Gramr vá frægr til fremðar
flestan sigr inn digri;
hlautk, þvít heima sôtum,
heilagt fall til vallar.
Uggik øfst ráð, tyggi;
yðr mun feigð of byrjuð;
— trolls gefið fôkum fyllar
fíks — veldra goð slíku.
Frægr gramr inn digri vá flestan sigr til fremðar; hlautk heilagt fall til vallar, þvít sôtum heima. Uggik øfst ráð, tyggi; feigð mun of byrjuð yðr; gefið fôkum fíks trolls fyllar; goð veldra slíku.
The famous stout prince won most victories for his advancement; I got a holy death on the battlefield, because we [I] stayed at home. I fear the final undertaking, lord; death will be in store for you; you will provide fill for the steeds of the greedy troll [WOLVES]; God will not be the cause of that.
[6] yðr mun feigð of byrjuð: ‘era feigd vm bvr egda’ Tóm; byrjuð: ‘byrdoð’ Holm2, ‘byrdod’ 972ˣ(595va), 972ˣ(595vb), byrjað FskAˣ, 326bˣ
[6] mun of byrjuð ‘will be in store’: The subj. forms in the Hkr mss (mani ‘may be’; sé ‘be’) are caused by the subordinate at-cl. beginning in l. 5 (see Note to l. 5 above). Myni ‘may be’ (so Holm2, 972ˣ) is used to imply uncertainty in the main cl., which is less likely in view of the indic. (gefið ‘will provide’) in the next cl. Skald emends of byrjuð ‘(be) in store’ to of bregða ‘will put an end to’ based on the variant in Tóm (‘era feigd vm bvr egda’). Kock did this in an attempt to restore what he perceived to be a missing internal rhyme (see NN §3096). However, the internal rhyme yð- : -yr- (r : ð rhyme) is legitimate (see Kuhn 1983, 79).