Gestumblindi (Gestumbl)
volume 8; ed. Margaret Clunies Ross;
Heiðreks gátur (Heiðr) - 37
not in Skj |
Heiðreks gátur (‘Riddles of Heiðrekr’)
—
Gestumbl HeiðrVIII (Heiðr)
Not published: do not cite (Gestumbl HeiðrVIII (Heiðr))
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Skj: Anonyme digte og vers [XIII]: D. 5. Heiðreks gátur, Gestumblindes gåder (AII, 221-8, BII, 240-7); stanzas (if different): 5 |
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SkP info: VIII, 442 | |
old edition
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| 28 — Gestumbl Heiðr 28VIII (Heiðr 75)
edition
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full text
transcriptions
old edition
references concordance
Cite as: Hannah Burrows (ed.) 2017, ‘Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks 75 (Gestumblindi, Heiðreks gátur 28)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 442.
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Nær var forðum
nösgás vaxin,
barngjörn, sú er bar
bútimbr saman.
Hlífðu henni
hálms bitskálmir;
þó lá drykkjar
drynhraun yfir.
Heiðrekr konungr,
hyggðu at gátu.
Nær var forðum
nösgás vaxin,
barngjörn, sú er bar
bútimbr saman.
Hlífðu henni
hálms bitskálmir;
þó lá drykkjar
drynhraun yfir.
Heiðrekr konungr,
hyggðu at gátu.
Nösgás var forðum nær vaxin, barngjörn, sú er bar saman bútimbr. Bitskálmir hálms hlífðu henni; þó lá drynhraun drykkjar yfir. Heiðrekr konungr, hyggðu at gátu.
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text
prose order
Long ago, {a nostrils-goose} [DUCK] was nearly grown, child-eager, who brought house-timber together. {Biting-swords of straw} [OX TEETH] protected her; yet {the bellowing lava-field of drink} [OX SKULL] lay over. King Heiðrekr, think about the riddle. |
notes: Heiðrekr’s response is (Heiðr 1960, 41): Þar hafði ǫnd búit hreiðr sitt í milli nautskjálka, ok lá haussinn ofan yfir ‘There a duck had built its nest between the jaw-bones of an ox, and the skull lay over above’. The H redaction gives (Heiðr 1924, 76): Þá lá ǫnd á eggjum millum nautzkjálka, er þú hálmbitz skálmir kallar, en drynhraun hausinn, en bútimbr hreiðrit ‘There a duck lay on eggs between the jaw-bones of an ox, which you call ‘biting-swords of straw’, and the skull ‘bellowing lava-field’, and the nest ‘house-timber’. — The
solution is reminiscent of Judges XIV.8-14, where Samson eats from a honeycomb
produced by a swarm of bees inside the skull of a lion, and later propounds the
riddle de comedente exivit cibus et de forte
est egressa dulcedo ‘Out of the eater came forth food, and out of the strong
came forth sweetness’. Life-from-death symbolism could be said to be present in
this riddle, although there is no overt Christian context.
texts: ‹Heiðr 75 (62/57)› editions: Skj Anonyme digte og vers [XIII]: D. 5. Heiðreks gátur 22 (AII, 225; BII, 244); Skald II, 127, NN §2360, 2594; Heiðr 1672, 150, FSN 1, 479-80, Heiðr 1873, 256, 341, Heiðr 1924, 76-7, 138, FSGJ 2, 47, Heiðr 1960, 41; Edd. Min. 116-17.
sources
| GKS 2845 4° (2845) |
72r, 7 - 72r, 8 [1-8] |
(Heiðr) |
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| AM 281 4°x (281x) |
100v, 4 - 100v, 6 |
(Heiðr) |
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| AM 597 b 4°x (597bx) |
50v, 23 - 50v, 25 |
(Heiðr) |
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| UppsUB R 715x (R715x) |
29r, 16 - 29r, 19 [1-8] |
(Heiðr) |
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| AM 203 folx (203x) |
105v, 18 - 105v, 24 |
(Heiðr) |
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