Gestumbl Heiðr 5^VIII (Heiðr 52)

Hverr er sá inn mikli,         er líðr mold yfir?
        Svelgr hann vötn ok við;
glygg hann óaz,         en gumna eigi,
        ok yrkir á sól til saka.
Heiðrekr konungr,         hyggðu at gátu.

Hverr er sá inn mikli, er líðr yfir mold? Hann svelgr vötn ok við; hann óaz glygg, en eigi gumna, ok yrkir á sól til saka. Heiðrekr konungr, hyggðu at gátu.

Who is that, the great one, who moves over the earth? He swallows lakes and wood; he fears the wind, but not men, and sets upon the sun to harm [it]. King Heiðrekr, think about the riddle.

Mss: 2845(71v), R715ˣ(28v) (ll. 1-6), 281ˣ(99r), 597bˣ(49r), 203ˣ(104va) (Heiðr)

Readings: [2] líðr: ferr 281ˣ, 597bˣ, 203ˣ    [3] Svelgr: ‘sulgir’ R715ˣ;    vötn: vatn R715ˣ;    við: viðu R715ˣ, veisur 281ˣ, 597bˣ    [4] glygg: so 281ˣ, 597bˣ, ‘glug’ 2845, 203ˣ, ‘glÿs’ R715ˣ;    óaz (‘oast’): óast corrected from ‘öas[…]’ in the hand of JR R715ˣ    [5] gumna: dóma 281ˣ, ‘goma’ corrected from guma in the margin in another hand 597bˣ;    eigi: ‘eÿ’ corrected from ‘ei[…]’ in the hand of JR R715ˣ, ei 281ˣ, 597bˣ    [6] ok yrkir á sól: ‘og irkir a sol og irkja a sok’ R715ˣ    [7-8] abbrev. as ‘h k h a ɢ’ 2845, abbrev. as ‘heidr·· k: higg at g.’ 281ˣ, abbrev. as ‘h. K h. þ̳ ad g:’ 597bˣ, ‘h. k. h ad G’ 203ˣ

Editions: Skj AII, 224, Skj BII, 243, Skald II, 126; Heiðr 1672, 147, FSN 1, 474-5, Heiðr 1873, 238-9, 338-9, Heiðr 1924, 60-1, 70, 135, FSGJ 2, 44, Heiðr 1960, 38; Edd. Min. 108.

Notes: [All]: Heiðrekr’s response is (Heiðr 1960, 38-9): þat er myrkvi; hann líðr yfir jǫrðina, svá at ekki sér fyrir honum ok eigi sól, en hann er af, þegar vind gerir á ‘that is fog: he moves over the earth, so that one cannot see because of him, and the sun cannot [be seen], but he is off, as soon as the wind gets up’. The H redaction (including 203ˣ) adds (Heiðr 1924, 61): ok megu menn ekki at honum gera; hann drepr skíni sólar. En vélasamlega berr þú upp slíkar gátur ok vandmæli, hverr sem þú ert ‘and men cannot do anything with him; he kills the shining of the sun. But you offer up such riddles and difficult questions craftily, whoever you are’. — [2]: A similar phrase occurs in Gestumbl Heiðr 20/2 (Heiðr 67) and Vafþr 48/5. — [3] við ‘wood’: Mss 281ˣ and 597bˣ have veisur ‘pools, puddles, swamps’ here. — [4, 5] óaz … eigi ‘fears … not’: In R715ˣ the original readings have been obscured by the corrector, in the first instance because of overwriting, in the second because of deletion.

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. FSGJ = Guðni Jónsson, ed. 1954. Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. 4 vols. [Reykjavík]: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan.
6. 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.
7. Heiðr 1924 = Jón Helgason, ed. 1924. Heiðreks saga. Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks konungs. SUGNL 48. Copenhagen: Jørgensen.
8. 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.
9. Heiðr 1873 = Bugge, Sophus, ed. 1873. Hervarar saga ok Heidreks. Det Norske oldskriftselskabs samlinger 17. Christiania (Oslo): Brøgger.
10. Internal references
11. Hannah Burrows (ed.) 2017, ‘Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks 67 (Gestumblindi, Heiðreks gátur 20)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 432.
12. Not published: do not cite ()