Gestumbl Heiðr 34VIII (Heiðr 81)
Hannah Burrows (ed.) 2017, ‘Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks 81 (Gestumblindi, Heiðreks gátur 34)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 448.
Meyjar ek sá moldu líkar,
váru þeim at beðjum björg,
svartar ok sámar í sólviðri,
en þess at fegri, er færra um sér.
Heiðrekr konungr, hyggðu at gátu.
Ek sá meyjar líkar moldu, björg váru at þeim beðjum, svartar ok sámar í sólviðri, en þess at fegri, er færra um sér. Heiðrekr konungr, hyggðu at gátu.
I saw girls like dust, rocks were beds to them. [They are] black and swarthy in sunny weather, but the brighter, the less is seen of them. King Heiðrekr, think about the riddle.
Mss: 281ˣ(100v), 597bˣ(51r) (Heiðr)
Readings: [1] ek: eru 597bˣ [3] beðjum: so 597bˣ, beðinn 281ˣ [4] svartar: svartr 281ˣ, 597bˣ; sámar: samr 281ˣ, 597bˣ [7-8] abbrev. as ‘heidr: kr:’ 281ˣ, abbrev. as ‘hc K:’ 597bˣ
Editions: Skj AII, 228, Skj BII, 247, Skald II, 128; FSN 1, 483, Heiðr 1873, 260, Heiðr 1924, 81, Heiðr 1960, 82; Edd. Min. 119.
Notes: [All]: Heiðrekr’s response is (Heiðr 1960, 82): þat eru glœðr fǫlnaðar á arni ‘those are embers grown pale in the hearth’. — [All]: Cf. Heiðr 77, which is about fire waiting to be kindled from flint in the hearth. — [5] sólviðri ‘sunny weather’: A hap. leg., but many similar compounds with the first element sól- are attested. — [6] þess at fegri ‘the brighter’: The construction þess + comp. adj. (here fegri ‘brighter’) means ‘the more (so)’ (CVC: þat).
References
- Bibliography
- FSN = Rafn, Carl Christian, ed. 1829-30. Fornaldar sögur nordrlanda. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
- Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
- CVC = Cleasby, Richard, Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and W. A. Craigie. 1957. An Icelandic-English Dictionary. 2nd edn. Oxford: Clarendon.
- 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.
- Heiðr 1924 = Jón Helgason, ed. 1924. Heiðreks saga. Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks konungs. SUGNL 48. Copenhagen: Jørgensen.
- 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.
- Heiðr 1873 = Bugge, Sophus, ed. 1873. Hervarar saga ok Heidreks. Det Norske oldskriftselskabs samlinger 17. Christiania (Oslo): Brøgger.
- Internal references
- Hannah Burrows (ed.) 2017, ‘Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks 77 (Gestumblindi, Heiðreks gátur 30)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 444.
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