© Gunnar Tómasson

18 May 2018

Hamlet – Prologue

(Act I, Sc. v. First Folio)

Rest, rest perturbed Spirit:  so Gentlemen,

With all my loue I doe commend me to you;

And what so poore a man as Hamlet is

May doe t’expresse his loue and friending to you,

God willing shall not lacke:  let vs goe in together;

And still your fingers on your lippes I pray,

The time is out of ioynt: Oh cursed spight,

That euer I was borne to set it right.

Nay, come let’s goe together.                        Exeunt

 ***

I. Sonatorrek – Egilssaga Account

Background and Translation below

(Egilssaga, Ch. 78)

1805029

17813 = Böðvarr, sonr Egils, var þá frumvaxti.

25713 = Hann var inn efniligsti maðr, fríðr sýnum, mikill ok sterkr,

19535 = svá sem verit hafði Egill eða Þórólfr á hans aldri.

10358 = Egill unni honum mikit.

13607 = Var Böðvarr ok elskr at honum.

18005 = Þat var eitt sumar, at skip var í Hvítá,

12242 = ok var þar mikil kaupstefna.

21818 = Hafði Egill þar keypt við margan ok lét flytja heim á skipi.

23077 = Fóru húskarlar ok höfðu skip áttært, er Egill átti.

23201 = Þat var þá eitt sinn, at Böðvarr beiddist at fara með þeim,

12918 = ok þeir veittu honum þat.

16692 = Fór hann þá inn á Völlu með húskörlum.

16425 = Þeir váru sex saman á áttæru skipi.

20161 = Ok er þeir skyldu út fara, þá var flæðrin síð dags,

24818 = ok er þeir urðu hennar at bíða, þá fóru þeir um kveldit síð.

14539 = Þá hljóp á útsynningr steinóði,

16199 = en þar gekk í móti útfallsstraumr.

20864 = Gerði þá stórt á firðinum, sem þar kann oft verða.

17071 = Lauk þar svá, at skipit kafði undir þeim,

10743 = ok týndust þeir allir.

17148 = En eftir um daginn skaut upp líkunum.

13462 = Kom lík Böðvars inn í Einarsnes,

25304 = en sum kómu fyrir sunnan fjörðinn, ok rak þangat skipit.

13523 = Fannst þat inn við Reykjarhamar.

15130 =  Þann dag spurði Egill þessi tíðendi,

12576 = ok þegar reið hann at leita líkanna.

11096 = Hann fann rétt lík Böðvars.

15973 = Tók hann þat upp ok setti í kné sér

19641 = ok reið með út í Digranes til haugs Skalla-Gríms.

9509 = Hann lét þá opna hauginn

15273 = ok lagði Böðvar þar niðr hjá Skalla-Grími.

13416 = Var síðan aftr lokinn haugrinn,

18566 = ok var eigi fyrr lokit en um dagsetrsskeið.

21492 = Eftir þat reið Egill heim til Borgar, ok er hann kom heim,

16481 = þá gekk hann þegar til lokrekkju þeirar,

10226 = er hann var vanr at sofa í.

16736 = Hann lagðist niðr ok skaut fyrir loku.

11480 = Engi þorði at krefja hann máls.

26679 = En svá er sagt, þá er þeir settu Böðvar niðr, at Egill var búinn:

13340 = Hosan var strengð fast at beini.

13819 = Hann hafði fustanskyrtil rauðan,

17790 = þröngvan upphlutinn ok láz at síðu.

17450 = En þat er sögn manna, at hann þrútnaði svá,

21079 = at kyrtillinn rifnaði af honum ok svá hosurnar.

20239 = En eftir um daginn lét Egill ekki upp lokrekkjuna.

11544 = Hann hafði þá ok engan mat né drykk.

14671 = Lá hann þar þann dag ok nóttina eftir.

11864 = Engi maðr þorði at mæla við hann.

15186 = En inn þriðja morgin, þegar er lýsti,

17056 = þá lét Ásgerðr skjóta hesti undir mann, –

17879 = reið sá sem ákafligast vestr í Hjarðarholt – ,

19348 = ok lét segja Þorgerði þessi tíðendi öll saman,

16487 = ok var þat um nónskeið, er hann kom þar.

