The following is a working checklist, with unpublished material transcribed.
Poetry
1. “Hafbur and Signy: Translated from the Danish” ( King Hafbur & King Siward / They needs must stir up strife, )
Published Poems By the Way, CW, IX, 213-24. HM 6427, ff. 151-77, 2 copies in Morris’ hand; the first copy is signed "translated from the Danish (by poor little me) Feb. 3rd 1870)." F. 177 is a fair copy in pen on white ruled paper, with "red" accompanied by a bracket in the margin in pencil by "O wilt thou win me then,/ Or as fair a maid as I be[.]" This is signed "(that's all: Feb 4th. 1870 WM)."
2. “The Lay of Christine: Translated from the Icelandic” ( Of silk my gear was shapen, / Scarlet they did on me, )
Included in A Book of Verse, 1870, 33-35, and published in Poems By the Way, CW, IX, 201-202. HM 6427, ff. 142-42v; Morris autograph on blue ruled paper. The bottom of f. 142 is torn off, but it is otherwise a reasonably clear copy with corrections. The title has been changed from "The Song of Christine" to "The Lay of Christine," and the draft refrain, "O well would I from the world depart!" has been changed to "O well were I from the world away[.]"
Fair copy at McGill University Library. According to May Morris, all the Northern translations in Poems by the Way were written in the early 1870’s.
[f. 142]
Of silk my gear was shapen,
Scarlet they did on me
Then to the sea-strand was I borne
And laid in a bark of the sea.
O well were I from the World away
Befell it there I might not drown
For God to me was good;
The billows bare me up a-land
Where grew the fair green-wood.
O well & extend red
There came a Knight a riding
With three swains along the way
And he took me up, the little-one,
On the sea-sand as I lay.
O well & extend red—
He took me up, and bare me home
To the house that was his own,
And there bode I so long with him
That I was his love alone.
O well (extend) red
But the very first night we lay abed
Befell this sorrow and harm,
That thither came the Kings ill men
And slew him on mine arm.
O well (extend)--red
There slew they Adalright the King
Two of his swains slew they,
But the third sailed swiftly from the land
Sithence I saw him never a day
O well (extend) red
[f. 142v]
O wavering hope of this world’s bliss,
How shall men trow in thee?
My Grove of Gems is gone away
For mine eyes no more to see!
O well (extend) red
Each hour my life shall last
Remembereth him alone
Such heavy sorrow have I got
From our meeting long agone—
O well (extend) red
O, early in the morning-tide
Men cry, Christine the Fair
Art thou well content with that true love
Thou sittest loving there?
O well (extend) red
“Ah yea, so will I love him
So dear my love shall be,
That the very God of Heaven aloft
Worshippeth him and me.
O well (extend) red
“Ah, all the red gold I have got
Well would I give today,
Only for this and nothing else
From the world to win away.”
O
“Nay midst folk upon the earth
Keep thou thy ruddy gold
And love withal the mighty lord
That wedded thee of old.”
red—O, well were I from the world depart [failed to correct depart to away]
A Book of Verse
[p. 33]
The Ballad of Christine.
Of silk my gown was shapen,
Scarlet they did on me
Then to the sea-strand was I borne
And laid in a bark of the sea.
O well would I from the world away
But on the sea I might not drown,
To me was God so good,
The billows bore me up aland
Where grew the fair green wood
There came a knight a riding by
With three swains along the way
And took me up, the little-one
On the sea-strand as I lay
He took me up, and bore me home
To the house that was his own,
And there so long I bode with him
That I was his love alone.
But the very first night we lay abed
Befell this sorrow and harm,
That thither came the king’s ill men,
[p. 34]
And slew him on mine arm.
There slew they the King Ethelbert
Two of his swains slew they
But the third sailed swiftly from the land
For ever to bide away.
O wavering hope of this world’s bliss,
How shall men trow in thee?
My grove of gems is gone away
For mine eyen no more to see!
Each hour that this my life shall last
Remembereth him alone
Such heavy sorry lies on me
For our meeting time agone. –
Ah, early of a morning-tide
Men cry, Christine the Fair,
Art thou well content with that true-love
Thou sittest loving there?
O yea, so well I love him,
So dear to my heart is he,
[p. 35]
That the very God of Heaven aloft
Worshippeth him and me.
All the red gold that I have
Well would I give today,
Only for this and nothing else,
From the World to win away
Ah, of all folk upon the earth
Keep thou thy ruddy gold,
And love withal the mighty lord
Who wedded thee of old.
O well would I from the World away
3. “Hildebrand and Hellelil: Translated from the Danish” ( Hellelil sitteth in bower there, / None knows my grief but God alone, )
Published in CW, IX, Poems By the Way, 203-205.
HM 6427, 2 versions in Morris's autograph, ff. 143-44v and ff. 145-46v; pen with pencil ocrrections on blue paper. The second Morris autograph signed “Wednes. March 1 1871" seems a correct copy for the printer, with stanza numbers crossed out.
According to May Morris, all the Northern translations in Poems By the Way were written in the early 1870’s.
[f. 143]
1
Hillelil sitteth in bower there
None knoweth my [sorrow crossed out] but God alone
And seweth at the seem so fair
I will never wail my sorrow to any other one.
2
[formatting as above]
But there whereas the gold should be
With silk upon the cloth sewed she
3
Where she should sew with silken thread
The gold upon the cloth she laid
4
So to the Queen the word came in
That Hellelil wild work doth win.
5
Then did the Queen do furs on her
And went to Hellelil the Fair
6
O swiftly swiftly seweth thou Hellelil
Nought but [wild crossed out] work is thy sewing still.
