Eitt hǫfðusk at,
Eilífr þars sat,
hǫfðingjar tveir;
hamalt fylkðu þeir.
Austr-Vinðum ók
í ǫngvan krók;
vasa Læsum léttr
liðsmanna réttr.
Tveir hǫfðingjar hǫfðusk at eitt, þars Eilífr sat; þeir fylkðu hamalt. Austr-Vinðum ók í ǫngvan krók; réttr liðsmanna vasa léttr Læsum.
Two chieftains engaged in a single action, where Eilífr held sway; they lined up their troops in wedge formation. The East Wends were driven into a tight corner; the terms of the liegemen were not easy on the Læsir.
[7, 8] réttr vasa ‘the terms were not’: The expression in the original is grammatically sg. — [8] réttr ‘terms’: The exact sense of réttr m. is difficult to determine. The present translation (that of Andersson and Gade 2000) assumes a sense somewhere between the usual ‘right, law’, and ‘situation, lot’, as in hann ... gǫrði harðan rétt landsmanna ‘he made the lot of the landsmen harsh’ (cited from Ágr, Fritzner: réttr m. 5). However, Finnur Jónsson in Skj takes it to mean ‘pursuit’ (forfølgelse), perhaps influenced by the fact that réttr can also apply to the motion of a ship (Fritzner: réttr m. 7), and in ModIcel. to the autumn round-up of sheep.