Gestumbl Heiðr 17VIII (Heiðr 64)
Hannah Burrows (ed.) 2017, ‘Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks 64 (Gestumblindi, Heiðreks gátur 17)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 428.
Báru ‘bore’
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3. bera (verb; °berr; bar, báru; borinn): bear, carry
brúðir ‘brides’
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brúðr (noun f.; °brúðar, dat. & acc. brúði; brúðir): woman, bride
notes
[1] brúðir ‘brides’: In poetry the word can refer to women in general as well as more specifically ‘brides’ (Fritzner, LP: brúðr). Cf. Heiðr 71/1.
bleik ‘Pale’
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2. bleikr (adj.): pale < bleikhaddaðr (adj.)
haddaðar ‘haired’
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-haddaðr (adj.): haired < bleikhaddaðr (adj.)
ambáttir ‘handmaids’
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ambátt (noun f.; °-ar, dat. -u/-; -ir/-ar (ambottor EiðKrA 391²²)): handmaid
tvær ‘two’
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tveir (num. cardinal): two
til ‘to’
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til (prep.): to
skemmu ‘the storehouse’
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1. skemma (noun f.; °-u; -ur): detached building, bower
notes
[4] skemmu ‘storehouse’: Plays on alternate meanings of skemma, ‘storehouse’ and ‘bower’, the former appropriate to an ale-keg, the latter appropriate to a bird’s nest.
Vara ‘It’
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2. vera (verb): be, is, was, were, are, am
[5] Vara: so 281ˣ, 597bˣ, ei var 2845, vóru R715ˣ
þat ‘was not’
[5] þat: þeir R715ˣ
höndum ‘by hand’
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hǫnd (noun f.; °handar, dat. hendi; hendr (hendir StatPáll³ 752¹²)): hand
[5] höndum: höndum corrected from ‘hordum’ in a later hand 597bˣ, ‘lyndum’ R715ˣ
horfit ‘turned’
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1. hverfa (verb): turn, disappear
hamri ‘by hammer’
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1. hamarr (noun m.; °-s, dat. hamri; hamrar): hammer, cliff
[6] hamri: so 281ˣ, ‘hmri at’ 2845, hamra 597bˣ, ‘harmi nei hamri’ R715ˣ
fyrir ‘outside’
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fyrir (prep.): for, before, because of
eyjar ‘the islands’
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1. ey (noun f.; °-jar, dat. -ju/-; -jar): island
útan ‘’
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útan (prep.): outside, without
örðigr ‘that upright one’
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ǫrðigr (adj.): battling, mounting
[8] örðigr: ‘anoþigur’ R715ˣ
er ‘’
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2. er (conj.): who, which, when
notes
[8] ker ‘keg’: Not in the main ms. and makes the line hypermetrical, and most eds omit, but the keg is clearly what is being referred to rather than the ale inside. To include it here avoids the need for more drastic emendation (cf. Note to l. 4 öl above), and although R715ˣ’s reading, konungr ‘king’, is clearly nonsensical (and ungrammatical), it at least supports there originally having been a word (perhaps beginning with k) here. Heiðr 1873 (247) retains, though omits the previous sá er ‘that one’, making the line more acceptable metrically.
gerði ‘made’
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1. gera (verb): do, make
Heiðrekr ‘Heiðrekr’
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Heiðrekr (noun m.): Heiðrekr
[9-10] abbrev. as ‘h k̄ h a ɢatu’ 2845, abbrev. as ‘heid: k.’ 281ˣ, abbrev. as ‘h: Kongr h:’ 597bˣ
konungr ‘King’
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konungr (noun m.; °dat. -i, -s; -ar): king
[9-10] abbrev. as ‘h k̄ h a ɢatu’ 2845, abbrev. as ‘heid: k.’ 281ˣ, abbrev. as ‘h: Kongr h:’ 597bˣ
hyggðu ‘think’
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2. hyggja (verb): think, consider
[9-10] abbrev. as ‘h k̄ h a ɢatu’ 2845, abbrev. as ‘heid: k.’ 281ˣ, abbrev. as ‘h: Kongr h:’ 597bˣ
at ‘about’
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3. at (prep.): at, to
[9-10] abbrev. as ‘h k̄ h a ɢatu’ 2845, abbrev. as ‘heid: k.’ 281ˣ, abbrev. as ‘h: Kongr h:’ 597bˣ
gátu ‘the riddle’
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gáta (noun f.)
[9-10] abbrev. as ‘h k̄ h a ɢatu’ 2845, abbrev. as ‘heid: k.’ 281ˣ, abbrev. as ‘h: Kongr h:’ 597bˣ
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
In the H redaction, before Gestumblindi speaks this riddle Heiðrekr challenges him (Heiðr 1924, 69): Eða kantu ekki á annan veg gátur upp at bera en hafa et sama upphaf at, þar sem mér virðiz þú fróðr maðr? ‘Do you not know another way to propound riddles than to have the same beginning, since I think you a wise man?’
Heiðrekr’s response is (Heiðr 1960, 36): þar fara svanbrúðir til hreiðrs síns ok verpa eggjum; skurm á eggi er eigi hǫndum gǫrt né hamri klappat, en svanr er fyrir eyjar útan ǫrðigr, sá er þær gátu eggin við ‘There female swans go to their nest and lay their eggs; the shell of the egg is not made by hands nor struck by hammer, but the swan outside the islands is upright, he with whom they produced the egg’. The H-redaction wording is quite different (and less preferable) (Heiðr 1924, 70): þat eru æðar tvær þær er eggjum verpa; eggin eru eigi gǫr með hamri eða hǫndum, en þjónostumeyjar báru ǫlit í eggskurninni ‘It is two eider-ducks who lay their eggs; the eggs are not made with hammer or hands, but the servant-girls carried the ale in the eggshell’. Female eider-ducks do not have white plumage (cf. bleikhaddaðr ‘pale-headed’ l. 2); moreover, the örðigr ‘upright [one]’ in l. 8 seems appropriate to a swan’s long neck and/or the action of a male swan guarding its territory. — Following Heiðrekr’s challenge in the H redaction (see Context), there is a move away from the Hvat er þat undra formula of the previous nine riddles. This effect is lost in the other redactions, which do not group all the undra riddles together, nor do they have the prose challenge. In this stanza, ll. 1-4 and 9-10 are fornyrðislag and 5-8 are málaháttr.
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