7
Well may my sewing be but mad
Such evil hap as I have had
8
My father was good king & lord
Fifteen Knights would serve at his board
9
He taught me sewing royally
Twelve Knights had watch and ward of me.
10
Eleven men served well day by day
With guile the 12th did me bewray.
11
He who bewrayed was Hildebrand
The Kin[g]’s son of the English land
[f. 143v]
12
In bower were we no sooner laid
Than the truth thereof to my father was said
13
My father cried oer garth & hall
Stand up my men, and arm ye all.
14
Yea arm ye all and loiter not
For hard neck Hildebrand hath got.
15
They stood by the door with glaive and spear
Hildebrand rise & hasten here.
16
Lord Hildebrand stroked my white, white cheek
O love forebear my name to speak
17
Yea even dwell [?] if my blood thou see
Name me not least my death thou be
18
Out from the door lord Hildebrand lept
And round about his good sword swept.
19
The first of all that he slew there
Were my seven bretheren with golden hair
20
Then before him stood the youngest one
And dear he was in days agone.
21
The must I O Hildebrand
In the Lord Gods name hold thou thine hand
22
O let my youngest brother live
Tidings hereof to my mother to give
23
No sooner was the word gone forth
Than with eight wounds fell my love to earth
[f. 144]
24
My gold hair took my brother now
And bound me to the saddle bow
25
No littlest rod there springs from root
But it tore off somewhat from my foot
26
No littlest brake the wild-wood hare
But somewhat from my foot it tore
27
No deepest dam we came unto
But my brother’s horse he swam it through!
28
But when we came to the castle gate
There stood my mother in woeful estate
29
My brother let raise a tower high
Bestrewn with sharp thorns inwardly—
30
He took me in my silk-shirt bare
And cast me into the tower there
31
Then where soe’er my leg I laid
Torment of the thorns I had
32
Wheresoeer my feet I set
The prickles sharp my blood must get.
33
My youngest brother would me slay
But my Mother would have me sold away
34
A great new bell my price did buy
For Mary’s Church to Hang on high
[f. 144v]
35
But the first stroke the bell struck plain
Then brake my mothers heart a-twain
36
So soon as her sorrow and woe and [was said omitted?]
In the arm of the Queens she sat there dead
5. “The Son’s Sorrow: From the Icelandic” ( The King has asked of his son so good, / “Why art thou hushed and heavy of mood? )
Included in A Book of Verse, 1870, 37-39; published CW, IX, Poems By the Way, 206-207. Morris autograph in B. L. Add. Ms. 45,318, f. 88 and 88v with corrections; another Morris autograph is in HM 6427, f. 147. This is an autograph prepared for the printer, and appears to be identical with the printed version.
According to May Morris, all the Northern translations in Poems By the Way were written in the early 1870’s.
[p. 39]
The Son’s Sorrow
The king has asked of his son so good—
Why art thou hushed and heavy of mood
O fair and sweet to ride abroad!
Thou playest not, and thou laughest not,
All thy good game is clean forgot—
Sit thou beside me, father dear,
And the tale of my sorrow shalt thou hear.
Thou sentest me into a far off land
Thou gavest me into a good earl’s hand
Now this good earl had daughters seven
The fairest of maidens under the heaven.
One brought me my meat when I should dine
One shaped and sewed my raiment fine.
One washed and combed my yellow hair
And one I fell to loving there
Befell it on so fair a day
That folk must win them sport and play
[p. 38]
Down in a dale my horse bound I
My saddle bound right speedily
Bright was her face as the flickering flame
When to my saddlebow she came
Beside my saddlebow she stood –
O knight, to flee with thee were good!
Kind was my horse, and good to aid,
My love upon his back I laid.
Then from the garth I rode away
And none were ware of us that day
But as we rode along the sand
There lay a barge beside the land.
So in that barge did we depart
And rowed away right glad of heart.
When we came to the dark wood and the shade
To raise the tent my true-love bade.
[p. 39]
Three sons my true-love bore me there,
And syne she died, who was so dear
A grave I made her with my sword
And with my shield the mould I poured.
First in the mould I laid my love
Then all my sons her breast above
And I without must lie alone,
So homeward thenceforth gat I gone—
No man any more shall rise on his feet
To love that Love, to woo that sweet.
Five leagues away the mould below
She trembled with his wary woe.
O fair and sweet to ride abroad!
6. “The Mother Under the Mold” ( Svend Dyring rode on the island-way / Yea have not I myself been young )
Published CW, XXIV, 352-55. Morris autograph with corrections, B. L. Add. Ms. 45,318, ff. 89-90. Copyist’s version in B. L. Add. Ms. 45,298B, ff. 18-22. Also in checklist of poems from period of The Earthly Paradise.
[f. 89]
The Mother Under the Mold.
1
Swend Dyring rode on the island way
Yea, have I not myself been young.
And there he’s wedded so fair a may
Fair words give joy to many a heart
2
Seven years the twain together sat
And children six between them gat
3
Then came a death into the land
And died that lovely lily-wand.
4
Then Swend he rode on the island-way
And there he’s wedded another may.
5
He’s wedded a may and home is she
As grim and evil as may be.
6
When she came a driving to the door
There the six babes weeping sore
7
There stood they weeping many a tear
With her foot she thrust them forth from her.
8
She gave them neither ale nor meat
O ye shall have both hunger and hate
9
She took from them the bolster blue,
Said [in] the bare straw lie alow.
10
She’s taken from the great Waxlights
In the murk [?] house shall ye lie anights
[f. 89v]
11
Late in the eve the bairnies they grat
The Mother under the Mould heard that.
12
That heard she under earth as she lay:
O now must I to my babes away.
13
Then did she stand the Lord before:
O may I go see my babes once more?
