Hef eg margan heldr hála feitan
sauð snarliga sviftan lífi,
tínt kiðlinga, en týnt lambgymbrum,
gripið geldinga og gamalrollur.
‘Eg hef heldr snarliga sviftan margan hála feitan sauð lífi, tínt kiðlinga, en týnt lambgymbrum, gripið geldinga og gamalrollur.
‘I’ve rather swiftly deprived many a splendidly fat sheep of its life, picked lambs and killed young ewes, seized castrated rams and old feeble ewes.
[2] hála: harð‑ Rask87ˣ
[2] hála feitan ‘splendidly fat’: Kölbing (1876, followed by CPB) construes the 603 reading as halafeitan ‘tail-fat’, while Jón Þorkelsson (1888; 1922-7) opts for the Rask87ˣ variant harðfeitan ‘very fat’. Both of these readings are hypometrical. Páll Eggert Ólason (1947) renders ll. 1-2 as follows: Hef eg margan | heldr harðfeitan which is also unmetrical (two alliterating staves in the even line). For the adv. hála ‘splendidly’ modifying adjectives, see LP: hôla.