In the evening Lord Olaf goes fishing, 
Out into the endless sea, into the roaring of the waves.
The flambeau rocks back and forth, the boat flies quickly,
The fish hasten toward the blinding light--
And do you not see the treacherous nets[?]
You hasten toward your ruin,
And yet it is so bitter to die
In the moonlight.

Lord Olaf gazes upon the seething sea--
How the waves flicker and gleam all around!
[The boat] glides onward upon a crystalline pathway,
The boat rocks and swings upon the waves,
The full moon looks down from the heavens--
Lord Olaf left his faithless bride.--
The stars twinkle and beckon,
The waves roar and sparkle
In the moonlight.

Lord Olaf gazes deeply into the water,
There he sees a palace of coral,
And mermaids dance in the algae-forest,
With long, billowing hair swirling about them;
They sing so enticingly and beckon to him:
"Come down, Lord Olaf! here you shall find rest!
We shall tuck you up carefully upon swelling foam
To [sleep and] dream a blissful dream
In the moonlight!"

Lord Olaf felt so woeful and wounded--
"Down there my heart would surely recover!
My life lost, my happiness in the grave--
Now I shall sink down into the sea!"
The mermaids immediately swim to him.
"Lord Olaf, how so sad and pale you are!
Why would you want to die lingeringly?"--
At that, he sank down into the floodwaters
In the moonlight.