Gestumbl Heiðr 25VIII (Heiðr 72)/2 — búa ‘dweller’
Fara ek sá foldar moldbúa;
á sat nár á nái;
blindr reið blindum brimleiðar til;
jór var andar vanr.
Heiðrekr konungr, hyggðu at gátu.
Ek sá moldbúa foldar fara; á sat nár á nái; blindr reið blindum til brimleiðar; jór var vanr andar. Heiðrekr konungr, hyggðu at gátu.
I saw a soil-dweller <snake> of the earth travelling; a corpse sat on a corpse; a blind thing rode on a blind thing to the surf-way [SEA]; the steed was lacking in breath. King Heiðrekr, think about the riddle.
readings
[2] ‑búa: ‘‑kűa’ 281ˣ
notes
[2] moldbúa foldar ‘a soil-dweller <snake> of the earth’: Moldbúi ‘soil-dweller’ is also found in Harð 8/3V, where it refers to a revenant inhabiting a mound, but cf. heiðbúi ‘heath-dweller’ and steinbúi ‘soil-dweller’ as snake-heiti in Þul Orma 3/4, 5III. Foldar ‘of the earth’ seems somewhat redundant in meaning. The phrase is kenning-like in structure but cannot be fitted into any known kenning pattern. The referent is taken as a stone rather than a snake in the U redaction: see Note to [All] above.