Gestumbl Heiðr 11^VIII (Heiðr 58)

Hvat er þat undra,         er ek úti sá
        fyrir Dellings durum?
Svartan gölt ek sá         í sauri vaða,
        ok reis honum eigi burst á baki.
Heiðrekr konungr,         hyggðu at gátu.

Hvat undra er þat, er ek sá úti fyrir durum Dellings? Ek sá svartan gölt vaða í sauri, ok burst reis eigi á baki honum. Heiðrekr konungr, hyggðu at gátu.

What is the wonder that I saw outside before Dellingr’s doors? I saw a black boar wade in muck, but bristles did not rise on his back. King Heiðrekr, think about the riddle.

Mss: 597bˣ(49v), 281ˣ(99v) (Heiðr)

Readings: [1-3] om. 597bˣ, 281ˣ    [7-8] abbrev. as ‘h^c: K: h:’ 597bˣ, abbrev. as ‘heidr: k^r’ 281ˣ

Editions: Skj AII, 227, Skj BII, 246, Skald II, 128; Heiðr 1873, 243, Heiðr 1924, 65, Heiðr 1960, 80; Edd. Min. 110.

Notes: [All]: Heiðrekr’s response is (Heiðr 1960, 81): þat er tordýfill, ok er nú mart til tínt, er tordýflar eru ríkra manna spurningar ‘that is the dung-beetle, and much has been recounted now, when dung-beetles are [the subject of] the questions of powerful men’. — [1-3]: Omitted in the mss, but the organising principle of the H redaction is to group riddles with a similar beginning together, and this comes in the midst of eight other riddles with this opening. See also Note to Heiðr 55/1-3. Other eds also insert this opening formula. — [1]: See Note to Heiðr 55/1. — [5] sauri ‘muck’: Puns on the two (related) meanings of saurr (Fritzner: saurr 1, 2): ‘mud’, fitting the boar context, and ‘excrement’, fitting the dung-beetle context. — [6] burst ‘bristles’: A hap. leg. in poetry. In the sense ‘the bristles on a boar’s back’, as here, the f. sg. noun is used collectively (ONP: burst 1).

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
3. Fritzner = Fritzner, Johan. 1883-96. Ordbog over det gamle norske sprog. 3 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske forlagsforening. 4th edn. Rpt. 1973. Oslo etc.: Universitetsforlaget.
4. ONP = Degnbol, Helle et al., eds. 1989-. A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose / Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog. 1-. Copenhagen: The Arnamagnæan Commission.
5. 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.
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 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.