Lyrics of Vedergällningen - Garmarna

Vedergällningen (original)

Jag blev född förr än tuppen gol
-Mina stigar de ligga så vida
Min moder blev död innan upp rann sol
-Själv maste hon sorgen förbida
Min fader drager så vitt om land
-Mina stigar de ligga så vida
Så ond en styvmoder han på fann
-Själv maste hon sorgen förbida
Först skapte hon mig i nåler
Och sade jag skulle tråna
Så skapte hon mig i kniver
Och sade jag skulle icke trivas
Så skapte hon mig i saxer
Och sade jag skulle icke växa
Så skapte hon mig i ulven grå
Och sade jag skulle åt skogen gå
Hon sade jag skulle ej få bot
Förrän jag druckit min broders blod
Så lade jag mig under lida
Där styvmodern min skulle framrida
Så lade jag mig under spånge
Där min styvmoder skulle framgånga
Där tager jag till med mäste
Min styvmoder utav häste
Så tog jag till med harme
Hennes foster ur hennes barme
När jag hade druckit min broders blod
Så blev jag en riddare bold och god
Vengeance
Before the cock crew i was born
— Far are the paths that i follow —
My mother was dead before the dawn
— Long, long she awaited her sorrow
— My father travelled the country round
An ill stepmother to me he found
Into a needle she conjured me
And said that longing would torture me
And then she turned me into a knife
And said i would suffer all my life
She turned me into a pair of shears
And said i’d be stunted all my years
A grey wolf then she made of me
And asid no good would come of me
Under this curse i was to suffer
Till i drank the blood of my own brother
So then i lay in hiding
Till my stepmother came riding
By the bridgehead i lay watching
Till i saw her horse approaching
And as she passed i caught her
And down from her horse i brought her
In vengeance cruel and bloody
I took the child from her body
And when i had drunk my brother’s blood
I became a knight, gallant and good
Translation by Alistar Cochrane

(translation)

I was born before the rooster crowed
-My paths they lie so far
My mother died before the sun rose
-Self she had to ignore the grief
My father travels so far ashore
-My paths they lie so far
How evil a stepmother he found
-Self she had to ignore the grief
First, she created me in needles
And said I would cry
Then she created me in knives
And said I would not thrive
Then she created me in scissors
And said I would not grow
Then she created me in the wolf gray
And said I would go to the forest
She said I would not be cured
Before I drank my brother's blood
So I lay down to suffer
Where my stepmother would advance
Then I lay down on a stretcher
Where my stepmother would succeed
There I go with the most
My stepmother out of a horse
So I resented it
Her fetus from her bosom
When I had drunk my brother's blood
So I became a knight bold and good
Vengeance
Before the cock crew i was born
- Far are the paths that i follow -
My mother was dead before the dawn
- Long, long she awaited her sorrow
- My father traveled the country round
An ill stepmother to me he found
Into a needle she conjured me
And said that longing would torture me
And then she turned me into a knife
And said I would suffer all my life
She turned me into a pair of shears
And said i’d be stunted all my years
A gray wolf then she made of me
And asid no good would come of me
Under this curse i was to suffer
Till i drank the blood of my own brother
So then I lay in hiding
To my stepmother came riding
By the bridgehead i lay watching
Till i saw her horse approaching
And as she passed i caught her
And down from her horse i brought her
In vengeance cruel and bloody
I took the child from her body
And when I had drunk my brother's blood
I became a knight, gallant and good
Translation by Alistar Cochrane