Lokasenna
01-29-2014, 09:45 AM
Some more translated Old Norse stuff, should any of you find it interesting. The 'Tale of Aušun' is a short prose work that appears in a large number of major manuscripts, and is often anthologised for its skillful design and self-contained nature. Short tales of this kind are often inserted into manuscripts containing larger sagas, often as a sort of intermission or digressionary episode from the main action of the text.
My translation sticks as closely to the original ON as I can get, whilst making it legible and grammatical. As a result, you may notice some stylistic quirks that seem out of place in modern English - most notably, the use of ok (meaning 'and', 'but' or 'also') with far greater frequency than we find today.
As ever, I'll do my best to answer any questions anyone might have.
Aušunar žįttr
Concerning how Aušun from the Westfjords brought King Sveinn a bear
There was a man named Aušun, a kind and poor man from the Westfjords. He sailed abroad from the Westfjords with the patronage of Žorstein, a good farmer, and Žórir the steersman who had received hospitality from Žorstein through the winter. Aušun was also there and he worked as a servant for Žórir, and had the voyage and his maintenance as payment for this. Aušun gave the greatest part of his property to his mother before he boarded the ship, and it was reckoned enough for her to live on for three winters. And now they went abroad from there, and they journeyed well, and Aušun spent the following winter with Žórir the steersman - he had a farm at Mrr. And during the summer after he went abroad from there to Greenland and was there through the winter. It is told that Aušun bought a bear there, a great treasure, and gave for it all that he possessed. Now the summer after they went back to Norway, and had a good voyage; Aušun had his bear with him and now he intended to travel south to Denmark and find King Sveinn and give him the bear. And when he went south into that land where the king (Haraldr of Norway) was stationed, then he disembarked from the ship, leading the bear behind him, and hired lodgings. King Haraldr was soon told that a bear had arrived, a great treasure, owned by an Icelandic man. The king sent men after him, and when Aušun came before the king, he greeted him well. The king accepted his greeting graciously, and then asked:
'Do you own a great treasure in the form of a bear?'
He answered and said that he owned such an animal.
The king replied, 'Will you sell us the animal for the same price that you paid for it?'
He answered, 'I will not do that, lord.'
'Will you do it then,' said the king, 'if I give you twice its price? That will be fairer if you gave all you possessed for it.'
'I will not do that, lord,' he said.
The king said, 'Will you give it to me, then?'
He answered, 'No, lord.'
The king said, 'Then what will you do with it?'
He answered that. 'I will go,' he said, 'to Denmark and give it to King Sveinn.'
King Haraldr said: 'Are you so ignorant a man that you have not heard that there is war between these lands, or do you consider your luck so great that you can take a treasure like this where even harmless people carrying nothing with them can scarcely manage to travel?'
Aušun answered, 'Lord, that is for you to decide, but I will agree to nothing except what I have already decided.'
Then the king said, 'Why should you not go on your way as wish to? But come visit me when you come back, and tell me how King Sveinn rewards you for the animal, and it may be that you are a lucky man.'
'I promise you that,' said Aušun.
Now afterwards he travelled south through the land, east to Vik and then on to Denmark; and when he had used up all his money, then he had to beg food for both himself and the animal. He met King Sveinn's steward, who was called Įki, and asked of him some provisions both for himself and for the bear.
'I intend,' he said, 'to give King Sveinn the bear.'
Įki offered to sell provisions to him is he wanted. Aušun said he had nothing to barter with.
'But I would nevertheless wish,' he said, 'to find some way of leading the animal to the king.'
'I will give you the provisions you need in order to meet the king, but I shall want to have a half-share in the animal. You must consider that it might die on your hands because it needs much food, and you have neither money nor food, and then you would have no bear at all.'
And when Aušun had considered this, it seemed to him somewhat in accordance with what the steward had said to him, so he sold Įki half the bear, the value of which the king should later estimate. The both planned now to go and meet the king, and this they did. They both went to a meeting with the king and stood by the table. The king tried to work out who this stranger was but could not, so then he said to Aušun:
'Who are you?' he said.
He answered: 'I am an Icelandic man, lord,' he said, 'and I have now come abroad from Greenland, and now from Norway, and I intended to bring you this bear; I purchased it with all that I possessed, but now a great misfortune has come over me: I now only own half the animal' - and then he told the king what had passed between him and Įki his steward. The king said:
'Is it true, Įki, what he says?'
