Young Swaigder

Or, The Force of Runes, and Other Ballads

Downloads: Under 100
Pages: 16

Read PDF online Download Save

About this book

A ball tossed into a maiden's room sets young Swaigder on a quest for a woman in a distant land. Troubled by his stepmother's runes, he calls upon his dead mother for guidance. Her promised gifts include a horse that can cross the sea, a horn that supplies drink, and a vessel able to travel over land and water. George Borrow's ballads place family loyalties and longing within a world of spells, guarded castles, and impossible voyages.

The collection also includes a storm at Horunga haven, where supernatural forces overwhelm fighting men, and the tale of Rosmer, a sea being whose household conceals a missing Danish daughter. Short rhyming stanzas, repeated speeches, and sudden changes of fortune give these poems their storytelling rhythm. Readers interested in verse drawn from legend will find rescue quests, dangerous hospitality, and the pull of home compressed into a small collection.

About the author

George Borrow

George Borrow was an English writer, translator, linguist, and traveler whose books draw on encounters across Britain and continental Europe. John Murray issued Lavengro in 1851; it blends autobiography and fiction as its wandering narrator moves through barrack towns, London literary work, and meetings with Romani communities.