Ageless Words on Friday – Widsith

The Word Exchange: Anglo-Saxon Poems in Translation is a treasure trove of Anglo-Saxon poems, riddles and maxims. The translations are splendid and makes these poems accessible to readers who are not (or not at all) well versed in Anglo-Saxon. The book is also presented beautifully, with mirror pages of Anglo-Saxon and contemporary English, making it possible for the reader to also see the poem in its original form. The editors of this magnificent volume is G. Delanty and M Matto, with the foreword by Seamus Heaney (whose Beowulf translation I fell in love with in high school).

As I quoted Widsith on Tuesday, I figured another piece of this poem would be perfect for Ageless Words on Friday. This is the last stanza of the poem, translated by Bernard O’Donoghue:

So the minstrels of men go wandering

by the dictates of fate through many lands.

They express what is needed and compose thanks.

Always, south or north, they find someone

with wise taste for poems, generous with gifts

who wants his name raised before the people,

to achieve valor, before everything fails,

light and life together. He earns their praise:

so under heaven gains exalted glory.

And the Anglo-Saxon:

Swa scriþende                   gescæpum hweorfað

gleomen gumena            geond grunda fela,

þearfe secgað,                  þancword sprecaþ,

simle suð aþþe norð       sumne gemetað

gydda gleawne,                geofum unhneawne,

se þe fore duguþe wile                                 dom aræran,

eorlscipe æfnan,              oþþæt eal scæceð,

leoht ond lif somod;       lof se gewyrceð,

hafað under heofonum                                heahfæstne dom.

Anglo-Saxon Manuscript

Interesting reads and sites of the week, part 1:

Welcome to the first “interesting reads and sites” Thursday; where I share some of the stories or sites I came across during this week.[1]

World Enough, and Time – a new series of articles on The Friday Challenge about "finding the time to write and to publish." I enjoyed the style this was written in and will definitely keep my eye out for the new ones!

Some more good writing advice from Rachelle Gardner:  Story vs. Craft. 

I have to mention SpecGram’s new June 2011 issue - as always, it’s a hoot to read. This month I especially love the “linguistic love song”... I do not have an article in this issue, but I am (slowly, but surely) working on another one which I am sure will rock the linguistics world! 

Something for the eye: 

I stumbled across this wonderful gallery by Gold-seven on DeviantArt – one of my favourite web haunts for inspiration. 

The Choice of Luthien by Gold Seven

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[1] These articles, stories and sites are chosen by me, I do not receive any remuneration for any of these mentions. 

Worldbuilding Wednesday: Good vs. Evil – Part 1

“We fight against the Lewjan's Shadow and turn to the Light. We guard ourselves and one another. And when a brother or a sister falls to the Shadow, we cry and mourn and beat our chests in anger because of the rebels and betrayers. And still we fight even when our strength lessens. And we use our Talents for the good of all the nations. Even the Lost Nations, though they know it not. Or perhaps they cannot comprehend it until they have been freed from the Shadow.”

The “baddies” of Airthai, Part 1: The Betrayers – The Lewjan:

Click here for the handy chart…

The Lewjan (lit. “Betrayers”) are those who have shunned the Light and have turned to the Dark. They have a hierarchy of lords and servants and each group takes their own name. The High Wíkla and the Lewjan Lords can bind some of the fallen dragons to them through blood and dark arts – they do not use the Dragon Tongue as the Dragon Guardians do.

It is said that the first Lewjan Lord has never been seen in the Lands of Airthai, but sends his servants to do his bidding. These Lewjan servants have been seen to fight against the Airus in various battles throughout the ages.

There are others who are also called Servants of the Dark, like the Fáll, but their story pertains to that of the fall of the Kingdom of Guldargan, and will be discussed on their own. The Scría (S’crí-iar in the language of the Tellerassar) will also be discussed along with the Tellerassar.

The Airus are the opposite of the Lewjan and they and the Ahma will be the focus of next week’s Worldbuilding Wednesday.

So, what is everyone else working on?

Á Agrai tellarias or s'agrélar silássa!