14
So long there did she stand and pray
That the Lord let her go her way.
15
But come thou back at cock-crow tide,
No longer away must thou abide.
16
Then forth her weary feet put she
To meet both wall and imagery.
17
But when she came unto the stead
Under the sky the hounds they bayed,
18
And when to the door she drew near-hand
There did her eldest daughter stand.
19
O daughter mine, why stand’st thou there,
How do they little brethren fare?
20
Thou art never Mother of mine,
For ever was she fair and fine.
[f. 90]
21
My Mother was white with cheeks full red,
But thou art pale and like the dead.”
22
O how should I be fine and fair,
For dead folk all pale cheeks must bear.
23
O how should I be white and red
So long as I’ve been cold and dead.
24
But when she came to the chamber door,
There were [the] bairns and grat right sore.
25
The first she brushed, the second she plaited,
The third she dandled, the fourth she patted,
26
The fifth upon her breast she set
As though sweet food it thence should get.
27
Then to her eldest daughter said she,
Go bid Svend Dyring come to me.
28
So when within the hall he stood
She spake to him in wrathful mood.
I left behind me ale and bread
Yet must my babes [of both] have need.
30
Boldsters blue did I leave enow,
In the bare straw lie my babes alow.
31
I left behind me waxlights high
But in chamber dark must my little ones lie.
32
Look to it that if I come once more
Ill fate for you there lieth in store.
33
But now is the red red cock a crowing
And under the earth must the dead be a going,
34
Now croweth the black cock on high
And heaven’s gate openeth presently.
35
And now the white cock croweth clear,
No longer is there biding here.
36
So every time the hounds they bayed
They gave the children ale and bread.
37
No sooner did they hear them bay
But they thought the dead was on the way.
38
The hound’s voice did they no sooner hear
Than sure they thought the dead was there.
[seems unfinished]
7. “Agnes and the Hill Man: Translated from the Danish” ( Agnes went through the meadows a-weeping, / Fowl are a-singing. / There stood the hill-man heed thereof keeping. / Agnes, fair Agnes! )
Published CW, IX, Poems By the Way, 208-209. HM 6427, ff. 148-50; Morris autograph. According to May Morris, all the Northern translations in Poems By the Way were written in the early 1870’s.
8. “The Prophecy of the Vala” ( Heath-Dame they called her / At each home she came to, )
Published AWS, I, 543-63. B. M. Add. Ms. 45,318, ff. 32-41; Morris autograph.
9. “The Song of Atli” ( In days long gone / Sent Atli to Gunnar / A crafty one riding, / Knefrud men called him; )
Published CW, VII, 446-57, “Certain Songs from the Elder Edda, Which Deal With the Story of the Volsungs.” According to Magnússon (CW, VII, xx) these were finished about midwinter, 1870.
10. “The Whetting of Gudrun” ( Words of strife heard I, / Huger than any, / Woeful words spoken, / Sprung from all sorrow, )
Published CW, VII, 458-63, “Certain Songs from the Elder Edda...”. According to Magnússon (CW, VII, xx) these were finished about midwinter, 1870. May wrote to Dame Bertha Phillpotts, a specialist in Scandinavian studies at Cambridge, that they were written in the 70s.
11. “The Lay of Hamdir” ( Great deeds of bale / In the garth began, / At the sad dawning / The tide of Elves’ sorrow )
Published CW, VII, 464-71, “Certain Songs from the Elder Edda...”. According to Magnússon (CW, VII, xx) these were finished about midwinter, 1870.
12. “The Lament of Oddrun” ( I have heard tell / In ancient tales / How a
may there came / To Morna-land, )
Published CW, VII, 472-80, “Certain Songs from the Elder Edda...”. Autograph in Morris’ hand in B. L. Add. Ms. 45,318, f. 18. According to Magnússon (CW, VII, xx) these were finished about midwinter, 1870.
13. “Lay of Thrym”
Published CW, VII, 188-96. B. L. Add. Ms. 45,318, ff. 24-25, rough draft, 26-30 fair copy; Morris autograph. Magnússon felt this was finished about 1870 (CW, VII, xx).
14. “Baldur’s Doom”
Published CW, VII, 185-88 under title “Baldur’s Dream.” The autograph manuscript is in B. L. Add. Ms. 45,318, ff. 20-23. Magnússon felt this was finished about 1870 (CW, VII, xx).
15. Part of the Lay of Sigrdrifa” ( Now this is my first counsel, / That thou with thy kin / Be guiltless, guileless ever, / Nor hasty of wrath, )
Published CW, VII, 405-407, “Certain Songs from the Elder Edda . . . .” According to Magnusson (CW, VII, xx), these were finished about midwinter, 1870.
*16. “Iliad,” translation. ( Singer of the wrath O Goddess of Achilles Peleus seek/ Baleful that laid on Achaeans ten thousand folded need )
Unfinished. Copyist's version in B. L. Add. Ms. 45, 320, ff. 1-11. Stops at Book I, line 212. The autograph of I., ll. 141-62 is at the Humanities Research Center Library at the University of Texas. Edited by William Whitla, Journal of Pre-Raphaelite Studies 13 (Fall 2004): 75-121.
17. The Aeneids of Virgil
Published 1875, Ellis and White. Also CW, XI. HM 6439, A. MS., Morris autograph fair copy for printer, ink on white ruled paper, ff. 1-320.
This ends:
“ And shalt thou, clad in my beloved one’s prey,
Be snatched from me?—Tis Pallas yet, tis Pallas thus doth slay,
And taketh of thy guilty blood atonement for his death!”
