Sigldum vér ór Sogni;
svá fórum vér næstum;
þá lék eldr it efra
í óðali váru.
En nú tekr bál at brenna
í Baldrshaga miðjan;
því mun ek vargr at vísu;
veit ek, því mun heitit.
Vér sigldum ór Sogni; svá fórum vér næstum; þá lék eldr it efra í óðali váru. En nú tekr bál at brenna í miðjan Baldrshaga; því mun ek vargr at vísu; ek veit, mun heitit því.
We sailed out of Sogn; we travelled that way last time; then fire played high above our family homestead. But now the conflagration begins to burn in the middle of Baldrshagi; for that reason I will certainly [be] an outlaw; I know it will be promised.
[7] vargr ‘an outlaw’: Lit. ‘a wolf’. The noun has a dual semantic significance, like the OE wearg ‘wolf, accursed one, outlaw’. The phrase vargr í véum ‘outcast in the sanctuaries’ applies particularly to those who have broken the tabu of sanctuary, as is the case here, although the more usual crime so designated was that of killing at an assembly (Foote and Wilson 1980, 402).