FriðÞ Lv 16^VIII (Frið 18)

Ek bar átta         til eldstóar
dæsta drengi         í drifaveðri.
Nú hefi ek segli         á sand komit;
erat hafs megin         hægt at reyna.

Ek bar átta drengi dæsta í drifaveðri til eldstóar. Nú hefi ek komit segli á sand; megin hafs erat hægt at reyna.

I carried eight fellows, exhausted in the storm of sea-spray, to a fireplace. Now I have brought the sail onto the beach; the power of the ocean is not easy to experience.

Mss: 510(93v), 568ˣ(101r), 27ˣ(135v), papp17ˣ(359v), 109a IIˣ(148v), 1006ˣ(586), 173ˣ(87r) (Frið)

Readings: [1] átta: upp papp17ˣ, 109a IIˣ, 1006ˣ, 173ˣ    [2] eldstóar: so all others, eldstaðar 510    [3] dæsta: so 568ˣ, 27ˣ, papp17ˣ, 1006ˣ, 173ˣ, ‘[…]sta’ 510, ‘dædsta’ 109a IIˣ    [4] drifa‑: drifu papp17ˣ, 109a IIˣ, 1006ˣ, 173ˣ    [5] hefi ek: hef ek 568ˣ, 27ˣ, papp17ˣ, 109a IIˣ, 1006ˣ, 173ˣ    [6] á: ‘[…]’ 568ˣ    [7] erat (‘er ad’): so 568ˣ, er eigi 510, er ór 27ˣ, ‘eij er’ papp17ˣ, ei er 109a IIˣ, 1006ˣ, 173ˣ;    hafs megin: hafs megni 27ˣ, við hafs megin papp17ˣ, 109a IIˣ, 1006ˣ, 173ˣ    [8] reyna: ríma 27ˣ

Editions: Skj AII, 273, Skj BII, 295, Skald II, 156; Falk 1890, 77-8, Frið 1893, 18-19, 48, 73, Frið 1901, 28, Frið 1914, 17; Edd. Min. 99.

Context: After the two troll-women have been killed, the sea calms down but Elliði is in bad shape and all the men who have survived the journey are exhausted. In the A text prose Friðþjófr carries them all to land, with Bjǫrn saving one. In the B recension, Friðþjófr saves eight, Bjǫrn two and Ásmundr one. In the A recension Friðþjófr recites Frið 18 and 19 in quick succession; in the B text Frið 19 is recited before they actually make land, and Frið 18 comes after they have reached the bay of Evie (ON Effjasund), a village in the north-west part of Mainland, the chief island of Orkney.

Notes: [All]: This stanza is in regular fornyrðislag. — [All]: The order of Frið 18 and 19 is reversed in the B redaction, with 19 preceding 18. In terms of the narrative sequence this is illogical, as Frið 19 clearly relates to the men’s situation after they have come safely ashore, whereas Frið 18 describes Friðþjófr’s heroic behaviour in bringing them to land. — [3] dæsta ‘exhausted’: The first two letters of this word in ms. 510 are rubbed and partly illegible. The first letter looks more like a <v> than a <d>, as earlier eds have thought, while the second may be a misshapen <æ>. This surmise is strengthened by 510’s clear væsta (from væstr ‘worn out by wet and exhaustion’) at Frið 21/3 where exactly the same line is repeated. The majority of the mss from both redactions read dæsta.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
3. Frið 1893 = Larsson, Ludvig, ed. 1893b. Sagan ock rimorna om Friðþiófr hinn frækni. SUGNL 22. Copenhagen: Malmström.
4. Frið 1901 = Larsson, Ludvig, ed. 1901. Friðþjófs saga ins frœkna. ASB 9. Halle: Niemeyer.
5. Frið 1914 = Wenz, Gustaf, ed. 1914. Die Friðþjófssaga in ihrer Überlieferung untersucht und der ältesten Fassung kritisch herausgegeben. Halle: Niemeyer.
6. Falk, Hjalmar. 1890. ‘Om Friðþjófs saga’. ANF 6, 60-102.
7. Internal references
8. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Friðþjófs saga ins frœkna 18 (Friðþjófr Þorsteinsson, Lausavísur 16)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 215.
9. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Friðþjófs saga ins frœkna 19 (Friðþjófr Þorsteinsson, Lausavísur 17)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 216.
10. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Friðþjófs saga ins frœkna 21 (Hallvarðr, verses 2)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 218.