Cite as: Wilhelm Heizmann (ed.) 2017, ‘Bósa saga 4 (Busla, Buslubæn 4)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 31.

Svá skal ek þjarma         þér at brjósti, at hjarta þitt         höggormar gnagi, en eyru þín         aldrigi heyri, ok augu þín         úthverf snúiz,

nema þú Bósa         björg um veitir ok honum Herrauð         heipt upp gefir.

Ek skal þjarma þér svá at brjósti, at höggormar gnagi hjarta þitt, en eyru þín heyri aldrigi, ok augu þín snúiz úthverf, nema þú um veitir Bósa björg ok gefir honum Herrauð upp heipt.

I shall so oppress your breast as though adders are gnawing at your heart, and your ears shall never hear [again], and your eyes shall turn outwards, unless you grant Bósi freedom and forego your hatred towards Herrauðr.

Mss: 586(14r), 577(53v), 510(11r), 340ˣ(271), 361ˣ(11r) (Bós)

Readings: [1] ek: þik 577, 361ˣ    [2] þér: so 577, 510, 340ˣ, 361ˣ, þat 586    [7] ok: enn 577, 361ˣ    [9] Bósa: Bögubósa 577, ‘[…] bosa’ 510    [11] honum: om. 577, 510, 340ˣ, 361ˣ

Editions: Skj: Anonyme digte og vers [XIII], E. 14. Vers af Fornaldarsagaer: Af Bósasaga 4: AII, 330-1, BII, 351, Skald II, 189, NN § 793; Bós 1666, 18-19, FSN 3, 203-4, Bós 1893, 16-17, FSGJ 3, 292, Bós 1996, 13; Edd. Min. 124.

Notes: [All]: The curse in this stanza is directed at the bodily welfare of the king. He will endure not only pains, but he will simultaneously be locked within himself to the extent that his eyes and ears, two vital sensory organs, will cease to function. — [3-4] at höggormar gnagi hjarta þitt ‘as though adders are gnawing at your heart’: In this way King Gunnarr perishes in the snake pit according to the Nordic transmission of the Nibelung tradition (cf. Vǫls ch. 39, Olsen 1906-8, 101 and Oddrgr st. 32). Both Skj B and Skald emend höggormar (nom. pl.) to höggormr (nom. sg.) to make l. 4 metrical (Type A2k).