GunnLeif Merl II 27VIII
Russell Poole (ed.) 2017, ‘Breta saga 27 (Gunnlaugr Leifsson, Merlínusspá II 27)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 160.
‘Þrjá klekr hann unga því hreiðri í;
eigi es hegra kyn hugþekkt firum.
Þars vargr ok bjǫrn ok at vísu refr
slœgr ok sínum sjaldan verr alinn.
‘Hann klekr þrjá unga í því hreiðri; kyn hegra es eigi hugþekkt firum. Þars vargr ok bjǫrn ok at vísu refr slœgr ok sjaldan alinn verr sínum.
‘It will hatch three young in that nest; the offspring of the heron is not loved by men. A wolf will be there, also a bear and assuredly a fox sly and seldom born [one] worse to its own [kind].
Mss: Hb(49v) (Bret)
Editions: Skj AII, 15, Skj BII, 15-16, Skald II, 10; Bret 1848-9, II, 25 (Bret st. 27); Hb 1892-6, 274; Merl 2012, 91-2.
Notes: [All]: Cf. DGB 116 (Reeve and Wright 2007, 153.188-9; cf. Wright 1988, 109, prophecy 41): Tria oua procreabuntur in nido, ex quibus uulpes et lupus et ursus egredientur ‘In the nest it will lay three eggs, from which will hatch a fox, a wolf and a bear’ (Reeve and Wright 2007, 152). Gunnlaugr does not show awareness of the variant quattuor ‘four’ found in some mss (Reeve and Wright 2007, 153): see Introduction. In the ensuing stanzas Gunnlaugr somewhat amplifies Geoffrey’s story of the fox; some details of Gunnlaugr’s characterisation and kenning diction are very similar to those in Skaufhala bálkr (Svart Skauf); see further II 28/8, 9 and Notes there. — [1] klekr ‘will hatch’: The verb klekja ‘hatch’ is attested only here in poetry. Its prose occurrences are confined to learned texts (ONP: klekja). — [1] hann ‘it’: Omitted in Skald. — [3-4]: Gunnlaugr again amplifies on the nature of the
heron, taking his cue from detestabilis ales ‘accursed bird’ in DGB 116 (see II 26 Note to [All]).
References
- Bibliography
- Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
- ONP = Degnbol, Helle et al., eds. 1989-. A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose / Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog. 1-. Copenhagen: The Arnamagnæan Commission.
- Hb 1892-6 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1892-6. Hauksbók udgiven efter de Arnamagnæanske håndskrifter no. 371, 544 og 675, 4° samt forskellige papirshåndskrifter. Copenhagen: Det kongelige nordiske oldskrift-selskab.
- Bret 1848-9 = Jón Sigurðsson. 1848-9. ‘Trójumanna saga ok Breta sögur, efter Hauksbók, med dansk Oversættelse’. ÅNOH 1848, 3-215; 1849, 3-145.
- Reeve, Michael D., and Neil Wright. 2007. Geoffrey of Monmouth. The History of the Kings of Britain. An Edition and Translation of De gestis Britonum [Historia regum Britanniae]. Woodbridge: Boydell.
- Wright, Neil, ed. 1988. The Historia Regum Britannie of Geoffrey of Monmouth. II. The First Variant Version: A Critical Edition. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer.
- Merl 2012 = Horst, Simone, ed. 2012. Merlínússpá. Merlins Prophezeiung. Munich: Herbert Utz Verlag.
- Internal references
- 2017, ‘ Unattributed, Breta saga’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 38. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=125> (accessed 13 May 2024)
- Kari Ellen Gade 2017, ‘ Svartr á Hofstöðum, Skaufhala bálkr’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 948. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=3349> (accessed 13 May 2024)
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