Hróksv Hrkv 6VIII (Hálf 56)
Hubert Seelow (ed.) 2017, ‘Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka 56 (Hrókr inn svarti, Hrókskviða 6)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 349.
text and translation
Mæla virðar, þeir er vitu ekki,
at Hálfs frami heimsku sætti.
Kann ekki sá konung háleyskan,
er heimsku þrótt honum eignaði.
Virðar, þeir er vitu ekki, mæla, at frami Hálfs sætti heimsku. Sá kann ekki háleyskan konung, er eignaði honum þrótt heimsku.
‘Those men, who do not know, say that Hálfr’s courage amounted to foolishness. He does not know the king from Hålogaland, who ascribed the valour of foolishness to him. ’
notes and context
Cf. this justification of Hálfr’s behaviour and his insistence on visiting Ásmundr when warned against it with Innsteinn’s criticism in Hálf 18. Hálfr’s valour of foolishness (þrótt heimsku) can be compared with the ofermod or reckless courage of other heroic leaders, e.g. the Anglo-Saxon ealdormann Byrhtnoð in the Old English poem The Battle of Maldon, l. 89 (Gordon 1937, 49).
sources
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.
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GKS 2845 4° (2845) — 38r/12 - 38r/13
imagesMæla uirdar þeir er uitu ecki at halfs framí heimsku ǀ sættí kann ecki sa kong haleyskann er heímsku þrot honum eignadi
(HS)
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