ARFUR · Track 10

Hvað konungur er ekki

Old Icelandic

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Lyrics

Knútur ríkir, þrjú lönd í einni hendi, England, Noregur, Danmörk, allt mitt, En einn dag settist ég við sjóinn, Til að sýna hvað konungur er ekki. Knútur ríkir, þrjú lönd í einni hendi, England, Noregur, Danmörk, allt mitt, En einn dag settist ég við sjóinn, Til að sýna hvað konungur er ekki. Þrjú ríki bogna undir mér, Ég sigraði England með sverði og samningi, Hirðmenn mínir hrósuðu mér óendanlega, Sögðu ég réði jafnvel hafinu sjálfu. Ég lét bera hásæti mitt að ströndinni, Ég settist þar sem flóðið kæmi að, Ég skipaði sjónum að hörfa fyrir mér, Hirðmenn mínir horfðu, hljóðir og vissir. Knútur ríkir, þrjú lönd í einni hendi, England, Noregur, Danmörk, allt mitt, En einn dag settist ég við sjóinn, Til að sýna hvað konungur er ekki. Knútur ríkir, þrjú lönd í einni hendi, England, Noregur, Danmörk, allt mitt, En einn dag settist ég við sjóinn, Til að sýna hvað konungur er ekki. Sjórinn hlýddi ekki, sjórinn kom nær, Fætur konungsins urðu blautir og kaldir, Hirðmenn stóðu agndofa, konungurinn brosti, Vald mitt nær ekki yfir Guði sjálfum. Þeir kölluðu mig almáttugan, Ah-ah-ah-aaaah... Ég sýndi þeim sannleikann með blautum fótum — enginn konungur er guð! Knútur ríkir, þrjú lönd í einni hendi, England, Noregur, Danmörk, allt mitt, En einn dag settist ég við sjóinn, Til að sýna hvað konungur er ekki. Knútur ríkir, þrjú lönd í einni hendi, England, Noregur, Danmörk, allt mitt, En einn dag settist ég við sjóinn, Til að sýna hvað konungur er ekki. Sjórinn kom, sjórinn kenndi mér, Sjórinn kom, sjórinn kenndi mér. Sjórinn kom, sjórinn kenndi mér, Sjórinn kom, sjórinn kenndi mér.

Knut rules, three lands in one hand, England, Norway, Denmark, all mine, But one day I sat down by the sea, To show what a king is not. Knut rules, three lands in one hand, England, Norway, Denmark, all mine, But one day I sat down by the sea, To show what a king is not. Three kingdoms bend beneath me, I won England by sword and by treaty, My courtiers praised me without end, Said I ruled even the sea itself. I had my throne carried to the shore, I sat where the tide would come, I commanded the sea to retreat before me, My courtiers watched, silent and certain. Knut rules, three lands in one hand, England, Norway, Denmark, all mine, But one day I sat down by the sea, To show what a king is not. Knut rules, three lands in one hand, England, Norway, Denmark, all mine, But one day I sat down by the sea, To show what a king is not. The sea did not obey, the sea came nearer, The king's feet turned wet and cold, The courtiers stood stunned, the king smiled, My power does not reach over God himself. They called me almighty, Ah-ah-ah-aaaah... I showed them the truth with wet feet — no king is a god! Knut rules, three lands in one hand, England, Norway, Denmark, all mine, But one day I sat down by the sea, To show what a king is not. Knut rules, three lands in one hand, England, Norway, Denmark, all mine, But one day I sat down by the sea, To show what a king is not. The sea came, the sea taught me, The sea came, the sea taught me. The sea came, the sea taught me, The sea came, the sea taught me.

Story Behind The Song

Cnut the Great ruled England, Denmark and Norway, the realm later called the North Sea Empire. He took the English throne in 1016 after years of war, and held it by treaty as much as by force. The story of the tide is told by Henry of Huntingdon, writing about a century after Cnut's death. Cnut had his chair set on the shore as the tide came in and ordered the sea not to touch him. The water rose over his feet anyway. Henry's point is the opposite of the one the story is usually put to: Cnut staged it to rebuke courtiers who had told him his power had no limit. In Henry's account he never wore his crown again afterwards, hanging it on a crucifix instead. The song keeps that reading. The king is not deluded and does not lose; he arranges the demonstration himself, and the wet feet are the argument. The last line is his own conclusion, that a king's authority stops well short of God's.

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