Vestan sá ek fljúga vánardreka
ok fell á Glævalds götu;
vængi þeir skóku, svát víða þótti mér
springa hauðr ok himinn.
Vestan sá ek vánardreka fljúga ok fell á götu Glævalds; þeir skóku vængi, svát hauðr ok himinn þótti mér springa víða.
From the west I saw a dragon of expectation flying and it landed on Glævaldr’s road; they shook their wings, so that earth and heaven seemed to me to spring widely apart.
[2] vánardreka ‘dragon of expectation’: The meaning of vánar- is not entirely clear; presumably the dragon expects to prey on souls. Björn M. Ólsen (1915, 50-1) takes Ván as a river-heiti, as in Grí 28/8, and interprets the creature as Leviathan (Job XLI). The number of dragons is also unclear; more than one dragon is suggested by þeir skóku ‘they shook’ in l. 4, but fell ‘fell’ in l. 3 is universally sg. in the mss.