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Nils Finn (From Halte Hulda)
By Bjørnstjerne Martinius Bjørnson
(see Note)
Now little Nils Finn had away to go;
The skis were too loose at both heel and toe.
- "That's too bad!" rumbled yonder.
Then little Nils Finn in the snow set his feet:
"You ugliest troll, you shall never me cheat!"
- "Hee-ho-ha!" rumbled yonder.
Nils Finn with his staff beat the snow till it blew
"Your trollship, now saw you how hapless it flew?"
- "Hit-li-hu!" rumbled yonder.
Nils Finn pushed one ski farther forward with might;
The other held fast, - he reeled left and right.
- "Pull it up!" rumbled yonder.
Nils' tears wet the snow, while he kicked and he struck;
The more that he kicked there, the deeper he stuck.
- "That was good!" rumbled yonder.
The birch-trees, they danced, and the pine-trees said "Hoo!"
They more were than one, - were a hundred and two.
- "Know your way?" rumbled yonder.
A laugh shook the ridge till it made the snow fly;
But Nils clenched his fists and he swore 't was a lie.
- "Now beware!" rumbled yonder.
The snow-field yawned wide, and the heavens came low;
Nils thought 't was now time for him also to go.
- "Is he gone?" rumbled yonder. -
Two skis in the snow looked about everywhere,
But saw nothing much; for there was nothing there.
- "Where is Nils?" rumbled yonder.
Extra Info:
TRANSLATED FROM THE NORWEGIAN IN THE ORIGINAL METERS BY ARTHUR HUBBELL PALMER
Professor of the German Language and Literature In Yale University
NOTE: NILS FINN. "There has hardly been written later so excellent a continuation of the old Norwegian humorous ballad as this poem (from the winter of 1856-57),written originally in the Romsdal dialect with which Björnson wished 'to astonish the Danes.'" (Collin, ii, 147.)
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