Ok láð þeira með liði miklu
sjǫlf eignaðisk í sǫgum fornum.
Ok, þars kristnir kœnir byggja,
áðr tók heiðin þjóð hallir smíða.
Ok í fornum sǫgum eignaðisk sjǫlf láð þeira með miklu liði. Ok, þars kœnir kristnir byggja, tók heiðin þjóð áðr smíða hallir.
And according to the ancient stories, they themselves took possession of their land with a great army. And where wise Christians settle, heathen people had previously taken to constructing halls.
[6] kœnir: ‘kiænir’ Hb
[6] kœnir ‘wise’: This is an emendation of the unrefreshed ms. reading ‘kiænir’, first suggested in Bret 1848-9 and adopted by all subsequent eds, including the present one. Possibly, however, it has supplanted an original kirkjur ‘churches’, with byggja used in the sense of ‘occupy, frequent’ (cf. Fritzner: byggja 2; ONP: byggja 3), which would yield a noun contrastive with hallir ‘halls’. Cf. Merl I 23/2.