Russell Poole (ed.) 2017, ‘Breta saga 28 (Gunnlaugr Leifsson, Merlínusspá II 28)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 160.
‘Vaxa þar allir upp brœðr saman;
erut gjarnir þeir gótt at vinna.
Refr á móður ræðr grimmliga;
tapar henni sá týnir sauða;
es grenbúi gjarn á ríki.
‘Allir brœðr vaxa þar upp saman; þeir erut gjarnir at vinna gótt. Refr ræðr grimmliga á móður; {sá týnir sauða} tapar henni; {grenbúi} es gjarn á ríki.
‘‘The brothers will all grow up together there; they will not be eager to do good. The fox will attack its mother savagely; that destroyer of sheep [FOX] will kill her; the lair-dweller [FOX] will be eager for power. ’
Cf. DGB 116 (Reeve and Wright 2007, 153.189; cf. Wright 1988, 109, prophecy 41): Deuorabit uulpes matrem ‘The fox will devour its mother’ (Reeve and Wright 2007, 152). Gunnlaugr considerably amplifies Geoffrey’s text. — [8]: Attested kennings for ‘fox’ are few (Meissner 111), but the three that occur in this poem (see l. 9 here and II 39/3) have a parallel in Svart Skauf, where there are a number of nickname-like compounds for ‘fox’ and ‘vixen’, together with two kennings, grenlægja ‘the lair-lier [VIXEN]’ (4/2, 5/1) and sauðbítr ‘the sheep-biter [FOX]’ (18/6). — [9]: The kenning grenbúi ‘lair-dweller [FOX]’ is a hap. leg.; see Note to l. 8. The noun gren ‘lair’ was most commonly associated with foxes and the expression sem melrakka í greni ‘like a fox in its lair’ occurs frequently in relation to a humiliating capture or death (ONP: gren).
Text is based on reconstruction from the base text and variant apparatus and may contain alternative spellings and other normalisations not visible in the manuscript text. Transcriptions may not have been checked and should not be cited.
‘Vaxa þar allir
upp brœðr saman;
erat gjarnir þeir
gótt at vinna.
Refr á móður
ræðr grimmliga;
tapar henni sá
týnir sauða;
es grenbúi
gjarn á ríki.
Uaxa þar all[...] vpp brꝍðr saman er || at giarnir þeir gott að vinna refr ⸌af⸍ moðór ræðr grimlega tapar henni sa tynir sa | vða er grenbvi giarna a ʀiki
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