Svart Skauf 19VIII
Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Svartr á Hofstöðum, Skaufhala bálkr 19’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 967.
text and translation
Kallar kámleitr á konu sína
heldr hvasseygður hunds jafningi:
‘Má eg segja þier frá mínum ferðum
heldr hrakliga, sem mier hugr sagði.
Kámleitr kallar á konu sína, heldr hvasseygður, jafningi hunds: ‘Eg má segja þier frá ferðum mínum, heldr hrakliga, sem hugr sagði mier.
‘The dark-coloured one calls to his wife, rather keen-eyed, a dog’s equal: ‘I can tell you about my travels, rather ignominiously, as my mind told me.’
notes and context
Here begins the first part of the fox’s ævikviða ‘life poem’, in which he recounts the events that caused his wounds (sts 19-29). The content of this and the following stanzas has a parallel in Grettis saga, where Grettir’s friend, the cave-dweller Hallmundr, who had been wounded when attempting to steal fish, returns home to his cave, and his daughter asks why he is covered in blood (Gr, ÍF 7, 203): … hann sagði allt sem farit hafði. ‘Skaltu nú heyra til,’ sagði hann, ‘en ek mun segja frá athǫfnum mínum, ok mun ek kveða þar um kvæði, en þú skal rísta eptir á kefli’ ‘… he told everything that had happened. “Now you must listen,” he said, “and I shall tell you about my dealings, and I shall compose a poem about it, and you must carve it on a rune stick”’. Svartr must have been familiar with such episodes and parodied them consciously. See also HallmGr HallkvV (Gr) and ǪrvOdd Ævdr (Ǫrv), especially Ævdr 70/5-6 (Ǫrv 140) fjölð er at segja | frá förum mínum ‘there is much to tell about my travels’. — [6, 8]: These lines appear to have been reversed in Rask87ˣ. The ms. has a mark like a close-bracket after l. 6, perhaps indicating the reversal in line-order.
readings
- [6] frá mínum ferðum: frá ferðum mínum 603, hvað mier hugr sagði Rask87ˣ
- [8] sem mier hugr sagði: af ferðum mínum Rask87ˣ
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 603 4° (603) — 82 - 82
Kallar kámleitr
images
á konu sína
heldr hvasseygður
hunds jafningi:
‘Má eg segja þier
frá ferðum mínum
heldr hrakliga,
sem mier hugr sagði. -
Rask 87x (Rask87x) — 113v/11 - 113v/14
Kallar kámleitr
á konu sína
heldr hvasseygður
hunds jafningi:
‘Má eg segja þier
hvað mier hugr sagði
heldr hrakliga,
af ferðum mínum .Kallar kämleitur a̋ konu sinna | helldur hvasseygdur, hunds jafninge, | Mä og segia þier, hvad mier hugur sagde )[4] | helldur hraklega af ferdum mijnum. |
(HB)
editions and texts
Kölbing 1876, 244, Jón Þorkelsson 1888, 232, CPB II, 383, Jón Þorkelsson 1922-7, 156, Páll Eggert Ólason 1947, 62-3.
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