Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Friðþjófs saga ins frœkna 35 (Friðþjófr Þorsteinsson, Lausavísur 29)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 233.
Vilda ek kjósa konung í helju
en unga mér Ingibjörgu,
drykkju mikla, drengi káta,
en Elliða upp á hlunnum.
Ek vilda kjósa konung í helju, en mér unga Ingibjörgu, mikla drykkju, káta drengi, en Elliða upp á hlunnum.
‘I would wish to choose for the king [to be] in Hel, and young Ingibjǫrg for myself, great drinking, happy warriors, and Elliði up on rollers. ’
After Friðþjófr has told Bjǫrn of his desire to visit King Hringr, Bjǫrn expresses concern at the journey’s potential danger. However, Friðþjófr is determined to go, and asks his men to take him there. In 568ˣ only, he speaks this stanza.
This fornyrðislag stanza is only in ms. 568ˣ. The text appears in the diplomatic version of 568ˣ in Frið 1893, in a note in Frið 1914 and in Skj and Skald. It is uncomplicated and succinct, expressing the classic desire of a viking hero looking forward to a well-earned rest with his girl, his drink and his fellows, and with his ship securely beached on shore, at least as that viking hero’s state of mind is imagined by a late medieval poet.
Text is based on reconstruction from the base text and variant apparatus and may contain alternative spellings and other normalisations not visible in the manuscript text. Transcriptions may not have been checked and should not be cited.
Vilda ek kjósa
kóng í helju
en unga mér
†J[…]gu†,
drykkju mikla,
drengi káta,
en Elliða
upp á hlunnum.
villda ec kiosa kong j heliu, enn vnga mier J[…] | gu, Dryckiu micla, Dreinge kata enn Ellida vpp a hlunnum .
(JG)
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