Hubert Seelow (ed.) 2017, ‘Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka 68 (Hrókr inn svarti, Hrókskviða 18)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 357.
Naut ekki svá aldrs, sem skyldi,
frækn landreki við frama dáðir.
Tólf vetra nam tiggi at herja,
en þá var þengill þrítugr, er dó.
Frækn landreki naut ekki aldrs svá, sem skyldi, við dáðir frama. Tiggi nam at herja tólf vetra, en þengill var þrítugr, þá er dó.
‘The valiant land-ruler did not enjoy as long a life as he should have done with deeds of fame. The prince started harrying at the age of twelve and the king was thirty when he died. ’
[5-8]: The information that Hálfr was twelve years old when he began his viking career is in the prose text (Hálf 1981, ch. 5, 177, ll. 1-3). From a statement in the same chapter (Hálf 1981, ch. 5, 178, l. 33) that he carried on harrying for eighteen years (cf. Hálf 36/1-4), it can be deduced that he was thirty years old when he died. The age of twelve seems to have been regarded as traditionally the age of majority for Viking-Age rulers, like Óláfr Haraldsson (cf. Foote and Wilson 1980, 116).
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.
Naut ecki suo alldurs sem ǀ skylldi frækn land rekí uid frama dader tolb uetra nam tiggi a ǀ t heria en þa uar þeíngill xxx er do
(HS)
Use the buttons at the top of the page to navigate between stanzas in a poem.
The text and translation are given here, with buttons to toggle whether the text is shown in the verse order or prose word order. Clicking on indiviudal words gives dictionary links, variant readings, kennings and notes, where relevant.
This is the text of the edition in a similar format to how the edition appears in the printed volumes.
This view is also used for chapters and other text segments. Not all the headings shown are relevant to such sections.