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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Hjþ Lv 8VIII (HjǪ 19)

Richard L. Harris (ed.) 2017, ‘Hjálmþés saga ok Ǫlvis 19 (Hjálmþér Ingason, Lausavísur 8)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 511.

Hjálmþér IngasonLausavísur
789

text and translation

Gakk þú framar hóti,         fyrr en þú á seyði dragir
þenna þjóðkonung;         þú ert flagð it hraustasta.
Ettu fram járnhrömmum,         ef þú afli treystir,
drós in dulrífa,         en ek mun dvergasmíði.

Gakk þú hóti framar, fyrr en þú dragir þenna þjóðkonung á seyði; þú ert it hraustasta flagð. Ettu járnhrömmum fram, ef þú treystir afli, in dulrífa drós, en ek mun {dvergasmíði}.
 
‘Advance a bit further before you drag this mighty king onto the fire; you are the boldest ogress. Unleash your iron claws, if you trust in your strength, wilful woman, and I will [unleash] my dwarfs’ work [SWORD].

notes and context

Hjálmþér responds immediately to Hergunnr’s challenge in HjǪ 18 with a whetting stanza of his own.

The tone of the stanza is mock heroic, Hjálmþér referring to himself as a þjóðkonungr ‘mighty king’ (l. 3) and his opponent as a confirmed member of the flagð ‘ogress, troll-woman’ species (l. 4). In ll. 5-8, too, the conflict is presented as between the brute strength (afl, l. 6) of the ogress and the more sophisticated reliance of the hero on artefacts, here said to be the work of dwarfs (dvergasmíði, l. 8). A similar opposition is expressed in GrL 5.

readings

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.

editions and texts

Skj: Anonyme digte og vers [XIII], E. 16. Vers af Fornaldarsagaer: Af Hjálmþérs saga ok Ǫlvis III 9: AII, 336, BII, 357, Skald II, 193, NN§2616; HjǪ 1720, 39, FSN 3, 484, FSGJ 4, 209, HjǪ 1970, 33, 89, 148.

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