canalblog, i resent you. [caution, this article has VIKINGS inside]

[i just finished 'writing',
and then something happened,
nothing was posted...T.T]
[back from the beginning...]

Hi there ! i got a question for you :

...

how much do you know about the Vikings ?

that sounds ... familiar :)
...

I know very little. Well, to be honest, i know nothing.
And recently i began learning a bit about them, which is A LOT of fun.
A few days ago, i started reading Chronicles of the Vikings by R.I.P.
(that's not even a joke, his name is Raymond Ian Page, according to... Google...)
And there's a story i WANT you to know about.
Chapter five. "The Heroic Life".

I won't copy it word by word, i can't anyway. This version is my super-mega-simplified-version, the version i would have told you orally if you hadn't been so far, or if i could've called...

if you want the decent, good-English version of it, find the book !
or read the "Codex Regius", or Ursula Dronke's The Poetic Edda : 1, The Heroic poems (Oxford, 1969)

oh by the way,
this is quite a gory tale, it really is disgusting, 
we're dealing with Vikings there, i guess this had to be expected.

[warning : this text is particularly badly written.]

...

So, the story begins with a brief introduction to the main characters :
1- Two valliant brothers, Gunnar and Hogni, Princes of the Niflung clan.
They have a wonderful and huge treasure, from their brother-in-law Sigurd, now dead.
2- Sigurd's widow, Gunnar and Hogni's sister, is called Gudrun.
3- Gudrun had to remarry. She married Atli, against her will. Atli = Attila, King of the Huns.
4- Gudrun and Atli had two sons, Erp and Eitil.

Atli wanted Gunnar and Hogni's treasure pretty badly.
He sent a messenger to the two brothers, inviting them home for a feast,
saying they'd have presents that go beyond their imagination.
The thing is, they didnt really need any more stuff, for their treasure is a thousand times more valuable than anything Atli had to give.
Moreover, their sister Gudrun, knowing that her husband was up to no good,
had previously sent them a ring with a wolf's hair twisted round it,
that means "danger", apparently.
So they knew that Atli had something in mind, but still they decided to go.

Once arrived, they were caught, and imprisonned. Quelle surprise.
They were kept separately. Atli asked Gunnar
"Where is the treasure ? if you value life you'd better talk.
- i really can't. I fear Hogni's wrath, dude, he's gonna be mad at me..
- that makes me really sad, you know ? because i really do want this thing. and you wouldn't want your good friend Atli to be sad, would you ?
- yeah... how about you kill Hogni, and bring me his heart to prove he's dead ?
- deal."

Atli went, but had a slave killed instead of Hogni. He showed the slave's heart to Gunnar :
"You ain't fooling no one, see how that thing is shaking ? This is not my brother's heart, this is a coward's heart, even in your man's chest it didn't shake like that."
Atli did not have many choices left. He had Hogni killed,
and the man was not any man, he was a fighter, he was a Viking,
neither did he close his eyes nor did he weep as he was being sliced, no sir,
he laughed aloud till he died.
And his brother did recognize his heart, this one wasn't shaking, it was merely trembling,
even more than when back in Hogni's chest.
"Well, with my brother dead, i know you will never know where the treasure is,
for now i'm sure he cannot reveal it to you,
and neither will i
- oh really ?"

Gunnar was thrown in a pit, with venomous snakes.
that was the end for him.
there was no way he could survive this.
Oh wait there was.
The sister.
Gurdrun.
she gave him...

a harp.

...

a harp.

a... harp ?!

her poor brother's hand were tied together.

so he played,

with his feet.

and all the snakes fell asleep.
but one.
one resisted, one did,
that very one bit him, and he died.

Gudrun didn't like that.
She decided time had come for revenge.
and guess what she did ?
what would you have done ?

she went to her sons, Atli's sons, Erp and Eitil.
she slaughtered them.

and guess what was on the menu during the funeral feast,
in [her] loving memory of Gunnar and Hogni ?

...

Yes. Precisely.

Erp and Eitil's flesh was roasted and served,
their blood was mixed with wine,
and Gudrun made cups/mugs/whatever you call it with their skulls.

...

and at the end of the meal, she told Atli everything.
but he was drunk.
never mind.
she stabbed him in his bed
and set the whole place on fire.
everyone here died.

"The End"

and then, after i had read that story, i thought
"ooow dear, i do need a break right now, this is it."
but then, there was that sentence, page 119, that completely achieved me :
"[...] stabbed Atli, set the hall on fire and so destroyed the king's followers.
Gudrun went on to have equally horrifying experiences in her next marriage."

Oh sh** what next ??

...

[that's it for today, kids, there will be more Viking tales later on, if you're up for it]

Comments

[dacha]

nan mais aucun souci tu parles dans la langue que tu veux quand même !! haha :D

[dadizz]

huhu, this story is just awesome ! :D waiting for the next one ;)

uh ! I see I'm in "Amazing Drawing Friends with Super Powers" ... i'm very flattered =^.^=

hope to see you soon xxx

ps : désolée pour mon anglais vacillant, ça fait un moment qu'il est resté au placard ^^'