Waltharius725English
3rd single combat: Walther slays Werinhard, a descendant of the Trojan Pandarus (725–753)
The third who went and joined the fight was Werinhard, | 725 |
Descended from a lengthy line of your descendants, | |
Your kinsman, lover of your craft, O famous man, | |
Pandarus, who, once ordered to confound the treaty, | |
Were first to shoot an arrow into the Achaeans. | |
Rejecting spears, he bore a quiver and a bow, | 730 |
Harassing Walter in unequal war with shafts | |
Shot from a distance; but that virile man stood firm, | |
And raised the circle of his seven-plated shield, | |
Adroitly dodging frequent arrows as they came. | |
And now he jumped aside or with his tilted shield | 735 |
He knocked the shafts away; and not one touched that man. | |
When Werinhard saw he had used up all his arrows | |
In vain, enraged he drew his sword immediately; | |
Then, rushing forward, hurled these statements from his | |
“If you have skillfully avoided airborne shafts, | 740 |
Perhaps now you will feel a blow my right arm wields.” | |
Then Walter answered him with laughing heart, “Now have | |
I waited long enough for this fight to be waged | |
On equal terms. Make haste! You’ll not find me delaying.” | |
He spoke, then straining his entire body hurled | 745 |
His spear. The flying shaft laid bare the horse’s breast. | |
The charger reared upright and with its hooves it flailed | |
The air, then bucking off its rider, fell on him. | |
The youth runs up and wrests his sword away by force; | |
He rips his helmet off and grabs his light blond hair. | 750 |
The hero told him as he made repeated pleas, | |
“Just now you were not shouting words like these aloud.” | |
He spoke, and left a body with its head cut off. |
Note: this English text is identical to that found in Waltharius and Ruodlieb, edited and translated by Dennis M. Kratz. The Garland library of medieval literature, Series A, vol. 14. New York: Garland Pub., 1984.