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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Flokkr about Óláfr helgi — Bersi ÓlflI

Bersi Skáld-Torfuson

Diana Whaley 2012, ‘ Bersi Skáld-Torfuson, Flokkr about Óláfr helgi’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 790. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1116> (accessed 26 April 2024)

 

Hróðrs batt heilan líða
hagkennanda þenna,
en snarrœki slíku
svarat unnum vér gunnar.
Orð seldum þau elda
úthauðrs boða trauðir
knarrar hapts, sem keyptak,
kynstórs, at við brynju.
 
‘You bade this skilled conveyor of praise [POET = me] to fare well, and we [I] managed to reply in kind to the keen cultivator of battle [WARRIOR = you, Óláfr]. Reluctant for hindrance, we [I] sold those words to the kin-mighty offerer of the fires of the outlying land of the ship [SEA > GOLD > GENEROUS MAN = you, Óláfr] just as I had bought [them] from the tree of the mail-shirt [WARRIOR = you, Óláfr].
Sveins raunir hefk sénar,
snart rekninga bjartar
þars svaltungur sungu,
— saman fórum vér — stórar.
Elgs munk eigi fylgja
út riðboða síðan
hæsts at hverjum kosti
hranna dýrra manni.
 
‘I have seen the great trials of Sveinn, where bright, cool tongues of swords [SWORD BLADES] sang keenly; we advanced together. I will not afterwards follow on expeditions a more excellent man, a riding offerer of the tallest elk of the waves [SHIP > SEAFARER], in any case.
Krýpk eigi svá, sveigir
sára linns — í ári
búum ólítinn Áta
ǫndur þér til handa —,
at, herstefnir, hafnak,
heiðmildr, eða þá leiðumk,
— ungr kunnak þar þrøngvi
þínn — hollvini mína.
 
‘Swinger of the snake of wounds [SWORD > WARRIOR], I do not crawl in such a way — early on we are [I am] readying a not small ski of Áti <sea-king> [SHIP] for you —, reward-generous army commander [RULER], that I forsake, or else then tire of, my loyal friends; [when] young, I got to know your enemy there.
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