Good King Ragnuk
Good King Ragnuk forged a blade
all of silver shining,
of the purest metal made,
letters intertwining.
On the hilt were rubies laid,
glowing like the sunset.
Red would be the deadly blade
at the battle’s onset.
Noble Godric Gryffindor
gave the king commission
to create this weapon for
Godric’s keen ambition.
–Galleons I’ll freely pay
to possess the finest.
Name thy price, O Ragnuk, say
what sum, if thou deignest.â€
Loath was Ragnuk to bring forth
weaponry for wizards.
–Substances of highest worth,"
said he, –hair of lizards,
toes of snakes and lips of hens,
phoenix blood in ration,
costly these ingredients,
difficult to fashion.â€
–Bold king, lord of avarice,
monarch ever slyer,
clearly with each word thy price
mounteth even higher.
If this weapon,†Godric spoke,
conquer a battalion,
on the forge each hammer’s stroke
winneth thee a Galleon.â€
Thus the two a bargain struck.
Ragnuk labored strongly.
Godric, in his hapless luck,
understood it wrongly.
Goblins sell not ownership,
only lifetime rentals.
Wizard purchasers may trip
over fundamentals.
With the sword brave Gryffindor
exercised his power,
first in peace and first in war
til his final hour.
To his heirs he left the sword
without further payment
to the goblins who, by word,
stood as legal claimant.
Since the heirs refused to pay,
not a single Galleon,
goblins maintain to this day
that the sword was stolen.
Thus resentment flared between
these two magic races,
words mistrusted, actions seen
as ill deeds, false faces.
Yet the sword was not possessed.
It was its own master,
striking in, as it deemed best,
moments of disaster.
Ragnuk’s glory, shining blade,
virtue vast possessing.
Godric’s strength that shall not fade,
Hogwart’s final blessing.
Good King Ragnuk by Oregonian
Story Notes:
Although the goblins intended to retain title in the sword, according to their custom of selling only lifetime licenses, King Ragnuk did engrave Godric's name on the sword below the hilt.