'It is true,' he said.
The king said, 'And it seemed appropriate to you, after I gave you a great position, that you obstruct or hinder a man who tries to bring me a treasure and gave all he possessed for it, and whom King Haraldr permitted to travel in peace, even though we are at war? Now consider how fair that was on your part, and how fitting it would be if I put you to death. I shall not do that now, but you must leave this land immediately and never again come before my sight, And you, Aušun, I shall reward you as if you had given me the whole bear, and you will stay here with me.'
He thanked him for this, and stayed with King Sveinn for some time.
And when a certain amount of time had passed, then Aušun said to the king: 'I would like to go away now, lord.'
The king answered slowly: 'What will you do, then,' he said, 'if you are not with us?'
He said, 'I will go south [i.e. on a pilgrimage to Rome].'
'If you had not had such a noble idea,' said the king, 'I would have thought myself displeased, with you so eager to leave.'
And now the king gave Aušun a great deal of silver, and afterwards sent him south with pilgrims. The king made arrangements for his journey and told him to come and see him when he returned. Now he went on his pilgrimage and journeyed south to Rome. And when he had stayed there as long as he wanted, he started back; then he became dangerously ill, and then very thin. He had used up all the money that the king had given him for the journey; afterwards he had to take up begging and to ask for food. He became bald and rather wretched. Eventually he came to Denmark at Easter, near where the king was staying, but did not dare to show himself. He languished in a corner of the church, intending to meet the king when he came to church in the evening. But now when he saw the king and the beautifully dressed retinue, he did not dare show himself. And when the king went to drink in the hall, then Aušun stayed outside , as was customary for pilgrims if they were still with their staff and wallet. And now later, when the king went to Evensong, Aušun intended to approach him, yet hard as he had found it earlier in the evening, it now seemed harder when the courtiers had been drinking. When they went in again, then the king noticed the man and realised that he must not have the courage to approach him. And now when the retinue had gone in, the king remained outside and said:
'Now come forward, whoever wants to speak with me; I think it is that man over there.'
Then Aušun went forward and fell at the king's feet, and the king hardly recognized him. And when the king knew who he was, then the king took Aušun's hand and bade him welcome.
'But you are greatly changed,' he said, 'since last we met,' - and lead him in with him. And when the retainers saw him, they laughed at him, but the king said:
'There is no need for you to laugh at him, for he has provided better for his soul than you have.'
Then the king allowed him to be bathed and afterwards gave him clothes, and now he stayed with the king.
It is now said that one time the following spring, that the king asked Aušun to be with him permanently and said that he would make him his courtier and bestow much honour on him. Aušun said:
'God bless you, lord, for all the honour which you are willing to bestow on me, but it is my intention to go abroad to Iceland.
The king said: 'This seems to me a bizarre choice.'
Aušun replied: 'I don't like knowing, lord,' he said, 'that I have so much honour here with you, but that my mother must go begging out in Iceland, for the funds with which I provided her before I left Iceland will now be spent.'
The king said: 'That is well spoken and manly,' he said, 'and you will be a lucky man; this was the only reason that would not have upset me at your going away, but you must stay with me until the ships are ready.'
He did so.
One day, in late spring, King Sveinn walked over the piers where men were working at loading ships bound for various lands, to the Baltic lands or Saxony, to Sweden or Norway. Then he and Aušun came across a beautiful ship, which men were making ready. Then the king asked:
'Aušun, how do you like this ship?'
He answered, 'It's good, lord.'
The king said, 'I will give you this ship as reward for the bear.'
He thanked him as best he could for the gift. When some time had passed and the ship was fully prepared, King Sveinn said to Aušun:
'If you wish to go abroad now, I will not hinder you. But I have heard that your land has many poor harbours, and that the coasts are open and dangerous to ships. Now if you should be wrecked and lose ship and cargo, there would be little to show that you had met King Sveinn and given him a treasure.'
Then the king gave him a purse full of silver.
'And now will not be completely penniless, even if you wreck your ship, if you keep hold of this. But it may be,' said the king, 'that you lose this money. It would then be of little use that you met King Sveinn and gave him a treasure.'
