Gestumbl Heiðr 22^VIII (Heiðr 69)

Hverjar eru þær meyjar,         er ganga margar saman
        at forvitni föður?
Mörgum mönnum         hafa þær at meini orðit;
        við þat munu þær sinn aldr ala.
Heiðrekr konungr,         hyggðu at gátu.

Hverjar eru þær meyjar, er ganga margar saman at forvitni föður? Þær hafa orðit mörgum mönnum at meini; þær munu ala aldr sinn við þat. Heiðrekr konungr, hyggðu at gátu.

Who are those girls, who go many together to the curiosity of their father? They have caused harm to many men; with that they must spend their lives. King Heiðrekr, think about the riddle.

Mss: 2845(71v-72r), 281ˣ(100r), 597bˣ(50v), R715ˣ(27r) (ll. 1-6) (Heiðr)

Readings: [1] meyjar: so 281ˣ, 597bˣ, R715ˣ, snótir 2845    [2] ganga margar: margar ganga 281ˣ, ‘mar[…] ganga’ 597bˣ;    saman: so 281ˣ, 597bˣ, R715ˣ, syrgjandi 2845    [3] forvitni: firða 281ˣ, ‘f’ 597bˣ;    föður: för 281ˣ, ‘f’ 597bˣ    [4] mönnum: hafa manni 281ˣ, 597bˣ, R715ˣ    [5] hafa: om. 281ˣ, 597bˣ, R715ˣ;    þær: om. R715ˣ;    orðit: komit 281ˣ, 597bˣ, R715ˣ    [6] við þat munu þær sinn aldr ala: so 2845, ok eiga þær þat varðar at vera 281ˣ, ok eiga þær þess varar at vera 597bˣ, við þat mun hvor sinn aldr ala R715ˣ    [7-8] abbrev. as ‘h k̄ h’ 2845, abbrev. as ‘heidr: k·’ 281ˣ, abbrev. as ‘h. kong^r etc:’ 597bˣ

Editions: Skj AII, 225, Skj BII, 243-4, Skald II, 126, NN §115; Heiðr 1672, 144, FSN 1, 478, Heiðr 1873, 251-2, 340, Heiðr 1924, 72-5, 132, FSGJ 2, 46, Heiðr 1960, 40; Edd. Min. 114.

Notes: [All]: Heiðrekr’s response is (Heiðr 1960, 40): Þat eru Hlés brúðir, er svá heita ‘Those are Hlér’s brides, who are so called’. Hlér is given in Skm as an alternative name for Ægir (SnE 1998, I, 1), possibly reinforcing the suggestion that the relationship between Ægir and his daughters was seen as an incestuous one (see Note to Heiðr 68/3 above). On the other hand, the word brúðir may refer to women in general (see Note to Heiðr 64/1 and cf. Heiðr 71/1). The H redaction has (Heiðr 1924, 73): þetta eru bárur sem áðan ‘These are waves as before’. — [1-2]: See the preceding riddle, Heiðr 68, Note to ll. 1-2. As there, the other mss are in agreement on the readings chosen here, although they are not those of the main ms. Syrgjandi ‘sorrowing’ in 2845 is extrametrical, but could have been influenced by the line edited here as Heiðr 68/2 (which follows the present stanza in 2845). — [1]: This half-line also occurs in the eddic poems Vafþr 48/4 and Bdr 12/5, both of which stanzas strongly resemble Heiðr’s wave-riddles and are, as here, posed by Óðinn in disguise. On the first instance, see Note to Heiðr 67/1-2. The second instance is a good candidate for another description of waves (Bdr 12/5-6, NK 279): hveriar ro þær meyiar, | er at muni gráta | oc á himin verpa | hálsa scautom? ‘Who are those girls, who weep at desire and who cast to the sky the sheets of their necks?’. The question goes unanswered in Bdr, serving as the question that reveals Óðinn’s true identity. See further Malm (2000), Burrows (2013, 210-13) and Kommentar III, 458-60. — [3]: Ms. 281ˣ has here ‘ad firda før’, not in itself a meaningful line, but cf. Gestumbl Heiðr 24/3 (Heiðr 71) ok eiga eptir firði för ‘and have a journey along the fjord’, which presumably influenced the present reading. The other H-redaction ms., 597bˣ, is ambiguous, abbreviating ‘ad f f’, presumably at forvitni föður. — [6]: An almost identical line appears in Gestumbl Heiðr 30/6 (Heiðr 77), where it refers to fire waiting to be kindled in the hearth. The H redaction has l. 6 of the previous stanza, Gestumbl Heiðr 21 (Heiðr 68) (see Note). This is an acceptable variant in terms of sense, creating ambiguity in the cause and effect of the wave-maidens’ actions (Burrows 2013, 203): ‘perhaps they do not have husbands because they cause harm to men, or perhaps they cause harm to men because they do not want husbands’.

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. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. 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.
6. Kommentar = See, Klaus von et al. 1997-2012. Kommentar zu den Liedern der Edda. 7 vols. Heidelberg: Winter.
7. Heiðr 1672 = Verelius, Olaus, ed. 1672. Hervarar Saga på Gammel Gotska. Uppsala: Curio.
8. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
9. FSGJ = Guðni Jónsson, ed. 1954. Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. 4 vols. [Reykjavík]: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan.
10. 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.
11. Heiðr 1924 = Jón Helgason, ed. 1924. Heiðreks saga. Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks konungs. SUGNL 48. Copenhagen: Jørgensen.
12. 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.
13. Burrows, Hannah. 2013. ‘Enigma Variations: Hervarar saga’s Wave-Riddles and Supernatural Women in Old Norse Poetic Tradition’. JEGP 112, 194-216.
14. Heiðr 1873 = Bugge, Sophus, ed. 1873. Hervarar saga ok Heidreks. Det Norske oldskriftselskabs samlinger 17. Christiania (Oslo): Brøgger.
15. Malm, Mats. 2000. ‘Baldrs draumar: Literally and Literarily’. In Barnes et al. 2000, 277-89.
16. Internal references
17. 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 367. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=23> (accessed 18 April 2024)
18. 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.
19. 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.
20. 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.
21. Hannah Burrows (ed.) 2017, ‘Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks 71 (Gestumblindi, Heiðreks gátur 24)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 437.
22. Hannah Burrows (ed.) 2017, ‘Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks 64 (Gestumblindi, Heiðreks gátur 17)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 428.
23. (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Skáldskaparmál’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=112> (accessed 18 April 2024)
24. Not published: do not cite ()
25. Not published: do not cite ()