Innsteinn Innkv 17^VIII (Hálf 37)

Hér mun Innsteinn         til jarðar hníga,
hoskr at höfði         hers oddvita.
Þat munu seggir         at sögum gjöra,
at Hálfr konungr         hlæjandi dó.

Hér mun Innsteinn hníga til jarðar, hoskr at höfði {oddvita hers}. Seggir munu gjöra þat at sögum, at Hálfr konungr dó hlæjandi.

Here Innsteinn will sink to the ground, prudent by the head {of the leader of the army} [KING = Hálfr]. Men will fashion it into tales that king Hálfr died laughing.

Mss: 2845(37r) (Hálf)

Editions: Skj AII, 262, Skj BII, 283, Skald II, 148; Hálf 1864, 25, Hálf 1909, 111, FSGJ 2, 118, Hálf 1981, 126-7, 185; Edd. Min. 37.

Notes: [2] til jarðar ‘to the ground’: Most eds have emended the ms. reading. Skj B and Skald have at jǫrð, Hálf 1909 has jarðar; Edd. Min. retains the ms. reading but suggests in a footnote that for metrical reasons á jǫrð might be preferable. — [3] hoskr ‘prudent’: Most eds (Skj B; Skald; Hálf 1864; Hálf 1909; FSGJ; Edd. Min.) normalise the ms.’s hoskur to horskr, although the form hoskr is well-documented; see also Hálf 53/4. On the idea that both wisdom and courage were required traits of an early Germanic hero see Kaske (1958). — [4] oddvita hers ‘of the leader of the army [KING = Hálfr]’: Cf. Hálf 35/4 oddvita fólks ‘of the leader of the people [KING = Hálfr]’ and Note. — [5-8]: Innsteinn’s expressed awareness that people will turn the Hálfsrekkar’s heroic last stand into tales (at sögum) signals his recognition of Innkv’s place within the tradition of the hall fight (cf. Introduction to Innkv, part 1). The conceit that those tales will portray Hálfr as dying laughing is strongly reminiscent of the final line of Anon Krm 29/8 (see Note there) in which the dying Ragnarr loðbrók exclaims læjandi skal ek deyja ‘I’ll die laughing’. Another hero who dies laughing, as his heart is cut from his body, is Hǫgni in Akv 24/1.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. FSGJ = Guðni Jónsson, ed. 1954. Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. 4 vols. [Reykjavík]: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan.
5. 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.
6. Hálf 1981 = Seelow, Hubert, ed. 1981. Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka. RSÁM 20. Reykjavík: Stofnun Árna Magnússonar.
7. Hálf 1864 = Bugge, Sophus, ed. 1864. Saga af Hálfi ok Hálfsrekkum. Norrøne Skrifter af sagnhistorisk Indhold 1. Christiania (Oslo): Det Nordiske Oldskriftselskab.
8. Hálf 1909 = Andrews, A. Le Roy, ed. 1909. Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka. ASB 14. Halle: Niemeyer.
9. Kaske, R. E. 1958. ‘Sapientia et Fortitudo as the controlling theme of Beowulf’. Studies in Philology 55, 423-56.
10. Internal references
11. Rory McTurk (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Poems, Krákumál 29’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 775.
12. Not published: do not cite (Rloð^VIII)
13. Not published: do not cite ()
14. Hubert Seelow (ed.) 2017, ‘Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka 35 (Innsteinn Gunnlaðarson, Innsteinskviða 15)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 332.
15. Hubert Seelow (ed.) 2017, ‘Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka 53 (Hrókr inn svarti, Hrókskviða 3)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 347.