19812 = Hann sagði ok þat með, at Ásgerðr hafði sent henni orð

15295 = at koma sem fyrst suðr til Borgar.

15575 = Þorgerðr lét þegar söðla sér hest,

11243 = ok fylgðu henni tveir menn.

14810 = Riðu þau um kveldit ok nóttina,

15057 = til þess er þau kómu til Borgar.

13884 = Gekk Þorgerðr þegar inn í eldahús.

13816 = Ásgerðr heilsaði henni ok spurði,

13836 = hvárt þau hefði náttverð etit.

9814 = Þorgerðr segir hátt:

10123 = „Engan hefi ek náttverð haft,

12888 = ok engan mun ek fyrr en at Freyju.

13694 = Kann ek mér eigi betri ráð en faðir minn.

17821 = Vil ek ekki lifa eftir föður minn ok bróður.”

13793 = Hon gekk at lokhvílunni ok kallaði:

10405 = „Faðir, lúk upp hurðinni,

11738 = vil ek, at vit farim eina leið bæði.”

12189 = Egill spretti frá lokunni.

26881 = Gekk Þorgerðr upp í hvílugólfit ok lét loku fyrir hurðina.

16663 = Lagðist hon niðr í aðra rekkju, er þar var.

5677 = Þá mælti Egill:

22682 = „Vel gerðir þú, dóttir, er þú vill fylgja feðr þínum.

13720 = Mikla ást hefir þú sýnt við mik.

18183 = Hver ván er, at ek mun lifa vilja við harm þenna?”

10553 = Síðan þögðu þau um hríð.

5677 = Þá mælti Egill:

19073 = „Hvat er nú, dóttir, tyggr þú nú nökkut?”

9035 = „Tygg ek söl,” segir hon,

16647 = „því at ek ætla, at mér muni þá verra en áðr.

11876 = Ætla ek ella, at ek muna of lengi lifa.”

12183 = „Er þat illt manni?” segir Egill.

13215 = „Allillt,” segir hon, “villtu eta?”

10804 = „Hvat mun varða?” segir hann.

18230 = En stundu síðar kallaði hon ok bað gefa sér drekka.

14139 = Síðan var henni gefit vatn at drekka.

5677 = Þá mælti Egill:

24378 = „Slíkt gerir at, er sölin etr, þyrstir æ þess at meir.”

12628 = „Villtu drekka, faðir?” segir hon.

24379 = Hann tók við ok svalg stórum, ok var þat í dýrshorni.

8515 = Þá mælti Þorgerðr:

15658 = „Nú erum vit vélt.  Þetta er mjólk.”

24051 = Þá beit Egill skarð ór horninu, allt þat er tennr tóku,

10730 = ok kastaði horninu síðan.

8515 = Þá mælti Þorgerðr:

15810 = „Hvat skulum vit nú til ráðs taka?”

11266 = Lokit er nú þessi ætlan.

16202 = Nú vilda ek, faðir, at við lengðim líf okkart,

20548 = svá at þú mættir yrkja erfikvæði eftir Böðvar,

8636 = en ek mun rista á kefli,

15102 = en síðan deyjum vit, ef okkr sýnist.

26566 = Seint ætla ek Þorstein, son þinn, yrkja kvæðit eftir Böðvar,

14385 = en þat hlýðir eigi, at hann sé eigi erfðr,

27431 = því at eigi ætla ek okkr sitja at drykkjunni þeiri, at hann er erfðr.”

13837 = Egill segir, at þat var þá óvænt,

18544 = at hann myndi þá yrkja mega, þótt hann leitaði við, –

12965 = „en freista má ek þess,” segir hann.

15113 = Egill hafði þá átt son, er Gunnarr hét,

11952 = ok hafði sá ok andazt litlu áðr.

11522 = Ok er þetta upphaf kvæðis:

14939 = Mjök erum tregt tungu at hræra

11201 = eða loftvætt ljóðpundara.

13979 = Esa nú vænligt of Viðurs þýfi

12207 = né hógdrægt ór hugarfylgsni.

1805029

II + III = 45941 + 1759088 = 1805029

II. Don Quixote – Time – The Last Judgement

Background below

(Construction G.T.)

