Gestumbl Heiðr 24^VIII (Heiðr 71)

Hverjar eru þær brúðir,         er ganga í brimskerjum,
        ok eiga eptir firði för?
Harðan beð         hafa þær inar hvítföldnu,
        ok leika í logni fátt.
Heiðrekr konungr,         hyggðu at gátu.

Hverjar eru þær brúðir, er ganga í brimskerjum, ok eiga för eptir firði? Þær hafa harðan beð, inar hvítföldnu, ok leika fátt í logni. Heiðrekr konungr, hyggðu at gátu.

Who are those brides, who walk in surf-skerries, and have a journey along the fjord? They have a hard bed, the white-hooded ones, and play little in the calm. King Heiðrekr, think about the riddle.

Mss: 2845(72r) (ll. 1-6), 281ˣ(100r), 597bˣ(50v), R715ˣ(28v) (ll. 1-6) (Heiðr)

Readings: [2] í brimskerjum: ‘i brim skerum’ 2845, brimserkjum í 281ˣ, brimserkjum í corrected from ‘brinserkjum i’ in another hand 597bˣ, ‘j brinserkjum’ R715ˣ    [3] firði: firði corrected from friði in another hand 597bˣ, friði R715ˣ    [5] hafa: hafa corrected from hjá in the margin in another hand 597bˣ;    hvítföldnu: so 281ˣ, 597bˣ, ‘huitfꜹlldudu konur’ 2845, ‘huitfolldu konur’ R715ˣ    [7-8] abbrev. as ‘heid: k^r·’ 281ˣ, abbrev. as ‘h Kong^r’ 597bˣ

Editions: Skj AII, 226, Skj BII, 244-5, Skald II, 127; Heiðr 1672, 147, FSN 1, 481, Heiðr 1873, 252-3, 342, Heiðr 1924, 73, 79, 136, FSGJ 2, 48, Heiðr 1960, 42; Edd. Min. 115.

Notes: [All]: Heiðrekr’s response is (Heiðr 1960, 42): Þat eru bárur, en beðir þeira eru sker ok urðir, en þær verða lítt sénar í logni ‘Those are waves, and their beds are skerries and stones, but they are little seen in calm weather’. The H redaction has (Heiðr 1924, 73): þat eru enn Ægis meyjar, ok fǫrlaz þér nú mjǫk framburðrinn ok muntu nú vilja þola dóm spekinga ‘Those are again Ægir’s girls, and you grow very weak now in your delivery, and must now wish to suffer the judgement of wise men’. — [1] brúðir ‘brides’: See Heiðr 69, Note to [All] and Heiðr 64, Note to l. 1. — [2] brimskerjum ‘surf-skerries’: A hap. leg. Cf. Snæbj Lv 1/4, 2^III, where the waves are referred to as níu brúðir skerja ‘nine brides of the skerries’. Ms. 281ˣ’s reading, brimserkjum ‘surf-shirts’ is a possible but less satisfactory variant. The reading of R715ˣ (though its prose refers to sker (Heiðr 1924, 136)) and the original reading of 597bˣ (prior to correction) is brinserkjum ‘mail-shirts’, otherwise unattested in Old Norse but cf. e.g. brynstakkr ‘mail-jacket’. This does not make satisfactory sense in the context. On these variants see Burrows (2013, 208-9). — [5]: The same half-line is found in the earlier wave-riddle Heiðr 68/5 (see Note there).

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. Burrows, Hannah. 2013. ‘Enigma Variations: Hervarar saga’s Wave-Riddles and Supernatural Women in Old Norse Poetic Tradition’. JEGP 112, 194-216.
10. Heiðr 1873 = Bugge, Sophus, ed. 1873. Hervarar saga ok Heidreks. Det Norske oldskriftselskabs samlinger 17. Christiania (Oslo): Brøgger.
11. Internal references
12. 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.
13. 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.
14. 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.
15. Edith Marold (ed.) 2017, ‘Snæbjǫrn, Lausavísur 1’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 377.