Gestumbl Heiðr 32^VIII (Heiðr 79)

Hverjar eru þeir þegnar,         er ríða þingi at
        sáttir allir saman?
Lýða sína         senda þeir lönd yfir
        at byggja bólstaði.
Heiðrekr konungr,         hyggðu at gátu.

Hverjar eru þeir þegnar, er ríða allir saman sáttir at þingi? Þeir senda lýða sína yfir lönd at byggja bólstaði. Heiðrekr konungr, hyggðu at gátu.

Who are those thanes, who all ride together reconciled to the assembly? They send their men over lands to settle homesteads. King Heiðrekr, think about the riddle.

Mss: 2845(71v), 281ˣ(100v), 597bˣ(51r), R715ˣ(28r) (ll. 1-6) (Heiðr)

Readings: [1] þegnar: ‘þeguar’ R715ˣ    [2] ríða: ráða R715ˣ;    þingi: landi R715ˣ;    at: ‘all’ R715ˣ    [3] sáttir allir: ok eru sextán 281ˣ, 597bˣ    [4] Lýða: lýdi 281ˣ, 597bˣ;    sína: om. R715ˣ    [5] lönd: land R715ˣ    [6] byggja: sigra menn R715ˣ;    bólstaði: ‘sierhuoria’ R715ˣ    [7-8] abbrev. as ‘h k’ 2845, abbrev. as ‘heidr: k:’ 281ˣ, abbrev. as ‘h K:’ 597bˣ

Editions: Skj AII, 223, Skj BII, 242, Skald II, 125-6; Heiðr 1672, 146, FSN 1, 473, Heiðr 1873, 259, 337-8, Heiðr 1924, 67, 79, 134, FSGJ 2, 43, Heiðr 1960, 37; Edd. Min. 118.

Notes: [All]: Heiðrekr’s response is (Heiðr 1960, 37): þat er Ítrekr ok Andaðr, er þeir sitja at tafli sínu ‘That is Ítrekr and Andaðr, when they sit at their tafl-board’. The H redaction has (Heiðr 1924, 79): þat er tafl Ítreks konungs ‘That is King Ítrekr’s tafl’. On tafl or hnefatafl see Heiðr 66, Note to [All]. One Ítreksjóð (lit. ‘offspring of Ítrekr’) appears in Þul Ása I 1/8^III, names for Óðinn’s sons (cf. SnE 1998, I, 113), suggesting Ítrekr is an Óðinn-name. An Anduðr or Ǫnduðr appears in a list of heiti for giants in the same text (SnE 1998, I, 111; Þul Jǫtna I 4/6^III). Further details of such a skill-contest have not survived, but are not dissimilar to the wisdom-contests between gods and giants in e.g. Vafþr or Alv. — [All]: Cf. Heiðr 66 and 73, which both also refer to aspects of the game tafl. — [1-2]: Ms. R715ˣ has these two lines (with a slight variation in l. 1) at the beginning of Heiðr 83. — [2] at þingi ‘to the assembly’: Ms. R715ˣ has the variant ‘landi all’, which does not make grammatical sense and lacks alliteration with l. 1. — [3]: The H redaction has: ok eru sextán saman ‘and are sixteen together’, which is adopted by Edd. Min. On a 7x7 hnefatafl board there would be sixteen attackers.

References

1. Bibliography
2. FSN = Rafn, Carl Christian, ed. 1829-30. Fornaldar sögur nordrlanda. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. Heiðr 1672 = Verelius, Olaus, ed. 1672. Hervarar Saga på Gammel Gotska. Uppsala: Curio.
5. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
6. FSGJ = Guðni Jónsson, ed. 1954. Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. 4 vols. [Reykjavík]: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan.
7. Edd. Min. = Heusler, Andreas and Wilhelm Ranisch, eds. 1903. Eddica Minora: Dichtungen eddischer Art aus den Fornaldarsögur und anderen Prosawerken. Dortmund: Ruhfus. Rpt. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.
8. Heiðr 1924 = Jón Helgason, ed. 1924. Heiðreks saga. Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks konungs. SUGNL 48. Copenhagen: Jørgensen.
9. Heiðr 1960 = Tolkien, Christopher, ed. and trans. 1960. Saga Heiðreks konungs ins vitra / The Saga of King Heidrek the Wise. Nelson Icelandic Texts. London etc.: Nelson.
10. Heiðr 1873 = Bugge, Sophus, ed. 1873. Hervarar saga ok Heidreks. Det Norske oldskriftselskabs samlinger 17. Christiania (Oslo): Brøgger.
11. Internal references
12. Hannah Burrows (ed.) 2017, ‘Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks 66 (Gestumblindi, Heiðreks gátur 19)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 430.
13. Hannah Burrows (ed.) 2017, ‘Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks 83 (Gestumblindi, Heiðreks gátur 36)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 450.
14. Not published: do not cite ()
15. Not published: do not cite ()
16. Elena Gurevich 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Jǫtna heiti I’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 706. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=3184> (accessed 25 April 2024)
17. Elena Gurevich 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Ása heiti I’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 754. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=3187> (accessed 25 April 2024)