HalldR Lv 1^I

Fyll horn, kona;         frák, at belldi
Ôleifr konungr         undri miklu,
þás sǫðlaði         sínum mági
bukk at ríða;         ber mér ok þér.

Fyll horn, kona; frák, at Ôleifr konungr belldi miklu undri, þás sǫðlaði mági sínum bukk at ríða; ber mér ok þér.

Fill the horn, woman; I have heard that King Óláfr performed a great wonder when he saddled a he-goat for his kinsman to ride; carry it to me and to you.

Mss: 61(78va), 73aˣ(30r), 71ˣ(21v), 76aˣ(30r), Flat(79va) (ÓH)

Readings: [3] konungr: einn Flat    [5] þás (‘þa er’): er hann 73aˣ, 71ˣ, 76aˣ, om. Flat    [8] ber: so 73aˣ, 71ˣ, 76aˣ, Flat, fœr 61, berr Flat

Editions: Skj AI, 199, Skj BI, 190, Skald I, 100, NN §2218B; ÓH 1941, II, 742, 743, Flat 1860-8, II, 14.

Context: As Halldórr rides out hunting with King Óláfr, he falls off his horse and is mocked by his companions. Then they return home, where the king’s mother Ásta plies them with drink and the stanzas are spoken. The king utters one stanza (Ólhelg Lv 1) calling on a woman to fill the drinking-horn and mocking Halldórr’s poor horsemanship – typical of someone from Sogn. Halldórr’s lausavísa is his riposte to this. Bæb adds that the friendship survived the verse exchange. The curtailed narrative in Flat omits the return home, so that the stanzas are uttered in the forest and their reference to a woman is unexplained.

Notes: [5, 7] sǫðlaði bukk ‘saddled a he-goat’: This refers to Óláfr’s prank, as a boy, of saddling a he-goat for his stepfather to ride (ÓHLeg 1982, 40-1; ÍF 27, 3-4). The story, combining as it does defiance of instructions from a father-figure and inappropriate treatment of livestock, clearly has a literary kinship with the episodes of Grettir’s youth in Grettis saga. — [6] mági ‘kinsman’: Óláfr’s stepfather Sigurðr sýr ‘Sow’. Both his nickname and his relish for farming activities became the butt of crude humour and sexual innuendo relating to animals. See, e.g., Mgóð Lv 1^II, SnH Lv 11^II, Hjǫrtr Lv 2/7^II and Notes; the Hjǫrtr stanza involves a possible example relating to a he-goat. — [8] ber ‘carry’: (a) The verb is taken here (as in Skj B and Skald) as imp. ber, the spelling in the Bæb transcripts. This links with the call for a drink in l. 1 and produces a syntactic and semantic match with Ólhelg Lv 1/8 fœr mér ok þér ‘bring it to me and you’. In both cases the utterance is slightly illogical: ‘carry/bring [the horn] to me and you’. (b) It could alternatively be taken as 3rd pers. sg. pres. indic. berr, the spelling in Flat, probably with the sense ‘suits’, which would also fit with the dat. mér ok þér ‘me and you’. The subject would be unexpressed: presumably the drinking-horn mentioned earlier in the stanza. (c) The 61 reading fœr ‘bring’ matches Ólhelg Lv 1/8 exactly but has less ms. support and fails to provide alliteration.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. Flat 1860-8 = Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and C. R. Unger, eds. 1860-8. Flateyjarbók. En samling af norske konge-sagaer med indskudte mindre fortællinger om begivenheder i og udenfor Norge samt annaler. 3 vols. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
6. ÓH 1941 = Johnsen, Oscar Albert and Jón Helgason, eds. 1941. Saga Óláfs konungs hins helga: Den store saga om Olav den hellige efter pergamenthåndskrift i Kungliga biblioteket i Stockholm nr. 2 4^to med varianter fra andre håndskrifter. 2 vols. Det norske historiske kildeskriftfond skrifter 53. Oslo: Dybwad.
7. ÓHLeg 1982 = Heinrichs, Anne et al., eds and trans. 1982. Olafs saga hins helga: Die ‘Legendarische Saga’ über Olaf den Heiligen (Hs. Delagard. saml. nr. 8^II). Heidelberg: Winter.
8. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
9. Internal references
10. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Flateyjarbók’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=44> (accessed 24 April 2024)
11. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Hjǫrtr, Lausavísur 2’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 346.
12. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Magnús inn góði Óláfsson, Lausavísur 1’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 5-6.
13. Russell Poole (ed.) 2012, ‘Óláfr inn helgi Haraldsson, Lausavísur 1’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 517.
14. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Sneglu-Halli, Lausavísur 11’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 331-2.