A Sledge-Ride On The Ice Poem by Esaias Tegner

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 he 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.