ÍvRagn Lv 1^VIII (Ragn 22)

Hafið ofrhuga ærinn
ok áræði bæði;
þess mundi þá þurfa,
at þrá mikit fylgði.
Bera munuð mik fyr bragna
beinlausan fram verða;
þó á* ek hönd til hefnda,
at ek hváriga nýta.

Hafið bæði ærinn ofrhuga ok áræði; þess mundi þá þurfa, at mikit þrá fylgði. Munuð verða bera mik beinlausan fram fyr bragna; þó á* ek hönd til hefnda, at ek nýta hváriga.

You have both sufficient foolhardiness and daring; this would then be needed, that great perseverance should accompany [them]. You will have to carry me, boneless, before the men; I’ll have a hand in the pursuit of vengeance, even though I use neither of them.

Mss: 1824b(66r), 147(93r) (Ragn); Hb(106r) (RagnSon)

Readings: [1] Hafið: so Hb, ‘hafit’ or ‘hafim’ 1824b, ‘Hafit’ 147;    ofrhuga ærinn (‘ofr hvga ęrínn’): ‘ofur huga […]r(inn)’(?) 147, ‘offrhvga ꝍrin’ Hb    [2] ok áræði bæði: ‘og […]r[…] (bæði)’(?) 147    [3] þess mundi þá þurfa: so Hb, ‘þess mundv þa þyrfa’ 1824b, ‘(þess m)[…] þa þ(urfa)’(?) 147    [4] at þrá mikit fylgði: so Hb, at þar mikit fylgði 1824b, ‘(at) […]fylgdi’(?) 147    [5] Bera munuð mik fyr bragna: ‘bera mu(nd)u (m) […] bragna’(?) 147, bera man mik fyri bragna Hb    [7] þó á* ek hönd: ‘þo at ek haund’ 1824b, ‘[…] haund’ 147, þó gat ek hönd Hb;    til hefnda: so Hb, ‘til hręfa’ 1824b, ‘[…] h(ræf)[…]’ 147    [8] at ek hváriga nýta: so Hb, ‘at hvarriga ney⸌t⸍gi’ 1824b, ‘[…] (n[…]tgi)’(?) 147

Editions: Skj AII, 237, Skj BII, 256-7, Skald II, 133; FSN 1, 268 (Ragn ch. 9), Ragn 1891, 200-01 (ch. 9), Hb 1892-6, 462 (RagnSon ch. 2), Ragn 1906-8, 145-6, 184, 210 (ch. 10), Ragn 1944, 76-7 (ch. 10), FSGJ 1, 256 (Ragn ch. 10), Ragn 1985, 129 (ch. 10), Ragn 2003, 41 (ch. 10), CPB II, 349-50.

Context: Ívarr, finally, implies that he can bring steadiness of purpose to the undertaking. Because he lacks bones, he will need to be carried before the troops, but this will not prevent him from playing his part in the mission of revenge. As it subsequently turns out, he ensures the defeat of the Swedes by killing with bow and arrow the magical cow, Síbylja, which had protected their realm.

Notes: [5, 6] munuð verða bera mik … ‘you (pl.) will have to carry me’: There is no need to follow CPB, Ragn 1906-8, Skj B, Skald, Ragn 1891, Ragn 1944, FSGJ and Ragn 2003 in adopting here the Hb reading man (normalised in these eds to mun), which, as a 3rd pers. sg. form, would involve taking the construction as impersonal (‘I will have to be carried’); the 2nd pers. pl. indic. munuð ‘you (pl.) will’ (retained by Rafn, FSN, and by Örnólfur Thorsson) gives perfectly good sense in the context, and is no less acceptable metrically. — [7-8] þó á* ek hönd til hefnda, at ek nýta hváriga ‘I’ll have a hand in the pursuit of vengeance, even though I use neither of them’: There seems no need to follow the eds cited above with reference to man/mun (as opposed to munuð) in l. 5 in adopting here the Hb reading gat ek ‘I (have) obtained’; the emended 1824b reading á* ek ‘I(’ll) have’, adopted by Örnólfur Thorsson (Ragn 1985), gives better sense. On the other hand the Hb reading hefnda, retained by all previous eds apart from Rafn (FSN) seems preferable to 1824b’s ‘hręfa’ (= hræva, gen. pl. of hræ n. ‘corpse’ (?)). Whether the reading á* ek (1824b) or gat ek (Hb) is adopted, a metaphorical interpretation of hönd ‘hand’ seems required; Finnur Jónsson (Hb 1892-6, 462), followed here by Olsen (Ragn 1906-8, 210), translates gat ek hönd til hefnda as: jeg har fået en hånd til hævn (჻ ånd og kløgt) ‘I have obtained a hand for purposes of vengeance (i.e. spirit and ingenuity)’.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. FSN = Rafn, Carl Christian, ed. 1829-30. Fornaldar sögur nordrlanda. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
4. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. CPB = Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and F. York Powell, eds. 1883. Corpus poeticum boreale: The Poetry of the Old Northern Tongue from the Earliest Times to the Thirteenth Century. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon. Rpt. 1965, New York: Russell & Russell.
6. FSGJ = Guðni Jónsson, ed. 1954. Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. 4 vols. [Reykjavík]: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan.
7. Hb 1892-6 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1892-6. Hauksbók udgiven efter de Arnamagnæanske håndskrifter no. 371, 544 og 675, 4° samt forskellige papirshåndskrifter. Copenhagen: Det kongelige nordiske oldskrift-selskab.
8. Ragn 1906-8 = Olsen 1906-8, 111-222.
9. Ragn 1944 = Eskeland, Severin, ed. and trans. 1944. Soga om Ragnar Lodbrok med Kråka-kvædet. Norrøne bokverk 16. 2nd ed. Oslo: Det Norske Samlaget. [1st ed. 1914].
10. Ragn 1985 = Örnólfur Thorsson 1985, 101-53.
11. Ragn 1891 = 2nd edn (pp. 175-224) of Ragn as ed. in Valdimar Ásmundarson 1885-9, I.
12. Ragn 2003 = Ebel, Uwe, ed. 2003. Ragnars saga loðbrókar. Texte des skandinavischen Mittelalters 4. Vol. II of Ebel 1997-2003.
13. Internal references
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 28 April 2024)
15. 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Ragnars sona þáttr’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 777. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=85> (accessed 28 April 2024)
16. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Hemings þáttr Áslákssonar’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=10292> (accessed 28 April 2024)
17. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Hauksbók’ in Guðrún Nordal (ed.), Poetry on Icelandic History. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 4. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=10935> (accessed 28 April 2024)