Busla Busl 7^VIII (Bós 7)

Sé þér í hvílu         sem í hálmeldi
en í hásæti         sem á hafbáru.
Þó skal þér seinna         sýnu verra,
en, ef þú vilt við meyjar         manns gaman hafa,
villiz þú þá vegarins;         eða viltu þulu lengri?

Sé þér í hvílu sem í hálmeldi en í hásæti sem á hafbáru. Þó skal þér seinna sýnu verra, en, ef þú vilt hafa gaman manns við meyjar, villiz þú þá vegarins; eða viltu lengri þulu?

May it be for you in your bed as if [you were] in burning straw and on your high-seat like on a churning sea. Yet later may it be a great deal worse for you, and if you wish to have a man’s pleasure with girls, may you then lose your way: or do you desire a longer rigmarole?

Mss: 586(14v), 577(53v), 510(11r), 340ˣ(271), 361ˣ(11r) (Bós)

Readings: [2] hálm‑: strá 340ˣ    [5] seinna: síðarr 577, 510, 340ˣ, 361ˣ    [6] verra: vera 577    [7] en: om. 577, 361ˣ;    við: vita 510    [9] villiz þú: villr ert þú 577, 361ˣ;    þá: om. 577, 361ˣ, þá added above the line 510    [10] eða: om. 577, 361ˣ

Editions: Skj AII, 331, Skj BII, 352, Skald II, 190; Bós 1666, 19-20, FSN 3, 205, Bós 1893, 18, FSGJ 3, 293-4, Bós 1996, 14; Edd. Min. 124.

Notes: [All]: In the seventh stanza it is made manifest before the king that he will find no peace within his own four walls. The curses of sts 3-7 finally culminate in the threat of sexual deviance. — [3] hásæti ‘your high-seat’: The raised seat of the prince in the hall. It is comparable to OE heahsetl and OHG hohsedal. The term ǫndvegi or ǫndugi is limited exclusively to Old Norse and above all to the Íslendingasögur (cf. Beck 2000). — [9] villiz þú þá vegarins ‘you will then lose your way’: The additional line immediately after l. 9 in ms. 510 and several later mss clarifies what is meant by this ‘confusion’: ms. 510 has ok far í rassinn ‘and make your way into the arse’! This is the only place in Old Norse literature where heterosexual anal intercourse, which here is certainly portrayed as abnormal, is explicitly mentioned. In the context of níð, the sexual practices referred to more often allude to homosexual intercourse between men implicitly rather than explicitly (cf. below st. 8/6). — [10] eða viltu lengri þulu ‘or do you desire a longer rigmarole’: This can be compared to HHund I 43/8 (NK 137) vill þú tǫlo lengri? ‘do you desire further speech’?, and Hyndl 31, 34, 36, 39 (NK 293-4) viltu enn lengra? ‘do you desire more’?; cf. Anon (Stu) 23^IV. The use of þula ‘rigmarole’ here is comparable with the word’s other two uses in skaldic poetry (SnH Lv 7/2^II and Anon Mhkv 11/3^III) to refer to lists of synonyms or list-like verse. For further discussion, see Introduction to the Þulur in SkP III.

References

1. Bibliography
2. FSN = Rafn, Carl Christian, ed. 1829-30. Fornaldar sögur nordrlanda. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. Beck, Heinrich and Else Ebel, eds. 2000. Studien zur Isländersaga. Festschrift für Rolf Heller. RGA Ergänzungsband 24. Berlin: de Gruyter.
5. NK = Neckel, Gustav and Hans Kuhn (1899), eds. 1983. Edda: Die Lieder des Codex Regius nebst verwandten Denkmälern. 2 vols. I: Text. 5th edn. Heidelberg: Winter.
6. FSGJ = Guðni Jónsson, ed. 1954. Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. 4 vols. [Reykjavík]: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan.
7. SkP III = Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Ed. Kari Ellen Gade in collaboration with Edith Marold. 2017.
8. Edd. Min. = Heusler, Andreas and Wilhelm Ranisch, eds. 1903. Eddica Minora: Dichtungen eddischer Art aus den Fornaldarsögur und anderen Prosawerken. Dortmund: Ruhfus. Rpt. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.
9. Bós 1996 = Sverrir Tómasson, ed. 1996. Bósa saga og Herrauðs. Reykjavík: Mál og menning.
10. Bós 1666 = Verelius, Olaus, ed. 1666. Herrauds och Bosa saga Med en ny vttolkning iämpte Gambla Götskan. Uppsala: Henrich Curio.
11. Bós 1893 = Jiriczek, Otto L., ed. 1893. Die Bósa-Saga in zwei Fassungen nebst Proben aus den Bósa-Rímur. Strassburg: Karl J. Trübner.
12. Internal references
13. Roberta Frank (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Poems, Málsháttakvæði 11’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1225.
14. Not published: do not cite (Anon (Stu) 23^IV)
15. Not published: do not cite ()
16. Not published: do not cite ()
17. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Sneglu-Halli, Lausavísur 7’ 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. 328-9.