FriðÞ Lv 21^VIII (Frið 27)

Taktu við skatti,         skatna dróttinn,
fremstum tönnum,         nema þú framar beiðir!
Silfr er á botni         belgjar niðri,
sem vit Björn höfum         báðir ráðit.

Taktu við skatti, {dróttinn skatna}, fremstum tönnum, nema þú beiðir framar! Silfr er niðri á botni belgjar, sem vit Björn höfum ráðit báðir.

Receive the tribute, {lord of men} [RULER = Helgi], together with your front teeth, unless you are asking for more! There is silver down at the bottom of the bag, which Bjǫrn and I have both collected.

Mss: 510(94v), 568ˣ(102r), 27ˣ(137r), papp17ˣ(360v), 109a IIˣ(150r), 1006ˣ(589), 173ˣ(89v) (Frið)

Readings: [1] skatti: ‘skat[…]’ 27ˣ    [3] fremstum: fremstu papp17ˣ, 109a IIˣ, 1006ˣ, 173ˣ    [4] nema: enn 27ˣ;    þú: om. papp17ˣ, 109a IIˣ;    framar: friðar 27ˣ;    beiðir: biðisk 27ˣ    [6] niðri: þessa papp17ˣ, 109a IIˣ, 1006ˣ, 173ˣ    [7] vit: vér 1006ˣ, 173ˣ    [8] ráðit: so all others, um ráðit 510

Editions: Skj AII, 275-6, Skj BII, 297, Skald II, 157, NN §1475; Falk 1890, 80, Frið 1893, 24, 53, 81, Frið 1901, 35, Frið 1914, 24; Edd. Min. 101.

Context: Friðþjófr enters Baldrshagi and finds the two brothers and their wives engaged in their blót ‘sacrifice’, the men drinking and the women handling the icons representing pagan deities. Friðþjófr goes up to Helgi and hurls a purse containing the silver tribute from Orkney into his face, knocking out two of his teeth, after which he speaks this stanza. In the A text, he also sees the ring he has previously given Ingibjǫrg on the arm of Helgi’s wife, and he tries to get hold of it, the upshot being that the icon she was handling falls into the fire and is burnt, while the ring is loosened from her arm. This development happens after the stanza has been recited in the B redaction mss.

Notes: [All]: Like Frið 25-6, this stanza is fornyrðislag. — [5-6] niðri á botni belgjar ‘down at the bottom of the bag’: The B redaction mss read á botni | belgjar þessa ‘at the bottom of this bag’, which makes as good or possibly better sense, and has been preferred by Larsson in Frið 1901.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
3. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. Frið 1893 = Larsson, Ludvig, ed. 1893b. Sagan ock rimorna om Friðþiófr hinn frækni. SUGNL 22. Copenhagen: Malmström.
5. Frið 1901 = Larsson, Ludvig, ed. 1901. Friðþjófs saga ins frœkna. ASB 9. Halle: Niemeyer.
6. Frið 1914 = Wenz, Gustaf, ed. 1914. Die Friðþjófssaga in ihrer Überlieferung untersucht und der ältesten Fassung kritisch herausgegeben. Halle: Niemeyer.
7. Falk, Hjalmar. 1890. ‘Om Friðþjófs saga’. ANF 6, 60-102.
8. Internal references
9. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Friðþjófs saga ins frœkna 25 (Friðþjófr Þorsteinsson, Lausavísur 19)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 223.