950. Deep in that breast he driveth sword even as the word he saith
But I --- waxen cold and spent the body of --- lies
And with a groan through dusk & dark the scornful spririt flies
Also draft fragment, B. L. Add. Ms.45,318. Also a draft pencil autograph fragment, “Tell me muse of the man wide wandering to and fro,” B. L. Add. Ms. 45,319c, back sheet, f. vii
Tell me muse of the man wide wandering to and fro
Long tossed since when he laid the holy troytown low
Many towns of men he knew, and of minds of men had still
And many sea born griefs endured against his will
In the striving for his life and his fellows home to bear
Whom yet he might not hold however fain he were
For they by the mad heat of their folly were undone
Fools who ate up the beasts of the overriding sun
That the day of their return from these he cut away
Whereof O daughter of Zeus a word from thee we pray
Drawings for the Aeneid are in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, bought from Lawrence Hodson at a sale at Christie’s, June 15th, 1906 by J. R. Holliday and given by him to the FM, 1927.
[These are listed in HM 6339.]
Other drawings for the Aeneid, formerly in the Doheny collection, were sold at Christie’s at the end of 1989 and are now in an English private collection.
18. Part of the Second Lay of Helgi Hundings-bane” ( Dag: Loth am I, sister / Of sorrow to tell thee, / For by hard need driven / Have I drawn on the greeting; )
Published CW, VII, 397-404, “Certain Songs from the Elder Edda.…” According to Magnússon (CW, VII, xx) these were finished about midwinter, 1870.
19. “The Short Lay of Sigurd” ( Sigurd of yore, / Sought the dwelling of Guiki, / As he fared, the young Volsung, / After fight won; )
Published CW, VII, 408-425, “Certain Songs from the Elder Edda...”. According to Magnússon (CW, VII, xx) these were finished about midwinter, 1870.
20. “The Hell-Ride of Brynhild” ( THE GIANT WOMAN “Nay, with my goodwill /
Never goest thou / Through this stone-pillared / Stead of mine! )
Published CW, VII, 426-34, “Certain Songs of the Elder Edda...”. According to Magnússon (CW, VII, xx) these were finished about midwinter, 1870.
21. “Fragments of The Lay of Brynhild” ( HOGNI SAID: “What hath wrought Sigurd
/ Of any wrong-doing / That the life of the famed one / Thou art fain of taking?”
)
Published CW, VII, 430-34, “Certain Songs of the Elder Edda...”. According to Magnússon (CW, VII, xx) these were finished about midwinter, 1870.
22. “The Second or Ancient Lay of Gudrun” ( A may of all mays / My mother reared me / Bright in bower; / Well loved I my brethren, )
Published CW, VII, 435-445, “Certain Songs of the Elder Edda...”. According to Magnússon (CW, VII, xx) these were finished about midwinter, 1870.
*23. “The Lay of Way-Wearer” (Vegtamsgruđa) ( The Gods on a time / At the Thing were gathered. )
Unpublished. B. M. Add. Ms. 45,218, ff. 19-23; Morris autograph signed f. 20 "W. M. / Sunday Feb: 19th 1871" ; another copy redone mostly in Morris’s fair hand with a few autograph gaps and pencil corrections is on ff. 20-23.
[f. 20]
1 The Gods on a time
At the Thing were all gathered,
And the Goddesses there
Were gathered together,
And this thing the great Gods
Had to talk over there
Why baleful dreams
Had come to Baldur.
2 Up rose Odin
Lord of all ages
And he on Sleipnir
Laid the saddle,
And thence he rode down
To the deeps of Niflhel,
Till he met the hounds
That came out of hell.
3 All bloody was he
On his breast’s forefront
Long while he bayed
On the father of wisdom
But forward rode Odin
Mid the din of the field way
Till he came to the high-built
House of Hell.
4 Then rode Odin
To the door looking eastward
Where he wotted the mound was
[f. 21]
Wherein lay the Vala
How to the witch-wife
Wise words he sang,
Witch-work for dead folk,
Till unwilling she rose
With dead words in her mouth:
5 What man is that
A man that I know not
Who has brought unto me
The burden his mind bears
I was snowed on with snow,
And swept over with rain
And dripped down on with dew
Dead, dead for a long while?”
6 “Waywearer they call me
The son of the death-wise.
Tell me tidings of hel[l]
And of earth will I tell thee
For whom are these benches
Strewn with red rings
And the goodly bed
With gold done over?
7 For Baldur standeth
The mead brewed ready
And this shimmering drink
That the shield lieth over
From the sons of the Gods
Is all hope gone away:
To speech was I driven
And now will hold silence.”
8 “Hold not silence O witchwife
[f. 22]
Thee yet will I question
Until all wisdom
Well I wot.
Who shall be
The bane of Baldur
And snatch the life
From Odin’s son?
9 High beareth Hod
The staff made famous
He shall be &c [in pencil, “4 lines”]
10 Who upon Hod
Will wreak heavy vengeance
Or bring bale
On Baldur’s ban?”
11 Kind beareth Vali
In the western halls
One night old shall slay fold
Nor washeth hand
Nor combeth head
Ere bale he bringeth
On Baldur’s foemen.
12 “Who are the mays
Who shall wail heavyhearted
And on their heads
Cast heaven’s skirts?”
13 Way-wearer art thou not
E’en as I wotten
But rather Odin
Lord of the ages.”
“Thou are no witchwife
No wise woman
[f. 23]
But of three giants
Art thou the mother
14 Ride thou home Odin
And be thou all joyous
That thou mayst behold
Men folk once more,
Till the last day when Loki
Slips loose from his bounds
And that great day
Of the Gods’ death is come.
