Cite as: Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 115 (Ǫrvar-Oddr, Ævidrápa 45)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 923.
notes: This stanza appears to follow on from the previous stanza’s reference to Oddr’s encounter with Ǫgmundr Eyþjófsbani. According to the prose texts (Ǫrv 1888, 92-3), the antagonists agree to call their conflict quits for the time being, though Ǫgmundr promises Oddr that this will not be the last time they meet. Oddr, Hjálmarr and Þórðr stafngláma (on this name, see Note to l. 7 below) then go off in different directions, Oddr to shoot animals for food, Hjálmarr to build a fire to cook them, while Þórðr remains behind to guard their ship. When Oddr and Hjálmarr return to the ship, Þórðr is nowhere to be seen. They eventually find him dead in a rock cleft on a hillside, with a spear (spjót) right through him (Ǫrv 1888, 94-5). They attribute this to Ǫgmundr’s treachery. — The stanza presents several problems of interpretation and may be corrupt in all extant versions. If one heeds the narrative of the prose text, the first helmingr seems to require a negated verb, though no ms. has one. Skj B emends 471’s variant knátta ek to knáttigat to give one, translating jeg kunde ikke prale af drabet … ‘I was not able to boast about the slaughter …’. However, the reference to ‘wise men’ and the people (brögnum, l. 2) before whom Oddr boasts, does not seem close to the prose text, so the whole of the first helmingr may belong to an unknown version of the narrative or else misunderstand it. — [5-8]: The second helmingr refers to Oddr’s and Hjálmarr’s reaction to their
finding of Þórðr’s dead body pierced by a spear.
texts: ‹Ǫrv 115›
editions: Skj Anonyme digte og vers [XIII]: E. 10. Vers af Fornaldarsagaer: Af Ǫrvar-Oddssaga IX 45 (AII, 314; BII, 333); Skald II, 178-9, NN §3290A; Ǫrv 1888, 204, FSGJ 2, 354.
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