Herv Lv 7^VIII (Heiðr 23)

Hirðumat fælaz         við fnösun slíka,
þótt um alla ey         eldar brenni.
Látum okkr eigi         liðna rekka
skjótla skelfa;         skulum við talaz.

Hirðumat fælaz við slíka fnösun, þótt eldar brenni um alla ey. Látum eigi liðna rekka skelfa okkr skjótla; skulum talaz við.

Let us not care to be frightened at such roaring, though fires may burn around all the island. Let us not allow dead men to frighten us quickly; we must talk about it.

Mss: Hb(74r), 2845(65r), R715ˣ(12v-13r) (Heiðr)

Readings: [1] Hirðumat fælaz: hirðum ei at fælaz 2845, hirðum ei fælaz R715ˣ    [2] við fnösun slíka: við þrösun slíka 2845, om. R715ˣ    [3, 4] þótt um alla ey eldar brenni: þótt eldar um eyna brenni R715ˣ    [5] okkr eigi: so 2845, eigi okkr Hb, ei okkr R715ˣ    [6] liðna rekka: rekka liðna Hb, lítit hræða 2845, lítit saka R715ˣ    [7] skjótla skelfa: rekka slíka 2845, R715ˣ    [8] skulum við talaz: ræðumz fleira við 2845, ok ræðum fleira R715ˣ

Editions: Skj AII, 244-5, Skj BII, 264, Skald II, 137; Heiðr 1672, 90, FSN 1, 434, 519, Heiðr 1873, 213, 315, Heiðr 1924, 20-1, 106, FSGJ 2, 14, Heiðr 1960, 13; Edd. Min. 14.

Context: The speaker is Hervǫr, indicated in 2845 and R715ˣ.

Notes: [1-4]: Line 2 is omitted in R715ˣ, and Verelius (Heiðr 1672, 90) omits um eyna ‘around the island’, presumably so that the stanza has an even six lines. His edn thus reads Hirdum ey fælast | þott elldar brenni ‘Let us not be frightened though fires burn’. In Herv Lv 13/1-4 (Heiðr 33) Hervǫr once again has to deny that she is frightened by the fires, in that instance to her father, Angantýr. — [2] fnösun ‘roaring’: I.e. of the fires. Ms. 2845’s reading þrösun ‘violent behaviour’ lacks alliteration and is clearly an error. — [5-8]: The other mss offer different versions of this half-stanza, both less preferable. Ms. 2845 reads: Látum okkr eigi | lítit hræða | rekka slíka | ræðumz fleira við ‘Let us not allow such men to frighten us little; we will speak further’; while R715ˣ has the similar Látum ei okkr | lítit saka | rekka slíka | ok ræðum fleira ‘Let us not allow such men to harm us little, and let us speak further’. Both 2845 and R715ˣ display metrical irregularities; in the 2845 version ll. 5 and 8 are hypermetrical, while the R715ˣ version requires the word okkr (l. 5) to be desyllabified. — [5] eigi … okkr ‘not … us’: Ms. 2845’s reading is metrically preferable, and also chosen by other eds. — [6] liðna rekka ‘dead men’: The reversal of Hb’s word-order is necessary to achieve alliteration on the first stressed syllable, an emendation also made by other eds.

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. Heiðr 1924 = Jón Helgason, ed. 1924. Heiðreks saga. Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks konungs. SUGNL 48. Copenhagen: Jørgensen.
7. 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.
8. Heiðr 1873 = Bugge, Sophus, ed. 1873. Hervarar saga ok Heidreks. Det Norske oldskriftselskabs samlinger 17. Christiania (Oslo): Brøgger.
9. Internal references
10. Hannah Burrows (ed.) 2017, ‘Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks 80 (Gestumblindi, Heiðreks gátur 33)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 447.
11. Hannah Burrows (ed.) 2017, ‘Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks 33 (Hervǫr, Lausavísur 13)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 394.