Kirsten Wolf (ed.) 2007, ‘Kálfr Hallsson, Kátrínardrápa 20’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 944-5.
Berja frá eg staungum stórum
stillis rekka ljótrar villu
milda ambátt mána foldar
mildings frægs og vöndum gildum.
Blóðið flaut af búki hvítum
bragnings meyjar sólar vagna;
síðan byrgðu seggir heiðnir
svanna guðs í myrku ranni.
Eg frá rekka stillis ljótrar villu berja {milda ambátt {frægs mildings {foldar mána}}} stórum staungum og gildum vöndum. Blóðið flaut af hvítum búki {meyjar {bragnings {vagna sólar}}}; síðan byrgðu heiðnir seggir svanna guðs í myrku ranni.
I heard that the men of the ruler in ugly delusion hit {the gentle handmaid {of the famous prince {of the land of the moon}}} [SKY/HEAVEN > = God > HOLY WOMAN] with large sticks and thick rods. The blood poured from the white body {of the maiden {of the prince {of the wagons of the sun}}} [SKY/HEAVEN > = God > HOLY WOMAN]; subsequently, heathen men locked the woman of God in a dark house.
Mss: 713(131), 399a-bˣ(11), 920ˣ(215r-v)
Readings: [1] frá eg staungum stórum: so 920ˣ, ‘frá eg stön[...] stó[...]’ 713, ‘hana stokkum stórum’ 399a‑bˣ [2] stillis: so 399a‑bˣ, 920ˣ, ‘[...]illis’ 713 [5] búki hvítum: so 399a‑bˣ, ‘buk[...]uitum’ 713, búknum hvita 920ˣ [6] bragnings: so 399a‑bˣ, 920ˣ, ‘[...]gnings’ 713 [8] guðs í myrku: so 399a‑bˣ, ‘gud[...]rku’ 713, ‘gud(s...j. s)tyrku’ 920ˣ
Editions: Skj AII, 520, Skj BII, 574, Skald II, 316, Kahle 1898, 71, 107, Sperber 1911, 47, 80.
Notes: [1-6]: This account of Catherine’s torture is not paralleled in the prose text, which is more restrained. — [6] vagna sólar ‘of the wagons of the sun’: See LP: vagn, vagna(r) sólar and Notes to Ník Jóndr 3/6 and Anon Pét 14/7-8. The reference is probably to the constellations Charles’s Wain, Ursa Major, and the Lesser Wain, Ursa Minor, but, if so, the poet rather confusingly introduces the determinant sól ‘sun’, when what he needs is a word meaning ‘land, bridge’ etc. — [7-8]: Cf. Unger 1877, I, 409; Wolf 2003, 131: En siðan let hann byrgia hana i myrkvastofu ... ‘And afterwards he had her locked in a dark room [prison] ...’.
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