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ARFUR · Track 11

Örlögin ganga hægar

Old Icelandic

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Völva sagði mér dauða minn, Ormur úr hausi Faxa hests míns, Ég hló, ég reiddist, ég drap hestinn, Ég gróf hann djúpt, ég flúði örlögin. Þrjú hundruð ár flý ég spádóminn, Þrjú hundruð ár berst ég og lifi, Oddur flýr, Oddur sigrar, En örlögin ganga hægar en ég, ekki hraðar. Þrjú hundruð ár flý ég spádóminn, Þrjú hundruð ár berst ég og lifi, Oddur flýr, Oddur sigrar, En örlögin ganga hægar en ég, ekki hraðar. Ég barðist í hverju landi þekktu, Konungar dóu, heimsveldi féllu, Ég einn stóð eftir, ódauðlegur að sjá, Þrjú hundruð ár, ég taldi ekki lengur. Gamall maður snýr heim að lokum, Fætur hans þekkja gömlu slóðina, Hann finnur haug þar sem hesturinn svaf, Spádómurinn beið þolinmóður allan tímann. Þrjú hundruð ár flý ég spádóminn, Þrjú hundruð ár berst ég og lifi, Oddur flýr, Oddur sigrar, En örlögin ganga hægar en ég, ekki hraðar. Þrjú hundruð ár flý ég spádóminn, Þrjú hundruð ár berst ég og lifi, Oddur flýr, Oddur sigrar, En örlögin ganga hægar en ég, ekki hraðar. Ég sparkaði í hauskúpuna gömlu, Ah-ah-ah-aaaah... Ormurinn beið þar. Þrjú hundruð ár. Fyrir mig einan. Ég sparkaði í hauskúpuna gömlu, Ah-ah-ah-aaaah... Ormurinn beið þar. Þrjú hundruð ár. Fyrir mig einan. Þrjú hundruð ár flý ég spádóminn, Þrjú hundruð ár berst ég og lifi, Oddur flýr, Oddur sigrar, En örlögin ganga hægar en ég, ekki hraðar. Þrjú hundruð ár flý ég spádóminn, Þrjú hundruð ár berst ég og lifi, Oddur flýr, Oddur sigrar, En örlögin ganga hægar en ég, ekki hraðar. Ormurinn beit, spádómurinn stóð, Þrjú hundruð ár breyttu engu. Ormurinn beit, spádómurinn stóð, Þrjú hundruð ár breyttu engu.

A völva foretold my death, A serpent from the skull of Faxi, my horse, I laughed, I grew angry, I killed the horse, I buried him deep, I fled my fate. Three hundred years I flee the prophecy, Three hundred years I fight and live, Oddr flees, Oddr conquers, But fate walks slower than I, not faster. Three hundred years I flee the prophecy, Three hundred years I fight and live, Oddr flees, Oddr conquers, But fate walks slower than I, not faster. I fought in every known country, Kings died, empires fell, I alone remained, immortal to look at, Three hundred years, I no longer counted. An old man comes home at the last, His feet know the old path, He finds the mound where the horse slept, The prophecy waited patiently all that time. Three hundred years I flee the prophecy, Three hundred years I fight and live, Oddr flees, Oddr conquers, But fate walks slower than I, not faster. Three hundred years I flee the prophecy, Three hundred years I fight and live, Oddr flees, Oddr conquers, But fate walks slower than I, not faster. I kicked the old skull, Ah-ah-ah-aaaah... The serpent waited there. Three hundred years. For me alone. I kicked the old skull, Ah-ah-ah-aaaah... The serpent waited there. Three hundred years. For me alone. Three hundred years I flee the prophecy, Three hundred years I fight and live, Oddr flees, Oddr conquers, But fate walks slower than I, not faster. Three hundred years I flee the prophecy, Three hundred years I fight and live, Oddr flees, Oddr conquers, But fate walks slower than I, not faster. The serpent bit, the prophecy stood, Three hundred years changed nothing. The serpent bit, the prophecy stood, Three hundred years changed nothing.

Story Behind The Song

Örvar-Odds saga is one of the fornaldarsögur. A völva came to the farm where Oddr was young and told each person there what would become of them. Oddr wanted no part of it and struck her. She gave him his fate anyway: he would live three hundred years and travel widely, but he would die at that same farm, killed by his horse Faxi. He killed the horse at once, buried it in a pit and piled stones over it, and left. The three hundred years are the saga itself, a long career of raiding and fighting across Scandinavia, the Baltic, the Rus lands and further. At the end he comes back as an old man to see the place again. He stumbles against something in the ground, and it is Faxi's skull. An adder comes out of it and bites his foot, and he dies of the wound. The song's line is the saga's own irony: fate did not chase him. It stayed where it was and waited for him to walk back to it.