirty marks of the red gold,

This to thee will I give,

And never shalt thou lack a son

As long as I may live."

 

12.Now long stood the King,

And long on the Earl gazed he:—

"O thou art worth a host of sons;

Thy boon is granted thee."

 

Verse(s)/line(s) missing

Now ‘Hiluge’ (the Earls rival) has joined the conversation.

 

12b.----------------------------------

----------------------------------

‘so need I not fear any enemy,

who might come to this land.

 

13.Now Hiluge answers

‘Sir, thee should inflict injury on him’

Now thee accept a fitting dowry

for Hildina, that I shall bring forth:

 

14.Every horse and ‘four-footed’

that can follow a path,

every horse and ‘four-footed’

that can pull a plough’.

 

15.Now the Earl he stood for a

long time, and gazed at him,

‘This can Orkney not be equal to

as long as I may live’.

 

The Earl adressing Lady Hildina

 

16.‘Now he’s not willing to make

a deal with me, the King your father;

and instead I think that Hilhugin

by another decision will win.

 

17.Now the Lady Hildina answers

from inside the house;

‘Someone will die if you fight,

that will happen for sure’.

 

Verse(s) missing?

We have now reached the ‘duelling ground’

 

18.Now the Earl steps forward

onto the duelling ground

and adresses his men:

‘brave ‘bearded men’ of Orkney

 

19.He has come onto the duelling ground

------???

His friend follows

the men of royal lineage’.

--------???

 

20.Now the lady Hildina

She steps forward onto the duelling ground

‘Father thee overdo thy manhood,

don’t let a brave man die’.

 

21.But Hiluge he answers

‘May God inflict injury on him’

‘then the Earl your friend

will surely be dead.

 

22.Now the Earl received a deadly cut,

the axe bite through his neck,

Hilunge threw his head into Hildina’s lap;

thus added to her grief.

 

Verse(s) missing?

The Earl is now dead. Hiluge talks to the King:

 

23.“You promised me marriage

if I boldly voyaged from our land

Now let me marry Hildina,

with golden dowry and solid pact.

 

The King to Hiluge:

 

24.‘Now you will suffer long,

until a child is born, and can wear its own clothes;

then the Lady Hildina

will act upon her own will’.

 

We have reached the preparations for Hiluge’s and Hildina’s wedding.

Finally, Hildina gets her revenge (for her husbond's, the Earl's death).

 

25.Hildina is laying on the blanket

her eyes all wet with tears;

while they’re preparing the wedding

she pours poison into the drinks

 

26.Now Hildina asks her father:

“Father may I pour the wine,

and serve it for the guests?

 

27.‘You may pour the wine

and serve the wine;

don’t think anymore of the Earl,

the dear late husbond of yours.

 

28.Why should I think of the Earl

the dear late husbond of mine?

and sure I will not present any poisoned drink,

to serve for my father’.

 

29.Then the lady Hildina,

she served the drinks for the men;

she put asleep her father,

and all the guests that were present

 

30.Then the Lady Hildina,

she dragged her father and his friends

out of the hall; then she lit a fire,

in the main entrance.

 

31.Now Hiluge he didn’t wake up

not until too late

when the fire had covered the entrance

and his clothes had caught fire as well.

 

32.Then Hiluge he jumped up

and cried out to Hildina

“My dearest Lady Hildina,

please let me live and give me quarterâ€.

 

33.‘Thus much good life and quarter

you shall receive,

as you yourself let my late husbond have

back then on the duelling ground.

 

34.You thought little of it, even though

I saw also his body bleeding;

you threw his head into my lap,

and added to my grief’.

 

35.Now she has coverd his falseness

both with earth and stone.

‘You will do the King’s children,

no harm ever again’.

 

 

Does this make any sense?

 

Verse 18: 'brave 'Bearded Men' (gæve skegger) : In those days, Slaves were not allowed to grow a beard; hence a 'Bearded Man' was a Master, a Free Man; Old Norse 'Skeggjar'.

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR BTW!!!

[Ghostrider]

Its quite good, and understandable as is, it would benefit from a little bit of a tidy up of grammar and spelling in one or two places though.

