(Þat) skal þriggja nátta
(ef þik tregar, móðir)
— leið eigu vér langa —
leiðangr búinn verða.
Skal Uppsölum eigi,
þó at ófafé bjóði,
ef oss duga eggjar,
Eysteinn konungr ráða.
Leiðangr skal verða búinn þriggja nátta, ef þat tregar þik, móðir; eigu vér langa leið. Eysteinn konungr skal eigi ráða Uppsölum, þó at bjóði ófafé, ef eggjar duga oss.
An expedition will be prepared within three nights, if that is what is causing you grief, mother; we have a long way to go. King Eysteinn will not rule Uppsala, though he may offer excessive payment, if sword-blades serve us well.
[1] þriggja nátta ‘within three nights’: Gen. of time (cf. NS §140). If the speaker’s aim in this stanza is to reassure Áslaug that a revenge mission to Sweden is imminent, this, the reading of 1824b, adopted in all the eds used here apart from Hb 1892-6, is obviously more to the purpose than the vikna ‘weeks’ of 147 and Hb.