{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_26802/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_26802","id":"gutenberg_26802","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/26802","summary":null,"tags":["Ballads","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Poetry","English poetry"],"text":"Transcribed from the 1913 Thomas J. Wise pamphlet, email ccx074@pglaf.org\n\n\n\n\n\n                               KING DIDERIK\n                        AND THE FIGHT BETWEEN THE\n                             LION AND DRAGON\n\n\n                            AND OTHER BALLADS\n\n                                    BY\n                              GEORGE BORROW\n\n                                 LONDON:\n                     PRINTED FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION\n\n                                   1913\n\n               _Copyright in the United States of America_\n           _by Houghton_, _Mifflin & Co. for Clement Shorter_.\n\n\n\n\nKING DIDERIK AND THE LION\u2019S FIGHT WITH THE DRAGON\n\n\nFrom Bern rode forth King Diderik,\n   A stately warrior form;\nEngaged in fray he found in the way\n   A lion and laidly worm. {5}\n\nThey fought for a day, they fought for two,\n   But ere the third was flown,\nThe worm outfought the beast, and brought\n   To earth the lion down.\n\nThen cried the lion in his need\n   When he the warrior saw:\n\u201cO aid me quick, King Diderik,\n   To \u2019scape the Dragon\u2019s claw.\n\n\u201cO aid me quick, King Diderik,\n   For the mighty God thou fearest;\nA lion save for the lion brave,\n   Which on thy shield thou bearest.\n\n\u201cCome to my rescue, thou noble King,\n   Help, help me for thy name;\nUpon thy targe I stand at large,\n   Glittering like a flame.\u201d\n\nLong, long stood he, King Diderik,\n   Deep musing thereupon;\nAt length he cried: \u201cWhate\u2019er betide\n   I\u2019ll help thee, noble one.\u201d\n\nIt was Sir King Diderik,\n   His good sword bare he made:\nWith courage fraught, the worm he fought,\n   Till blood tinged all the blade.\n\nThe gallant lord would not delay\n   So fast his blows he dealt;\nHe hacked and gored until his sword\n   Was sundered at the hilt.\n\nThe Lindworm took him upon her back,\n   The horse beneath her tongue;\nTo her mountain den she hurried then\n   To her eleven young.\n\nThe horse she cast before her young,\n   The man in a nook she throws:\n\u201cAssuage your greed upon the steed,\n   But I will to repose.\n\n\u201cI pray ye feed upon the steed,\n   At present no more I can;\nWhen I upleap, refreshed, from sleep,\n   We\u2019ll feast upon the man.\u201d\n\nIt was Sir King Diderik,\n   In the hill he searched around;\nThen, helped by the Lord, the famous sword\n   Called Adelring he found.\n\nAye there he found so sharp a sword,\n   And a knife with a golden heft:\n\u201cKing Sigfred be God\u2019s grace with thee,\n   For here thy life was reft!\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve been with thee in many a fight,\n   In many an inroad too,\nBut that thy doom had been in this tomb\n   I never, never knew.\u201d\n\nIt was Sir King Diderik,\n   Would prove the faulchion\u2019s might;\nHe hewed upon the flinty stone\n   \u2019Till all around was light.\n\nIt was the youngest Lindworm saw\n   The sparks the hill illume:\n\u201cWho dares awake the fiery snake\n   In her own sleeping room?\u201d\n\nThe Lindworm gnashed its teeth with rage,\n   Its grinning fangs it show\u2019d:\n\u201cWho dares awake the mother snake\n   Within her own abode?\u201d\n\nThen spake the other little ones,\n   From the dark nooks of the hill:\n\u201cIf from her sleep the old one leap,\n   \u2019Twill fare with thee but ill.\u201d\n\nThen answered Sir King Diderik,\n   His eyes with fury gleam:\n\u201cI will awake your mother snake\n   With chilly, chilly dream.\n\n\u201cYour mother she King Sigfred slew,\n   A man of noble line;\nI\u2019ll on ye all avenge his fall\n   With this good hand of mine.\u201d\n\nAnd then awaked the Lindworm old,\n   And on her fell such fear:\n\u201cWho thus with riot disturbs my quiet?\n   What noise is this I hear?