Ásb Ævkv 1^VIII (OStór 4)

The following nine stanzas have conventionally been termed ‘Ásbjǫrn’s death-song’ and have similarities to a sub-group of long poems attested mostly from fornaldarsögur, termed ævikviður ‘life poems’ or (erroneously, because they have no conventional refrain) ævidrápur ‘life-lays’ in Modern Icelandic, that purport to be the dying words of a hero, usually composed and recited in extremis (see further Introduction to Volume VIII, Sections 7.1 and 7.2). The sub-group is characterised by its autobiographical review of salient events in the hero’s life and, often, as here, by the speaker’s request that the poem be sent as a final greeting to a relative, in this case Ásbjǫrn’s mother. Other poems of this kind are Hildibrandr Lv 1-6 (Ásm 1-6), Hjálmarr Lv 4-19 (Ǫrv 14-29), Ǫrvar-Oddr Ævidrápa 1-71 (Ǫrv 71-141), Anon Krm (Ragn), Hallmundr, Hallmundarkviða 1-6^V (Hallkv 1-6 (Gr 51-6)) and Grettir Ásmundarson’s ævikviður (Grett Ævkv I, 1-3^V (Gr 22-4) and Grett Ævkv II^V (Gr 39-42)), the three last-named occurring in Grettis saga, which, although usually classed among the sagas of Icelanders, bears a strong resemblance to fornaldarsögur in this and many other respects.

It is likely that the composer of Ásb Ævkv knew and imitated other poems of this type, and possible verbal and metrical parallels are pointed out in the Notes. The metre of most of the stanzas is an irregular dróttkvætt (for details, see Introduction and Notes to the stanzas).

According to OStór, Ásbjǫrn delivered his ævikviða while the giant Brúsi tore out his intestines and wound them round an iron pillar (for a discussion of this method of torture and death, see Faulkes 2011b, 94 n.). After he had finished the poem, he is said to have died ‘with great courage and nobility’ (með mikilli hreysti ok drengskap). The stanzas are presented one after the other in the saga text without any intervening prose.

Segiz þat minni móður;
mun hon ei syni kemba
svarðar láð í sumri
svanhvít í Danmörku.
Hafði ek henni heitit,
at ek heim koma munda;
nú mun segg á síðu
sverðs egg dregin verða.

Segiz þat minni móður; hon, svanhvít, mun ei kemba {láð svarðar} syni í sumri í Danmörku. Ek hafði heitit henni, at ek munda koma heim; egg sverðs mun nú verða dregin á síðu segg.

Let it be told to my mother; she, swan-white, will not comb {the land of the scalp} [HEAD] of her son this summer in Denmark. I had promised her that I would come home; now the sword’s edge will be drawn against the warrior’s [my] side.

Mss: Flat(70va), 2845(23v), 554h βˣ(63r) (OStór)

Readings: [1] Segiz þat minni móður: ‘Segi ek minni mætri mœðr’ 554h βˣ    [2] ei: ei á 554h βˣ    [3] láð: land 2845, 554h βˣ    [4] svan‑: núna 554h βˣ;    í: á 554h βˣ    [5] Hafði ek: hafðak 2845, hef ek 554h βˣ;    ek: ek aptr 554h βˣ    [7] nú mun segg á síðu: en nú mun ek ei 554h βˣ    [8] egg dregin verða: ‘rander reina’ 554h βˣ

Editions: Skj AII, 342, Skj BII, 365, Skald II, 197; ÓT 1689, 13, Fms 3, 218 Flat 1860-8, I, 528, Þorleifur Jónsson 1904, 212, Guðni Jónsson 1935, 183 (ch. 7), Guðni Jónsson 1946-9, 11, 457-8 (ch. 7), Faulkes 2011b, 69 (ch. 7) (OStór).

Context: The first of nine stanzas spoken by Ásbjǫrn after the giant Brúsi has torn out Ásbjǫrn’s intestines and wound them round an iron pillar. The stanzas are introduced with the words Ásbjörn kvað þá vísur þessar jafnframmi ‘Ásbjǫrn spoke these verses at the same time [as his intestines were being wound round the pillar]’.

Notes: [4] svanhvít ‘swan-white’: Taken as an adj. here, but it could be the name of Ásbjǫrn’s mother, to whom the poem is to be conveyed. In Vǫl 2/5 Svanhvít is the name of one of the three swan-maidens who are said in the poem’s prose introduction to appear to Vǫlundr and his brothers, although in this introductory prose (NK 116) the word is used both as an epithet and a pers. n. — [5]: This line has three alliterating staves.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Fms = Sveinbjörn Egilsson et al., eds. 1825-37. Fornmanna sögur eptir gömlum handritum útgefnar að tilhlutun hins norræna fornfræða fèlags. 12 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. Flat 1860-8 = Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and C. R. Unger, eds. 1860-8. Flateyjarbók. En samling af norske konge-sagaer med indskudte mindre fortællinger om begivenheder i og udenfor Norge samt annaler. 3 vols. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
5. NK = Neckel, Gustav and Hans Kuhn (1899), eds. 1983. Edda: Die Lieder des Codex Regius nebst verwandten Denkmälern. 2 vols. I: Text. 5th edn. Heidelberg: Winter.
6. Guðni Jónsson, ed. 1946-9. Íslendinga sögur. 13 vols. Reykjavík: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan. Rpt. 1953.
7. Faulkes, Anthony. 2011b. Two Icelandic Stories: Hreiðars þáttr, Orms þáttr. New edition. London: Viking Society. First published [n. d. (1967)].
8. ÓT 1689 = [Anonymous] 1689. Saga þess haloflega herra Olafs Tryggvasonar, Noregs kongs. Skálholt: Jón Snorrason.
9. Þorleifur Jónsson. 1904. Fjörutíu Íslendinga-Þættir. Reykjavík: Sigurður Kristjánsson.
10. Guðni Jónsson, ed. 1935. Íslendinga þættir. Reykjavík: Sigurður Kristjánsson.
11. Internal references
12. Not published: do not cite (Grett^V)
13. 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Orms þáttr Stórólfssonar’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 602. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=80> (accessed 23 April 2024)
14. 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Ragnars saga loðbrókar’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 616. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=81> (accessed 23 April 2024)
15. Rory McTurk 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Krákumál’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 706. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1020> (accessed 23 April 2024)
16. Jonathan Grove (ed.) 2022, ‘Grettis saga Ásmundarsonar 22 (Grettir Ásmundarson, Ævikviða I 1)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 686.
17. Jonathan Grove (ed.) 2022, ‘Grettis saga Ásmundarsonar 39 (Grettir Ásmundarson, Ævikviða II 1)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 729.
18. Not published: do not cite ()
19. Peter Jorgensen (forthcoming), ‘ Ásbjǫrn, Ævikviða’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=3166> (accessed 23 April 2024)
20. Peter Jorgensen (ed.) 2017, ‘Ásmundar saga kappabana 1 (Hildibrandr, Lausavísur 1)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 16.
21. Jonathan Grove (ed.) 2022, ‘Grettis saga Ásmundarsonar 51 (Hallmundr, Hallmundarkviða 1)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 754.
22. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 14 (Hjálmarr inn hugumstóri, Lausavísur 4)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 827.
23. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 71 (Ǫrvar-Oddr, Ævidrápa 1)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 888.