XV.

A LITTLE BIRD IN THE AIR.

A LITTLE bird in the air

Is singing of Thyri the fair,

The sister of Svend the Dane;
And the song of the garrulous bird
In the streets of the town is heard,
And repeated again and again.
Hoist up your sails of silk,
And flee away from each other.

To King Burislaf, it is said,
Was the beautiful Thyri wed,
And a sorrowful bride went she;
And after a week and a day,
She has fled away and away,
From his town by the stormy sea.
Hoist up your sails of silk,

And flee away from each other.

They say that through heat and through cold,
Through weald, they say, and through wold,
By day and by night, they say,
She has fled; and the gossips report
She has come to King Olaf's court,
And the town is all in dismay.
Hoist up your sails of silk,

And flee away from each other.

It is whispered King Olaf has seen,
Has talked with the beautiful Queen;
And they wonder how it will end;
For surely, if here she remain,
It is war with King Svend the Dane,
And King Burislaf the Vend:
Hoist up your sails of silk,
And flee away from each other.

O, greatest wonder of all!
It is published in hamlet and hall,
It roars like a flame that is fanned!
The King-yes, Olaf the king-
Has wedded her with his ring,
And Thyri is Queen in the land!
Hoist up your sails of silk,
And flee away from each other.

D D

KING OLAF'S WAR-HORNS.

"STRIKE the sails!" King Olaf said;
Never shall men of mine take flight:
Never away from battle I fled,
Never away from my foes!

Let God dispose

Of my life in the fight!"

"Sound the horns!” said Olaf the King;
And suddenly through the drifting brume
The blare of the horns began to ring,
Like the terrible trumpet shock

Of Regnarock,
On the Day of Doom!

Louder and louder the war-horns sang
Over the level floor of the flood;

All the sails came down with a clang,
And there in the mist overhead

The sun hung red

As a drop of blood.

In front came Svend, the King of the Danes,
Sweeping down with his fifty rowers;

To the right, the Swedish king with his thanes;
And on board of the Iron-Beard

Earl Eric steered

On the left with his oars.

"These soft Danes and Swedes," said the King, "At home with their wives had better stay, Than come within reach of my Serpent's sting; But where Eric the Norseman leads

Heroic deeds

Will be done to-day!"

Then as together the vessels crashed,

Eric severed the cables of hide

With which King Olaf's ships were lashed,

And left them to drive and drift

With the currents swift

Of the outward tide.