Cite as: Hannah Burrows (ed.) 2017, ‘Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks 49 (Gestumblindi, Heiðreks gátur 2)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 411.
Heiman ek fór, heiman ek för gerðak,
sá ek á veg vega;
vegr var undir |
ok vegr yfir,
ok vegr á alla vega.
Heiðrekr konungr, hyggðu at gátu. |
Ek fór heiman, ek gerðak för heiman, ek sá vega á veg; vegr var undir ok vegr yfir, ok vegr á alla vega. Heiðrekr konungr, hyggðu at gátu.
I went from home, I made a journey from home, I saw ways on the way; a way was under and a way over, and a way on all ways. King Heiðrekr, think about the riddle.
Mss: Hb(76v), 2845(70v), 281ˣ(99r) (ll. 2-8), 597bˣ(49r) (ll. 2-8), 203ˣ(101r), R715ˣ(26v) (Heiðr)
Readings: [1] fór: om. 2845, heiman fór 203ˣ [2] heiman: so all others, ‘hemian’ Hb; för: ferr 597bˣ, ferð 203ˣ; gerðak: gerða 2845, í dag 281ˣ, 597bˣ, gærdag R715ˣ [3] vega: so 2845, 281ˣ, 597bˣ, R715ˣ, ‘w[…]g[…]’ Hb, ‘vega war þenn’ 203ˣ [4] undir: þeim vegr undir 2845, þar vegr undir R715ˣ [5] ok: om. R715ˣ; vegr: om. 281ˣ, yfir 597bˣ; yfir: vegr í corrected from vegr in the margin in another hand 597bˣ [6] ok: om. 281ˣ, R715ˣ; á: var 281ˣ, um corrected from á in the margin in another hand 597bˣ; alla: om. 597bˣ; vega: vega corrected from vegr 2845, vegu 281ˣ, vegr 597bˣ [8] hyggðu (‘hygg þú’): so 2845, 597bˣ, 203ˣ, ‘h·’ Hb, hygg 281ˣ, ‘h:’ R715ˣ; gátu: gátum 2845, ‘g:’ R715ˣ
Editions: Skj: Anonyme digte og vers [XIII], D. 5. Heiðreks gátur 2: AII, 221, BII, 240, Skald II, 124; Heiðr 1672, 143, FSN 1, 465-6, 533, Heiðr 1873, 236, 333-4, Heiðr 1924, 57-8, 131, FSGJ 2, 38, Heiðr 1960, 33; Edd. Min. 106-7.
Notes: [All]: King Heiðrekr’s response reads (Heiðr 1960, 33): þar fórtu yfir árbrú, ok var árvegr undir þér, en fuglar flugu yfir hǫfði þér ok hjá þér tveim megin, ok var þat þeira vegr ‘There you went over a river-bridge, and the river-way was under you, and birds flew over your head and next to you on both sides, and that was their way’. Hb adds (Heiðr 1924, 58): þú sátt lax í ánni, ok var þat hans vegr ‘you saw a salmon in the river, and that was his way’, but this is superfluous since the árvegr ‘river-way’ has already been mentioned. Tolkien (Heiðr 1960, 33 n. 3) suggests that l. 6 may refer to the ‘Earth-way’, so that each riddling-line refers to one of river, sky, earth. But as he also notes, there is no extant textual evidence for this possibility. — [1-2]: As Tolkien (Heiðr 1960, 33 n. 2) notes, these lines are paralleled in Fj 46/1-2 (Guðni Jónsson 1949-54, II, 533): Hvaðan þú fórt, | hvaðan þú för gerðir ‘From where have you come, | from where have you made your journey’?
