Difference between revisions of "Sword Note"

Latest revision as of 20:14, 31 May 2005

    (main text in a book in the Prince Vselov's library, in Latin)
    If there be nine worthy men, why should there not be nine worthy swords for the men to wield? Although
    the Worthies’ swords are easily catalogued, viz. Caliburn, Joyeuse, Crocea Mors, etc., are these perforce
    the worthiest swords? Especially as one worthy exists in prophecy, but has yet to be born, and may well
    prove the returning Christ, who some say comes with a sword and some say without, let us say rather that
    there are three worthy swords of the north, three of the south, and three of the poisonous east. Of the
    north there are Gram, which is also known as Balmung (before it was broken by the devil named Woden),
    which sliced through anvil and anvil stand together; Tyrfing, cursed sword of the dwarves, whose wounds
    never heal, which must claim a victim whenever it is drawn from its scabbard, and which will bring death
    to its wielder; and Skofnung, which may never be seen by a women, which served as sword and shield in
    one, and whose pommel is inhabited by a marvelous tiny worm. Of the south there are Durindan, first
    brandished by the worthy Hector and later by the paladin Roland, which is unbreakable and has many
    powers; the curved sickle-sword Gorgonophontes, especially useful against lizards and serpents of all
    kinds; and the black Nyx, which Orpheus brought back from Hades, and which is as black and as silent as
    death. Of the east there are Zulfagar, the wicked sword of the Saracens, which always strikes an enemy
    from behind, and in a base and cowardly fashion; the Sword of Erai or Eraz, which can cut through any
    kind of metal, the wounds from which never heal, yet which will not even cut through a cucumber should it
    fall into an enemy’s hands; and the whip-sword of Yemen. But the aforementioned Caliburn is the mightiest
    of them all, and both defeats and contains all other swords as the Lord defeats and contains all others,
    and in whose shadow the worthies are unworthy. Caliburn so far outstrips them that it need not even be
    mentioned. In any gathering of swords, it is most noticeable by its absence.
    (end of text)
    (In another hand, in the margin, in Latin)
    Why is Tyrfing a worthy sword? Zulfagar? This makes no sense

The sword of Zulfagar is said to be wielded by the Muslim attacking the Kievan Empire from the East, the Kahn of Petineg.

Who knows where the other swords may be?