Morris may have omitted writing out parts of sts. 9-12 because they were written out satisfactorily in the earlier draft, ff. 19 and 19v. This version reads:
[f. 19]
[f. 19v]
*24. “Nibelungenlied” ( In the words of the ancient stories Are many wonders told )
216 quatrains, unfinished. Unpublished. B. M. Add. Ms. 45,318, ff. 1-16. Dated 1869.
*25. Axel Thordson and Fair Walborg
Unpublished? B. L. Add. Ms. 45,318, ff. 45-56v Morris autograph; ff. 57-77 typescript, stops at stanza 167. Pencil note: “There is a rough literal translation (done for W. M.) of the rest of the ballad i. e. v.v. 169-200.” Magnusson’s rough literal translation of stanzas 169-200 is in ff. 78-81. From the Elder Edda, contains sections spoken by two persons, He and She.
[f. 57, typescript page no. 1]
Axel Thordson and Fair Walborg
They set the gold tables on the board
Two women great of kin
And there in glee and joy of heart
A fair play did begin.
So fast the dice fell round about
Een as such things are wont.
And ever as fast goes Fortune’s Wheel
That no man her ways may count.
Dame Julli & Queen Malfred
Played at the tables fair;
But about the floor the little one
Played with apple and with pear.
On the floor the fair little maiden
With flower and apple plays
When in cometh Axel Thordson
And to Rome will he wend his ways.
He greeted the dames and the maidens fair
Neither lore nor good mien lacked he;
He loved in his heart the noble child
And fortune’s toys they both shall be.
He took in arms the sweetling small
And her fair white cheek he stroked adown,
“God give that thou wert waxed now
Then swifly shoulst thou be mine own.
Then answered his youngest sister
Her gear with gold was sewn full wide,
“If she waxen this same night
Yet ne’er together should ye abide.”
The maiden’s mother spake aright
The very sooth she needs must tell
“And ye were not so nigh akin
Me would ye mate each other well.”
[f. 58]
He took a gold ring from his hand
And bade the maiden therewith play
Full oft it made her cheeks grow pale
When she had reached her latter day.
Keep in thy heart, my little bride
That here today I troth-plight thee --
But now from the land must I away
The guest of outland lords to be.”
Lord Axel getteth him from the land
Honour and good ways well he knew;
In cloister they set his little bride
That she might learn to sew.
They learned her well in silk to sew.
To read they learned her well.
Honour and good ways well she knew
Of her virtues all would tell.
For the noble life wherein she lived
Mid all she bore the prize
Well furnished was her mind of wit,
Was counted mid the wise.
Eleven years in cloister she bode
Till God her mother away did call,
Then the Queen took her to her house
And chose her out amidst of all.
Lord Axel bode in the Kaiser’s court
With gold his spurs o’er-gilded were,
He girt his good sword to his side
And rode in Knightly gear.
Lord Axel lay abed sweetly
As doth a lord beseem,
Yet on a night nought might he sleep
Because of his weary dream.
In the high bower lay lord Axel,
Full soft on silk he lay.
[f. 59, typescript no. 3]
But nowise might he rest in sleep
For dreams of his troth-plight may.
He dreamed that the maiden Valborg
In velvet fine was clad,
And Hakon the King’s son sat beside
And a boon of her he bade.
In the morning tide at break of day
When the larks gan sing on high,
From his bed rose Axel Thordson
And clad him speedily.
Swift saddled he his good grey steed
And would ride the woods along,
His dreamful thoughts from his head to thrust
And hearken the blithe birds’ song.
So thus did Axel Thordson
Amid the rose-wood ride;
There met him a holy prilgrim
E’en in that very tide.
“Well met, good May, thou pilgrim good,
Whither wilt thou away?
From mine own land art thou certes
As I wot by thine array.
“Yea Norway is my Fatherland
Of the Gildish kin I come
And with mind to look upon the Pope
Have I sworn myself to Rome.”
“O art thou come of the Gildish stock
Then of my kin art thou;
Hath Valborg the Fair forgotten me
Or aught of her dost thou know?”
“Valborg is a maiden fair
And sooth I know her well,
And many a knight’s son is there
Great praise of her can tell.
[f. 60, typescript no. 4]
Right well I know the maiden
She weareth grise and pall.
She beareth the prize from all the maids
That serve in the high King’s hall.
Waxen is Valborg Immer’s daughter
As the fairest lily on bough.
Mid all the maidens of the land,
She is the fairest men may know.
Dame Julli lies under the marble-stone
Her noble lord beside.
Queen Malfrid took fair Valborg home
In honour and love to bide.
Gold weareth she on her milk-white hand
And with pearls she plaits her hair,
Lord Axel’s bride of every man
Is she called and everywhere.
They call her the Lord Axel’s fair troth-plight,
But her kin deem she shall be
The bride of the King’s son Hakon
And thereof have game and glee.
O it is Axel Thordson
He wrapped himself in fur
And gets him gone to the goodly hall
To see the Kaiser there.
“Bide hail O Kaiser Henry
So blithe a lord as thou art:
Leave do I pray of thee today
To my own land to depart.
My father is dead and my mother is dead
And my goods are in jeopardy,
And another would my true love win
And strongest that draweth me.”
“Leave will I give thee with good will
Straightway I give it thee,
[f. 61, typescript no. 5] [add indents]
And till thou comest back again
Thy place shall open be.”
Lord Axel rides from the Kaiser’s garth
With a lordly company,
And all the folk of the Kaiser’s house
A good farewell on him did cry.
Both brisk and sharp his journey was,
Thirty good fellows followed him on;
But when he came to his mother’s castle
He went therein alone.
But when Lord Axel Thordson
Came forth to the castle state,
Without stood Helfred his fair sister
In restful fair estate.