\u201d\n\nThen said King Diderik: \u201c\u2019Tis I,\n   And this have I to say:\nO\u2019er hill and dale, \u2019neath thy crooked tail,\n   Thou brought\u2019st me yesterday.\u201d\n\n\u201cO hew me not, King Diderik,\n   I\u2019ll give thee all my hoard;\n\u2019Twere best that we good friends should be,\n   So cast away thy sword.\u201d\n\n\u201cI pay no trust to thy false device,\n   Befool me thou wouldst fain;\nFull many hast thou destroyed ere now,\n   Thou never shalt again.\u201d\n\n\u201cHear me, Sir King Diderik,\n   Forbear to do me ill,\nAnd thee I\u2019ll guide to thy plighted bride,\n   She\u2019s hidden in the hill.\n\n\u201cAbove by my head, King Diderik,\n   Is hung the little key;\nBelow by my feet to the maiden sweet\n   Descend thou fearlessly.\u201d\n\n\u201cAbove by thy head, thou serpent curst,\n   To begin I now intend;\nBelow by thy feet, as is full meet,\n   I soon shall make an end.\u201d\n\nThen first the laidly worm he slew,\n   And then her young he smote;\nBut in vain did he try from the mountain to fly,\n   For tongues of snakes thrust out.\n\nSo then with toil in the rocky soil\n   He dug a trench profound,\nThat in the flood of serpent blood\n   And bane he might not be drowned.\n\nThen bann\u2019d the good King Diderik,\n   On the lion he wroth became:\n\u201cBann\u2019d, bann\u2019d,\u201d said he, \u201cmay the lion be,\n   Confusion be his and shame.\u201d\n\n\u201cWith subtle thought the brute has brought\n   On me this grievous risk;\nWhich I ne\u2019er had seen had he not been\n   Graved on my buckler\u2019s disc.\u201d\n\nAnd when the gallant lion heard\n   The King bewail his hap:\n\u201cStand fast, good lord,\u201d the lion roared,\n   \u201cWhile with my claws I scrap.\u201d\n\nThe lion scrapp\u2019d, King Diderik hewed,\n   Bright sparks the gloom relieved;\nUnless the beast had the knight released\n   He\u2019d soon to death have grieved.\n\nSo when he had slain the laidly worm,\n   And her offspring all had kill\u2019d;\nEscaped the knight to the morning light,\n   With heavy cuirass and shield.\n\nAnd when he had now come out of the hill\n   For his gallant courser he sighed;\nWith reason good he trust him could,\n   For they had each other tried.\n\n\u201cO there\u2019s no need to bewail the steed,\n   Which thou, Sir King, hast miss\u2019d;\nI am thy friend, my back ascend,\n   And ride where\u2019er thou list.\u201d\n\nSo he rode o\u2019er the deepest dales,\n   And o\u2019er the verdant meads;\nThe knight he rode, the lion strode,\n   Through the dim forest glades.\n\nThe lion and King Diderik\n   Together thenceforth remain;\nEach death had braved, and the other saved\n   From peril sore and pain.\n\nWhere\u2019er King Diderik rode in the fields\n   The lion beside him sped;\nWhen on the ground the knight sat down\n   In his bosom he laid his head.\n\nWherefore they call him the lion knight\n   With fame that name he bore;\nTheir love so great did ne\u2019er abate\n   Until their dying hour.\n\n\n\n\nDIDERIK AND OLGER THE DANE\n\n\nWith his eighteen brothers Diderik stark\n   Dwells in the hills of Bern;\nAnd each I wot twelve sons has got,\n   For manly feats they yearn.\n\nHe has twelve sisters, each of them\n   A dozen sons can show;\nThirteen the youngest, gallant lads,\n   Of fear who nothing know.\n\nTo stand before the King a crowd\n   Of giant bodies move;\nI say to ye forsooth their heads\n   O\u2019ertopped the beechen grove.\n\n\u201cWith knights of pride we war have plied\n   For many, many a year;\nOf Olger, who in Denmark reigns,\n   Such mighty things we hear.\n\n\u201cMen talk so fain of Olger Dane\n   Who dwells in Jutland\u2019s fields;\nCrowned is his head with gold so red,\n   No tribute us he yields.\u201d\n\nThen Swerting took a mace, and shook\n   That mace right furiously:\n\u201cFrom ten times ten of Olger\u2019s men\n   I would not look to flee!\u201d\n\n\u201cHark, Swerting, hark, of visage dark,\n   Esteem them not so little;\nI\u2019d have thee ken that Olger\u2019s men\n   Are knights of gallant mettle.\n\n\u201cThey feel no fright for faulchions,\n   For arrows no dismay;\nThe desperate fight is their delight,\n   They deem it children\u2019s play.