"[37]
[37] Holcomb's translation.
It was not the unconscious humor of this proposition which struck me the
most in those days; but it was the bluff frankness of the gruff old
viking which then seemed truly admirable. In fact, I am not sure but
that Bjoern appeared to me a more sympathetic figure than Frithjof. But a
little later it dawned upon me that his utter lack of chivalry was
rather revolting; and I began to marvel at my former admiration. At
fourteen the following verse (which at twelve was charmingly heroic)
caused me to revise my opinion of Bjoern:
"Good! to King Ring it shall be my glad duty
Something to teach of a wronged viking's power;
Fire we his palace at midnight's still hour,
Scorch the old graybeard and bear off the beauty."
For all that, Bjoern with his rough speech and hearty delight in fighting
and drinking, is far truer to the spirit of the old heroic age than is
Frithjof with his sentimentality and lovesick reveries. This verse, for
instance, is replete with the briny breath of the northern main.
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