Cite as: Valgerður Erna Þorvaldsdóttir (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Brúðkaupsvísur 18’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 541-2.

‘Vingun muna vera leingr — veld eg því eigi að heldr — og eyðaz ástúð, okkr svá mun fara loks, nema eina auð-Rán aðra látir nú í stað, hristir þá er hafið fest, hnossa, en munið oss. ‘Vingun muna vera leingr — veld eg því eigi að heldr — og eyðaz ástúð, okkr svá mun fara loks, nema eina auð-Rán aðra látir nú í stað, hristir þá er hafið fest, hnossa, en munið oss. ‘Vingun muna vera leingr og ástúð eyðaz; eg veld því eigi að heldr; loks mun okkr svá fara, nema látir eina aðra auð-Rán nú í stað, þá er hafið fest, hristir hnossa, en munið oss.

text prose order   ‘The friendship will not last [any] longer and affection will come to nothing; I do not cause it either; in the end it will turn out like that for us, unless you forsake that one other {gold-Rán} [WOMAN] here and now, to whom you have betrothed yourself, {shaker of treasures}, [GENEROUS MAN] and remember us [me].

notes: This st. is a little difficult to understand, although the general thrust of it is clear: Mary is telling the young man to choose her over his human betrothed, if he wants to continue their relationship. Presumably, vingun ‘friendship’ (l. 1) refers to the friendship between the young man and Mary, not to his relationship with his human fiancée. — [5-8]: It is possible to intepret this helmingr in two different ways, the first way as presented in the translation above, and the second as here: ‘nema látir eina aðra auð-Rán, þás nú hafit fest, hristir hnossa, en í stað munit oss’ ‘“unless you leave alone another gold-Rán <goddess> [WOMAN], to whom you have betrothed yourself, shaker of treasures [MAN], and instead remember us [me]”’.

editions: Skj Not in Skj; ÍM II, 132.

sources

AM 721 4° (721)	14v, 19 - 14v, 20
AM 1032 4°x (1032x)	105v, 1 - 105v, 8
JS 399 a-b 4°x (399a-bx)	7, 20 - 8, 4
Lbs 2166 4°x (2166x)	7, 17 - 8, 4