Gestumbl Heiðr 10^VIII (Heiðr 57)

Hvat er þat undra,         er ek úti sá
        fyrir Dellings durum?
Hvítir fljúgendr         hellu ljósta,
        en svartir í sand grafaz.
Heiðrekr konungr,         hyggðu at gátu.

Hvat undra er þat, er ek sá úti fyrir durum Dellings? Hvítir fljúgendr ljósta hellu, en svartir grafaz í sand. Heiðrekr konungr, hyggðu at gátu.

What is the wonder that I saw outside before Dellingr’s doors? White flying ones strike the rock-slab, but black ones bury themselves in the sand. King Heiðrekr, think about the riddle.

Mss: 281ˣ(99v), 597bˣ(49v) (Heiðr)

Readings: [1] undra: undra inserted in the margin in another hand 597bˣ    [2] ek: inserted in the margin in another hand 597bˣ    [3] fyrir: so 597bˣ, ‘f’ 281ˣ;    Dellings: döglings 281ˣ, ‘d:’ 597bˣ;    durum: ‘d:’ 597bˣ    [7-8] abbrev. as ‘h: k· hig̈ ad.’ 281ˣ, abbrev. as ‘h. K h: ad þu’ corrected from ‘h. K h: þu’ in the margin in another hand 597bˣ

Editions: Skj AII, 227, Skj BII, 246, Skald II, 128; Heiðr 1873, 242-3, Heiðr 1924, 64-5, Heiðr 1960, 80; Edd. Min. 109-10.

Notes: [All]: King Heiðrekr’s response reads (Heiðr 1960, 80): smækkask nú gáturnar, en þat er hagl ok regn, því at hagli lýstr á stræti, en regnsdropar søkkva í sand ok sœkja í jǫrð ‘the riddles now grow trivial, but that is hail and rain, because hail strikes upon the road, but raindrops sink into the sand and push on into the earth’. — [1]: See Note to Heiðr 55/1. — [3] Dellings ‘Dellingr’s’: Emended in keeping with the occurrence of this recurring formula in other riddles; other eds do the same. See Note to Heiðr 55/3. — [4] fljúgendr ‘flying ones’: The participial adj. is a hap. leg. in poetry. 

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
3. 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.
4. Heiðr 1924 = Jón Helgason, ed. 1924. Heiðreks saga. Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks konungs. SUGNL 48. Copenhagen: Jørgensen.
5. 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.
6. Heiðr 1873 = Bugge, Sophus, ed. 1873. Hervarar saga ok Heidreks. Det Norske oldskriftselskabs samlinger 17. Christiania (Oslo): Brøgger.
7. Internal references
8. 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.