The Book of Lost Books by Stuart Kelly

For this week's Ramblings of a Bibliophile, I've chosen The Book of Lost Books by Stuart Kelly. Enjoy!

The Book of Lost Books - S. Kelly

The Book of Lost Books

While looking over the reference section in one of the local bookshops, the following title caught my eye: The Book of Lost Books: An Incomplete History of All the Great Books You’ll never read. I picked it up to read the back cover and knew I had to read this book – and it was a very good buy. Stuart Kelly goes about describing the books many well-known writers planned to write, but never got the chance to write and books destroyed by fire, water or other means.

“Widsith spoke, unlocked his word-treasure, he who of all men had most widely travelled among all the nations and peoples of the world.” (Kelly 2010:101- translation of the Anglo-Saxon poem “Widsith”)

Some of the chapters in the book are: “Homer”, “Sophocles”, “Saint Paul” and “Widsith the Wide-travelled”. Chaucer, Shakespeare, Dante, Cervantes, Charles Dickens, Dostoyevsky, Hemingway, Kafka and Philip K. Dick also make up part of the book, making it a treasure trove of the works of some of the greatest writers we only have a brief glimpse of.

Somewhat elegiac, the prose draws the reader in and makes every page enjoyable to read. Even if you are not familiar with some of the writers featured in The Book of Lost Books, Kelly still gives enough information to ensure that his readers are not lost between names and titles. When one looks at all the works that we know of that has been lost, it makes one more thankful for those works that have stood the test of time.

“This book, even in its expanded form, is still only the visible tip of the extravagant, glorious tragicomic universe of loss. That universe, like our own, is expanding.” (Kelly 2010:379)

I can highly recommend this volume from Polygon for any avid reader or bibliophile as Kelly covers so many different writers – there is bound to be at least one to suit every taste.

Goes perfectly with: A Caffé Latte on a rainy day.

Perfect size to: Keep in your handbag for those moments of stolen reading pleasure.

Rating: 4/5

Also visit: www.polygonbooks.co.uk

Kelly, Stuart. The Book of Lost Books: An Incomplete History of All the Great Books You’ll Never Read. New Expanded Edition, 2010. Polygon Books, Edinburgh.

What I’m also reading at the moment: Bart Nel, by J van Melle & Lords and Ladies by Terry Pratchett and for studies: Myths of the Pagan North by Christopher Abram. 

Fiction Monday - The Great Sundering, Part 1

Welcome to the first Fiction Monday on Hersenskim. This week starts with part one of The Great Sundering, the tale of how the lands and continents of Airthai became as they are today. An earlier post talked broadly about the Creation, the Sundering and the Diminishing, but in the following weeks I hope to post the new and much improved version.

The Great Sundering – Part 1

The Great Sundering of the Lands took place many centuries after the world of Airthai was first created. At this time the lands of Airthai was still united on one great continent that stretched from the far north to far in the south. During that time, the Betrayers; those called the Lewjan, had built a vast kingdom for themselves on the most Southern Coast of the Continent, and the Lord of the Lewjan was sending his armies and minions north to get more land and power - and in order to overthrow the Khallahna.

The Khallahna called all the Ahma together and they decided that they should ask the Creator to step in for them and save them from the Dark Forces amassing in the south. They not only wanted to save the integrity of the lands of the Khallahna and the Ahma, but also wanted to save the people north of the Khallahna's tower (for then there were only one tower in existence, not three as there is now).

All the Khallahna, the Ahma, and most of the peoples begged the Creator to save them from the terror coming from the south. Some people fled north in the hopes of getting far enough from the Lewjan and build new fortresses. The Creator hearkened to their prayers and with his mighty hand, broke the Continent into two where the great river of Eyreidja flowed.

Great mountains grew between the two continents and the sea boiled about them. The boats that were used on the Eyreidja River were of no use and soon purple-pink monsters awakened from the bottom of the ocean were also spotted in the new sea that was formed between the continents. Passage between the two continents seemed impossible.

 The northern continent was nearly void of all Lewjan, Werlea and other Servants of the Dark. The southern continent was filled with those serving the Lewjan Lord. But, just as some evil people remained on the northern continent, so some good people remained on the southern continent. The southern continent became known as the Sundered Lands or the Damned Lands.

