R. D. Fulk (ed.) 2012, ‘Þorbjǫrn hornklofi, Haraldskvæði (Hrafnsmál) 13’ 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. 107.
‘Annat skulu þær eiga, ambáttir Ragnhildar,
dísir dramblátar, at drykkjumôlum,
an ér séð hergaupur, es Haraldr hafi
sveltar valdreyra*, en verar þeira bræði.
‘Þær skulu eiga annat, ambáttir Ragnhildar, dramblátar dísir, at drykkjumôlum, an ér séð {hergaupur}, es Haraldr hafi sveltar valdreyra*, en verar þeira bræði.
‘‘They shall have other things, Ragnhildr’s ladies-in-waiting, haughty women, for chatter over drink, than that you should see war-lynxes [WOLVES] which Haraldr has starved of the blood of the slain, while their men-folk feed [the wolves].’
The Danish princess Ragnhildr Eiríksdóttir rejects the offer of Haraldr hárfagri’s hand, disdaining to share his love with his reputed thirty wives and concubines. The Danish courtiers begin to mock Haraldr’s messengers, saying that the Danes have no reason to fear the Norwegian king, and that the ravens and eagles of Denmark will starve if they have to wait for Haraldr to fight (i.e. feed them corpses in battle).
The stanza is ascribed in the ms. to Þjóðólfr ór Hvini, but cf. the following stanza, Note to [All].
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.
‘Annat skulu þær eiga,
ambáttir Ragnhildar,
dísir dramblátar,
at drykkjumôlum,
an ér séð her†gopur†,
es Haraldr hafi
sveltar val-dreyrar,
en verar þeira bræði.
Annat skulu þær eiga ambattir ʀagnhilldar diser dram | blatar at drykkiu malum en þer set her gopur er haralldr· haf | i suelltar ualdreyrar en uerar þeirra bręde·
(RDF)
Skj: Þórbjǫrn hornklofi, 2. Haraldskvæði (Hrafnsmál) 13: AI, 27, BI, 24, Skald I, 15; Fms 10, 194-5, Fms 12, 226, Flat 1860-8, I, 576 (HarHárf); Möbius 1860, 229, Jón Helgason 1946, 146, Jón Helgason 1968, 18.
Use the buttons at the top of the page to navigate between stanzas in a poem.
The text and translation are given here, with buttons to toggle whether the text is shown in the verse order or prose word order. Clicking on indiviudal words gives dictionary links, variant readings, kennings and notes, where relevant.
This is the text of the edition in a similar format to how the edition appears in the printed volumes.
This view is also used for chapters and other text segments. Not all the headings shown are relevant to such sections.