Sigv Austv 5I/7 — alfa ‘a sacrifice’
‘Gakkat inn,’ kvað ekkja,
‘armi drengr, en lengra;
hræðumk ek við Óðins
— erum heiðin vér — reiði.’
Rýgr kvazk inni eiga
óþekk, sús mér hnekkði,
alfablót, sem ulfi
ótvín, í bœ sínum.
‘Gakkat en lengra inn, armi drengr’, kvað ekkja; ‘ek hræðumk við reiði Óðins; vér erum heiðin.’ Óþekk rýgr, sús hnekkði mér ótvín sem ulfi, kvazk eiga alfablót inni í bœ sínum.
‘Do not come any farther in, wretched fellow’, said the woman; ‘I fear the wrath of Óðinn; we are heathen.’ The disagreeable female, who drove me away like a wolf without hesitation, said they were holding a sacrifice to the elves inside her farmhouse.
readings
[7] alfa‑: ‘alba’ Holm4
notes
[7] alfablót ‘a sacrifice to the elves’: This is the only reference to this practice in Old Norse poetry, and its nature and that of the minor mythological beings called álfar is elusive (see Turville-Petre 1964, 230-2, Gunnell 2006 and Hall 2007 for elves in Old English and Old Norse tradition).