45941

Man of La Mancha

(Original title)

17616 = EL INGENIOSO HIDALGO DON QVIXOTE DE LA MANCHA

Satan

-1000 = Darkness

Time out of Joint

2118 = Time

6960 = Jarðlig skilning – Earthly Understanding

-5596 = Andlig spekðin – Spiritual Wisdom

Don Quixote

5975 = Simon Peter

3781 = The Pope

4988 = The Vatican

The Last Judgement

(Michelangelo, Sistine Chapel)

11099 = Il Giudizio Universale

45941

III. Don Quixote Makes His Will And Dies

(Don Quixote, Vol, II.)

1759088

27611 = With this he closed his will, and a faintness coming over him

20949 = he stretched himself out at full length on the bed.

20696 = All were in a flutter and made haste to relieve him,

17463 = and during the three days he lived after that

22342 = on which he made his will he fainted away very often.

15040 = The house was all in confusion;

20167 = but still the niece ate and the housekeeper drank

12398 = and Sancho Panza enjoyed himself;

32419 = for inheriting property wipes out or softens down in the heir

24346 = the feeling of grief the dead man might be expected to leave behind him.

28268 = At last Don Quixote´s end came, after he had received all the sacraments,

34228 = and had in full and forcible terms expressed his detestation of books of chivalry.

29542 = The notary was there at the time, and he said that in no book of chivalry

22647 = had he ever read of any knight-errant dying in his bed so calmly

16455 = and so like a Christian as Don Quixote,

32055 = who amid the tears and lamentations of all present yielded up his spirit,

7696 = that is to say died.

27750 = On perceiving it the curate begged the notary to bear witness

29391 = that Alonso Quixano the Good, commonly called Don Quixote de la Mancha,

22750 = had passed away from his present life, and died naturally;

30091 = and said he desired his testimony in order to remove the possibility

26809 = of any other author save Cid Hamet Benengeli bringing him to life again

27497 = falsely and making interminable stories out of his achievements.

23169 = Such was the end of the Ingenious Gentleman of La Mancha,

24671 = whose village Cid Hamet would not indicate precisely,

23243 = in order to leave all the towns and villages of La Mancha

24798 = to contend among themselves for the right to adopt him

27775 = and claim him as a son, as the seven cities of Greece contended for Homer.

28591 = The lamentation of Sancho and the niece and housekeeper are omitted here,

17685 = as well as the epitaphs upon his tomb;

22950 = Samson Carrasco, however, put the following:

11623 = A doughty gentleman lies here;

11939 = A stranger all his life to fear;

14963 = Not in his death could Death prevail,

16017 = In that lost hour, to make him quail.

15296 = He for the world but little cared;

17159 = And at his feats the world was scared;

10863 = A crazy man his life he passed,

12887 = But in his senses died at last.

15030 = And said most sage Cid Hamet to his pen:

25477 = “Rest here, hung up by this brass wire, upon this shelf,

27926 = O my pen, whether of skilful make or clumsy cut I know not;

15421 = here shalt thou remain long ages hence,

26534 = unless presumptuous or malignant story-tellers

13437 = take thee down to profane thee.

16626 = But ere they touch thee warn them, and,

13996 = as best thou canst, say to them:

15774 = Hold off! Ye weaklings; hold your hands!

9994 = Adventure it let none,

14681 = For this emprise, my lord the king,

9772 = Was meant for me alone.

20431 = For me alone was Don Quixote born, and I for him;

31410 = it was his to act; mine to write; we two together make but one,

35538 = notwithstanding and in spite of that pretended Tordesillesque writer

30371 = who has ventured or would venture with his great, coarse,

34627 = ill-trimmed ostrich quill to write the achievements of my valiant knight;

29557 = no burden for his shoulders, nor subject for his frozen wit:

24780 = whom, if perchance thou shouldst come to know him,

23130 = thou shalt warn to leave at rest where they lie

20061 = the weary mouldering bones of Don  Quixote,

15642 = and not to attempt to carry him off,

26493 = in opposition to all the privileges of death, to Old Castile,

27957 = making him rise from his grave where in reality and truth he lies

36720 = stretched at full length, powerless to make any third expedition or new sally;

14435 = for the two that he has already made,

16864 = so much to the enjoyment and approval

20027 = of everybody to whom they have become known,

18913 = in this as well as in foreign countries,

30193 = are quite sufficient for the purpose of turning into ridicule

27940 = the whole of those made by the whole set of the knights-errant;

23655 = and so doing shalt thou discharge thy Christian calling,

24714 = giving good counsel to one that bears ill-will to thee.

