The Ballad of the Three Kings

Lyrics

Three kings rode out on the road to hell And ravens rode on the gale The night wind rang like an iron bell And hissed with sleet and hail Three kings rode out where the night wind runs Out onto death's highway The king of the Britons, the king of the Huns, the king of Norway The king of the Britons was crowned with gold and rode a stallion white Saying, "All men go when they are told, but I go not in fright A godly king who loved his folk and guarded them with his rod And fire and gallows against themselves, will surely go to God" The king of the Huns was crowned with steel and rode a stallion red Saying, "Proud must my father's spirit feel of me who crowned my head Halfway across a world in pain, which mightily I did win So now I go home to my father's fane, and not to the evil Djinn" The king of Norway was crowned with wings and rode a stallion gray Saying, "High and lustily my heart sings, for Odin guests me today I died in bed, aye, but I hung full many a screaming thrall On Odin's tree, with runes on tongue, so now I go to his hall" Three kings rode out on the road to hell And the bloody-breasted hound Bayed where the darkening waters fell Icy beneath the ground Three kings a final judgment won From the High Gods' lips that day The Devil took the Briton The Djinn took the Hun And Hela took Norway