Innsteinn Innkv 9^VIII (Hálf 29)

The second part of Innkv (Hálf 29-33) is separated from the first in the saga by a short prose passage describing the events in Ásmundr’s hall where Hálfr and the Hálfsrekkar have been feasting. It takes the form of a monologue spoken by Innsteinn to encourage Hálfr and the other Hálfsrekkar to fight and to leave the burning hall. There are some discrepancies between the prose introduction and the stanzas of this part that are discussed in the Notes below.

Rýkr um hauka         í höll konungs;
ván er at drjúpi         vax af söxum.
Mál er gulli         ok gersimum,
hjálmum skipta         með Hálfsrekkum.

Rýkr um hauka í höll konungs; ván er at vax drjúpi af söxum. Mál er skipta hjálmum, gulli ok gersimum, með Hálfsrekkum.

There is smoke around the hawks in the king’s hall; it is to be expected that wax will drip from the swords. It is time to share helmets, gold and treasures with Hálfr’s champions.

Mss: 2845(36v) (Hálf)

Readings: [3] drjúpi: rjúki 2845

Editions: Skj AII, 261, Skj BII, 282, Skald II, 147-8, NN §2836; Hálf 1864, 22, Hálf 1909, 107-8, FSGJ 2, 115, Hálf 1981, 123-4, 183; Edd. Min. 36.

Context: This stanza is preceded by a prose paragraph. Hálfr attends King Ásmundr’s banquet with half his troops. When the guests have fallen asleep, Ásmundr and his men set fire to the hall. One of Hálfr’s champions wakes up and, realising that the hall is filled with smoke, says: Rjúka mun um hauka vára nú ‘Now there will be smoke around our hawks’. He then goes back to sleep. Another of Hálfr’s men wakes up and, realising that the hall is on fire, says: Drjúpa man nú vax af söxum ‘Now wax will drip from the swords’. He then lies down again. Then King Hálfr awakes. He rises, wakes up his men and orders them to take their arms. They attempt to get out by jumping against the walls. The stanza is introduced by the words: Þá kvað Innsteinn ‘Then Innsteinn said’.

Notes: [All]: The stanza is spoken by Innsteinn and warns indirectly that the hall is on fire. In the prose text ll. 1-2 are attributed to one of the Hálfsrekkar, and ll. 3-4 to another, while the hortatory remarks of the second helmingr are attributed in the prose to King Hálfr, who in the poem seems not to have yet woken from his postprandial sleep. — [1] rýkr um hauka ‘there is smoke around the hawks’: Here and in several other instances in the Hálf stanzas, the noun haukr (and the cpd haukmaðr) is used metaphorically to apply, not to birds of prey, but to keen, bold warriors; cf. Hálf 54/2 and 64/2. This sense is not uncommon in Old Norse poetry; cf. LP: haukr 2, Arn Hryn 3/5^II and Note there. — [3-4]: Munch (1852-63, I, i, 304 n. 1) suggests that wax, smeared on the warriors’ weapons to prevent corrosion, will melt in the heat of the fire and drip down. It seems that sword blades may have been coated with a thin layer of wax to prevent them rusting. — [3] drjúpi ‘will drip’: The ms.’s rjúki ‘will smoke’ is obviously influenced by rýkr ‘there is smoke, it is smoking’ in l. 1. The emendation drjúpi, first suggested by Bugge (Hálf 1864), is in accordance with the preceding prose, and has been followed by subsequent eds.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
3. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
5. Munch, P. A. 1852-63. Det norske folks historie. 8 vols. Christiania (Oslo): Tønsberg.
6. FSGJ = Guðni Jónsson, ed. 1954. Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. 4 vols. [Reykjavík]: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan.
7. 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.
8. Hálf 1981 = Seelow, Hubert, ed. 1981. Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka. RSÁM 20. Reykjavík: Stofnun Árna Magnússonar.
9. Hálf 1864 = Bugge, Sophus, ed. 1864. Saga af Hálfi ok Hálfsrekkum. Norrøne Skrifter af sagnhistorisk Indhold 1. Christiania (Oslo): Det Nordiske Oldskriftselskab.
10. Hálf 1909 = Andrews, A. Le Roy, ed. 1909. Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka. ASB 14. Halle: Niemeyer.
11. Internal references
12. 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 303. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=75> (accessed 3 May 2024)
13. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Arnórr jarlaskáld Þórðarson, Hrynhenda, Magnússdrápa 3’ 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. 185-6.
14. Hubert Seelow (ed.) 2017, ‘Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka 29 (Innsteinn Gunnlaðarson, Innsteinskviða 9)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 327.
15. Hubert Seelow (ed.) 2017, ‘Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka 54 (Hrókr inn svarti, Hrókskviða 4)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 348.