vedergallningen

jag blev fodd forr an tuppen gol
-mina stigar de ligga sa vida
min moder blev dod innan upp rann sol
-sjalv maste hon sorgen forbida

min fader drager sa vitt om land
-mina stigar de ligga sa vida
sa ond en styvmoder han pa fann
-sjalv maste hon sorgen forbida

forst skapte hon mig i naler
och sade jag skulle trana
sa skapte hon mig i kniver
och sade jag skulle icke trivas

sa skapte hon mig i saxer
och sade jag skulle icke vaxa
sa skapte hon mig i ulven gra
och sade jag skulle at skogen ga

hon sade jag skulle ej fa bot
forran jag druckit min broders blod

sa lade jag mig under lida dar
styvmodern min skulle framrida

sa lade jag mig under spange
dar min styvmoder skulle framganga
dar tager jag till med maste
min styvmoder utav haste

sa tog jag till med harme
hennes foster ur hennes barme
nar jag hade druckit min broders blod
sa blev jag en riddare bold och god


vengeance

before the cock crew i was born
- far are the paths that i follow -
my mother was dead before the dawn
- long, long she awaited her sorrow

- my father travelled the country round,
an ill stepmother to me he found.

into a needle she conjured me
and said that longing would torture me
and then she turned me into a knife
and said i would suffer all my life.

she turned me into a pair of shears
and said i´d be stunted all my years.
a grey wolf then she made of me,
and asid no good would come of me.

under this curse i was to suffer
till i drank the blood of my own brother.

so then i lay in hiding
till my stepmother came riding.

by the bridgehead i lay watching
till i saw her horse approaching.
and as she passed i caught her
and down from her horse i brought her.

in vengeance cruel and bloody
i took the child from her body.
and when i had drunk my brother´s blood,
i became a knight, gallant and good.

translation by alistar cochrane