Hlýði hringberendr, meðan ek frá Haraldi segi
odda íþróttir inum afarauðga.
Frá môlum mun ek segja, þeim es ek mey heyrða
hvíta haddbjarta, es við hrafn dœmði.
Hringberendr hlýði, meðan ek segi íþróttir odda frá Haraldi inum afarauðga. Ek mun segja frá môlum, þeim es ek heyrða hvíta, haddbjarta mey, es dœmði við hrafn.
Let sword-bearers [WARRIORS] listen, while I recount feats of weapon-points concerning Haraldr the exceedingly wealthy. I shall recount the words that I heard a white, bright-haired girl [utter] when she spoke with a raven.
[4] afarauðga: so FskAˣ, 52ˣ, 301ˣ, hárfagra 51ˣ, FskBˣ, 302ˣ
[4] afarauðga ‘exceedingly wealthy’: The use of this epithet is appropriate to the context of addressing courtiers, for whom a ruler’s wealth (and thus his munificence) is of the first importance. The variant hárfagra ‘Fair-hair’ does not supply the necessary (vocalic) alliteration. It may be influenced by the fact that it appears in early poetry (Þjóð Har 5/7 and Jór Send 2/4) and became the conventional nickname of Haraldr; see ‘Ruler biographies’ in Introduction to this volume.