Hafa þóttumk ek, hættinn
happsœkjandi, ef tœkir,
hreins, við haldi mínu,
hvert land þegit, branda.
Ríkr, vilk með þér, rœkir
randar linns, ok Finni
— rǫnd berum út á andra
eybaugs — lifa ok deyja.
Ek þóttumk hafa þegit hvert land, hættinn happsœkjandi hreins branda, ef tœkir við haldi mínu. Vilk lifa ok deyja með þér ok Finni, ríkr rœkir linns randar; berum rǫnd út á andra eybaugs.
I would think that I had received every land, venturesome, fortunate attacker of the reindeer of stems [SHIP > SEA-WARRIOR = Óláfr], if you would accept my support. I wish to live and die with you and Finnr, mighty keeper of the serpent of the shield [SWORD > WARRIOR = Óláfr]; let’s bear the shield out onto the skis of the island-ring [SEA > SHIPS].
[6] ok Finni: inn svinni Hb, Flat, Tóm, at sinni 142ˣ, 566aˣ, í vinni papp4ˣ, hinn svinni and at sinni 761bˣmarg
[6] ok Finni ‘and Finnr’: This, the reading of two early sagas of Óláfr helgi, is advocated by Finnur Jónsson (1932-3, 68), in reference to Finnr Árnason (see the Context above). Earlier (Skj B) he had adopted the reading inn svinni ‘the wise’ of Hb, Flat and Tóm (so also Skald, ÍF 6, 265, 286 and ÍS, since these are not eds of the Óláfr sagas), but he observes that the original reading probably became incomprehensible when the second helmingr was removed from its proper context. It is indeed difficult to see why an innocuous and plausible reading like inn svinni, if it were original, would have been altered to the potentially bathetic ok Finni in ÓHÆ and ÓHLeg. This analysis of the variants is clearly superior to Gaertner’s (1907, 331-2).