Cite as: Hubert Seelow (ed.) 2017, ‘Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka 7 (Marmennill, Lausavísur 2)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 310.
Varaztu víti, ef þú vilt;
vil ek aptr í sjó. |
|
Varaztu víti, ef þú vilt; ek vil aptr í sjó.
Beware of disaster, if you want; I want to go back into the sea.
Mss: 2845(34r) (Hálf)
Readings: [1] víti: ‘uítŕ’ 2845
Editions: Skj: Anonyme digte og vers [XIII], E. 6. Vers af Fornaldarsagaer: Af Hálfssaga IV 1: AII, 257, BII, 277, Skald II, 145; Hálf 1864, 10, Hálf 1909, 83, FSGJ 2, 102, Hálf 1981, 113, 174; Edd. Min. 91.
Notes: [All]: This incomplete stanza is a continuation of the merman’s prophecy in the preceding stanza and may be looked upon as its concluding statement. In fact, Skj, Skald, and Hálf 1864 treat these three lines as part of the preceding stanza. — [1] varaztu víti ‘beware of disaster’: The final letter ‘ŕ’ in the ms. is probably to be read as an <í> (denoting [i]) corrected from an <r> rather than as an <r> corrected from an <í>. Some eds read vitr ‘wise’ (so Hálf 1864, Skj B), Finnur Jónsson translating Tag dig, klog som du er, iagt, hvis du vil ‘Watch out for yourself, wise as you are, if you wish’. — [3]: This line is very similar to Hálf 12/4 lát mik aptr í sjó ‘put me back into the sea’.