Then the king drew an armlet from his arm and give it Aušun and said:
'Even if things go so badly that you wreck your ship and lose your money, you will not be without property if you reach land, because many men have gold on their person in a shipwreck; and people will see that you have met King Sveinn, if you keep the armlet. I would advise you,' said the king, 'not to give away the armlet unless you feel that you are greatly obliged to reward a noble man; then give them this armlet, because it is fitting for men of high rank to receive gifts. And now farewell.'
Afterwards he set off and came to Norway, where he unloaded his cargo and there was much more than when he was last in Norway. Now later he went to meeting with King Haraldr, wanting to fulfil his promise to him from when he left for Denmark previously, and greeted the king courteously. King Haraldr accepted his courteous greeting.
'And sit down,' he said, 'and drink with us.'
He did so. Then King Haraldr said:
'How did King Sveinn reward you for the animal?'
Aušun replied, 'He accepted it, lord.'
The king said, 'I would have rewarded you in that way. How else did he reward you?'
Aušun replied, 'He gave me money for a pilgrimage south.'
Then King Haraldr said, 'King Sveinn gives many men money for pilgrimages to the south and for other expeditions, even if they did not give him a treasure. Was there anything else?'
'He asked me,' said Aušun, 'to be made his courtier and show me much honour.'
'That was nobly said,' said the king, 'and did he reward you more?'
Aušun said, 'He gave me a ship with the cargo that sells best in Norway.'
'That was most generous,' said the king, 'but I would have given you that. Did he reward you further?'
Aušun said, 'He gave me a leather purse full of silver and told me that I would not be without property if I kept hold of it, even if I wrecked my ship off Iceland.'
The king said, 'That was nobly done, and I would not have done that. I would have felt that I had fulfilled my obligation if I gave you the ship. Did he give you further rewards?'
'It is true, lord,' said Aušun, 'that he did; he gave me this armlet which I have on my arm and said that if I should lose all my possessions I would not be without property if I owned this armlet, and he told me never to part with it unless I was obliged to reward a man of high rank so well that I wanted to give it to him. And now I have found that man, because you had the power to take everything from me, both the creature and my life, but you let me travel in peace as others are not allowed to do.'
The king accepted the gift graciously and gave Aušun many good gifts before they parted. Aušunn invested his money in goods to take to Iceland, and that summer journey out there and was thought the luckiest of men.
From this man, Aušun, is descended Žorsteinn Gyšuson.
My translation sticks as closely to the original ON as I can get, whilst making it legible and grammatical. As a result, you may notice some stylistic quirks that seem out of place in modern English - most notably, the use of ok (meaning 'and', 'but' or 'also') with far greater frequency than we find today.
As ever, I'll do my best to answer any questions anyone might have.
Aušunar žįttr
Concerning how Aušun from the Westfjords brought King Sveinn a bear
There was a man named Aušun, a kind and poor man from the Westfjords. He sailed abroad from the Westfjords with the patronage of Žorstein, a good farmer, and Žórir the steersman who had received hospitality from Žorstein through the winter. Aušun was also there and he worked as a servant for Žórir, and had the voyage and his maintenance as payment for this. Aušun gave the greatest part of his property to his mother before he boarded the ship, and it was reckoned enough for her to live on for three winters. And now they went abroad from there, and they journeyed well, and Aušun spent the following winter with Žórir the steersman - he had a farm at Mrr. And during the summer after he went abroad from there to Greenland and was there through the winter. It is told that Aušun bought a bear there, a great treasure, and gave for it all that he possessed. Now the summer after they went back to Norway, and had a good voyage; Aušun had his bear with him and now he intended to travel south to Denmark and find King Sveinn and give him the bear. And when he went south into that land where the king (Haraldr of Norway) was stationed, then he disembarked from the ship, leading the bear behind him, and hired lodgings. King Haraldr was soon told that a bear had arrived, a great treasure, owned by an Icelandic man. The king sent men after him, and when Aušun came before the king, he greeted him well. The king accepted his greeting graciously, and then asked:
'Do you own a great treasure in the form of a bear?'
He answered and said that he owned such an animal.
The king replied, 'Will you sell us the animal for the same price that you paid for it?'
He answered, 'I will not do that, lord.'
'Will you do it then,' said the king, 'if I give you twice its price? That will be fairer if you gave all you possessed for it.'
'I will not do that, lord,' he said.
