Öls bað æskiselja
angri mædd að ganga
mörk í Máríukirkju
menn, er hana skulu brenna,
þó að mjúklátri meyju
mild auðar-Bil vildi
sínar sorgir greina;
senn veittu þeir henni.
Æskiselja öls, mædd angri, bað menn, er skulu brenna hana, að ganga mörk í Máríukirkju, þó að mild auðar-Bil vildi greina sorgir sínar mjúklátri meyju; senn veittu þeir henni.
The wishing-willow of ale [WOMAN], weary with grief, asked the men, who are to burn her, to be allowed to walk through the forest to the Church of Mary, when the pious wealth-Bil <goddess> [WOMAN] wished to explain her sorrows to the gentle Virgin; at once they granted her that.
[3] mörk: merk 1032ˣ
[3] mörk (f. acc. sg.) ‘through the forest’: This is an acc. of place (see NS §96; NN §1685). Skj B adopts the 1032ˣ variant merk (f. nom. sg.) ‘remarkable’, which is taken as an adj. modifying selja (f. nom. sg.) ‘willow’ (l. 1). Sperber retains mörk, which he construes as a noun (acc. pl.) lit. ‘signs’ with Máríukirkju ‘the Church of Mary’ (eine bemerkenswerte Kirche ‘a marvel of a church’) in accordance with Mv II, 13.