tide,
There they the Mermaid found asleep
   Beneath a green hill’s side.

“Awake, awake, thou Mermaiden,
   Thou creature wondrous fair;
Say, will my life in danger be
   If I to Hven repair?”

“O turn thee, Hero Hogen, back,
   Thou art a knight so bold,
Thou dost in thy own land possess
   Full many a tower and hold.

“Return, return to thine own land,
   Seek not the warrior joust,
If thou dost to thy sister go
   Thy young life it will cost.”

It was the Hero Hogen then
   His sword he straight drew out;
It was the wretched Mermaiden
   From whom the head he smote.

“By thee I now am prophesied,
   And dead thou liest there;
I to the land of Hven will go,
   Soon as the wind is fair.”

Then forward went the heroes two,
   They found the ferry-house:
“Arise, arise, good ferryman,
   And come here out to us.

“Now listen what I say to thee,
   Convey us o’er the Sound,
And I will give thee this gold ring,
   It weighs full fifteen pound.”

“Thy bright gold ring keep thou thyself,
   I it will not possess,
I never to the town should come
   But ’twould bring me distress.

“I never should seek the town but I
   Should therefore sure be chidden;
I shall not bear thee o’er to-day,
   My Lady’s me forbidden.”

And Hero Hogen grew so wroth,
   So wroth grew he in mood;
The ferryman’s head hewed he off,
   So widely reeked the blood.

Then straight the bloody head he cast
   Mid Öresund’s swift water;
And, bidding them meet in the deep,
   He cast the body after.

Sir Gunter and Sir Gernot, they
   Their vessel steered from land;
But when they reached the middle Sound
   The tempest was at hand.

O then the oars asunder snapped
   In Folker’s hardy hand;
Here Hogen guided with his shield
   The ship with toil to land.

Then cast they out their anchors,
   All on the yellow sand;
It was the Hero Hogen,
   He stepped the first to land.

The others they did not delay,
   But each as he could best
Arrayed himself right manfully,
   And Folker ’bove the rest.

Abroad the warden standing was,
   He on the rampart strode:
“O, there are come our country to,
   Two Athelings so proud.

“O kemps are come our country to,
   And men so bold to see;
They all yclad in iron are,
   Their steeds come springing free.

“The one he bears a hawk in flight,
   Gold on his buckler gleams;
The other bears a fiddle, and
   A prince’s son he seems.”

Out came she, Dame Grimhild,
   She so fair to speak was able:
“He does not bear a fiddle
   For he serves a noble’s table.

“But they two gallant warriors are,
   Two sprouts of Dukely tree;
To know them I have cause enough,
   They brothers are to me.”

It was the Count Sir Gunselin,
   His warriors he bespake:
“O, hither Hero Hogen comes,
   A fray with him we’ll make.

“O, we will fight with them to-day,
   And we will slay them all;
Then his red gold and forest green
   Shall in our power fall.”

Then just within the portal
   Hero Hogen answer made:
“With you I’ll blythely hazard that,
   If ye be not afraid.”

Out then went the heroes all,
   So sorely