Thor was returning from a lourney to the east and came to a sound; on the other side of the sound was the ferryman with a boat. Thor cried out:
1.
Who is that fool of fools
on the far shore?
The ferryman said:
2.
Who is that clown of clowns
who calls across the fjord?
Thor said:
3.
Ferry me over:
I will feed you this morning.
In the bag on my back
are the best of foods,
Herrings and goatmeat:
I am glutted with them.
Before I left home
I ate my fill.
The ferryman said:
4.
You would never
praise them
if you knew all:
Your kin are mourning:
your mother is dead.
Thor said:
5.
What you say
is the saddest thing
A man can hear -
that my mother is dead.
The ferryman said:
6.
You don't look
like a lord with lands of your own:
Without breeches, barefooted,
You look more like a tramp.
Thor said:
7.
Row over your boat
and beach it where I show you.
Who owns the boat
you hold to the shore?
Harbard said:
8.
Battle-Wolf:
he is wise in counsel
And sits in a hall
on the sound of Radsey.
I am ordered to refuse
horse-thieves and robbers,
Accept only those
I can see are honest:
Tell me your name
if you would travel across.
Thor said:
9.
I would tell you my name,
tell you my lineage,
Were I an outlaw:
I am Odin's son,
Meili's brother
and Magni's father,
The god who throws.
With Thor you deal.
In turn I bid you
tell me your name.
Harbard said:
10.
My name is Harbard:
I hide it seldom.
Thor said:
11.
Why hide your name
if not condemned?
Harbard said:
12.
Though condemned,
unless I be doomed to fall,
I would save my life
from such as you.
Thor said:
13.
Demeaning it would be
to wade over
And ruin my gear:
you will get
what you deserve
For your clodhopper's taunts
if I cross the fjord.
Harbard said:
14.
Wade away:
I will wait for you.
No harder man have you met
since Hrungnir died.
Thor said:
15.
How dare you refer
to my fight with Hrungnir,
The stout-hearted giant
with a stone head!
I struck him down;
he fell dead before me.
Meanwhile, what were you doing?
Harbard said:
16.
I was with Fjolver
for five winters.
We fought battles,
felled heroes,
And wooed maidens:
we had much to do.
Thor said:
17.
How were the women you won there?
Harbard said:
18.
Lively they were,
once they were tamed,
Wise too,
once they grew faithful:
Out of sea-sand
they spun ropes,
Dug out the bottoms
of deep valleys.
Among those fair ones
I was first in counsel:
With seven sisters I dallied
And had my way with them all.
Meanwhile, what were you doing?
Thor said:
19.
The mighty-thewed
Thjazi I slew,
Cast the eyes
of the son of All-Wielder
Up into bright heaven:
They are the mightiest marks
of my works,
Hereafter to be seen by all mankind.
Meanwhile, what were you doing?
Harbard said:
20.
With potent love-charms
I lured from their husbands
Hateful night-riding hags:
A hard giant
I thought Hlebard to be;
He brought me a magic branch,
But I charmed away his wits.
Thor said:
21.
For his good gifts
you gave him evil.
Harbard said:
22.
One oak gets the fruit
that falls from another:
It is each for himself at all times.
Meanwhile, what were you doing?
Thor said:
23.
I was in the east,
the home of the giants,
And thrashed their brides
on their way back to the fells:
The giants would rule all,
if all were alive,
All men lie dead
under Middle Earth.
Meanwhile, what were you doing?
Harbard said:
24.
I was in Gaul:
I egged on to battle
Boar-helmets
and forbade them peace.
To Odin belong the earls
who are slain,
But Thor gets the kin of thralls.
Thor said:
25.
Unfairly would
the gods fare at your hands,
Were you as strong as you wish.
Harbard said:
26.
You are strong enough
but not stout- hearted,
For you cowered, Thor,
in the thumb of a glove
And forgot that you were a god:
You dared not then,
your dread was so great,
Either sneeze or break-wind,
lest Fjalar hear.
Thor said:
27.
Be silent, slave!
I would send you to Hel,
Could I but stretch across the fjord.
Harbard said:
28.
Why should you stretch?
There is no strife between us.
Meanwhile, what were you doing?
Thor said:
29.
I was in the east,
where I held the river:
There the Sons of Svarang
sought me out,
They lobbed stones
but little that helped them,
I beat them down
till they begged for peace.
Meanwhile, what were you doing?
Harbard said:
30.
I was traveling in the east
where I talked and played
With a linen-white one and had a love-meeting said:
I gladdened Gold-bright
and gave her pleasure.
Thor said:
31.
You had luck in your choice of a lovely maid.
Harbard said:
32.
I could have used
your help, then,
to hold her fast.
Thor said:
33.
I would have helped you,
had I had the chance.
Harbard said:
34.
I would have trusted you, had you not betrayed our pact.
Thor said:
35.
I am no heel-biter
like an old hide-shoe in Spring.
Harbard said:
36.
Meanwhile, what were you doing?
Thor said:
37.
I battled in Hlesey
with the Berserk's wives,
Who had done their worst
to bewitch the folk.
Harbard said:
38.
It was base of you, Thor,
to battle with women.
Thor said:
39.
No women they were,
but wolves rather:
They shattered my ship
on the shore where I beached it -
And chased away Thjalfi
with threatening clubs.
Meanwhile, what were you doing?
Harbard said:
40.
I was with an army:
hither we came
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
To raise banners
and redden spears.
Thor said:
41.
Do you mean
that you came to make war?
Harbard said:
42.
A ring would better
the bargain for you,
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
A cool umpire
to calm our dispute.
Thor said:
43.
From where did you take
such taunting words?
Never have I borne
with more bitter taunts.
Harbard said:
44.
I took them from men,
from men of old
Who are housed in Earth's Wood.
Thor said:
45.
A goodly name you give to barrows
When you hail them as Earth's Wood.
Harbard said:
46.
Thus I judge such things.
Thor said:
47.
Little good would you get
for your glibness of tongue
If I should wade through the water said:
Louder than a wolf,
I believe, you would presently
Howl at a tap from my hammer.
Harbard said:
48.
You could prove your mettle
with more point at home,
Where Sif in your absence
sits with a lover.
Thor said:
49.
What you say now
is of all news the worst said:
Shameless coward,
I am sure that you lie.
Harbard said:
50.
I say it is true:
you are slow on your journey.
Further would you have stepped
had you started at dawn.
Thor said:
51.
You lie!
It is you who have delayed my journey.
Harbard said:
52.
I never thought that
Thor of the gods
Would be worsted on his way by a herdsman.
Thor said:
53.
Harbard, bring
your boat across now:
Let us argue no more;
come to Magni's father.
Harbard said:
54.
Depart from the fjord:
your passage is denied.
Thor said:
55.
Then show me the way
since you won't ferry me.
Harbard said:
56.
Little it is to deny,
long it is to travel:
An hour to the stock,
to the stone another,
Keep left till you reach
the Land of Man;
There will Fjörgyn
meet Thor, her son,
And show him the highway
to Odin's land.
Thor said:
57.
Shall I reach home today?
Harbard said:
58.
By sunrise with much
sorrow and toil
Thor will get home, I think.
Thor said:
59.
We will speak no more:
if we meet again,
You shall pay for your refusal
to ferry me over.
Harbard said:
60.
Drop dead!
May the demons have you!