The king said, 'Will you give it to me, then?'
He answered, 'No, lord.'
The king said, 'Then what will you do with it?'
He answered that. 'I will go,' he said, 'to Denmark and give it to King Sveinn.'
King Haraldr said: 'Are you so ignorant a man that you have not heard that there is war between these lands, or do you consider your luck so great that you can take a treasure like this where even harmless people carrying nothing with them can scarcely manage to travel?'
Aušun answered, 'Lord, that is for you to decide, but I will agree to nothing except what I have already decided.'
Then the king said, 'Why should you not go on your way as wish to? But come visit me when you come back, and tell me how King Sveinn rewards you for the animal, and it may be that you are a lucky man.'
'I promise you that,' said Aušun.
Now afterwards he travelled south through the land, east to Vik and then on to Denmark; and when he had used up all his money, then he had to beg food for both himself and the animal. He met King Sveinn's steward, who was called Įki, and asked of him some provisions both for himself and for the bear.
'I intend,' he said, 'to give King Sveinn the bear.'
Įki offered to sell provisions to him is he wanted. Aušun said he had nothing to barter with.
'But I would nevertheless wish,' he said, 'to find some way of leading the animal to the king.'
'I will give you the provisions you need in order to meet the king, but I shall want to have a half-share in the animal. You must consider that it might die on your hands because it needs much food, and you have neither money nor food, and then you would have no bear at all.'
And when Aušun had considered this, it seemed to him somewhat in accordance with what the steward had said to him, so he sold Įki half the bear, the value of which the king should later estimate. The both planned now to go and meet the king, and this they did. They both went to a meeting with the king and stood by the table. The king tried to work out who this stranger was but could not, so then he said to Aušun:
'Who are you?' he said.
He answered: 'I am an Icelandic man, lord,' he said, 'and I have now come abroad from Greenland, and now from Norway, and I intended to bring you this bear; I purchased it with all that I possessed, but now a great misfortune has come over me: I now only own half the animal' - and then he told the king what had passed between him and Įki his steward. The king said:
'Is it true, Įki, what he says?'
'It is true,' he said.
The king said, 'And it seemed appropriate to you, after I gave you a great position, that you obstruct or hinder a man who tries to bring me a treasure and gave all he possessed for it, and whom King Haraldr permitted to travel in peace, even though we are at war? Now consider how fair that was on your part, and how fitting it would be if I put you to death. I shall not do that now, but you must leave this land immediately and never again come before my sight, And you, Aušun, I shall reward you as if you had given me the whole bear, and you will stay here with me.'
He thanked him for this, and stayed with King Sveinn for some time.
And when a certain amount of time had passed, then Aušun said to the king: 'I would like to go away now, lord.'
The king answered slowly: 'What will you do, then,' he said, 'if you are not with us?'
He said, 'I will go south [i.e. on a pilgrimage to Rome].'
'If you had not had such a noble idea,' said the king, 'I would have thought myself displeased, with you so eager to leave.'
And now the king gave Aušun a great deal of silver, and afterwards sent him south with pilgrims. The king made arrangements for his journey and told him to come and see him when he returned. Now he went on his pilgrimage and journeyed south to Rome. And when he had stayed there as long as he wanted, he started back; then he became dangerously ill, and then very thin. He had used up all the money that the king had given him for the journey; afterwards he had to take up begging and to ask for food. He became bald and rather wretched. Eventually he came to Denmark at Easter, near where the king was staying, but did not dare to show himself. He languished in a corner of the church, intending to meet the king when he came to church in the evening. But now when he saw the king and the beautifully dressed retinue, he did not dare show himself. And when the king went to drink in the hall, then Aušun stayed outside , as was customary for pilgrims if they were still with their staff and wallet. And now later, when the king went to Evensong, Aušun intended to approach him, yet hard as he had found it earlier in the evening, it now seemed harder when the courtiers had been drinking. When they went in again, then the king noticed the man and realised that he must not have the courage to approach him. And now when the retinue had gone in, the king remained outside and said:
'Now come forward, whoever wants to speak with me; I think it is that man over there.'
Then Aušun went forward and fell at the king's feet, and the king hardly recognized him. And when the king knew who he was, then the king took Aušun's hand and bade him welcome.
