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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Gestumbl Heiðr 30VIII (Heiðr 77)

Hannah Burrows (ed.) 2017, ‘Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks 77 (Gestumblindi, Heiðreks gátur 30)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 444.

GestumblindiHeiðreks gátur
293031

text and translation

Hverr er sá inn eini,         er sefr í ösgrúa,
        ok af grjóti einu görr?
Föður né móður         áat sá inn fagrgjarni;
        þar mun hann sinn aldr ala.
Heiðrekr konungr,         hyggðu at gátu.

Hverr er sá inn eini, er sefr í ösgrúa, ok görr af grjóti einu? Sá inn fagrgjarni áat föður né móður; þar mun hann ala aldr sinn. Heiðrekr konungr, hyggðu at gátu.
 
‘Who is that, the lone one, who sleeps in the ash-grate, and is struck from stone alone? That bright-eager one has neither father nor mother; there he must spend his life. King Heiðrekr, think about the riddle.

notes and context

Heiðrekr’s response is (Heiðr 1960, 38): Þat er eldr fólginn á arni, ok tekr ór tinnu ‘That is fire hidden in the hearth, and it starts from flint’. — Cf. Heiðr 81, about embers in the hearth. — [1]: See Note to Heiðr 51/1. — [6]: An almost identical line is found in Heiðr 69/6, where it describes waves.

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], D. 5. Heiðreks gátur 14: AII, 224, BII, 242-3, Skald II, 126, NN §3176; Heiðr 1672, 147, FSN 1, 474, Heiðr 1873, 257-8, 338, Heiðr 1924, 69, 77, 135, FSGJ 2, 43, Heiðr 1960, 38; Edd. Min. 117-18.

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