GunnLeif Merl II 36VIII
Russell Poole (ed.) 2017, ‘Breta saga 36 (Gunnlaugr Leifsson, Merlínusspá II 36)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 166.
text and translation
‘Sék vé vaða, verðr †mitt† skaða;
syngr sára klungr snyrtidrengjum.
En á leið fara lægjǫrn ara
jóð ok ylgjar enn til sylgjar;
hrapa hernumin hvártveggja bǫrn.
‘Sék vé vaða, †mitt† verðr skaða; {klungr sára} syngr snyrtidrengjum. En lægjǫrn jóð ara ok ylgjar fara enn á leið til sylgjar; bǫrn hvártveggja hrapa hernumin.
‘‘I see the standards advance, … will harm; the thorn of wounds [SWORD] sings to brave men. And the treacherous children of the eagle and the she-wolf go on their way to the drinking once more; the offspring of both will tumble down, taken in battle. ’
notes and context
See II 31 Note to [All]. Note the end-rhymes (ll. 1-2, 5-8) in this stanza, possibly imitated from such poems as Egill HflV(Eg). As elsewhere in his battle descriptions, Gunnlaugr reaches for special stylistic devices associated with traditional skaldic poetry.
readings
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) — 50r/13 - 50r/15
images‘Sék vé vaða,
verðr †mitt† skaða;
syngr sára klungr
snyrtidrengjum.
En á leið fara
lægjǫrn ara
jóð ok ylgjar
enn til sylgjar;
hrapa hernumin
hvártveggi bǫrn.Se ek ve vaða verðr mitt skaða syngr sa | ræk⸌ʀ⸍vngr snyrti dreyngivm en a leið fara lægiorn ara ioð ok ylgiar en til sylgiar hrapa her | nvmin hvartveɢi born ·
(VEÞ)
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