STORIES AND BALLADS OF THE FAR PAST, Nora Kershaw

INTRODUCTION TO THE FAROESE RIDDLE BALLAD (GÁTU RÍMA)

The Gátu Ríma was first taken down in Suderø by a clergyman, Schröter, early in the nineteenth century, and is preserved in the archives of the Early text Society in Copenhagen. Unfortunately, Schröter was only able to obtain the Balladn in a fragmentary form, and he has left us only a Danish translation of what he found. In his travels on the Faroes in 1847-1848 Hammershaimb made strenuous efforts to get the entire version, but only succeeded in getting a version (of course in the original Faroese) which corresponds closely in length an d content with Schröter's. He published this version first In the Antiquarisk Tídsskrift, 1849-1851, and later in Færöiske Kvæðer, vol. II. (Copenhagen, 1855). The translation given below is taken from the ballad as printed in Færöiske Kvæðer.
That a longer version of this ballad once existed is proved by the fact that verse 8 of both Schröter's and Hammershaimb's versions states that Guest the Blind1 propounds thirty riddles to King Heithrek— about the same number as are also found in the Saga, though only some six riddles and the answers to four others have come down to us. Hammershaimb attributed the loss of the others to the fact that the ballad is no longer one of those used in the dance.
1 Presumably a corruption of Gestumblindi.

GÁTU RÍMA       213

He was of the opinion that the riddles propounded in the Ríma are not the same as those found in the Saga; but it is to be noticed that the subjects of the riddles are in four cases the same, and in the other cases the subjects have the same characteristics, though the riddles themselves are not identical. It would therefore seem on the whole the subjects of the Gátu Ríma were originally identical with those of the Saga, but that they have become corrupted and possibly confused in the popular mind.

GÁTU RÍMA

1. Guest goes wandering from the hall,
Silent and blind is he;
Meets he with an eldern man
All with hair so grey.

2. Meets he with an eldern man,
All with hair so grey;
"Why art thou so silent, Guest the Blind,
And wherefore dost thou stray?"

3. "It is not so wonderful
Though I of speech am slow;
For riddles have brought me to an evil pass,
And I lose my head tomorrow.

4. "It is not so wonderful
Though mournful am I and slow;
For riddles have brought me to an evil pass,
And I lose my life tomorrow.

5. How much of the red, red gold
Wilt thou give to me,
If I go in before King Heithrek
And ask thy riddles for thee?"

214       BALLADS

6. Twelve marks of the red, red gold
Will I give to thee,
If thou wilt go in before King Heithrek,
And ransom my head for me."

7. "Go thou into they courtyard,
And look to thy dwelling, thou,
While I go in before King Heithrek,
And ask him riddles now."

8. "Thirty are the riddles
And one will I propose. . .
(Riddle lost.)

9. (First two lines lost.)
Thunder is the red drum
Which beats over all the world."

10. "O hearken now, Heithrek my King,
Where dost thou know the neighbours,
  Both of whom use the same door,
And neither one knows the other."

11. "My thought and thy thought,
No neighbour is one to other;
  Both of them use the same door,
Yet neither knows the other."

12. "O hearken now, Heithrek my King,
Where dost thou know the brothers
  Who roll far away on the outer reefs
And have neither fathers nor mothers."

13. "The Western flow and the Eastern flow,
Well may they be called brothers;
  They roll far away on the outer reefs
And have neither fathers nor mothers."

14. "O hearken now, Heithrek my King,
And what can this be now?—
  Soft as down and hard as horn,
And white as glistening snow!

GÁTU RÍMA       215

15. "Hear thou this now, Guest the Blind;
This riddle I understand.—
  The sea it is both soft and hard,
And flings white spray upon the land."

16. "O hearken now, Heithrek my King,
Where does the sapling grow,—
  Its root is turned towards high Heaven,
And its head turned down below?"

17. "The icicle on the high crags,
No sapling it is I trow,
  Yet its root is turned towards high heaven,
And its head turned down below."

18. "O hearken now, Heithrek my King,
Where does that forest grow,&mdsah;
  It is cut on every holy day,
And yet there is wood enow?"

19. "The beard which grows on each man's chin,
No forest is that I trow,
  Though shaved on every holy day,
And yet there I wood enow.

20. "O hearken now, Heithrek my King,
Where dost thou know the brothers,—
  Both of them live in the same hall,
And have neither fathers nor mothers."

21. "Turf clods and brimstones,
Neither of the twain are brothers.
  Both of them live in the same hall,
And have neither fathers nor mothers."

22. "The sow she wanders to her sty,
She wallows on the green, green earth.
  The boar he grunts and the little pigs squeak,
And each makes music with his mouth."

23. "O well do I know thy riddle,
And well it shall be spoke;
  The hammer is raised in every smithy,
And falls with even stroke."

216       BALLADS

24. "O well do I know thy riddle,
Though thereof no boast make I.
  It is Othin who rides upon his steed,
By land and eke by sea.

25. "O well do I know thy riddle,
Yet of wisdom I make no display.
  Othin he rides upon his steed
By night and eke by day."

26. Othin has turned into a wild fowl,
And flown out from the hall;
  And therein Kng Heithrek has been burnt,
He and his nobles all.

27. Othin has turned into a wild fowl,
And has flown far out to sea;
  He has burnt King Heithrek in his hall,
And all his company.
 
 
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