DJUPMINNI
The Deep-Memory · Performed at the Opening of the Hunt Season · The Krakensong-Keepers Add to It Each Year
The Djupminni is the only component of the Verdrsplit cycle that is actively extended each year. The founding sagas are fixed. The Djupminni is not complete because the hunt is not complete. What the Djupminni carries is not a record of hunts. It is a record of what the hunters have learned that the sea is
Refrain — hunt-masters, low and slow
Djup var hér fór Joturvolk. Djup er hér nú. Djup verðr hér eftir.
The deep was here before the Joturvolk. The deep is here now. The deep will be here after.
Vit eigum eigi djup. Djup þólir okkur. Þætta er nug.
We do not own the deep. The deep endures us. This is enough.
I. ÞÆ DJUP — THE DEEP
(All voices. The hunt-masters lead. Low and slow, felt before heard.)
Joturvolk fann þe verar. Verar væru gamlir.
The Joturvolk found the creatures. The creatures were old.
Gamlir sem grjót. Gamlir sem djup sjálft.
Old as stone. Old as the deep itself.
Joturvolk frægði eigi. Joturvolk hlustarddi.
The Joturvolk did not presume. The Joturvolk listened.
II. ÞÆ KRAKAN — THE KRAKEN
(Hunt-masters only. Voices rise together on the last line.)
Krakan er stór. Joturvolk er stór. Þætta er eigi þæ sama.
The kraken is large. The Joturvolk is large. This is not the same.
Krakan var hér. Krakan er hér. Krakan man vera hér.
The kraken was here. The kraken is here. The kraken will be here.
Joturvolk sækir krakann. Af þæ haer.
The Joturvolk hunts the kraken. For the sea.
III. ÞÆ MINNI — THE MEMORY
(All voices. Each line slower than the last.)
Haer krefst þætta. Haer fær þætta. Joturvolk gefur þætta.
The sea demands this. The sea receives this. The Joturvolk gives this.
Joturvolk sá hvat haer bar. Joturvolk hlustarddi hvat djup sagði.
The Joturvolk saw what the sea carried. The Joturvolk listened to what the deep said.
Joturvolk man.
The Joturvolk remembers.
Bridge — Krakensong-keeper alone
Djupminni er eigi lokad. Veiðr er eigi lokad.
The deep-memory is not closed. The hunt is not closed.
Joturvolk bíður. Djup bíður. Minni bíður.
The Joturvolk waits. The deep waits. The memory waits.
Outro — one voice fading
Djup kemur eftir. Verar koma eftir. Minni kemur eftir.
The deep comes after. The creatures come after. The memory comes after.
Joturvolk verðr hér.
The Joturvolk will be here.
The fourth section of the Djupminni — Þæ Ny Minni, the new memory — is the only section of the Verdrsplit cycle that is left structurally incomplete at each performance. The Krakensong-keeper speaks the season’s new hunt account into the space the form provides. This year the space has not been filled. Solveig Krakensong has the account of the kraken that left without engaging. She has not yet spoken it aloud. The Djupminni does not contain entries that are not understood. She is waiting.
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