\u201d\n\nThen cried the mighty man of Bern,\n   When pondered long had he:\n\u201cTo Denmark we will wend, and learn\n   At home if Olger be.\u201d\n\nThey took their route from Berner land,\n   They eighteen thousand were;\nKing Olger good they visit would,\n   And to Denmark all repair.\n\nA messenger by Diderik sent\n   To Danish Olger goes:\n\u201cSay, will ye tribute pay to us,\n   Or with us bandy blows?\u201d\n\nThen full of wrath King Olger grew,\n   Such speech he could not bear:\n\u201cLet Diderik meet us on the wold,\n   We\u2019ll battle with him there.\n\n\u201cTribute to pay each Dane would scorn,\n   He\u2019s wont himself to take it;\nOur tribute ye will like but ill,\n   If ye come here to seek it.\u201d\n\nHis kemps then gathering in a ring\n   The news to them he told:\n\u201cBern\u2019s haughty lord has sent us word\n   That he\u2019ll have tribute-gold.\n\n\u201cHe\u2019ll either tribute have, or hold\n   With us a bloody feud;\nBut the first King he will not be\n   We have this year subdued.\u201d\n\nThen cried in scorn a kempion good,\n   King Diderik\u2019s envoy to:\n\u201cTo waste our home if Berners come\n   They all hence out won\u2019t go.\u201d\n\nSoon as the news he heard, full glad\n   Was Ulf Van Yern, and gay;\nThen laughed outright bold Hogen knight:\n   \u201cToo long do they delay.\u201d\n\nIt was Vidrik Verlandson,\n   High beat with joy his heart;\nThen said amain Orm Ungerswayne:\n   \u201cTo meet them let us start.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe first man I\u2019ll be in the van,\u201d\n   Sir Ivor Blue he cried:\n\u201cNor shall ye say that I was last,\u201d\n   Sir Kulden Gray replied.\n\nKing Olger on the verdant wold\n   With Diderik battle join\u2019d;\nTo fight they went, no jest they meant,\n   So wroth were they in mind.\n\nEndured for three long days the fray,\n   And flinch would neither side;\nTo help his lord each Dane his sword\n   In desperation plied.\n\nDown ran the blood, like raging flood\n   Which \u2019neath steep hills doth pour;\nThen tribute they were forced to pay\n   Who tribute asked before.\n\nRose in the sky the blood-reek high,\n   And dimmed the lustrous sun;\n\u2019Twas sad to spy the brave men lie\n   So thick the earth upon.\n\nIn gore lay thick both men and steeds,\n   Dear friends were parted there;\nAll did not laugh the feast who sought,\n   Too hot they found the fare.\n\nNow tamer grown, the Berner Jutt\n   Thought thus himself within:\n\u201cOf us a hundred scarce remain,\n   We cannot hope to win.\u201d\n\nThen took he to his heels and ran,\n   Not often back looked he;\nTo say good night forgot Swerting quite,\n   For Bern, for Bern they flee.\n\nThen Diderik turned him with a shout\n   That shook the vaulted skies:\n\u201cBern, Bern\u2019s the place for us, I guess,\n   For here no refuge lies!\u201d\n\nThen answered \u2019neath the green hill\u2019s side\n   The son of Verland keen:\n\u201cYe and your host will little boast\n   Ye have in Denmark been.\u201d\n\nFull eighteen thousand knights were they\n   When out they marched from Bern;\nWounded and worn but seventy-five\n   With drooping crests, return.\n\n\n\n\nOLGER THE DANE AND BURMAN\n\n\nBurman in the mountain holds,\n   Makes his shield shine brightly there;\nA message he sends to Iceland\u2019s King,\n   For he has a daughter fair.\n\n\u201cHear, good King of Iceland, hear,\n   Hear what now I say to thee:\nGive to me thy daughter fair,\n   And divide thy land with me.\n\n\u201cEither yield thy daughter fair,\n   And divide with me thy land,\nOr the warrior good prepare\n   Who in fight can me withstand.\u201d\n\n\u201cI have daughter none but one,\n   Damsel Gloriant her they call;\nTo King Carvel she\u2019s betrothed,\n   And in him my trust is all.\n\n\u201cI have given her to a King\n   And King Carvel hight is he;\nIf he fail to defend the maid,\n   Then thy booty she shall be.\u201d\n\n\u2019Twas the King of Iceland good,\n   To his daughter\u2019s bower he goes;\nAnd the Damsel Gloriant\n   To receive him gently rose.\n\n\u201cHear, all dearest daughter mine,\n   For I bring thee tidings new;\nBurman in the mountain holds,\n   He would win thee and doth woo.