“There standest thou, Helfred sister sweet,
Nought wotting that I should come.
How liveth Valborg mine own troth-plight
A rose among all things that bloom?”
“Fair Valborg liveth wondrous well
The fairest maid of all,
And she serveth now the very queen
And the queen’s best love on her doth fall.”
“Give me reed, fair sister Helfid,
Give me reed good enow
How I may talk with my own troth-plight
And no man thereof may know.”
“Go clad thyself in gear of silk
And cast thou rags thereon,
Say thou art sent from me privily
To talk with her alone.”
O it was Axel Thordson
Went the high-bowers bridge along,
And he met the queen’s fair maidens
As they came from evensong.
[f. 62, typescript no. 6]
He reached his white hand to Valborg
Mildly he spake and well,
O I am dame Helfred’s soothfast man
And I have a word to tell.
He spread a privy letter abroad
And she read it through and through
And there was a word of love therein
Writ as well as man might do.
And therein were there gold rings five
With lily and rose wrought oer;
“Axel Thordson giveth thee these
Who loved thee in the days of yore.
Thou promisdst to be my own troth-plight;
Hold to thy troth I pray thee now.
I shall never forsake but love thee my sweet
While the isle of the world through the sky doth go.”
O’er the high bowers bridge together they went
As God gave them council to,
And their troth again to each other they gave
And swore their oath anew.
They swore by Dorothy the bright
By the holy maid on high,
In truth of that love ever to live
In truth of that love to die.
Lord Axel from the King’s garth rode
And O but he was gay,
By the bower door stood his troth-plight
And might but laugh and play.
And so fared things for five months space
And till nine months wore away,
And eleven sons of high earls stood forth,
And to win the maid did pray.
Eleven were the knights full fair
That were fain to win the maid,
[f. 63, typescript no. 7]
The twelfth was the King’s son Hakon
And early and late he prayed.
“O hearken thou fair Valbor
And wilt thou be my dear?
For I will take thee for my queen
And the gold crown shalt thou bear.”
“Nay hearken King’s son Hakon
For never thus the thing may go,
To Lord Axel privily am I plight
And never therefrom will I go.”
Then wroth waxed the King’s son Hakon
And cast on him the skin,
And he’s away to the goodly hall,
His mother sat within.
“Bide hail O mother well beloved!
What wilt thou me arede,
I have prayed for Valborg the maiden fair
And she giveth me mock and hate for meed.
“Honour and might would I give unto her
My realm thereto and lands so wide,
But she saith she hath lord Axel so dear
That in that troth will she still abide.”
“Hath Valborg given her troth away,
Then shall she hold it faithfully
There is many a maid of earl’s blood come
As rich and as great as she.”
“Yes many there are of the earls’ daughters
That as rich and great may be,
But none as fair as Valborg is
Or so sweet of life as she.”
“With wrack and wrong that mast win her not
For that were a shame to hear,
But with weapons mayst thou win the way
If sword against thee Axel bear.”
[f. 64, typescript no. 8]
Then wrath waxed Hakon the King’s son,
And wroth he gat him out.
And there he met his shrift-father
Was called Black-brother Knut.
“Why goest thou, my lord, so woefully,
And whereto turns thine heart?
Is there any sorrow befallen thee
I may hearken for my part?”
“Yea, a sorrow is there befallen
That stingest grievously,
For Valborg the fair I may not get
But Axel’s bride she needs must be.”
“Is Valborg plight to lord Axel
Yet her shall he never get,
For the tale of her kin it lieth
In the Black monk’s cloister yet.
“For sister’s children of nigh-kin folk are they,
Born of good kin and high
And one dame held them at the font
At Highburg did she die.
“So lo ye, godsib are the twain
Before the Church in verity,
And thereto ye may well behold
That they are sib in the third degree.
“My lord, let write throughout the land
The chapter shall they hearken unto,
Lord Axel gets not that lily wand
For we be they shall say him no.”
O that was Hagen the King’s son
His man he biddeth straight;
“Bid the maiden’s [–eems] all privily
In my chamber me to await.”
[f. 65, typescript no. 9]
The earls they stood before the broad board
In honour and in pride;
“My lord thou hast bidden us hither
What would thy heart this tide?”
“Your sister’s daughter would I have
In honour with me to live,
For soothly shall she be my queen
If ye the maiden to me will give.”
The answered her mother’s brethren twain
And glad were they of mood;
“In a good hour was fair Valborg born
That a King’s son hath her wooed.”
And O it was the noble earls
They cast on them the skin,
To the bower aloft straight must they go
Where sat Dame Malfred the Queen.
First greeted they Queen Malfred fair,
In all honour and courtesy,
And then they greeted Valborg the bright
The fairest that might be.
“Well be thou dear sister’s daughter,
Well be thou while thou dost live,
Hagan the King’s son wooeth thee
And unto him we will thee give.”
“O have ye given away my faith and troth?
Then so much will I say to you,
That lord Axel is my well beloved
No guile to him will I ever do.”
Then answered her mother’s brethren twain
Mighty earls and bold,
“Nay soothly it shall never be
That thou thy troth to him shalt hold.”
[f. 66, typescript no. 10]
O it was Hagen the King’s son
He wrote a letter then
And summoned to him the Archbishop
And his clerks that were seven times ten.
Out spake master Erland,
When he read the King’s letter out,
“Shame fall the man who meddle made
And first and last was it brother Knut.”
The archbishop stood before the board
And spake to the King in courtesy,
“Fair lord thou hast bidden me hither
Spaak out then what thy will may be.”
“To a maiden have I plighted myself
Thou shalt wed me unto her aright;
Lord Axel lyeth near to her heart
Yet shall he forego the maiden bright.”
