Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Gautreks saga 18 (Starkaðr gamli Stórvirksson, Víkarsbálkr 10)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 264.
Svá kómu vér til konungs garða;
hristum grindr, hjuggum gætti,
brutum borglokur, brugðum sverðum,
þar er sjautigir seggir stóðu,
kostum góðir, fyr konungi.
Þó var um aukit öllum þrælum,
verkalýðum ok vatndrögum.
Svá kómu vér til garða konungs; hristum grindr, hjuggum gætti, brutum borglokur, brugðum sverðum, þar er sjautigir seggir, góðir kostum, stóðu fyr konungi. Þó var um aukit öllum þrælum, verkalýðum ok vatndrögum.
‘Thus we came to the king’s courts; we shook the gates, we hewed the door-frames, we broke the fortress-locks, we drew our swords, where seventy warriors of good quality stood before the king. Beside that, the number was increased with all slaves, workpeople and water-bearers. ’
The prose paragraph between Vík 9 and 10 (Gautr 17 and 18) narrates how Víkarr and his troop of champions, intent on vengeance, seek out King Herþjófr. It tells how Herþjófr had a house fortified like a castle or stronghold (kastali eða borg) with seventy warriors at hand, as well as various servants and workmen. The warriors attack hard, causing the kind of damage detailed in the stanza that follows, put into the mouth of Starkaðr, svá segir Starkaðr ‘so says Starkaðr’.
This stanza in 590b-cˣ is fourteen lines long, twelve in 152, where ll. 9-10 are missing. It can easily be seen how additional lines, describing the attack on Herþjófr and his borg, could have been added to an originally eight-lined stanza; alternatively, what the mss have may be a slightly shortened version of two original stanzas. There is a close correspondence between the wording of the stanza and the immediately preceding prose account. — [3]: This line is in kviðuháttr.
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.
Svá kómu vér
til konungs garða;
hristum grindr,
hjuggum gætti,
brutum borglokur,
brugðum sverðum,
þar er sjautigir
seggir stóðu,
kostum góðir,
fyr konungi.
Þó var um aukit
öllum þrælum,
verka-lýð
ok vatndrögum.
So komu vier til konungs garda, hristum grindr, | hiuggum giætti, brutum borglokur, brugdum sverdum. þar er lxx seggir stödu, kostum | göder fyrir konungi þö var um aukit, ollum þrælum, verkalid og uatndrogum
(HA)
Svá kómu vér
til konungs garða;
hristum grindr,
hjuggum gætti,
brutum lokur,
en brugðu sverðum,
þar er †lxx tigir†
seggir stóðu,
kostum góðir,
fyr konungi.
Þó var um aukit
öllum þrælum,
verkalýðum
ok vatndrögum.
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