Herv Lv 6^VIII (Heiðr 21)

Men bjóðum þér         máls at gjöldum;
muna drengja vin         dælt at letja.
Fær engi nú         svá fríðar hnossir
fagra bauga,         at ek fara eigi.

Bjóðum þér men at gjöldum máls; muna dælt at letja vin drengja. Engi fær nú svá fríðar hnossir, fagra bauga, at ek fara eigi.

We [I] offer you a necklace as reward for your word; it will not be easy to hold back the friend of the valiant ones. None can give now such beautiful treasures, fair rings, that I will not go.

Mss: Hb(74r), R715ˣ(12v) (Heiðr)

Readings: [3] vin: var inn R715ˣ    [4] letja: leita R715ˣ    [5] Fær: fær þú R715ˣ;    engi: ei R715ˣ;    nú: nú added above the line in the scribal hand Hb, mér R715ˣ    [6] svá: ‘so’ R715ˣ    [7] fagra bauga: om. R715ˣ    [8] ek fara eigi: ek ei fara at mínum vilja corrected from ek ei fara vilja in the hand of JR R715ˣ

Editions: Skj AII, 244, Skj BII, 264, Skald II, 137; Heiðr 1672, 89-90, FSN 1, 519, Heiðr 1873, 212-13, Heiðr 1924, 19, 106, Heiðr 1960, 75; Edd. Min. 14.

Notes: [All]: In Hb’s prose paraphrase of this stanza it is the shepherd who offers Hervǫr/Hervarðr the necklace to flee rather than continue with her mission. However, this makes little sense: it is much more likely that Hervǫr would offer the shepherd a reward for information than vice-versa. — [3]: The phrase vinr drengja, translated as ‘the friend of warriors’, appears as a kenning for ‘ruler’ in SnSt Ht 14/2^III, where it refers to King Hákon Hákonarson of Norway (r. 1217-63). It is not clear whether the phrase should be treated as a kenning here, where the implication is somewhat different, since ‘ruler’ would not be an appropriate referent for Hervǫr. On the meanings of drengr see Goetting (2006). — [3] muna ‘will not’: This form has the negative poetic suffix ‑a. The inf. vera ‘be’ is understood. — [5] engi fær nú ‘none can give now’: Skj B prefers R715ˣ’s reading, fær þú eigi mér ‘you cannot give me’. — [7-8]: Line 7 was originally omitted in R715ˣ, but corrected in a later hand to at ek ei fara at mínum vilja ‘that I will not go according to my desire’, which restores an eight-line stanza, though one which is metrically deficient and clearly secondary to the reading of the main ms.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. FSN = Rafn, Carl Christian, ed. 1829-30. Fornaldar sögur nordrlanda. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
4. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. Heiðr 1672 = Verelius, Olaus, ed. 1672. Hervarar Saga på Gammel Gotska. Uppsala: Curio.
6. Goetting, Lauren. 2006. ‘Þegn and drengr in the Viking Age’. SS 78, 375-404.
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. Heiðr 1873 = Bugge, Sophus, ed. 1873. Hervarar saga ok Heidreks. Det Norske oldskriftselskabs samlinger 17. Christiania (Oslo): Brøgger.
10. Internal references
11. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Snorri Sturluson, Háttatal 14’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1118.