The wary bowman, matched against his | That_chatter loudest as they mean the least ; Swift-willed is thrice-willed; late means nevermore; Impatient is her foot, nor turns again." He ceased; upon his bosom sank his beard Sadly, as one who oft had seen her pass Nor stayed her: and forthwith the frothy tide Of interrupted wassail roared along; But Biörn, the son of Heriulf, sat apart Musing, and, with his eyes upon the fire, Saw shapes of arrows, lost as soon as seen. "A ship," he muttered, "is a winged bridge That leadeth every way to man's desire, And ocean the wide gate to manful luck"; And then with that resolve his heart was bent, Which, like a humming shaft, through many a stripe Of day and night, across the unpathwayed seas Shot the brave prow that cut on Vinland sands The first rune in the Saga of the West. III. GUDRIDA'S PROPHECY. Four weeks they sailed, a speck in sky. shut seas, Life, where was never life that knew itself, But tumbled lubber-like in blowing whales ; Thought, where the like had never been before Since Thought primeval brooded the abyss ; Alone as men were never in the world. They saw the icy foundlings of the sea, White cliffs of silence, beautiful by day, Or looming, sudden-perilous, at night In monstrous hush; or sometimes in the dark The waves broke ominous with paly gleams Crushed by the prow in sparkles of cold fire. Then came green stripes of sea that promised land But brought it not, and on the thirtieth day Leaving their sons' sons Here men shall grow up They shall make over Here is no singer; What should they sing of? These the old gods hate, These hate the old gods, Here the wolf Fenrir Here the gods' Twilight Doubt not, my Northmen; Over the ruin See I the promise; Crisp waves the cornfield, There lies the New Land; |