Cite as: Hannah Burrows (ed.) 2017, ‘Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks 52 (Gestumblindi, Heiðreks gátur 5)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 414.
Hverr er sá inn mikli, er líðr mold yfir?
Svelgr hann vötn ok við;
glygg hann óaz, |
en gumna eigi,
ok yrkir á sól til saka.
Heiðrekr konungr, hyggðu at gátu. |
Hverr er sá inn mikli, er líðr yfir mold? Hann svelgr vötn ok við; hann óaz glygg, en eigi gumna, ok yrkir á sól til saka. Heiðrekr konungr, hyggðu at gátu.
Who is that, the great one, who moves over the earth? He swallows lakes and wood; he fears the wind, but not men, and sets upon the sun to harm [it]. King Heiðrekr, think about the riddle.
Mss: 2845(71v), R715ˣ(28v) (ll. 1-6), 281ˣ(99r), 597bˣ(49r), 203ˣ(104va) (Heiðr)
Readings: [2] líðr: ferr 281ˣ, 597bˣ, 203ˣ [3] Svelgr: ‘sulgir’ R715ˣ; vötn: vatn R715ˣ; við: viðu R715ˣ, veisur 281ˣ, 597bˣ [4] glygg: so 281ˣ, 597bˣ, ‘glug’ 2845, 203ˣ, ‘glÿs’ R715ˣ; óaz (‘oast’): óast corrected from ‘öas[…]’ in the hand of JR R715ˣ [5] gumna: dóma 281ˣ, ‘goma’ corrected from guma in the margin in another hand 597bˣ; eigi: ‘eÿ’ corrected from ‘ei[…]’ in the hand of JR R715ˣ, ei 281ˣ, 597bˣ [6] ok yrkir á sól: ‘og irkir a sol og irkja a sok’ R715ˣ [7-8] abbrev. as ‘h k h a ɢ’ 2845, abbrev. as ‘heidr·· k: higg at g.’ 281ˣ, abbrev. as ‘h. K h. þ̳ ad g:’ 597bˣ, ‘h. k. h ad G’ 203ˣ
Editions: Skj: Anonyme digte og vers [XIII], D. 5. Heiðreks gátur 15: AII, 224, BII, 243, Skald II, 126; Heiðr 1672, 147, FSN 1, 474-5, Heiðr 1873, 238-9, 338-9, Heiðr 1924, 60-1, 70, 135, FSGJ 2, 44, Heiðr 1960, 38; Edd. Min. 108.
Notes: [All]: Heiðrekr’s response is (Heiðr 1960, 38-9): þat er myrkvi; hann líðr yfir jǫrðina, svá at ekki sér fyrir honum ok eigi sól, en hann er af, þegar vind gerir á ‘that is fog: he moves over the earth, so that one cannot see because of him, and the sun cannot [be seen], but he is off, as soon as the wind gets up’. The H redaction (including 203ˣ) adds (Heiðr 1924, 61): ok megu menn ekki at honum gera; hann drepr skíni sólar. En vélasamlega berr þú upp slíkar gátur ok vandmæli, hverr sem þú ert ‘and men cannot do anything with him; he kills the shining of the sun. But you offer up such riddles and difficult questions craftily, whoever you are’. — [2]: A similar phrase occurs in Gestumbl Heiðr 20/2 (Heiðr 67) and Vafþr 48/5. — [3] við ‘wood’: Mss 281ˣ and 597bˣ have veisur ‘pools, puddles, swamps’ here. — [4, 5] óaz … eigi ‘fears … not’: In R715ˣ the original readings have been obscured by the corrector, in the first instance because of overwriting, in the second because of deletion.
