GunnLeif Merl II 22VIII
Russell Poole (ed.) 2017, ‘Breta saga 22 (Gunnlaugr Leifsson, Merlínusspá II 22)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 155.
text and translation
‘En bjarnígull býr of vélar;
leynir hann eplum Lundúnum í.
Grefr í grundu gǫtur háligar
fýstr til fengjar fláráðugt dýr.
‘En bjarnígull býr of vélar; hann leynir eplum í Lundúnum. Fláráðugt dýr, fýstr til fengjar, grefr háligar gǫtur í grundu.
‘‘But the hedgehog will engineer contrivances; he will hide the apples in London. The treacherous beast, eager for booty, will dig lofty passages in the ground. ’
notes and context
Cf. DGB 116 (Reeve and Wright 2007, 153.176-7; cf. Wright 1988, 109, prophecy 37): Occultabit infra illam hericius poma sua et subterraneas uias machinabitur ‘The hedgehog will hide his apples there and devise pathways beneath the earth’ (cf. Reeve and Wright 2007, 152). Gunnlaugr plays up the notion of the hedgehog-king’s perfidy, on lines similar to his characterisation of the fox-king (II 27-45). — [7]: The idea of the hedgehog-king’s eagerness for plunder is another of Gunnlaugr’s additions.
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.
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AM 544 4° (Hb) — 49v/17 - 49v/18
imagesEnn biarnígvll byr vm velar leynir hann eplvm | lvndvnvm i grefr i grvndv gavtvr haligar fystr til f[...]giar flaraðvgt dyr |
(VEÞ)
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