The repeated chorus in this song is based on an ancient Norse poem inscribed into the Eggja stone – a 7th century grave stone that was uncovered on a Norwegian farm in 1917.
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The oldest - and best known - interpretation of the inscription on the stone was carried out by professor Magnus Olsen as early as 1919. In his opinion, the inscription was an epitaph to the master of the household at Eggja, who had been treacherously killed. His corpse had been put on a sled and pulled up to the farm. This is Olsen's interpretation:
Not hit by sun
And not carved by knife.
This (stone) stenched the man with blood
And scraped with it (blood) on oarlocks of a (?) sled (boat?)
Who of the flock has come hither to men's land.
The fish, swimming resolutely,
Through the stream of blood.
The bird, which would shriek if it could cut into the corpse.
For Ormar an avenger is raised.
Originally Posted by Anti Federalist
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