StarkSt Vík 5VIII (Gautr 13)
Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Gautreks saga 13 (Starkaðr gamli Stórvirksson, Víkarsbálkr 5)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 259.
text and translation
Afl gat ek ærit, uxu tjálgur,
langir leggir ok ljótt höfuð.
En hímaldi af hugsi sat,
fás forvitinn í fleti niðri.
Ek gat ærit afl, tjálgur uxu, langir leggir ok ljótt höfuð. En sat hímaldi af hugsi, forvitinn fás í fleti niðri.
‘I gained plenty of strength, my branches grew, long legs and ugly head. But I was a layabout lost in thought, curious about little down on the hall-floor. ’
notes and context
The prose text continues to tell of the warlike activities of King Herþjófr and his construction of warning beacons on high ground to alert him to possible incursions of enemies. He had put Víkarr in charge of the beacons on Fenhring. One day Víkarr went over to Askr and found his foster-brother Starkaðr there, sleeping among the ashes by the hearth. Víkarr was amazed at how big Starkaðr had grown. He gave him weapons and clothes and they sailed off on Víkarr’s ship. The three stanzas, Gautr 13, 14 and 15, are then introduced with the formula Svá segir Starkaðr ‘So says Starkaðr’.
Starkaðr’s representation of his great strength but ugly appearance, here and in Vík 33 (Gautr 41), is reminiscent of some of Egill Skallagrímsson’s self-portraits (cf. Egill Arbj 7-9V (Eg 103-5)). Both figures are Odinic heroes and poets, and invoke stereotypical physical traits associated with their vocation (cf. Clunies Ross 2001b, 44-6). In addition, as both the prose text and ll. 5-8 make clear, the young Starkaðr also conforms to the ‘coal-biter’ (kolbítr) stereotype, which is sometimes associated with a poet-hero (e.g. Grettir Ásmundarson in Gr).
readings
- [1] Afl: alf 152
- [6] hugsi: ‘hagse’ 590b‑cˣ, hagli 152
- [7] fás: om. 152
- [7] forvitinn: forvitni both
sources
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.
-
AM 590 b-c 4°x (590b-cx) — 3v/30 - 3v/31
imagesAfl gat ek ærit,
uxu tjálgur,
langir leggir
ok ljótt höfuð.
En hímaldi
af †hagse† sat,
fás forvitinn
í fleti niðri.afl gat ec æred, uxu tiälgur, langir leg | ger og liott hofud, enn himalldi af hagse sat, fááz forvitni i fleti nidri,
(HA)
-
AM 152 fol (152) — 198va/23 - 198va/25
alf gat ek ærit,
images
uxu tjálgur,
langir leggir
ok ljótt höfuð.
En hímaldi
af hagli sat,
forvitinn
í fleti niðri.
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