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Das Hildebrandslied fragment |
ðat sih urhettun ænon muotin:
Hiltibrant enti Haðubrant untar heriun tuem.
sunufatarungo iro saro rihtun,
5 garutun sê iro guðhamun, gurtun sih iro suert
ana,
10 fireo in folche,
15 "dat sagetun mi usere liuti,
20 her furlaet in lante luttila sitten,
25 her was Otachre ummet tirri,
30 "wettu irmingot", quad Hiltibrant, "obana ab heuane,
35 Huneo truhtin: "dat ih dir it nu bi huldi gibu."
40 spenis mih mit dinem wortun, wili mih dinu speru werpan
45 Hiltibrant gimahalta, Heribrantes suno:
50 ih wallota sumaro enti wintro sehstic ur lante,
55 doh maht du nu aodlihho, ibu dir din ellen taoc,
helidos, ubar hringa, do sie to dero hiltiu ritun.
Hiltibrant gimahalta, Heribrantes sunu,—her uuas heroro man,
ferahes frotoro—her fragen gistuont
fohem uuortum, hwer sin fater wari
"eddo hwelihhes cnuosles du sis.
ibu du mi enan sages, ik mi de odre uuet,
chind in chunincriche. chud ist mi al irmindeot."
Hadubrant gimahalta, Hiltibrantes sunu:
alte anti frote, dea érhina warun,
dat Hiltibrant hætti min fater, ih heittu
Hadubrant.
forn her ostar giweit, floh her Otachres nid,
hina miti Theotrihhe enti sinero degano filu.
prut in bure barn unwahsan,
arbeo laosa. her raet ostar hina.
des sid Detrihhe darba gistuontun
fateres mines: dat uuas so friuntlaos man.
degano dechisto miti Deotrihhe.
her was eo folches at ente: imo was eo fehta ti
leop.
chud was her chonnem mannum.
ni waniu ih iu lib habbe."
dat du neo dana halt mit sus sippan man
dinc ni gileitos!"
want her do ar arme wuntane bauga,
cheisuringu gitan, so imo se der chuning gap,
Hadubrant gimahalta, Hiltibrantes sunu:
"mit geru scal man geba infahan,
ort widar orte.
du bist dir, alter Hun, ummet spaher;
pist also gialtet man, so du ewin inwit fortos.
dat sagetun mi seolidante
westar ubar wentilseo, dat inan wic furnam:
tot is Hiltibrant, Heribrantes suno."
"wela gisihu ih in dinem hrustim,
dat du habes heme herron goten,
dat du noh bi desemo riche reccheo ni wurti."
welaga nu, waltant got", quad Hiltibrant, "wewurt
skihit!
dar man mih eo scerita in folc sceotantero.
so man mir at burc enigeru banun ni gifasta.
nu scal mih suasat chind suertu hauwan,
breton mit sinu billiu, eddo ih imo ti banin werdan.
in sus heremo man hrusti giwinnan,
rauba birahanen, ibu du dar enic reht habes."
"der si doh nu argosto", quad Hiltibrant, "ostarliuto,
der dir nu wiges warne, nu dih es so wel lustit,
that they met one-on-one from each army:
Hildebrand and Hadubrand, the warriors twain.
Of consanguine blood were they, who readied their gear,
(5) righted their armor and girt their swords
over the ring[-mail], riding forth to combat.
Hildebrand, son of Heribrand commenced speech — it was the elder and more inveterate one
who with sparse words asked who the other's father was,
[*1]
(10) and which line he stemmed from.
"Tell me to which family you belong.
Utter me one [name] and I shall know the rest, for I am wise to
[the names of] all of the tribesmen in the kingdom."
Hadubrand, Hildebrand's son, answered:
(15)
"My people have told me,
Old Veteran, who have lived so long,
that my father hight Hildebrand. I am hight Hadubrand.
Once ago, my father withdrew to the east, fleeing before Odoacer's wrath,
with Theodoric and his doughties. [*2]
(20) He left a young wife in the homeland,
helpless and bereft of inheritance,
[ and ] a small child [ there besides ].
He rode away to the east. Hence the father of mine became one who Dietrich
could scarce dowithout: for so few friends had he.
(25) [ However, my father, ] Dietrich's most faithful follower,
shared that hatred which knew no bounds towards Odoacer.
