Britain Conquered Again

不列颠第三次被征服

THE conversion of Britain was followed by a Wave of Danes, accompanied by their sisters or Sagas, and led by such memorable warriors as Harold Falsetooth and Magnus the Great, who, landing correctly in Thanet, overran the country from right to left, with fire.

不列颠皈依基督教之后，丹麦人来了。他们携着姐妹，唱着萨迦¹，在令人难忘的战士像哈罗德·福尔斯图斯²（Harold Falsetooth）和马格努斯大帝³（Magnus the Great）的带领下，成功在塞内特登陆，用烈火从右到左洗劫了整个国家。

After this the Danes invented a law called the Danelaw, which easily proved that since there was nobody else left alive there, all the right-hand part of England belonged to them. The Danish Conquest was, however, undoubtedly a Good Thing, because although it made the Danes top nation for a time it was the cause of Alfred the Cake (and in any case they were beaten utterly in the end by Nelson).

随后，丹麦人创造了一部名叫丹麦法的法律。它任性地规定，既然英格兰右半边的土地都没有活人了，那片土地就归丹麦人所有。然而，丹麦征服毫无疑问算是一件好事，尽管这让丹麦人在一段时期内成为顶级民族，但这也刺激了蛋糕阿尔弗雷德的奋起（无论如何，丹麦人最后都被尼尔森[^5]彻底击败了）。

By this time the Saxons had all become very old like the Britons before them and were called ealdormen; when they had been defeated in a battle by the Danes they used to sing little songs to themselves such as the memorable fragment discovered in the Bodleian Library at Oxford:

在这个时候，被称作郡长的撒克逊人，已经变得跟他们之前的不列颠人一样古老了。当他们在战场上被丹麦人打败后，他们为自己唱起了一些短歌，比如在牛津大学图书馆（Bodleian Library）发现的那些令人难忘的残篇。

Old-Saxon Fragment

古撒克逊残篇

Syng a song of Saxons In the Wapentake of Rye Four and twenty eaoldormen Too eaold to die….

在瓦朋塔克的黑麦地里，唱一支撒克逊人的歌，二十名年迈的郡长长眠于斯。

Anon.

安翁。

The Danes, on the other hand, wrote a very defiant kind of Epic poetry, e.g.:

丹麦人在另一方面，却写了一首对着干的史诗（下面再也翻不下去了👋）。

Beoleopard OR The Witan’s Whail

Whan Cnut Cyng the Witan wold enfeoff Of infangthief and outfangthief Wonderlich were they enwraged And wordwar waged Sware Cnut great scot and lot Swinge wold ich this illbegotten lot.

Wroth was Cnut and wrothword spake. Well wold he win at wopantake.

Fain wold he brakë frith and crackë heads And than they shold worshippe his redes.

Swingéd Cnut Cyng with swung sword Howléd Witane hellë but hearkened his word Murië sang Cnut Cyng Outfangthief is Damgudthyng.