 Those people faithful to the Light on the southern continent, asked for a land where they could be safe from the Lewjan, as they did not know how to build ships and could not get away. The Creator sent some of the Airus and led them to a secluded, fruitful valley called Ealdasah-elir and hid them from the Wíkla's sight by high rocky outcrops and mist that would blind any that did manage to find the tunnels to the Hidden People. These people are known as the Ealda.

Next Monday: The Great Sundering, Part 2: The Flight of the Seafolk.

The Plan and Ageless Words Part 1

The Plan

After some late night deliberation (probably caused by too much coffee), I’ve decided to put more structure in my blog and blog posts. As those who regularly read the blog will know, I work full-time, study part-time and try my best to get as much writing done as possible. I have decided to close my other blog, Ramblings of a Lone Bibliophile and rather put all the posts on Hersenskim, as both have to do with books and writing.

The posts will now follow the following pattern:

·         Monday:  Fiction Mondays – Bits and pieces of my own fiction

·         Tuesday: Bibliophile Ramblings – Books, reading and the life of nerds

·         Wednesday:  Worldbuilding Wednesday – Well, this one speaks for itself

·         Thursday:  Interesting Reads – Interesting articles or websites I’ve found and read

·         Friday:  Ageless Words – Not my own words – though I’d mostly wish it is…

Ageless Words, Part 1:

 The idea of the "Ageless Words" on Fridays, is to post bits and pieces of old literature (mostly Medieval or earlier), that I come across in my studies or research, which I find beautiful or intriguing. Each Friday a short piece, with an accompanying translation will be posted along with the website or book where it was found.

This week’s Ageless Words: The Wessobrunner Gebet or Wessobrunn Prayer

The Wessobrunner Prayer is a prayer that was written c790 in Old High German. (The English translation my be found below the original.) Note the use of alliterative verse before the prose prayer. The beginning reminds me of Gylfaginning and Völuspá and illustrates wonderfully how Germanic poetry was adapted as Christianity spread.

Dat gafregin ih mit firahim firiuuizzo meista
Dat ero ni uuas noh ufhimil
noh paum noh pereg ni uuas
ni [...] nohheinig noh sunna ni scein
noh mano ni liuhta noh der mareo seo
Do dar niuuiht ni uuas enteo ni uuenteo
enti do uuas der eino almahtico cot
manno miltisto enti dar uuarun auh manake mit inan
cootlihhe geista enti cot heilac [...]

Cot almahtico, du himil enti erda gauuorahtos enti du mannun so manac coot forgapi forgip mir in dina ganada rehta galaupa enti cotan uuilleon uuistom enti spahida enti craft tiuflun za uuidarstantanne enti arc za piuuisanne enti dinan uuilleon za gauurchanne

This I learnt among mortal men as the greatest wonder
That there was neither the earth nor the heaven above
Nor was there any tree nor mountain
Neither any [star] at all, nor did the sun shine
Nor the moon gleam, nor [was there] the glorious sea.
When there was nothing, no ending and no limits,
There was the One Almighty God
Of all beings the greatest in grace, and many with him,
Good spirits, and God [is] holy.

Almighty God, Who created heaven and earth and gave so much good to men, in Your grace give me right belief and good will, wisdom, wit and strength to resist devils and turn from evil and do Your will.

The manuscript of the Wessobrunn Prayer

Click here to find out more.

May everyone have a wonderful weekend.

The Dragons of Airthai... A Beginner's Guide

Just a short message on this windy Winter's day.

Below is a link to a graph of the different types of dragons found in Airthai - the colour of the blocks also show the colour of the dragons.

The Dragons of Airthai

The colours of the dragons include:
Deep blue
Blue
Green
Grey/Silver (As if the blue has faded)
Red
Deep red
White

I think the Ice Dragons were let loose on South Africa today - the snow wind from the Drakensberg has definitely reached Johannesburg!

And in other news; Issue 7 of The Cross and Cosmos is now available for download - yes, it's free!