He always rode at the vanguard of the army. Every fight he openly welcomed.
[Only] the most courageous could have done that. I do not believe him still alive."
(30) "I call upon the God of Heaven", Hildebrand then said,
"to be [my] witness. Never have you faced so close a kin as your foe."
Whereupon he removed the [armlet-]ring,
forged from the emperor's gold, which the king
(35) of the Huns had given him: "I give you this out of friendship."
But Hadubrand, Hildebrand's son, answered:
"one ought give a gift by point of the spear ![*3]
Old Hun, you truly are cunning;
(40) lulling me with your words into a [ sense of false ] security, only then to strike me with your spear. You are already so old, and you are as full of tricks as ever. — I know from seafarers who [came] westward over the sea, and who fought alongside father in battle: Hildebrand, the son Heribrands is dead! "
(45) Hildebrand, son of Heribrand, then said: "On your armor I see clearly, that you serve in the household of a mighty lord, and you have not yet been banished by your master. — O wieldly God"[*4], quoth Hildebrand, "Fate wills to run its course!
(50) I have been gone sixty summers and winters[*5] away in a foreign land.
There I was e'er put up against a whole batallion of archers.
One castle upon another. Death never overcame me all that time, but alas it comes to me now,
for my own son with the sword shall slay me, with his weapon shall fell me to ground
— unless I bring death to him.
(55) Nonetheless, you can vanquish me now easily, if your strength is equal to it,
win the spoils of this old warrior's armor, if you can prove your mettle.
— Now [I] would really be one of the wretchedest cowards that ever went east," said Hildebrand,
"if I fain refuse to fight you, since you are seething so much to
(60) [have this] fight between us. So let us now have the test imposed upon us,
as to who between the two of us will lose our harness[*6],
which of us will win both our byrnie."[*7]
(65) From this, they rebounded off each other in recoil,
their shields banging loudly[*8].
Full of wrath, they struck at their white shields, until the linden-wood boards were
shivered to bits by the weapons [..][*9]
There they hurl the ashwood spears at each other,
with a so hard impact that they lodged firmly in their shields.
Footnotes:
[*1]Though this may be a form of flyting, or verbal contest, it is much more civil than the example one sees in the Volsunga Saga, Ch. 9. In Robert Graves' I, Claudius, two Germanic chieftains called Sigimerus/Siegmyrgth and Arminius/Hermann participate in such contest, one which is based on Tacitus' account. [*2]Odoacer/Ottovacar (434?-493 A.D.) is known for deposing the Roman emperor and declaring himself ruler of Italy, and eventually defeated and murdered by Theodoric the Great (the usual figure identified with Dietrich, who appears here as Hildebrand's master). In most other works of the Dietrich cycle, Ermanrich appears in the place of Odoacer. It is often commentated that Theodoric was victor and was never put to flight by Ermenrich/Odoacer, but I don't think this is completely true. When Tufa, who was originally Odoacer's general, entered Theodoric's service, only to revert back to his old allegiance, Theodoric suffered a serious reversal of fortune, and took flight (although the exile certainly did not endure for 30 years &madash; see footnote5).
[*3]This might be interpreted as the custom where the giver places the ring at the tip of his spear, and passing it to the receiver spear, so he can let the ring slide down the shaft and catch it. (I attribute this interpretation to Lee Edgar Tyler — thx. ) [*4]It is an open question whether this God is Christian or heathen.
[*5] Sixty summers and winters is thirty years. In this poem, this is the length of time since Hildeberand left his homeland, wherever that may be. In other works, thirty years is the amount of time Dietrich spent in exile (in the service of Attila the Hun) before he got his vengeance. [*6] hregil is the etymological root for rail (garment or mantle). Here I used "harnsess" (MHG harnische) which applied to gear worn by men-at-arms, and not just to horses.
[*7] Brünne: (OHG brunia ON brynja) is most commonly rendered in English as "byrnie" (though "brynie" seems phonetically closer). Though one cannot pinpoint the form of this armor, it may well be a leather jacket with metal lames or scales sewn onto them.
[*8]Germanic practice of banging on their own shield with their swords, to muster their own courage and strike fear in the enemy.
[*9]The so-called "younger" Hildebrandslied (in Old High German) gives this an ending, and Hildebrand defeats his son but does not kill him.
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