Intro
(Svölðr! Svölðr!)
He raised his hand once — I spent three years raising armies...
(Hu-ha!) Long Serpent burning — the Baltic claims me
Nothing — I watched from the shore — no harm-need —
(Svölðr!) One slap cost Óláfr everything he named free...
Verse 1 — Óláfr
Harald Fairhair's bloodline — great-grandson — the lineage —
Raised in Novgorod after the killing — the village
Burned before I walked — that's the real tillage —
Every court I crossed paid the new god's pilgrimage.
Iceland, Orkney, Faroe — every version
Of the Norse world got the cross — no diversion —
Christ was just the newest blade — that's my assertion —
Baptize or burn — no room for the conversion-aversion.
Then Sigríðr — the Swedish widow — strong and gleaming —
I proposed — one condition — the redeeming
Of her soul — convert — she stood there steaming —
I read it wrong — raised the glove — stopped the dreaming.
Pre-Chorus — both
Sigríðr: he struck my face in his own hall — the insult recorded (recorded)
Óláfr: I felt the moment leave — the future hoarded —
(felt it land wrong...)
Both: one glove across a queen's face — the coalition afforded
By a king who mistook patience for a woman who'd be lorded. (uh!)
Chorus — both
The slap rang out across three kingdoms' hearing (kingdoms' hearing!)
Sigríðr took the mark and spent three years clearing (years clearing!)
Every enemy of Óláfr — cold engineering (engineering!)
Svölðr — 1000 AD — the Long Serpent disappearing! (Hu-ha!)
Verse 2 — Sigríðr
Storråda — the haughty — yes — I own the title —
Two suitors burned alive who made my bridal
Worth their insult — the recital
Left the hall-beams standing — that's my cycle.
I told him: I will not leave the faith my fathers
Held before his bishop crossed the waters —
He raised the glove — I felt it — no tremors —
Just the cold deciding what the moment offers.
I went home to Sweden — started the assembly —
Sweyn Forkbeard of Denmark — the resembly
Of Jarl Eiríkr — every king he'd wronged — December
Took three years to build — I was planting winter.
Every slight he'd dealt was one more splinter —
I collected — pressed together — tighter —
The coalition built itself around the slighter —
The patient queen was always the true fighter.
Pre-Chorus — both
Sigríðr: he struck my face in his own hall — the insult recorded (recorded)
Óláfr: I felt the moment leave — the future hoarded —
(felt it land wrong...)
Both: one glove across a queen's face — the coalition afforded
By a king who mistook patience for a woman who'd be lorded. (uh!)
Chorus — both
The slap rang out across three kingdoms' hearing (kingdoms' hearing!)
Sigríðr took the mark and spent three years clearing (years clearing!)
Every enemy of Óláfr — cold engineering (engineering!)
Svölðr — 1000 AD — the Long Serpent disappearing! (Hu-ha!)
Bridge — trading
Óláfr: Long Serpent surrounded — Sweyn west — Eiríkr north —
(the fleet closed...)
I knew the hand that sent the three kings forth —
(her hand...)
Fought until the deck ran red — then stepped off —
Full armor — Baltic dark — no body — no scoff.
Sigríðr: I watched from shore — the arithmetic clean —
(clean math...)
Three years — three kings — one man — the space between
(the space...)
The glove and the water — that's what patience means —
(Skál to the queen! Skál — the haughty one convenes!)
(The slap was his — the Baltic water hers — she wins!)
Drop — Instrumental
Chorus — both
The slap rang out across three kingdoms' hearing (kingdoms' hearing!)
Sigríðr took the mark and spent three years clearing (years clearing!)
Every enemy of Óláfr — cold engineering (engineering!)
Svölðr — 1000 AD — the Long Serpent disappearing! (Hu-ha!)
Outro
(Svölðr! Svölðr!)
No body found...
(Hu-ha!)
Three kingdoms built
from one glove.
Sigríðr watched from the shore.
She never raised her hand.
(The slap was his.
The water was hers.)
