GunnLeif Merl I 49VIII
Russell Poole (ed.) 2017, ‘Breta saga 117 (Gunnlaugr Leifsson, Merlínusspá I 49)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 84.
text and translation
‘Ríkir enn at þat ormar tvennir;
missir annarr þar aldrs fyr skeyti,
en annarr mun aptr of hverfa
und skugga nafns at skǫpum vinna.
‘Ríkir enn at þat ormar tvennir; annarr missir þar aldrs fyr skeyti, en annarr mun of hverfa aptr und skugga nafns at vinna skǫpum.
‘‘After that two more snakes will rule; one will lose his life there to an arrow, but the other will return under the cover of a name to contend against the fates. ’
notes and context
Cf. DGB 113 (Reeve and Wright 2007, 147.76-8; cf. Wright 1988, 104, prophecy 10): Succedent duo dracones, quorum alter inuidiae spiculo suffocabitur, alter uero sub umbra nominis redibit ‘Two dragons will succeed, one of which will be suffocated by the arrow of envy, while the other will return beneath the shadow of a name’ (Reeve and Wright 2007, 146). This prophecy appears to allude to two of the sons of William the Conqueror, William Rufus, who succeeded his father as King of England in 1087, and Robert Curthose, Duke of Normandy, who early in William Rufus’s reign made a return to Normandy from the Crusades and competed with him for the throne; among the commentators to offer this interpretation is John of Cornwall (Curley 1982, 237).
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) — 51v/31 - 51v/33
images‘Ríkir enn at þat
ormar †[…]nnir†;
missir annarr þar
aldrs fyr skeyti,
en annarr mun
aptr of hverfa
und skugga nafns
at skǫpum vinna.Rikir en at þat ormar [...] | nnir missir annar þar alldrs fyrir skeyti en annaʀ man aftr vmhverfa vndir skvɢa naf[...] | at skopvm vinna
(VEÞ)
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