From Frank Herbert's Dune: The Litany Against Fear (Translated into Old English and Old Norse)

Why did I end up doing this? It's a long story, involving a tattoo and a friend meeting someone in a bar. But half of the answer is "because it's fucking fun".

Both of these translations are in verse. The Old English is rendered into the usual verse-line you'd expect. The Old Norse is rendered into lines of Málaháttr. (I originally wanted to do it into a Skaldic meter, but then I realized what a mess I was getting into.) For some reason, it felt less jarring to render this into Old Norse than Old English. And not just because I couldn't find any way not to alliterate on the same morpheme in the first line. The mood of lines like this seems like it has more precedent to build on in Norse.

For the Old English, the scansion relies on an archaic metrical value of symbel as if it were *syml without vocalic parasiting.

"I shall not fear. Fear is the mind-killer...."

Old English


Iċ ne forhtiġe wiht.
　Fyrhtu biþ mōdbana.
Fyrhtu biþ smældēaþ
　þe mē on symbel dīedeþ
Swelte iċ unforht
　āne sīðe

Old Norse


Ekki mun ek óttask.
　Ótti er móðbani.
Ótti er smádauðinn
　er optliga deyðir.
Óttalauss dey ek
　einu sinni.

In Anglo-Saxon Runes


In Medieval Norse Runes

Mōdor Gōs: Bæ Bæ Sweart Scēap (Ænglisc)

Bæ Bæ Sweart Sceap
Mōdor Gōs
Ġeþēodde A.Z. Formann

Bæ bæ sweart sċēap
Hæfst þū ǣnġe wulle?
Gēa lēof, gēa lēof,
þrī saccas fulle.

Twā mīnum hlaforde
Ond āne his wīfe
Ac nāne þam earman ċilde
Būtan cotlīfe.

Frumlēoþ:

Baa, baa, black sheep,
Have you any wool?
Yes, marry, have I,
Three bags full;

One for my master,
One for my dame,
But none for the little boy
Who cries in the lane.

Mōdor Gōs: Jack ond Jill (Ænglisc)

Æþel ond Æþelrēd 
Mōdor Gōs
Geþēodde A.Z. Formann

Tō hylles toppe
For wæterstoppan
Clamb Æþel mid Æþelrēde
Æþelrēd ofhrēas
his hrycg adrēas
and Æþel fēoll æfter and blēdde.

Frumlēoþ:

Jack and Jill
Went up the hill
To fetch a pale of water
Jack fell down
And broke his crown
And jill came tumbling after

Mōdor Gōs: Ēa diðel-diðele (Ænglisc)

Ēa diðel-diðele
Mōdor Gōs
Ġeþēodde A.Z. Formann

Ēa diðel-diðele
catte ond fiðele. 
Ofer mōnan hlēop cū mid fisċe
ond se hundel lōh 
hira plegan þe drōh
þenden hlædel oþarn mid disċe


Frumlēoþ:

Hey diddle diddle

The cat and the fiddle

The cow jumped over the moon

The little dog laughed

To see such a craft

And the dish ran away with a spoon.

Sara Iosepha Hal: "Maria Hæfde Lytel Lamb" (Ænglisc)

Maria Hæfde Lȳtel Lamb
Be Sara Iosepha Hāl
Ġeþēodde A.Z. Formann

Maria hæfde lȳtel lamb
And snāwhwīt wæs his flēs
And swā hwær swā Maria træd
Træd þæt lamb eġelēs.
Hit hire folgode tō scōle,
Swā is tōcweden ūs.
Þā bearn ċehhetton for þæm lambe
Þæt cwom in lērninghūs.

Frumlēoþ:

Mary had a little lamb
By Sarah Josepha Hale

Mary had a little lamb,
Its fleece was white as snow,
And every where that Mary went
The lamb was sure to go;
He followed her to school one day---
That was against the rule,
It made the children laugh and play,
To see a lamb at school.

A. N. Onymous: Humpty Dumpty (From Modern to Old English)

Hēafdol Dēafdol

Hēafdol dēafdol sæt on wāge
Hēafdol dēafdol fēol swā trāge
Ealle cyninges dryhte and wihte
Nā mihton Hēafdol gelīman on rihte.


The Original:

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king's horses and all the king's men
Couldn't put Humpty together again