Gestumbl Heiðr 20^VIII (Heiðr 67)

Hverjar eru þær leikur,         er líða lönd yfir
        at forvitni föður?
Hvítan skjöld         þær um vetr bera,
        en svartan um sumar.
Heiðrekr konungr,         hyggðu at gátu.

Hverjar eru þær leikur, er líða yfir lönd at forvitni föður? Þær bera hvítan skjöld um vetr, en svartan um sumar. Heiðrekr konungr, hyggðu at gátu.

Who are those playmates, who move over lands to the curiosity of their father? They bear a white shield in winter, but a black one in summer. King Heiðrekr, think about the riddle.

Mss: 2845(71v) (ll. 1-2, 4-6), 281ˣ(100r), 597bˣ(50r-v), R715ˣ(27v) (ll. 1-2, 4-8) (Heiðr)

Readings: [2] líða: fara R715ˣ    [5] um: á 281ˣ, 597bˣ;    vetr: vetrum 281ˣ, 597bˣ, haust R715ˣ;    bera: við síðu bera 281ˣ    [7-8] abbrev. as ‘heidr: k·’ 281ˣ, abbrev. as ‘h. k:’ corrected from ‘h.’ in the margin in another hand 597bˣ, abbrev. as ‘H: k: h: at g:’ R715ˣ

Editions: Skj AII, 224-5, Skj BII, 243, Skald II, 126, NN §115; Heiðr 1672, 145, FSN 1, 477, Heiðr 1873, 250, 339-40, Heiðr 1924, 71-4, 133, FSGJ 2, 45, Heiðr 1960, 40; Edd. Min. 113-14.

Notes: [All]: Heiðrekr’s response is (Heiðr 1960, 40): Þat eru rjúpur; þær eru hvítar um vetr, en svartar um sumar ‘Those are ptarmigans; they are white during winter, but black during summer’. The ptarmigan (Lagopus mutus) is seasonally camouflaged, with white plumage (except for a black tail) in winter and brown in summer. — [1-3]: This question, with slight variation in each case, is asked in each of the next three riddles. — [1-2]: Cf. Vafþr 48/4-5 (NK 54) hveriar ro þær meyiar, | er líða mar yfir ‘who are those maids, who move over the sea’. The referent here is obscure, but apparently refers to benevolent spirits, three in number (Vafþr 49/4, 1), whom Boer (1922, II, 58) suggested as counterparts of the three malevolent þursa meyiar ‘giants’ girls’ of Vsp 8/6 (NK 2), who herald the onset of Ragnarǫk. See Heiðr 69, Note to l. 1 and Heiðr 70, Note to [All]. — [1] leikur ‘playmates’: Leika f. can overlap in meaning with the n. form, usually ‘plaything’ (LP: 2. leika, Fritzner: leika n.; cf. leika ‘play’); for the f. form, which occurs here, Fritzner: leika, f. 1 suggests the additional meaning pige ‘girl’, which corresponds with other riddles with this opening formula. — [2]: Hyndl 42/3 (NK 295) states that at Ragnarǫk the ocean liðr lǫnd yfir ‘will pass over lands’. — [3]: See Note to Heiðr 68/3. Who the faðir ‘father’ is in the present context is unclear; the expression may be formulaic; for discussion see Burrows (2013, 206-8). — [4-5]: These lines lack alliteration. Ms. R715ˣ’s haust ‘autumn’ restores it, but makes a less good contrast with sumar ‘summer’ in line 6. Bugge (Heiðr 1873, 250 n. 5) notes that AM 738 fol, an R-redaction ms. with no independent value, reads hávetr ‘high winter’; this is adopted in Skj B and Skald.

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. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
6. LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
7. Fritzner = Fritzner, Johan. 1883-96. Ordbog over det gamle norske sprog. 3 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske forlagsforening. 4th edn. Rpt. 1973. Oslo etc.: Universitetsforlaget.
8. NK = Neckel, Gustav and Hans Kuhn (1899), eds. 1983. Edda: Die Lieder des Codex Regius nebst verwandten Denkmälern. 2 vols. I: Text. 5th edn. Heidelberg: Winter.
9. Heiðr 1672 = Verelius, Olaus, ed. 1672. Hervarar Saga på Gammel Gotska. Uppsala: Curio.
10. FSGJ = Guðni Jónsson, ed. 1954. Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. 4 vols. [Reykjavík]: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan.
11. 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.
12. Heiðr 1924 = Jón Helgason, ed. 1924. Heiðreks saga. Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks konungs. SUGNL 48. Copenhagen: Jørgensen.
13. 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.
14. Burrows, Hannah. 2013. ‘Enigma Variations: Hervarar saga’s Wave-Riddles and Supernatural Women in Old Norse Poetic Tradition’. JEGP 112, 194-216.
15. Heiðr 1873 = Bugge, Sophus, ed. 1873. Hervarar saga ok Heidreks. Det Norske oldskriftselskabs samlinger 17. Christiania (Oslo): Brøgger.
16. Boer, R. C. 1922. Die Edda mit historisch-kritischem commentar. 2 vols. Haarlem: H. D. Tjeenk Willink & Zoon.
17. Internal references
18. Hannah Burrows (ed.) 2017, ‘Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks 69 (Gestumblindi, Heiðreks gátur 22)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 435.
19. Hannah Burrows (ed.) 2017, ‘Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks 68 (Gestumblindi, Heiðreks gátur 21)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 433.
20. Hannah Burrows (ed.) 2017, ‘Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks 70 (Gestumblindi, Heiðreks gátur 23)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 436.
21. Not published: do not cite ()
22. Not published: do not cite ()
23. Not published: do not cite ()