Therewith they wrote the summoning
And at the [T]hing let read it clear,
And so to meet the Archbishop proud
Must both those noble children fare.
So early on a morning-tide
When matins were sung to an end,
Unto the church must lord Axel ride
And with him did his troth-plight wend.
On his high horse that lord he leapt
And from his very heart he sighed.
In wain the maiden followed next
And in her heart her woe did hide.
On his high horse the knight he rode
His weary thoughts went to and fro.
In wain the maiden followed next
To hide her sorrow she well did know.
[f. 67, typescript no. 11]
Out spake the maiden Valborg
As through the roses did she go.
Seldom with sorrow a glad heart sigheth
But a sorrowful mouth laughs oft enow.
[f. 68, typescript no. 12]
And one dame held them at the font
When the priest the font’s gift gave,
Lord Asbion was their godfather
No more each other may they have.
[f. 69, typescript no. 13]
[f. 70, typescript no. 14]
[f. 71, typescript no. 15]
[f. 72, typescript no. 16]
[f. 73, typescript no. 17]
[f. 74, typescript no. 18]
[f. 75, typescript no. 19]
26. “Knight Aagen and Maiden Else: Translated From the Danish” ( It was the fair knight Aagen / To an isle he went his way, / And plighted troth to Else, / Who was so fair a may. )
Published Poems By the Way, CW, IX, 210-12.
27. Beowulf ( What! we of the Spear-Danes of yore days, so was it/ That we lear'd of the fair fame of Kings of the folks )
Published as The Tale of Beowulf Done Out of the Old English Tongue.
Trans. By William Morris and A. J. Wyatt. Kelmscott Press, 1895. Published
in CW, X, 173-284.
B. L Add. Ms. 45,218, f. 87 autograph pencil fragment, unrhymed; partial autograph draft
in Pierpont Morgan Library, M. A. 925, fol. 57.
28. The Odyssey of Homer ( Tell me, O Muse, of the Shifty, the man who wandered afar, / After the Holy Burg, Troy-town, he had wasted with war; )
Published in CW, XIII, 1-362. Manuscript in HM 6421, ff. 1-411 and 448, Morris's first draft in notebooks with black leather covers, white ruled paper.
preliminary draft, and HM6421, ff. 1-411. The latter is a fair copy in Morris's hand for the printer, with neat corrections throughout, which begins with the argument for book I and ends, "The End."
HM 6448, notebooks 2-6, Morris's autograph draft on white ruled paper in notebooks with black leather covers.
notebook 1 seems missing from this set—apparently this is HM 6421, which was catalogued apart from the others.
notebook 2 begins XI line 145, marked by Morris, and ends XV, line 104, marked in pencil by another hand; pages unnumbered.
notebook 3 begins XV line 105, marked in pencil by another hand, and ends book XXI, line 188, later pencil marking; some corrections.
notebook 4 begins Book 3, line 5, this label in Morris’s hand; pencil and ink first draft in white ruled notebook, corrections throughout. At end, written by another hand, “End of Book V.” This notebook seems a first draft of an earlier stage than notebooks 2 and 3.
notebook 5 begins Bk. XXI, line 209; this label is written in by another hand;
no notation is provided for the ending, which reads:
That a while and thrice so many fair gifts shall come to thee
Because of this overbearing: now refrain & hearken me.
notebook 6 white lined paper, rough draft some pencil and the rest ink, begins Book VI, pages unnumbered, and ends Book XI., line 144 later pencilled in.
A letter enclosed in this manuscript from Alexander Denham, export bookseller
27, Bloomsbury Square, W. C.
175 High Holborn
London, W. C.
February 17th, 1897
Mr. S. B. Lempster, [?] Jr.
New Inn
Dear Sir,
The manuscript of the Odyssey sent you is in the late Mr. Morris’ handwriting. It was purchased by us recently from a personal friend of Mr. Morris’s, who obtained it from the Poet himself in September, 1894. It has been in this gentleman’s possession since that date until we obtained it from him.
Yours truly,
Alexr Denham Jr
[Perhaps the “gentleman” was Thomas Wise?]
On the last page upside down is a pencil draft of poem from The Roots of the Mountains, see
HM 6448 also includes clipping of a Theodore Watts-Dunton article in Athenaeum, October 10th, 1896 which praises Morris's Odyssey.
Portions of the translation are at the Humanities Research Center Library, the University of Texas, Ms. file (Morris, W.), Works.
Non-Poetic Translations:
The Saga Library. Translated by William Morris and Eiríkr Magnússon. 6 vols. London: Bernard Quaritch, 1891-1901.
This included: vol. I, The Story of Howard the Halt, The Story of the Banded Men, The Story of Hen Thorir; vol. II. The Story of the Ere-Dwellers with the Story of the Heath-Slayings; Vol. III, IV, V, King Haralds Saga.
Part of Ms. in Pierpont Morgan Library M. A. 1894. The Story of Howard the Halt, with Eiríkr Magnússon, incomplete.
Sketch of the first 13 chapters in Morris’ hand in marbled notebook with white ruled paper, HM6426, ff. 1-33, to end of chap. XIII.
Morris autograph on white ruled paper, ink with numbers marked for songs, 1-11
begins, “Here begins the story of Howard of Icefirth.”
*Fragment of beginning for Hallbiorn the Strong, B. M. Add. Ms. 45,319b,
iv and v., 2 pp., pencil autograph in Morris’ hand, difficult to decipher.
In the eastland rivers
Oh Whitewater the eastern flood
In days agone a house there stood
Kediaberg had it not for long
And there dwelt Halbiorn the Strong
Now worn was summer many a day
The Story of the Dwellers at Eyr
Ms. Fitzwilliam Museum Library, 25F. calligraphic manuscript at the Bodleian Library, Ms. Eng. Misc. c. 265. Also a calligraphic manuscript at the Birmingham City Museum and Art Gallery, 92’20.