24111 = And I shall remain satisfied, and proud to have been the first

34507 = who has ever enjoined the fruit of his writings as fully as he could desire;

19183 = for my desire has been no other than to deliver

15638 = over to the detestation of mankind

21030 = the false and foolish tales of the books of chivalry,

21948 = which, thanks to that of my true Don Quixote,

27765 = are even now tottering, and doubtless doomed to fall forever.

4541 = Farewell.

1759088

***

Calculator for converting letters to cipher values is at:

http://www.light-of-truth.com/ciphersaga.htm

Background

Sonatorrek

 (Wikipedia)

Sonatorrek („the irreparable loss of sons“) is a skaldic poem in 25 stanzas by Egill Skallagrímsson (ca. 910–990). The work laments the death of two of the poet’s sons, Gunnar, who died of a fever, and Böðvarr, who drowned during a storm. […] According to the saga, after Egill placed Böðvarr in the family burial mound, he locked himself in his bed-chamber, determined to starve himself to death. Egill’s daughter Thorgerd diverted him from this plan in part by convincing him to compose a memorial poem for Böðvarr, to be carved on a rune-staff.

Sonatorrek is “generally regarded as the first purely subjective lyric in the North,” and has been called “a poem of unparalleled psychological depth, poetic self-awareness and verbal complexity.” Several commentators have compared Sonatorrek to a theme from Goethe.  In Scandinavian letters, it is often regarded as the very birth of subjective poetic utterance within the native culture (Old Norse literature being seen as a common Nordic heritage).

Don Quixote and Francis Bacon

(Extract from Working Note)

While the Shakespeare Authorship Issue is well known among the general public, much less publicity has attended the like issue with respect to Don Quixote.  Yet, the latter work contains no less than thirty-three direct statements to the effect that its ‘true’ author was not Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra but someone named Cid Hamet Benengeli.

The identity of Cid Hamet Benengeli remains a mystery, but there is evidence on record to suggest that Francis Bacon was the real author of Don Quixote de la Mancha:

“Another curious case of cryptography was presented to the public in 1917 by one of the best of the Bacon scholars, Dr. Alfred von Weber Ebenhoff of Vienna.  Employing the same systems previously applied to the works of Shakespeare, he began to examine the works of Cervantes…. Pursuing the investigation, he discovered  overwhelming material evidence: the first English translation of Don Quixote bears corrections in Bacon’s hand.  He concluded that this English version was the original of the novel and that Cervantes had published a Spanish translation of it.” (J. Duchaussoy, Bacon, Shakespeare ou Saint-Germain?, Paris, La Colombe, 1962, p. 122 – in Umberto Eco’s Foucault’s Pendulum, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers, New York, 1989, p. 406.)

There is also internal literary evidence in Don Quixote itself which suggests a direct, but unknown, link between the work and an earlier play by William Shakespeare:

“It is impossible to help but notice now and then that Armado [of Shakespeare’s ‘Love’s Labour’s Lost’ – insert] is extraordinarily like Don Quixote in his consistent overestimate of himself and in his insistence on imagining himself a superhuman storybook hero. […]

“There is something rather pleasant in the thought that Shakespeare might be borrowing from Miguel de Cervantes, the Spanish author of the Don Quixote saga, since Cervantes was almost an exact contermporary of Shakespeare’s and by all odds one of the few writers, on the basis of Don Quixote alone, worthy of being mentioned in the same breath with Shakespeare.

“There is only one catch, but that is a fatal one.  The first part of Don Quixote was published in 1605, a dozen years at least after Love’s Labor’s Lost was written.” (Isaac Asimov, Asimov’s Guide to Shakespeare, Avenel Books, New York, 1978, Vol, I, pp. 431-2.)

Translation

Sonatorrek

Bodvar Egil’s son was just now growing up; he was a youth of great promise, handsome, tall and strong as had been Egil or Thorolf at his age. Egil loved him dearly, and Bodvar was very fond of his father.

