Hannah Burrows (ed.) 2017, ‘Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks 53 (Gestumblindi, Heiðreks gátur 6)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 415.
Hverr er sá inn mikli, er mörgu ræðr,
ok horfir til heljar hálfr?
*Öldum bergr en við jörð sakaz,
ef hann hefir sér vel traustan vin.
Heiðrekr konungr, hyggðu at gátu.
Hverr er sá inn mikli, er ræðr mörgu, ok horfir hálfr til heljar? Bergr *öldum en sakaz við jörð, ef hann hefir sér vel traustan vin. Heiðrekr konungr, hyggðu at gátu.
Who is that, the great one, who governs much, and half [of him] turns to Hel? He protects men but contends with the earth, if he has for himself a well-trusted friend. King Heiðrekr, think about the riddle.
Mss: 2845(72r), R715ˣ(28v) (ll. 1-6), 281ˣ(99r), 597bˣ(49v), 203ˣ(106ra) (Heiðr)
Readings: [1] sá: om. R715ˣ [3] ok: om. 203ˣ; horfir: horfir corrected from hverfir in the margin in another hand 597bˣ [4] *Öldum: hölðum 2845, 281ˣ, 597bˣ, 203ˣ, ýtum R715ˣ; bergr: heitir bergr R715ˣ, hann bergr 281ˣ, 597bˣ, 203ˣ [5] en: so all others, ok 2845; við: so all others, om. 2845; jörð: jörðu R715ˣ, hjörð 281ˣ, 597bˣ, ‘suo᷎rd’ 203ˣ; sakaz: ‘salast’ R715ˣ [6] hann: om. R715ˣ; sér: ‘[…]’ R715ˣ [7-8] abbrev. as ‘h k̄’ 2845, abbrev. as ‘heidr: k: higg ad’ 281ˣ, abbrev. as ‘h: Kongur h: þu ad etc’ corrected from ‘h: Kongur h: þu etc’ in the margin in another hand 597bˣ, abbrev. as ‘h. k. h. þ. a. Gatu’ 203ˣ
Editions: Skj AII, 225-6, Skj BII, 244, Skald II, 127, NN §2361; Heiðr 1672, 148, FSN 1, 480, Heiðr 1873, 239-40, 341, Heiðr 1924, 61-2, 78, 136, FSGJ 2, 47, Heiðr 1960, 41-2; Edd. Min. 108.
Notes: [All]: Heiðrekr’s response is (Heiðr 1960, 42): þat er akkeri með góðum streng; ef fleinn hans er í grunni, þá bergr þat ‘that is an anchor with a good rope; if his fluke is in the bed [of the sea etc.], then it is safe’. The H redaction has a longer explanation and adds (Heiðr 1924, 62): En mjǫk undrumz ek orðfimi þína ok vitrleik ‘But I wonder greatly at your word-skill and wisdom’. — [3] til heljar ‘to Hel’: See Note to Heiðr 32/1. Here in the sense ‘to the realm of the dead’ (LP:1. hel, Hel 1), i.e. the fluke (ON fleinn) fastens into the bed of a body of water (grunnr in the prose solution) pointing downwards. Cf. Gestumbl Heiðr 8/4-5 (Heiðr 55), which describes a leek pointing á helvega ‘towards the roads to Hel’ with its head. — [4]: Cf. Gestumbl Heiðr 27/4 (Heiðr 74). — [4] *öldum ‘men’: All the mss have a word meaning ‘men’ here, ýtum in the case of R715ˣ and hölðum in all the others, which lacks alliteration with the following line. Mss 281ˣ and 597bˣ achieve the alliteration with hjörð ‘herd’ for jörð in l. 5, but this makes little sense. Most eds, as here, emend to öldum. Cf. Hym 22/2 (NK 92): sá er ǫldom bergr ‘that one who protects men’, referring to the god Þórr in his fight with Miðgarðsormr. Kock retains hǫlðum and emends jörð to hjarl ‘land’ (Skald; NN §2361), which produces the desired meaning but is without ms. justification.
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