The Slap That Built Svölðr

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.)