Gestumbl Heiðr 29^VIII (Heiðr 76)

Fjórir hanga,         fjórir ganga,
tveir veg vísa,         tveir hundum varða,
einn eptir drallar         ok jafnan heldr saurugr.
Heiðrekr konungr,         hyggðu at gátu.

Fjórir hanga, fjórir ganga, tveir vísa veg, tveir varða hundum, einn drallar eptir ok jafnan heldr saurugr. Heiðrekr konungr, hyggðu at gátu.

Four hang, four go, two point the way, two ward off dogs, one trails after and [is] always rather dirty. King Heiðrekr, think about the riddle.

Mss: 2845(72r-v), 281ˣ(100v), 597bˣ(50v) (Heiðr)

Readings: [1] hanga: ganga 281ˣ, 597bˣ    [2] fjórir: fjórir added in the margin in another hand 597bˣ;    ganga: hanga 281ˣ, hanga added in the margin in another hand 597bˣ    [4] varða: verjast 281ˣ, 597bˣ    [5] einn: ‘eirn’ 281ˣ, ‘eirn eirn’ 597bˣ    [6] jafnan: optast 281ˣ, 597bˣ;    heldr: om. 281ˣ, 597bˣ;    saurugr: óhreinn 281ˣ, 597bˣ    [7-8] abbrev. as ‘h k̄’ 2845, abbrev. as ‘heidr: k^r’ 281ˣ, abbrev. as ‘h^c: Kong^r hygg ad gätu min̄e’ 597bˣ

Editions: Skj AII, 226, Skj BII, 245, Skald II, 127, NN §§2362, 3397C; FSN 1, 484, Heiðr 1873, 257, 343, Heiðr 1924, 77, 81, FSGJ 2, 49, Heiðr 1960, 43; Edd. Min. 117.

Notes: [All]: Heiðrekr’s response is (Heiðr 1960, 43): þat er kýr ‘That is a cow’. The H redaction expands (Heiðr 1924, 77): hón hefir fjóra fœtr ok fjóra spena, tvau horn ok tvau augu, enn halinn drallar eptir ‘she has four legs and four teats, two horns and two eyes, but the tail trails after’. — [All]: Versions of this riddle are found across European tradition; Tomasek (1999, 261-2) claims that the Old Norse is the earliest recorded instance in the vernacular. A cosmological variation, in which heaven and earth, day and night, and sun and moon are the referents, can be found in classical tradition. For parallels and further references see Taylor (1951, 610-21). — [All]: In this stanza ll. 1-3 are fornyrðislag and ll. 4-6 málaháttr. Kock, however, presents the stanza as ljóðaháttr by emending the word order in l. 3 to tveir vísa veg (Skald, NN §3397) and in l. 5 substituting hinstr ‘hindmost’ for eptir (cf. NN §2362). — [5] drallar eptir ‘trails after’: Dralla is a hap. leg. in poetry and the only occurrence in prose appears to be in the solution to this riddle in the H redaction. Cf. NO: 1 dralla. Kock emends eptir to hinstr ‘hindmost’, to alliterate with hundum ‘dogs’ in l. 4 (NN §2362). — [6]: The H redaction has the variant line ok optast óhreinn ‘most often unclean’. Skald gives ok óhreinn opt ‘and often unclean’, with rearranged word order for more regular ljóðaháttr (NN §3397; cf. Notes to ll. 3 and 5 above), though in NN §2362 Kock retains the H redaction’s reading unemended.

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. 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. NO = [Anonymous] 1966-. Norsk ordbok. Ordbok over det norske folkemålet og det nynorske skriftmålet. 9 vols (continuing). Oslo: Det norske samlaget.
10. Heiðr 1873 = Bugge, Sophus, ed. 1873. Hervarar saga ok Heidreks. Det Norske oldskriftselskabs samlinger 17. Christiania (Oslo): Brøgger.
11. Taylor, Archer. 1951. English Riddles from Oral Tradition. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.
12. Tomasek, Tomas. 1999. ‘Medieval German Riddles: From Latin to the Vernacular’. Jahrbuch der Oswald von Wolkenstein Gesellschaft 11, 259-67.