A calligraphic manuscript of the Story of the Ynglings from the Heimskringla Saga is in Kelmscott Manor.
King Harald, incomplete calligraphic manuscript is in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, Bodl. Ms. Eng. misc. d. 265.
The Story of Hen Thorir, calligraphic manuscript at the Bodleian Library, Oxford, Bodl. Ms. Eng. misc. d. 266. Also a calligraphic manuscript at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, Ms. 270.
The Story of the Banded Men, calligraphic manuscript at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, Ms. 270.
The Story of Haward the Halt, calligraphic manuscript at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, Ms. 270.
The Story of Harald: Kenneth Goodwin’s Handlist (1983) lists a calligraphic manuscript as in the possession of John M. Crawford, Jr. of NY. Completed around 1871.
Grettis Saga: The Story of Grettir the Strong. Translated from the Icelandic by William Morris and Eiríkr Magnusson. London: F. S. Ellis, 1869
Published in CW, VII, 1-282. See prefatory sonnet for this in A Book of Verse, and two sonnets for Grettir, B. L. Add. Ms. 45,318, f. 91. A. Ms. ready for printer, 1869, 25F.
Völsunga Saga: The Story of the Volsungs and Niblungs, with certain Songs from the Elder Edda. Translated by Eiríkir Magnusson and William Morris. London: Ellis, 1870
Published in CW, VII, 283-396. Proof sheets with corrections by Magnússon in B. L. Add. Ms. 45,746.
Three Northern Love Stories, and Other Tales. Translated by William Morris and Eirikr Magnusson. London Ellis and White, 1875.
Published in CW, X. These stories were “The Story of Frithiof the Bold and Viglund the Fair,” “The Tale of Hogni and Hedinn,” “The Tale of Roi the Fool,” “The Story of Thorstein Staff-Smitten,” and “The Story of Gunnlaug the Worm-Tongue and Raven the Skald.”
publication of “The Story of Frithiof the Bold” [Part I], Dark Blue, 1871; The Story of Frithiof the Bold [Part II] Dark Blue, 1871 Part of Ms. in Pierpont Morgan Library, M. A. 194.
Publication of “The Saga of Gunnlaug the Worm-tongue and Rafn the Skald,” Fortnightly Review, 1869. Reprinted 1891, Chiswick Press.
Old French Romances: Done into English. Translated by William Morris. London: George Allen, 1896. With an introduction by Joseph Jacobs.
The romances were: “The Tale of King Coustans the Emperor,” “The Friendship of Amis and Amile,” “The Tale of King Florus and the Fair Jehane,” and “The History of Over Sea.”
Of King Florus and the Fair Jehane. Translated by William Morris. Kelmscott Press, 1893.
The Tale of Emperor Coustans and Over Sea. Translated by William Morris, Kelmscott Press, 1894.
The manuscript is preserved in HM6438, ff. 1-45. Ff. 1-14 is the Emperor Coustans which ends on f. 14:
Herewithal endeth the story of King Constans the Emperor.
The said story was done out of the ancient French into English by William Morris.
Ff. 15-45 are The History of Over Sea which ends:
Here ends the story of Over Sea, done out of ancient French into English by William Morris
This book, the stories of the Emperor Coustans, and of Over Sea was printed by William Morris at the Kelmscott Press Upper Mall Hammersmith in the County of Middlesex, and finished on the [ ] day of 1894
Sold by William Morris at the Kelmscott Press
Child Christopher and Goldilind the Fair.
Published Kelmscott Press, 1895. Manuscript in HM 6419, ff. 1-151, Morris autograph. This concludes: “Here ends the story of Child Christopher and Goldilind the Fair; made by William Morris, and printed by him at the Kelmscott Press, Upper Mall Hammersmith in the County of Middlessex. Finished the day of 1895
Sold by William Morris at the Kelmscott Press"
The Story of Egil Son of Scaldgrim, calligraphic manuscript is at Kelmscott Manor.
The Story of Kormak the Son of Ogmund, translated by William Morris
and Eiríkr Magnusson.
Published by the William Morris Society, 1970, with an introduction by Grace
Calder and a note on the manuscript work of William Morris by Alfred Fairbank.
Ms. in Pierpont Morgan Library, M. A. 1894.
Hafbur and Signy, incomplete
Ms. in Pierpont Morgan Library, M. A. 1894
King Hafbur and King Siward, incomplete calligraphic manuscript; Bodleian
Library, Oxford Ms. Eng. misc. e. 233/2
Story of Sigi, incomplete
Calligraphic manuscript at the Bodleian Library, Oxford, MS. Eng. Misc. g. 59.
The Story of Halfdan the Black.
Kenneth Goodwin’s Handlist (1983) lists a calligraphic manuscript in the possession of John M. Crawford, Jr. of NY. Completed around 1871.
Thorstein and Gunnlaug, incomplete.
A partial calligraphic manuscript is in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, Bodl. Ms. Engl. Misc. e. 233/1.
* “Tristram” ( For the pricking on and moving of the hearts of noble folk to live gloriously and virtuously . . . . )
Unpublished. B. M. Add. Ms. 45,329, ff. 1-99 (ff. 89-99 in careful handwriting used for illuminated manuscripts) In May Morris' hand, "Manuscript of the date of The Earthly Paradise."
*The Lancelot du Lac, 3 vols., unfinished.
Described in CW, IX, xxxviii, unfinished. Kelmscott Manor, Autograph Ms. of translation from the French, 3 vols.