Hubert Seelow (ed.) 2017, ‘Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka 59 (Hrókr inn svarti, Hrókskviða 9)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 351.
Bað ekki hann í her höptu* græta,
né manns konu mein at vinna.
Mey bað hann hverja mundi kaupa,
fögru gulli, at föður ráði.
Hann bað ekki græta höptu* í her, né at vinna konu manns mein. Hann bað kaupa hverja mey mundi, fögru gulli, at ráði föður.
‘He forbade [men] to make a female captive in the army weep nor to do harm to a man’s wife. He ordered every girl to be bought for a bride-price, for fine gold, with the consent of her father. ’
According to Andrews (Hálf 1909, 22-3), this stanza represents an idealised romantic attitude towards women which never obtained in the Viking Age. However, similar legislation to improve the position of women is mentioned amongst King Fróði’s laws (Saxo 2015, I, v. 5. 3, pp. 316-17).
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.
Bað ekki hann í her
hoptum græta,
né manns konu
mein at vinna.
Mey bað hann hverja
mundi kaupa,
fögru gulli,
at föður ráði.
Bad ecki hann j her hoptum græta ne ǀ mannz konu meín at uína mey bad hann hueria mundi kaupa fau ǀ gru gulli at faudr ʀadi
(HS)
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