Gusi Lv 2VIII (Ket 4)
Beatrice La Farge (ed.) 2017, ‘Ketils saga hœngs 4 (Gusi finnakonungr, Lausavísur 2)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 555.
text and translation
Hvat er þat manna, er mér í móti ferr
ok skríðr sem vargr af viði?
Æðru skaltu mæla, ef þú undan kemz
þrysvar fyr Þrumu; því tel ek þik ósnjallan.
Hvat er þat manna, er ferr í móti mér ok skríðr sem vargr af viði? Skaltu mæla æðru, ef þú kemz undan þrysvar fyr Þrumu; því tel ek þik ósnjallan.
‘What kind of man is that, who comes towards me and creeps like a wolf from the wood? You will have to speak words of fear, if you escape three times before Þruma; for this reason I account you cowardly.’
notes and context
This stanza is a continuation of Gusi’s reply to Ketill’s greeting stanza. It continues without prose intervention in the saga text, which indicates no change of speaker.
Gusi’s stanza is a fairly standard provocation of an enemy, implying, first, that Ketill must be some kind of outlaw (vargr, see Note to l. 3 below) and, second, that he is a coward when it comes to fighting. — The first half-stanza is composed in ljóðaháttr, whilst the second is in fornyrðislag. Previous eds with the exception of Anderson (1990, 433) have regarded the words því tel ek þik ósnjallan (343a) or the corresponding variants in the other mss as prose rather than as the last line of the stanza. In this case the whole stanza would be composed in ljóðaháttr. Three reasons can be adduced as arguments for regarding the last part of Gusi’s reply as verse rather than prose: (1) it contains a word (því 343a) which alliterates with þrysvar and Þrumu (or the variants) in the preceding line; (2) it is a continuation of the thought expressed in the previous lines; (3) eddic poetry provides many examples of stanzas composed in two different metres (cf. Skí).
readings
- [3] ok skríðr: skríðr þu 471
- [5] ef þú undan kemz: om. 471
- [6] þrysvar fyr Þrumu: þrysvar í Þrumu firði 471
- [7] því tel ek þik ósnjallan: þik tel ek ósnjallan 471
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.
-
AM 343 a 4° (343a) — 55v/19 - 55v/20
images -
AM 471 4° (471) — 52r - 52r
Hvat er þat manna,
images
er mér í móti ferr
skríðr þu sem vargr af viði?
Æðru skaltu mæla,
þrysvar í Þrumu firði ;
þik tel ek ósnjallan . -
AM 173 folx (173x) — 4v/21 - 4v/28
hvat er það manni | mer i moti feʀ | skrittu sem · | vargr af viði | Æðru skaltu mæla | ef þu undann kemzt | þrisvar i þrumu | fyrir það teldu þic osniallan |
(VEÞ)
-
AM 340 4°x (340x) — 10/12 - 10/16
imageshuad er þad manna , er mier | J mote , fer og skrydur sem vargur aff vide , ædru sk | alltu mæla eff þu vndan kiemst , þrýr fyrir þrumi , | því tel eg þig osníallann.
(VEÞ)
-
AM 342 4°x (342x) — 70r/5 - 70r/7
images -
AM 552 q 4°x (552qx) — 4v/9 - 4v/10
images -
AM 109 a II 8°x (109a IIx) — 157r/24 - 157r/26
images
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