Read this carefully. It is definitely not an accolade for a love story! Nevertheless, it’s interesting. From the Online and Medieval Classical Library comes this ditty sung by a man who is in heated argument with his wife over the meager dish she serves for breakfast. It is part of public domain Old Norse literature in the form of The Story of the Heath-Slayings or The Heitharviga Saga. It is often paired with another folklore-filled Icelandic Saga from the 13th century called The Eyrbyggja Saga.
The husband sings this after the argument:
The wealth-bearing stem that for wife we are owning,
The black coif of widowhood never shall bear
For my death; though I know that the field of the necklace
All the days of my life neath the mould would be laying:
She who filleth the ale round would give for my eating
The apples of hell-orchard.
I tell you, we are so fortunate to have this type of colorful, historical literature in pubic domain and available for easy reading.
I hope you enjoyed a glance at an old Icelandic saga.
Cheers & Happy Reading!
Flossie Benton Rogers, Conjuring the Magic in Romance
Wow. Very intriguing. It’s almost like reading another language. I had no idea this stuff was available online!
I love the hidden literary treasures that digitization has allowed to be preserved. Now, no solar flares please.
Very interesting. Great post as usual.
Glad you like the post, Cathy. Thank you for stopping by.