Note to Gestumbl Heiðr 22VIII (Heiðr 69)
[6]: An almost identical line appears in Gestumbl Heiðr 30/6 (Heiðr 77), where it refers to fire waiting to be kindled in the hearth. The H redaction has l. 6 of the previous stanza, Gestumbl Heiðr 21 (Heiðr 68) (see Note). This is an acceptable variant in terms of sense, creating ambiguity in the cause and effect of the wave-maidens’ actions (Burrows 2013, 203): ‘perhaps they do not have husbands because they cause harm to men, or perhaps they cause harm to men because they do not want husbands’.
References
- Bibliography
- Burrows, Hannah. 2013. ‘Enigma Variations: Hervarar saga’s Wave-Riddles and Supernatural Women in Old Norse Poetic Tradition’. JEGP 112, 194-216.
- Internal references
- Hannah Burrows (ed.) 2017, ‘Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks 77 (Gestumblindi, Heiðreks gátur 30)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 444.
- Hannah Burrows (ed.) 2017, ‘Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks 68 (Gestumblindi, Heiðreks gátur 21)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 433.