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Title: The Heddeby Spectre
Author: George Borrow [
More Titles by Borrow]
At evening fall I chanced to ride,
My courser to a tree I tied.
_So wide thereof the story goes_.
Against a stump my head I laid,
And then to slumber I essay'd.
_So wide thereof the story goes_.
As soon as sleep had closed my eye,
The murdered man to me drew nigh.
_So wide thereof the story goes_.
"And if thy race to mine belongs,
I call thee to avenge my wrongs.
_So wide thereof the story goes_.
"And them to Heddeby shalt ride,
For there my kith and kin reside.
_So wide thereof the story goes_.
"My father dwells there, and my mother,
There dwell my sister and my brother.
_So wide thereof the story goes_.
"There Kirsten dwells, my lovely wife,
And it was she who took my life.
_So wide thereof the story goes_.
"Her sleeping husband stifled she,
With aid of cursed beldames three.
_So wide thereof the story goes_.
"Then in a truss of hay concealed,
They brought me forth to this wide field.
_So wide thereof the story goes_.
"The page I loved the best of all,
Now rides upon my courser tall.
_So wide thereof the story goes_.
"Eats daily with my silver knife,
And sleeps with Kirsten fair, my wife.
_So wide thereof the story goes_.
"He sitteth highest at the board,
My children tremble at his word.
_So wide thereof the story goes_.
"To them he gives so little bread,
And mocks them now that I am dead.
_So wide thereof the story goes_.
"He rides about the forest grounds,
And hunts the red deer with my hounds.
_So wide thereof the story goes_.
"Each time the caitiff slays a deer,
He wakes me in my grave so drear.
_So wide thereof the story goes_.
"But if I to him once repair,
With him 'twill sorely, sorely fare."
_So wide thereof the story goes_.
[The end]
George Borrow's poem: The Heddeby Spectre
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