'But you are greatly changed,' he said, 'since last we met,' - and lead him in with him. And when the retainers saw him, they laughed at him, but the king said:
'There is no need for you to laugh at him, for he has provided better for his soul than you have.'
Then the king allowed him to be bathed and afterwards gave him clothes, and now he stayed with the king.
It is now said that one time the following spring, that the king asked Aušun to be with him permanently and said that he would make him his courtier and bestow much honour on him. Aušun said:
'God bless you, lord, for all the honour which you are willing to bestow on me, but it is my intention to go abroad to Iceland.
The king said: 'This seems to me a bizarre choice.'
Aušun replied: 'I don't like knowing, lord,' he said, 'that I have so much honour here with you, but that my mother must go begging out in Iceland, for the funds with which I provided her before I left Iceland will now be spent.'
The king said: 'That is well spoken and manly,' he said, 'and you will be a lucky man; this was the only reason that would not have upset me at your going away, but you must stay with me until the ships are ready.'
He did so.
One day, in late spring, King Sveinn walked over the piers where men were working at loading ships bound for various lands, to the Baltic lands or Saxony, to Sweden or Norway. Then he and Aušun came across a beautiful ship, which men were making ready. Then the king asked:
'Aušun, how do you like this ship?'
He answered, 'It's good, lord.'
The king said, 'I will give you this ship as reward for the bear.'
He thanked him as best he could for the gift. When some time had passed and the ship was fully prepared, King Sveinn said to Aušun:
'If you wish to go abroad now, I will not hinder you. But I have heard that your land has many poor harbours, and that the coasts are open and dangerous to ships. Now if you should be wrecked and lose ship and cargo, there would be little to show that you had met King Sveinn and given him a treasure.'
Then the king gave him a purse full of silver.
'And now will not be completely penniless, even if you wreck your ship, if you keep hold of this. But it may be,' said the king, 'that you lose this money. It would then be of little use that you met King Sveinn and gave him a treasure.'
Then the king drew an armlet from his arm and give it Aušun and said:
'Even if things go so badly that you wreck your ship and lose your money, you will not be without property if you reach land, because many men have gold on their person in a shipwreck; and people will see that you have met King Sveinn, if you keep the armlet. I would advise you,' said the king, 'not to give away the armlet unless you feel that you are greatly obliged to reward a noble man; then give them this armlet, because it is fitting for men of high rank to receive gifts. And now farewell.'
Afterwards he set off and came to Norway, where he unloaded his cargo and there was much more than when he was last in Norway. Now later he went to meeting with King Haraldr, wanting to fulfil his promise to him from when he left for Denmark previously, and greeted the king courteously. King Haraldr accepted his courteous greeting.
'And sit down,' he said, 'and drink with us.'
He did so. Then King Haraldr said:
'How did King Sveinn reward you for the animal?'
Aušun replied, 'He accepted it, lord.'
The king said, 'I would have rewarded you in that way. How else did he reward you?'
Aušun replied, 'He gave me money for a pilgrimage south.'
Then King Haraldr said, 'King Sveinn gives many men money for pilgrimages to the south and for other expeditions, even if they did not give him a treasure. Was there anything else?'
'He asked me,' said Aušun, 'to be made his courtier and show me much honour.'
'That was nobly said,' said the king, 'and did he reward you more?'
Aušun said, 'He gave me a ship with the cargo that sells best in Norway.'
'That was most generous,' said the king, 'but I would have given you that. Did he reward you further?'
Aušun said, 'He gave me a leather purse full of silver and told me that I would not be without property if I kept hold of it, even if I wrecked my ship off Iceland.'
The king said, 'That was nobly done, and I would not have done that. I would have felt that I had fulfilled my obligation if I gave you the ship. Did he give you further rewards?'
'It is true, lord,' said Aušun, 'that he did; he gave me this armlet which I have on my arm and said that if I should lose all my possessions I would not be without property if I owned this armlet, and he told me never to part with it unless I was obliged to reward a man of high rank so well that I wanted to give it to him. And now I have found that man, because you had the power to take everything from me, both the creature and my life, but you let me travel in peace as others are not allowed to do.'
The king accepted the gift graciously and gave Aušun many good gifts before they parted. Aušunn invested his money in goods to take to Iceland, and that summer journey out there and was thought the luckiest of men.
From this man, Aušun, is descended Žorsteinn Gyšuson.