Classic Poem

King Ring with his queen to the banquet did fare.
On the lake stood the ice so mirror-clear.

" Fare not o'er the ice, " the stranger cries;
" It will burst, and full deep the cold bath lies. "

" The king drowns not easily, " Ring outspake;
" He who 's afraid may go round the lake. "

Threatening and dark looked the stranger round,
His steel shoes with haste on his feet be bound.

The sledge-horse starts forth strong and free;
He snorteth flames, so glad is he.

" Strike out, " screamed the king, " my trotter good,
Let us see if thou art of Sleipner's blood. "

They go as a storm goes over the lake,
No heed to his queen doth the old man take.

But the steel-shod champion standeth not still,
He passeth them by as swift as he will.

He carves many runes in the frozen tide,
Fair Ingeborg o'er her own name doth glide.