The Ballad of the Three Kings

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