One summer it happened that there was a ship in White-river, and a great fair was held there. Egil had there bought much wood, which he was having conveyed home by water: for this his house-carles went, taking with them an eight-oared boat belonging to Egil. It chanced one time that Bodvar begged to go with them, and they allowed him so to do. So he went into the field with the house-carles. They were six in all on the eight-oared boat. And when they had to go out again, high-water was late in the day, and, as they must needs wait for the turn of tide, they did not start till late in the evening. Then came on a violent south-west gale, against which ran the stream of the ebb. This made a rough sea in the firth, as can often happen. The end was that the boat sank under them, and all were lost. The next day the bodies were cast up: Bodvar’s body came on shore at Einars-ness, but some came in on the south shore of the firth, whither also the boat was driven, being found far in near Reykjarhamar.

Egil heard these tidings that same day, and at once rode to seek the bodies: he found Bodvar’s, took it up and set it on his knees, and rode with it out to Digra-ness, to Skallagrim’s mound. Then he had the mound opened, and laid Bodvar down there by Skallagrim. After which the mound was closed again; this task was not finished till about nightfall. Egil then rode home to Borg, and, when he came home, he went at once to the locked bed-closet in which he was wont to sleep. He lay down, and shut himself in, none daring to crave speech of him.

It is said that when they laid Bodvar in earth Egil was thus dressed: his hose were tight-fitting to his legs, he wore a red kirtle of fustian, closely-fitting, and laced at the sides: but they say that his muscles so swelled with his exertion that the kirtle was rent off him, as were also the hose.

On the next day Egil still did not open the bed-closet: he had no meat or drink: there he lay for that day and the following night, no man daring to speak with him. But on the third morning, as soon as it was light, Asgerdr had a man set on horseback, who rode as hard as he could westwards to Hjardarholt, and told Thorgerdr all these tidings; it was about nones when he got there. He said also that Asgerdr had sent her word to come without delay southwards to Borg. Thorgerdr at once bade them saddle her a horse, and two men attended her. They rode that evening and through the night till they came to Borg. Thorgerdr went at once into the hall.

Asgerdr greeted her, and asked whether they had eaten supper. Thorgerdr said aloud, ‘No supper have I had, and none will I have till I sup with Freyja. I can do no better than does my father: I will not overlive my father and brother.’ She then went to the bed-closet and called, ‘Father, open the door! I will that we both travel the same road.’ Egil undid the lock. Thorgerdr stepped up into the bed-closet, and locked the door again, and lay down on another bed that was there.

Then said Egil, ‘You do well, daughter, in that you will follow your father. Great love have you shown to me. What hope is there that I shall wish to live with this grief?’ After this they were silent awhile. Then Egil spoke: ‘What is it now, daughter? You are chewing something, are you not?’ ‘I am chewing samphire,’ said she, ‘because I think it will do me harm. Otherwise I think I may live too long.’ ‘Is samphire bad for man?’ said Egil. ‘Very bad,’ said she; ‘will you eat some?’ ‘Why should I not?’ said he. A little while after she called and bade them give her drink. Water was brought to her. Then said Egil, ‘This comes of eating samphire, one ever thirsts the more.’ ‘Would you like a drink, father?’ said she. He took and swallowed the liquid in a deep draught: it was in a horn. Then said Thorgerdr: ‘Now are we deceived; this is milk.’ Whereat Egil bit a sherd out of the horn, all that his teeth gripped, and cast the horn down.

Then spoke Thorgerdr: ‘What counsel shall we take now? This our purpose is defeated. Now I would fain, father, that we should lengthen our lives, so that you may compose a funeral poem on Bodvar, and I will grave it on a wooden roller; after that we can die, if we like. Hardly, I think, can Thorstein your son compose a poem on Bodvar; but it were unseemly that he should not have funeral rites. Though I do not think that we two shall sit at the drinking when the funeral feast is held.’ Egil said that it was not to be expected that he could now compose, though he were to attempt it. ‘However, I will try this,’ said he.

Egil had had another son named Gunnar, who had died a short time before.

So then Egil began the poem, and this is the beginning.

‘Much doth it task me
My tongue to move,
Through my throat to utter
The breath of song.
Poesy, prize of Odin,
Promise now I may not,
A draught drawn not lightly
From deep thought’s dwelling.