 

Husbond = Husband

 

Adresses = Addresses

 

Where you've used "thee" it probably should be "thou" seeing as that's whats been used in the earlier verses, but to my mind while "thou" is probably the most appropriate, "thee" isn't entirely incorrect in the context used. Its just that it would need to be one or the other to have consistency throughout.

 

I don't think I'm the best person to try to do it all the way through though, as I treat English as a second language to Shetland, and all too often Shetland grammar over-rides English when speaking or writing. When reading something written in English its easy enough to spot what's not quite right, but a whole other ball game to know how to fix it to be right.

[filskadacat]

Where you've used "thee" it probably should be "thou" seeing as that's whats been used in the earlier verses, but to my mind while "thou" is probably the most appropriate, "thee" isn't entirely incorrect in the context used. Its just that it would need to be one or the other to have consistency throughout.

 

This is obviously complete nonsense - it requires to be 'thou' if it's nominative or vocative and 'thee' if in any other case. If no-one else has got there first - quite likely given the number of excellent grammarians on here - I will try to find time to check it tomorrow.

 

It's lovely! Thank you Dagfinn!

[Guest Anonymous]

My idea on the 'Thou'/'Thee' bit is as follows:

 

Verse 13:

‘Sir, thou should inflict injury on him’

Now thee accept a fitting dowry

 

Really not sure about the second 'Thee' in that verse, as depending how you read it, it could be either or.

As far as I can see all other uses of Thou and Thee are right,, I think,,

I never really understood the English Thou and Thee, but I am assuming that it is in the same usage as the Shetland Dö and Dee.

 

And, Yes Dagfinn. Thanks for all your work on that.

[Ghostrider]

Where you've used "thee" it probably should be "thou" seeing as that's whats been used in the earlier verses, but to my mind while "thou" is probably the most appropriate, "thee" isn't entirely incorrect in the context used. Its just that it would need to be one or the other to have consistency throughout.

 

This is obviously complete nonsense - it requires to be 'thou' if it's nominative or vocative and 'thee' if in any other case. If no-one else has got there first - quite likely given the number of excellent grammarians on here - I will try to find time to check it tomorrow.

 

It's lovely! Thank you Dagfinn!

 

Well, I did say English wasn't my strong point, especially the older style stuff. Personally I've always thought "thee" was a largely superfluous word that was almost never really needed, but that's said from a reader's POV, not a scholar's.

 

The various "rules" of the language makes my eyes spin, always did, ask the numerous English teachers who tried, and failed, to teach them to me....

[Dagfinn]

Thanks for the replies.

 

I'll be back with a corrected 'edition'

[filskadacat]

Here goes with a bit more on the ‘thee / thou’ question. The old English form ‘thou’ had a verb ending; the only ending we have left in modern English is the 3rd person singular ‘-s’, but ‘thou’ took an ‘-st’ as may correctly be seen in verse 7 ‘wouldst’. You could argue that verse 2 might be ‘freest’ – but then it could be a subjunctive after ’if’ as in ‘If thou were to free…’ so it's probably fine.

 

In verse 13 it probably wants to go like this:

Sir, thou shouldst inflict injury on him’

Now thou (missing auxiliary verb? – canst? / must?) accept a fitting dowry

 

Verse 20: ‘Father thou overdoest thy manhood,

 

Verse 22: the axe bit (preterite) through his neck

 

Verse 25: Hildina is lying on the blanket (v common mistake in English. ‘To lay’ is a transitive verb; ‘to lie’ is the intransitive version.)

 

Verse 27: don’t think any more (two words) of the Earl

 

Verse 29: suggest ‘she sent to sleep her father’

 

Verse 35: Now she has covered (with an ‘e’) his falseness

 

You want to get Depooperit on this; he’s the one who really knows what he’s talking about and will no doubt correct some of what I have written in haste!

[Dagfinn]

Thanks FilskaDaCat , corrected

 

I've created a basic webpage about the Hildina Ballad in Norse orthography and English translation.

There is a wordlist, Norn phonetic - Norn ethym. - Old Norse - English - Faroese. I thought maybe we could get that wordlist extended to include Shaetlan as well; wonder if all the words are to be found in the Shetland Dictionary?

 

The webpage is on this link: http://shetlandnorn.webs.com/index.htm