n a little prefatory note
he acknowledges his indebtedness to Arne Garborg, who critically
examined the manuscript and gave valuable suggestions and advice.
The introduction itself is a restatement in two pages of the
Shakespeare-Essex-Leicester-Elizabeth story. Shakespeare recalls the
festivities as he saw them in youth when he writes in Act II, Sc. 2:

thou rememberest
Since once I sat upon a promontory,
And heard a mermaid upon a dolphin's back, etc.

And it is Elizabeth he has in mind when, in the same scene, we read:

That very time I saw, but thou could'st not,
Flying between the cold moon and the earth,
Cupid all armed, etc.

All of this is given by way of background, and it is of little
importance to the general readers what modern Shakespeare scholars
may say of it.

Eggen has not been content merely to reprint in the complete translation
his earlier work from _Syn og Segn_, but he has made a thoroughgoing
revision.[36] It cannot be said to be altogether happy. Frequently, of
course, a line or phrase is improved or an awkward turn straightened
out, but, as a whole, the first version surpasses the second not in
poetic beauty merely, but in accuracy. Compare, for example, the two
renderings of the opening lines:

SYN OG SEGN--1903

_Nissen_:
Kor no ande! seg, kvar skal du av?

REVISION OF 1912

_Tuften_:
Hallo! Kvar skal du av, du vesle vette?

_Alven_:
Yver dal, yver fjell,
gjenom vatn, gjenom eld,
yver gras, yver grind,
gjenom klunger so stinn,
yver alt eg smett og kliv
snoggare enn maanen sviv;
eg i gras dei ringar doggar,
der vaar mori dans seg voggar.

_Alven_:
Yver dal, yver fjell,
gjenom vatn, gjenom eld,
yver gras, yver grind,
gjenom klunger so stinn,
alle stad'r eg smett og kliv
snoggare enn maanen sviv;
eg dogge maa
dei grone straa
som vaar dronning dansar paa.

Hennar vakt mun symrur vera,
gyllne klaede mun dei bera;
sjaa dei stjernur alvar gav deim!
Derfraa kjem all angen av deim.
Aa sanke dogg--til de eg kom;
ei perle fester eg til kvar ein blom.
Far vel, du ande-styving! Eg maa vekk;
vaar dronning er her ho paa fljugand' flekk.

Kvart nykelband
er adelsmann,
med ordenar dei glime kann;
kvar blank rubin,
paa bringa skin,
utsender ange fin.
Doggdropar blanke