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Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Glælognskviða — Þloft GlækvI

Þórarinn loftunga

Matthew Townend 2012, ‘ Þórarinn loftunga, Glælognskviða’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 863. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1452> (accessed 18 April 2024)

 

1.
Þats dullaust,
hvé Danir gerðu
dyggva fǫr
með dǫglingi.
Þar vas jarl
fyrst at upphafi,
ok hverr maðr,
es honum fylgði,
annarr drengr
ǫðrum betri.
 
‘It is without concealment, how the Danes made a faithful journey with the monarch [= Sveinn]. There the jarl [= Haraldr Þorkelsson] was first and foremost, and every man who followed him, each warrior, [was] better than the next.’
2.
Nú hefr sér
til sess hagat
þjóðkonungr
í Þrándheimi.
Þar vill æ
ævi sína
bauga brjótr
byggðum ráða.
 
‘Now the great king [= Sveinn] has arranged himself on the throne in Trøndelag. There the breaker of rings [GENEROUS MAN] will rule the settlements always throughout his life.’
3.
Þars Ôleifr
áðan byggði,
áðr hann hvarf
til himinríkis,
ok þar varð,
sem vitu allir,
kykvasettr
ór konungmanni.
 
‘Where Óláfr previously dwelt, before he departed to the heavenly kingdom, and there, as all know, he became enshrined alive, having been king.’
4.
Hafði sér
harðla ráðit
Haralds sonr
til himinríkis,
áðr seimbrjótr
at sætti varð.
 
‘The son of Haraldr [= Óláfr] had powerfully taken himself to the heavenly kingdom, before the treasure-breaker [GENEROUS MAN] became a mediator.’
5.
Þar svá hreinn
með heilu liggr
lofsæll gramr
líki sínu,
svát þar kná
sem á kvikum manni
hár ok negl
hônum vaxa.
 
‘The praise-blessed prince lies there so pure, with his body incorrupt, that there hair and nails grow on him, as on a living man.’
6.
Þar borðveggs
bjǫllur kneigu
of sæing hans
sjalfar hringjask,
ok hvern dag
heyra þjóðir
klokkna hljóð
of konungmanni.
 
‘There bells in the wooden structure ring by themselves above his bed, and every day people hear the sound of bells above the king.’
7.
En þar upp
af altári
Kristi þæg
kerti brenna.
Svá hefr Ôleifr,
áðr andaðisk,
synðalauss
sôlu borgit.
 
‘And there candles burn, acceptable to Christ, up from the altar. So has the sinless Óláfr saved his soul before he died.’
8.
Þar kømr herr,
es heilagr es
konungr sjalfr,
krýpr at gangi.
En beiðendr
blindir sœkja
þjóðir máls,
en þaðan heilir.
 
‘A host comes there, where the holy king himself is, [and] bows down for access. And people, petitioners for speech [and] the blind, make their way [there], and [go] from there whole.’
9.
Bið Ôleif,
at unni þér
— hanns goðs maðr —
grundar sinnar
— hann of getr
af goði sjalfum
ár ok frið
ǫllum mǫnnum —,
þás þú rekr
fyr reginnagla
bóka máls
bœnir þínar.
 
‘Pray to Óláfr that he grant you his ground [Norway], — he is God’s man; he obtains from God himself prosperity and peace for all people — when you present your prayers before the sacred nail of the language of books [LATIN > SAINT = Óláfr].’
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