Hannah Burrows (ed.) 2017, ‘Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks 71 (Gestumblindi, Heiðreks gátur 24)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 437.
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: kr·’ 281ˣ, abbrev. as ‘h Kongr’ 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, 2III, 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).
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