Cite as: Hubert Seelow (ed.) 2017, ‘Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka 67 (Hrókr inn svarti, Hrókskviða 17)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 357.
Vá bar Vémundr, er vega þorði,
— Björn ok Bersi — fyrir buðlungi. |
Fylkði sínu sá framligast
lofðungr liði, meðan lifa mátti. |
Vémundr, er vega þorði, bar vá fyrir buðlungi — Björn ok Bersi —. Sá lofðungr fylkði liði sínu framligast, meðan mátti lifa.
Vémundr, who dared to fight, endured danger for the prince [and so did] Bjǫrn and Bersi. That king drew up his troops most excellently, as long as he lived.
Mss: 2845(38v) (Hálf)
Editions: Skj: Anonyme digte og vers [XIII], E. 6. Vers af Fornaldarsagaer: Af Hálfssaga IX 17: AII, 267, BII, 289, Skald II, 152; Hálf 1864, 36, Hálf 1909, 126-7, FSGJ 2, 129, Hálf 1981, 134-5, 194; Edd. Min. 47.
Notes: [1] vá ‘danger’: In the saga prose, ch. 5, it says: Vémundr hét merkismaðr Hálfs kóngs ‘Vémundr was the name of King Hálfr’s standard-bearer’ (Hálf 1981, 177, l. 15). Following Bugge (Hálf 1864), eds have taken heed of this, substituting the ms. reading vo with vé ‘standard’, construing ‘Vémundr … bore the standard before the prince’. However, there are two other places (Hálf 13/3 and 38/4) where ms. ‘vo’ represents vá ‘danger’ and it is thus preferable to retain the ms. reading Vémundr, er vega þorði, bar vá fyrir buðlungi ‘Vémundr, who dared to fight, endured danger for [or ‘before’] the prince’; cf. Björn K. Þórólfsson (1925, xi-xii). — [2] vega ‘to fight’: Or ‘to kill’. — [4] Björn ok Bersi ‘Bjǫrn and Bersi’: Both these personal names mean ‘Bear’. Because the prose text mentions Bárðr ok Björn (Hálf 1981, ch. 5, 178, l. 19) but not Björn ok Bersi, as here, some eds have written Bersi out of the stanza (so Hálf 1864; Skj B). — [5] fylkði ‘drew up’: From fylkja ‘draw up, assemble [troops]’. The verb is written fylgdí in 2845; cf. Hálf 21/2, where fylkja is written fylgía. — [8] meðan mátti lifa ‘as long as he lived’: Lit. ‘while he was allowed to live’.
