Nús of verk, þaus vísi,
vandmælt, svát af standisk,
auðan plóg at eiga
Upplendingum kenndi.
Sér hefr svá langs tírar
svinns, at æ mun vinnask,
þríu missari þessi
þengils hǫfuð fengit.
Nús vandmælt, svát af standisk, of verk, þaus vísi kenndi Upplendingum at eiga auðan plóg. Hǫfuð svinns þengils hefr fengit sér svá langs tírar þessi þríu missari, at æ mun vinnask.
Now it is difficult to speak, so that it is adequate, of the deeds by which the prince taught the Upplendingar to own a barren plough. The head of the prudent lord has won itself such enduring glory these three seasons that it will last for ever.
[3] auðan plóg ‘a barren plough’: The sense is slightly transferred here, since strictly it is the land that has been laid waste. LP tentatively proposes that plóg is equivalent to plógsland ‘ploughland’ here, and cf., perhaps, Anon Lil 10/8VII, where fagran plóg, lit. ‘beautiful plough’, amounts to ‘fair crop’.