An Old Viking Song - Starka Varna
Starka varna vesta lee
Obediah, obediah
Starka varna vesta lee
Obediah munye
Stolla stoyta stonga rerr
Oh what says du? Da bunshca berr
What says du? Da bunshca berr
Littera mevee drenyee
Senna poppa waarra
Obediah, obediah
Senna poppa waarra
Obediah munye
This song, a Viking rowing song in the old Norn language of Shetland, was found in the 1940s on the Shetland island of Unst. It is still sung in Iceland.
The Vikings, also called the Norsemen, came as warbands to attack and destroy the Pictish monastery at Portmahomack, maybe about 1200 hundred years ago.
Later other Norsemen probably came to settle and start farms in Easter Ross, as they did in Dingwall and the Black Isle, but there was repeated fighting between them and the Picts to the south.
There was a battle in about 1030 between the Norse and Picts at Tarbatness, a seabattle, and the eleven warships of the Picts were perhaps lead by King Macbeth, though the Norse name for the Picts's leader was Karl Hundison.
THE VIKERS SONG Here come the long necks, Beat your wings, beat your wings, Here come the long necks Follow your leader on. Over land over sea, White waves battling eagerly, Over sea over land, Where seaweed tries to smother sand, Dove and raven see us come, Their eyes are bright, their throats are dumb, Follow your leader, follow your leader, Follow your leader on The hard heads are on the sea, Pull your oar, pull your oar, Starka varna vesta lee, Pull your oar bravely. We come to gather, not to fight, But if we fight we will be right, Back at home our children cry, We must feed them or they’ll die, The ice tries to kill our fields So we must come to take your yield, If you will not fight with us, Where is your honour? In the dust. The Goose from the Easterton of Roseisle Stone. Every winter the Bean Geese and Barnacle Geese come from Scandinavia to harvest our fields.
THE VIKER POEM The Ice Giants have built a blue bridge across my native fjord, and a hard skin covers my summer fields. So I and my fellows must come and eat your winter seed. If you will give us the pleasure of fighting, we will honour your dead and take only half your wealth. If you will not fight, you have no pride and we must take all and make you slaves. The helmet or the collar. There are no other choices.