Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Haraldr harðráði Sigurðarson, Gamanvísur 4’ 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. 39-40.
Íþróttir kannk átta:
Yggs fetk líð at smíða;
fœrr emk hvasst á hesti;
hefk sund numit stundum.
Skríða kannk á skíðum;
skýtk ok rœk, svát nýtir;
hvártveggja kannk hyggja
harpslôtt ok bragþôttu.
Kannk átta íþróttir: fetk at smíða {líð Yggs}; emk fœrr hvasst á hesti; hefk numit sund stundum. Kannk skríða á skíðum; skýtk ok rœk, svát nýtir; kannk hyggja hvártveggja harpslôtt ok bragþôttu.
I have eight accomplishments: I forge {Yggr’s <= Óðinn’s> drink} [POETRY]; I am skilled at travelling swiftly on horseback; I have practised swimming on occasion. I can glide on skis; I shoot and row well enough; I can comprehend both harp-playing and poems.
Mss: Mork(3r) (Mork); H(28v), Hr(21ra) (H-Hr)
Readings: [2] Yggs: ‘ygs’ all [7] hvártveggja kannk hyggja: abbrev. as ‘þo læ. ger. igor.’ H, ‘þo lætr g. i. g.’ Hr [8] harpslôtt ok bragþôttu: abbrev. as ‘goll. við mer sk’ H, abbrev. as ‘g. við mer skolla’ Hr
Editions: Skald I, 166 (ll. 1-4), 235 (ll. 5-8), NN §§2203B, 2989B; Mork 1867, 15, Mork 1928-32, 86, Andersson and Gade 2000, 149, 473 (MH); Fms 6, 170 (HSig ch. 15).
Notes: [All]: In Mork this is the only jesting verse without refrain. H and Hr add the refrain to conform to the prose text, which states that the sts all end in the same way (ok eitt niðrlag at öllum, Fms 6, 169; so also ÍF 28, 89; ÍF 29, 237). Because this entails omitting two of Haraldr’s eight accomplishments, it hardly represents the original version. For the boasting of such feats, see Jesch 2006. — [1] átta íþróttir ‘eight accomplishments’: According to the st., Haraldr’s eight accomplishments are the following: poetic composition, horseback riding, swimming, skiing, shooting, rowing, and the ability to comprehend (and appreciate) both harp-playing and poetry. Some scholars maintain that the st. only enumerates seven accomplishments (see the summary in Nedrelid 1997), which is difficult to understand. See Note to ll. 7-8 below. — [4] hefk numit sund stundum ‘I have practised swimming on occasion’: The verb nema means ‘learn, acquire’ (cf. LP: nema). However, one can only learn how to swim once, and nema in the present context would seem to mean ‘practise, undertake’ rather than ‘learn’ (see NN §§2203B, 2989B). See also Fritzner: nema 1. — [5-8]: Duplicate Rv Lv 1/5-8. — [6] svá at nýtir ‘well enough’: Lit. ‘so that it is beneficial’. — [7-8] kannk hyggja hvártveggja harpslôtt ok bragþôttu ‘I can comprehend both harp-playing and poems’: For hyggja in the sense ‘comprehend, understand’, see Heggstad, Hødnebø and Simensen 1997: hyggja 3, as well as LP: hyggja 7, which cites Rv Lv 1/7 as an example. Hence the poetry (líð Yggs ‘Yggr’s drink’) that Haraldr forges in the first helmingr refers to his own ability to compose, whereas the poems (bragþættir) mentioned in the second is the poetry composed by others, which Haraldr, who on numerous occasions demonstrates that he is a connoisseur of the art of skaldic poetry, is able to interpret, appreciate and judge. Finnur Jónsson’s translation in Skj B (of Rv Lv 1/7-8), jeg forstår at slå harpen og lægge en vise ‘I understand how to play the harp and arrange a stanza’ implies that Haraldr is the one who has an active command of both harp-playing and poetic composition, thus duplicating one of the accomplishments mentioned in the first half-st. (see Note to l. 1 above).
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