English poem
To Irold and his kinsmen kind greeting Hilda said
by Mary Pickering Nichols (1829–1915)
To Irold and his kinsmen kind greeting Hilda said; Then to the aged Wâ-te a lowly bow she made. “Welcome, knight of Sturmland! bravely thou hast striven! Who can e’er reward thee, unless to thee both land and crown are given?”
He to the lady answered: “To help you all I may, For that am I most willing, e’en to my latest day.” Then, for love, she kissed him, and Ortwin thus she greeted. Now came Herwic also, with proud and worthy knights, as him befitted.
Ortrun, the Norman maiden, then by the hand he led. Gu-drun besought her mother kindly to meet the maid: “Dear lady, greet with kisses this good and high-born maiden; Oft in my years of sorrow my life with help and kindness she did gladden.”
More by Mary Pickering Nichols
- To her the king thus answered: “That shall quickly be
- To her then said fair Hildeburg: “For me it were not well
- To her then said Lord Herwic: “How can she be clad
- To him, the king of Sealand, great ill erelong was wrought
- To meet her friend, old Wâ-te, went Gu-drun alone
- To our beleaguered foemen we nought of this must tell
- Upon the fourth day’s morning to court they bravely rode
- Upon the morrow early, thither to come was seen