Gestumbl Heiðr 26^VIII (Heiðr 73)

Hannah Burrows (ed.) 2017, ‘Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks 73 (Gestumblindi, Heiðreks gátur 26)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 440.

text and translation

notes and context

Heiðrekr’s response is (Heiðr 1960, 39): Þat er húnn í hnettafli ‘That is the húnn [lit. ‘bear-cub’] in hnefatafl’. The H redaction adds (Heiðr 1924, 75): hann heitir sem bjǫrn; hann rennr þegar er honum er kastat ‘he is called the same as a bear; he runs as soon as he is cast’. On hnefatafl see Heiðr 66, Note to [All]. There is some disagreement as to whether the húnn was a playing piece or a die. Fritzner: húnn cites this example, translating terning ‘die’, but hnefatafl is not thought to have been played with dice. However, the verb kasta ‘cast’ in the solution to the H redaction seems unlikely to be used of playing pieces (and cf. verpa ‘throw’, used with húnn in Þhorn Harkv 16/4^I; see also Note). If the húnn is indeed a die, the riddle may refer to the game kvátrutafl or Icelandic tables, a game similar to backgammon, rather than to hnefatafl (Helmfrid 2005, 11). On the other hand, the U redaction reads þad er tafla ‘that is a playing piece’. — Cf. Heiðr 66 and 79, which also refer to aspects of the game tafl. — [6]: The H redaction has a variant half-line here: ok rennr sem hann má ‘and runs as he can’. Heiðr 1873 (254) emends to ok rennr, er renna má ‘and runs, when he can run’. This is adopted in Edd. Min. Although the line is corrupt in R715ˣ, its similarity to 2845’s reading supports 2845’s over that of the H-redaction mss.

readings

• [3] ok er jarni: om. R715ˣ
• [3] kringt: so 281ˣ, 597bˣ, kringr 2845, ‘krinkt’ R715ˣ
• [5] ekki: ‘ejn’ 597bˣ
• [6] fylgja: rennr 281ˣ, 597bˣ, ‘filgur’ R715ˣ
• [6] því: sem 281ˣ, om. 597bˣ, R715ˣ
• [6] margir: hann 281ˣ, 597bˣ, margr R715ˣ
• [6] mjök: má 281ˣ, 597bˣ, om. R715ˣ
• [7-8] abbrev. as ‘h k̄’ 2845, abbrev. as ‘heidr. k^r’ 281ˣ, abbrev. as ‘h^c Kong^r h·’ 597bˣ

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.

• GKS 2845 4° (2845) — 71v/14 - 71v/16

  Hvat er þat dýra,
  er drepr fé manna,
  ok er jarni kringr útan?
  Horn hefir átta,
  en höfuð ekki,
  ok fylgja því margir mjök.
  ,
  .

  huat | er þat dyra er drepr fe manna ok er iarɴí kringr uttan horn hefir atta eɴn ha | ufud ekki ok fylgía þui margir míok h k

  (HB)

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• AM 281 4°x (281x) — 100r/31 - 100r/32

  Hvat er þat dýra,
  er drepr fé manna,
  ok er jarni kringt útan?
  Horn hefir átta,
  en höfuð ekki,
  ok rennr sem hann má.
  ,
  .

  hvad er þad dyra er drepur fie manna ok er jarne | kringt vtann⸝ horn h* viij enn høfud ekki ok rennur sem hann m. heidr. k

  (HB)

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• AM 597 b 4°x (597bx) — 50v/16 - 50v/18

  Hvat er þat dýra,
  er drepr fé manna,
  ok er jarni kringt útan?
  Horn hefir átta,
  en höfuð †ejn†,
  ok rennr hann má.
  ,
  .

  hvad er | þad dyra er drepur fe manna⸝ og er Jarne kringt utann⸝ horn hafa þær | viij enn høfud ejrn⸝ og rennur sem hann m heidreckur kongur

  (HB)

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• UppsUB R 715x (R715x) — 28r/13 - 28r/15 [1-6]

  Hvat er þat dýra,
  er drepr fé manna,
  †krinkt† útan?
  Horn hefir átta,
  en höfuð ekki,
  ok †filgur† margr .
  Heiðrekr konungr,
  hyggðu at gátu.

  huort er þad dӳra er drepur fie manna | krinkt vtann horn hefur atta enn hofud | ekki og filgur margur

  (HB)

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• AM 203 folx (203x) — 104v/25 - 104v/30

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