\n\n\u201cBurman is a kempion dour,\n   And of jesting nought he knows;\nHe will surely have thee soon,\n   If no warrior him oppose.\u201d\n\nIt was Damsel Gloriant,\n   Silent would no longer stand:\n\u201cIn our tower a prisoner is\n   Who will Burman take in hand.\u201d\n\nIt was Damsel Gloriant,\n   Her blue mantle o\u2019er her threw;\nSwiftly to the prison tower,\n   Where the prisoners lay she flew.\n\nIt was Damsel Gloriant,\n   \u2019Bove the prisoners all she cried:\n\u201cHear thou, Olger good, the Dane,\n   Have thy legs yet power to stride?\n\n\u201cArt thou living, Olger Dane?\n   I have something to impart;\nThere is a trold for me that lusts,\n   And that trold is Burman swart.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ll not wed the filthy guest,\n   I\u2019m betrothed to Christian knight;\nI to thee will subject be\n   If thou conquer him in fight.\u201d\n\n\u201cHere I\u2019ve lain for fifteen years,\n   All in chains and bondage hard;\nBlessings on thee, Gloriant,\n   That to me thou hast repaired.\n\n\u201cHere for fifteen years I\u2019ve lain,\n   Borne fierce hunger-pangs, and thirst;\nI\u2019m not able now to wage\n   Fight as I was able erst.\u201d\n\n\u201cHear thou me, good Olger Dane,\n   Save me from my peril, save;\nEre I take the ugly trold\n   I would fling me in my grave.\n\n\u201cBurman is fierce, his horse is wild\n   I to thee will tell forsooth,\nI have heard and been assured\n   That he bites with wolfish tooth.\n\n\u201cNothing, nothing will he eat\n   But the flesh of Christian men;\nAnd nothing, nothing, will he drink\n   But human blood mixt up with bane.\u201d\n\n\u201cThy father means a gallant man,\n   King Carvel to share thy bed;\nCan he not hold thee from the trold,\n   That thou unto me hast sped?\n\n\u201cBlessings on thee, Gloriant,\n   That thou didst upon me think,\nWith Burman I will break a lance\n   If thou give me good meat and drink.\n\n\u201cCanst thou procure my horse again,\n   My good sword and hauberk tried?\nThen for thy sake it will be,\n   I a course with him will ride.\n\n\u201cCarvel is my stall-brother true,\n   To his ears \u2019twill doubtless come;\nRather would I lose my life\n   Than the fiend should bear thee home.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe best food which thou shalt choose\n   I for thee will straight provide;\nAnd I will give thee thy steed again,\n   Which thou lovest best to ride.\n\n\u201cI will give thee the strongest sword\n   E\u2019er that armed a warrior\u2019s side;\nGive thee too a faulchion hard,\n   Well thereon thou may\u2019st confide.\u201d\n\nOlger from the tower they took,\n   Garments for him have they wrought;\nThey sat him highest at the board,\n   And rich meats for him they brought.\n\nBurman riding came to court,\n   Thought to bear the maid away;\nOlger the Dane against him rode,\n   And soon found him rougher play.\n\nFor two days they stoutly fought,\n   As the third towards evening drew\nDown upon a stone they sat,\n   They their strength would there renew.\n\nThen the valiant Burman kemp,\n   To the Danish Olger said:\n\u201cQuarter I will grant, if thou\n   Wilt believe in Mahommed.\u201d\n\nLittle could brook that, Olger the Dane,\n   On his foe fierce looks he bent:\n\u201cWhen thou dwell in blackest hell\n   Say by Olger thou wast sent.\u201d\n\nUp then leapt the kempions twain,\n   \u2019Gainst each other rode anew;\nThen asunder went their helms,\n   And afar their faulchions flew.\n\nThey fought so long, they fought so hard,\n   That their strength was well-nigh flown;\nSlain at length was Burman Kemp,\n   Dead to earth fell Burman down.\n\nOlger to the Damsel rode:\n   \u201cThou mayst take thy plighted knight,\nFor I have with my good sword\n   Slain the foul and poisonous sprite.\u201d\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                                 LONDON:\n               Printed for THOMAS J. WISE, Hampstead, N.W.\n\n                    _Edition limited to Thirty Copies_\n\n\n\n\nFootnotes:\n\n\n{5}  Dragon.","title":"King Diderik and the fight between the Lion and Dragon, and Other Ballads","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":2512}