As we the Berserk's tale

Measured in cups of ale,

Draining the oaken pail,
Filled to o'erflowing.

"Once, as I told in glee
Tales of the stormy sea,
Soft eyes did gaze on me,
Burning, yet tender;
And as the white stars shine
On the dark Norway pine,
On that dark heart of mine
Fell their soft splendor.

"I wooed the blue-eyed maid, Yielding, yet half afraid, And in the forest's shade

Our vows were plighted.

Under its loosened vest
Fluttered her little breast,
Like birds within their nest
By the hawk frighted.

"Bright in her father's hall
Shields gleamed upon the wall,
Loud sang the minstrels all,
Chanting his glory;

When of old Hildebrand

I asked his daughter's hand,
Mute did the minstrels stand

To hear my story.

"While the brown ale he quaffed, Loud then the champion laughed,

And as the wind gusts waft

The sea foam brightly,
So the loud laugh of scorn,
Out of those lips unshorn,
From the deep drinking horn,
Blew the foam lightly.

"She was a Prince's child,

I but a Viking wild,

And though she blushed and smiled

I was discarded!

Should not the dove so white
Follow the sea-mew's flight,

Why did they leave that night
Her nest unguarded?

"Scarce had I put to sea,

Bearing the maid with me,

Fairest of all was she

Among the Norsemen,

When, on the white sea strand

Waving his arméd hand,
Saw we old Hildebrand,

With twenty horsemen.

"Then launched they to the blast, Bent like a reed each mast;

Yet we were gaining fast,

When the wind failed us;

And, with a sudden flaw
Came round the gusty Skaw,°
So that our foe we saw

Laugh as he hailed us.

"And as to catch the gale

Round veered the flapping sail,

Death! was the helmsman's hail,
Death without quarter!

Midships, with iron keel,
Struck we her ribs of steel;
Down her black hulk did reel
Through the black water!

"As, with his wings aslant,
Sails the fierce cormorant,
Seeking some rocky haunt,
With his prey laden,
So toward the open main,
Beating to sea again,

Through the wild hurricane,

Bore I the maiden.

"Three weeks we westward bore,
And when the storm was o'er,
Cloud-like we saw the shore
Stretching to leeward;
There for my lady's bower
Built I the lofty tower,
Which, to this very hour,

Stands looking seaward.

"There lived we many years; Time dried the maiden's tears;

She had forgot her fears,

She was a mother;

Death closed her mild blue eyes,

Under that tower she lies;

Ne'er shall the sun arise

On such another!

Words:

"Still grew my bosom then,
Still as a stagnant fen!°
Hateful to me were men,
The sunlight hateful!
In the vast forest here,
Clad in my warlike gear,
Fell I upon my spear,

Oh, death was grateful!

"Thus, seamed with many scars,
Bursting these prison bars,
Up to its native stars

My soul ascended!

There from the flowing bowl

Deep drinks the warrior's soul,

Skoal! to the Northland! skoal!"

Thus the tale ended.

-Henry W. Longfellow

Skald-minstrel; Saga-heroic poem; gerfalcon-large hawk; grisly-fierce (not the grizzly bear of North America); corsair pirate, rover; wassail-bout-drinking contest; Berserk-a fierce warrior maddened by drink; Skaw-headland; fen-swamp; SkoalHail! An expression of good will.

Questions: Who is represented as speaking in the first stanza? With what stanza does the skeleton's story begin? Where and how does it end? Can you give a reason why this poem is so well-liked by boys and girls?

Pleasure Reading:

Kipling's Puck of Pook's Hill

Mabie's Norse Stories Related from the Eddas

Montgomery's Heroic Ballads

Scollard's Ballads of American Bravery

In your hearts are the brooks and the sunshine, In your thoughts the brooklet's flow;

But in mine is the wind of Autumn

And the first fall of the snow.

Ah! what would the world be to us
If the children were no more?

We should dread the desert behind us
Worse than the dark before.

What the leaves are to the forest,
With light and air for food,
Ere their sweet and tender juices
Have been hardened into wood,—

That to the world are children;
Through them it feels the glow
Of a brighter and sunnier climate
Than reaches the trunks below.

Come to me, O ye children!

And whisper in my ear

What the birds and the winds are singing.

In your sunny atmosphere.