Gestumbl Heiðr 3^VIII (Heiðr 50)

Hvat er þat drykkja,         er ek drakk í gær?
        Var þat ei vín né vatn,
mjǫðr né mungát,         né matar ekki;
        þó gekk ek þorstalauss þaðan.
Heiðrekr konungr,         hyggðu at gátu.

Hvat drykkja er þat, er ek drakk í gær? Þat var ei vín né vatn, mjǫðr né mungát, né ekki matar; þó gekk ek þorstalauss þaðan. Heiðrekr konungr, hyggðu at gátu.

What kind of drink is that which I drank yesterday? It was not wine or water, mead or ale, or any kind of food; yet I went thirstless from there. King Heiðrekr, think about the riddle.

Mss: 2845(70v), 281ˣ(99r), 597bˣ(49r), 203ˣ(101va), R715ˣ(27r) (Heiðr)

Readings: [1] drykkja: so 281ˣ, 597bˣ, drykk í or drykki 2845, drykkju 203ˣ, drykkjar R715ˣ    [2] er: om. R715ˣ    [3] Var þat ei: var þat ekki 281ˣ, 597bˣ, varat þat 203ˣ    [4] mjǫðr: so 281ˣ, 597bˣ, 203ˣ, né enn heldr 2845, om. R715ˣ;    né: om. 2845    [5] ekki: nokkut R715ˣ    [6] þó: so 281ˣ, 597bˣ, 203ˣ, ok 2845, om. R715ˣ;    þorstalauss: so 281ˣ, 597bˣ, ‘þosta lꜹss’ 2845, ‘þostlaust’ 203ˣ, ‘þosta laus’ R715ˣ;    þaðan: so all others, ‘þadad’ 2845    [7] so 203ˣ, abbrev. as ‘h k̄’ 2845, abbrev. as ‘H: k·’ 281ˣ, abbrev. as ‘heidr K:’ 597bˣ, abbrev. as ‘H k:’ R715ˣ    [8] so 597bˣ, 203ˣ, abbrev. as ‘h þ at ḡ’ 2845, abbrev. as ‘h· þu: ad g·’ 281ˣ, abbrev. as ‘h: at gatu’ R715ˣ

Editions: Skj AII, 221-2, Skj BII, 240, Skald II, 125; Heiðr 1672, 144, FSN 1, 466, Heiðr 1873, 236-7, 334, Heiðr 1924, 58-9, 131, FSGJ 2, 38-9, Heiðr 1960, 33; Edd. Min. 107.

Notes: [All]: Heiðrekr’s response reads (Heiðr 1960, 34): þar lagðisk þú í forsœlu, er dǫgg var fallin á grasi, ok kœldir svá varrir þínar ok stǫðvaðir svá þorsta þinn  ‘There you laid yourself down in the shade, where dew had fallen on the grass, and you thus cooled your lips and so quenched your thirst’. The H redaction adds (Heiðr 1924, 59): En ef þú ert sá Gestumblindi, sem ek ætlaða, þá ertu vitrari en ek hugða, því at ek hefi spurt orð þín óvitrleg, en geraz nú á leið spakleg ‘But if you are that Gestumblindi that I expected, you are wiser than I thought, because I have heard your words [to be] without wit, but they take now a wise course’. Cf. Gestumbl Heiðr 12 (Heiðr 59), whose solution begins with similar wording. — [All]: Vsp 45 (NK 53) states that Líf and Lífþrasir, the survivors of Ragnarǫk, will be nourished by morgindǫgg ‘morning dew’. — [1] hvat drykkja ‘what kind of drink’: Lit. ‘what of drinks’; cf. Gestumbl Heiðr 8-16/1 (Heiðr 55-63). — [2]: Similar to Gestumbl Heiðr 1/2 (Heiðr 48). — [4]: The reading of 281ˣ and 597bˣ is preferred on metrical grounds over that of 2845, né enn heldr mungát ‘nor yet ale either’, in accordance with other eds.  — [4] mungát ‘ale’: A maltose-based alcoholic drink. Although sometimes translated ‘small beer’ (CVC: mungát), mungát seems to have been a strong ale (see further Guerrero Rodríguez 2007, 33-8). — [6] þorstalauss ‘thirstless’: A hap. leg. in poetry.

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. CVC = Cleasby, Richard, Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and W. A. Craigie. 1957. An Icelandic-English Dictionary. 2nd edn. Oxford: Clarendon.
5. NK = Neckel, Gustav and Hans Kuhn (1899), eds. 1983. Edda: Die Lieder des Codex Regius nebst verwandten Denkmälern. 2 vols. I: Text. 5th edn. Heidelberg: Winter.
6. Heiðr 1672 = Verelius, Olaus, ed. 1672. Hervarar Saga på Gammel Gotska. Uppsala: Curio.
7. FSGJ = Guðni Jónsson, ed. 1954. Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. 4 vols. [Reykjavík]: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan.
8. 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.
9. Heiðr 1924 = Jón Helgason, ed. 1924. Heiðreks saga. Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks konungs. SUGNL 48. Copenhagen: Jørgensen.
10. 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.
11. Heiðr 1873 = Bugge, Sophus, ed. 1873. Hervarar saga ok Heidreks. Det Norske oldskriftselskabs samlinger 17. Christiania (Oslo): Brøgger.
12. Guerrero Rodríguez, Jesús Fernando. 2007. ‘Old Norse Drinking Culture’. Ph.D. thesis. University of York, UK.
13. Internal references
14. Hannah Burrows (ed.) 2017, ‘Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks 48 (Gestumblindi, Heiðreks gátur 1)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 410.
15. Hannah Burrows (ed.) 2017, ‘Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks 59 (Gestumblindi, Heiðreks gátur 12)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 422.
16. Hannah Burrows (ed.) 2017, ‘Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks 55 (Gestumblindi, Heiðreks gátur 8)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 417.
17. Not published: do not cite ()