Note to Gestumbl Heiðr 2VIII (Heiðr 49)
[All]: King Heiðrekr’s response reads (Heiðr 1960, 33): þar fórtu yfir árbrú, ok var árvegr undir þér, en fuglar flugu yfir hǫfði þér ok hjá þér tveim megin, ok var þat þeira vegr ‘There you went over a river-bridge, and the river-way was under you, and birds flew over your head and next to you on both sides, and that was their way’. Hb adds (Heiðr 1924, 58): þú sátt lax í ánni, ok var þat hans vegr ‘you saw a salmon in the river, and that was his way’, but this is superfluous since the árvegr ‘river-way’ has already been mentioned. Tolkien (Heiðr 1960, 33 n. 3) suggests that l. 6 may refer to the ‘Earth-way’, so that each riddling-line refers to one of river, sky, earth. But as he also notes, there is no extant textual evidence for this possibility.
References
- Bibliography
- Heiðr 1924 = Jón Helgason, ed. 1924. Heiðreks saga. Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks konungs. SUGNL 48. Copenhagen: Jørgensen.
- Heiðr 1960 = Tolkien, Christopher, ed. and trans. 1960. Saga Heiðreks konungs ins vitra / The Saga of King Heidrek the Wise. Nelson Icelandic Texts. London etc.: Nelson.