Rory McTurk (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Poems, Krákumál 24’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 765.
Hjuggu vér með hjörvi.
Hitt sýniz mér raunar,
at forlögum fylgjum;
fár gengr um sköp norna.
Eigi hugðak Ellu
at aldrlagi mínu,
þá er ek blóðvali brædda
ok borð á lög keyrðak.
Vítt fengum þá vargi
verð í Skotlandsfjörðum.
Hjuggu vér með hjörvi. Hitt sýniz mér raunar, at fylgjum forlögum; fár gengr um sköp norna. Hugðak eigi Ellu at aldrlagi mínu, þá er ek brædda {blóðvali} ok keyrðak borð á lög. Þá fengum vargi verð vítt í Skotlandsfjörðum.
We hewed with the sword. It appears to me indeed that we must submit to fate; few escape the decree of the norns. I did not think Ælle <Northumbrian king> would be the cause of my death when I fed {the blood-falcons} [RAVENS/EAGLES] and drove ships out to sea. Then we provided a meal for the wolf far and wide in Scotland’s firths.
Mss: R702ˣ(31v), 147(103r), 6ˣ(90v) (Ragn); LR(221-222), R693ˣ(16r)
Readings: [1] Hjuggu vér með hjörvi: abbrev. as ‘H v m h:’ R702ˣ, abbrev. as ‘Hi(’) v(’) (m’) h[…]’(?) 147, Hjuggum vér með hjörvi 6ˣ, LR, R693ˣ [2] Hitt: ‘h(itt)’(?) 147; sýniz: ‘syn[...](zt )’(?) 147, ‘siunist’ LR; mér raunar: ‘(mi)er rr(au)nar’(?) 147, ‘mier ranuar’ R693ˣ [3] at forlögum fylgjum: ‘at (f[…]rla[...]gum) fylgi’(?) 147 [4] fár gengr: ‘far g(e)ng(ur)’(?) 147; um: ‘[...]’ 147, of 6ˣ; sköp norna: ‘(sk)[...](rna)’(?) 147 [5] Eigi hugðak Ellu: ‘e(i)gi (hu)gda eg ell(u)’(?) 147 [6] at aldrlagi mínu: ‘[...]lagi (minu)’(?) 147 [7] þá er ek blóðvali: ‘þa [...] (blo(d)val(i))’(?) 147; brædda: ‘(b[...]dda)’(?) 147, ‘bręiddak’ 6ˣ, ‘brædde’ R693ˣ [8] ok borð á lög keyrðak (‘ok bord a log keyrdag’): ‘og [...](ord) [...] l(a)ug key(r)da (eg)’(?) 147 [9] Vítt fengum þá vargi: ‘[...]tt (fengum þa varg)[...]’(?) 147 [10] verð: om. 147; Skotlands: ‘skotlads’ LR; fjörðum: ‘f[...]ord(um)’(?) 147
Editions: Skj AI, 648, Skj BI, 654-5, Skald I, 320; Rafn 1826, 20-1, 143-4, Pfeiffer 1860, 126-7, CPB II, 344, Wisén 1886-9, I, 65, Krm 1891, 228, Finnur Jónsson1893b, 90, Finnur Jónsson 1905, 156; Ragn 1906-8, 189.
Notes: [4] sköp norna ‘the decree of the norns’: The same expression occurs in Hfr 10/4V (Hallfr 13); cf. de Vries (1964-7, II, 40 n. 68). The norns are the supernatural female beings described in Gylf (SnE 2005, 18), where they are said to ‘shape men’s lives’ (skapa mǫnnum aldr). For a questioning of the extent to which the norns were believed to spin or weave the fates of men, like the three Fates of Greek mythology, see Bek-Pedersen (2007; 2011). — [5-6]: These lines contain an acc. and inf. construction, with Ellu as the subject acc. and inf. vera ‘be’ omitted, meaning: ‘I did not imagine Ælle (to be) in the role of my slayer (i.e. the cause of my death)’; for at ‘in the role of’ (l. 6) cf. LP: 1. at 7. The lines resemble Ragn 26/5-6, and bear some resemblance to st. 28, ll. 5-6, 8, below, as Olrik (1892-4, II, 97) and de Vries (1927a, 53) noted. Line 6 is the same as Ragn 26/6, also in the context of Ragnarr’s death in King Ælle’s snake-pit, and the word aldrlag ‘death’, lit. ‘laying down of life’, also occurs in RvHbreiðm Hl 15/7III, apparently in the context of the slaying of Ælle by Ragnarr’s son Ívarr in revenge for Ragnarr’s death. There is likely to be a relationship of some kind, beyond their shared subject, between the present stanza and the one in Ragn, though the nature of that relationship has been disputed (cf. McTurk 1991a, 127-31; 2012b, 376-81). See further the Notes to st. 28 [All] and 5-6, 8, below. — [5] Ellu ‘Ælle <Northumbrian king>’: On this King Ella (OE Ælle, Ælla, Hella), see Note to st. 14/4 above. — [7] brædda blóðvali ‘fed the blood-falcons [RAVENS/EAGLES]’: Blóðvali here is acc. pl. rather than dat. sg. (see ANG §387.1 Anm. 2). That bræða ‘feed prey to’ governs the acc. rather than the dat. is evident from RvHbreiðm Hl 17/1III, cited in the Note to st. 9/3 above. — [10] verð ‘a meal’: This word is omitted in 147, but possibly supplied in the inner margin in an unclear hand. — [10] í Skotlandsfjörðum ‘in Scotland’s firths’: This seems the safest translation in the circumstances, given that at this stage of the poem the speaker seems to have moved on from a specific pin-pointing of the locations of his battles. However, according to Mossé (1934, 250), the name Skotlandsfirðir pl., occurring in the ÍF editions of the sagas he cites, refers to the Minch, the strait separating the north-west Scottish Highlands and the northern Inner Hebrides from Lewis and Harris in the Outer Hebrides. The occurrences of the name referred to by Mossé are in Nj chs 85, 158, and 159 (ÍF 12, 205, 460, 462), Gr ch. 4 (ÍF 7, 10), and Mberf chs 8 and 11 (ÍF 28, 219, 224). Further occurrences are in Orkn chs 22, 41, 78 (Skotlandsfjǫrðr sg.) and 101 (ÍF 34, 58, 99, 178, 274). In none of these instances does the ÍF edition give any indication of a specific location for the name; see, however, Anderson (1873, viii (map), 27 n. 1 and 56 n. 2). Whether given a general or a specific application in the present context, the p. n. reference as it occurs here is consistent with the information given in earlier stanzas about the speaker’s exploits in Scotland (possibly, st. 12/3) and the Scottish islands (sts 13/4, 15/3 and perhaps 20/7), as well as in, or off the coast of, northern England (in sts 6/5, 14/4 and perhaps 19/3).
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