Þjóð Haustl 13III/5 — fjalla ‘of the mountains’
Hófu skjótt, en skófu,
skǫpt, ginnregin, brinna
en sunr biðils sviðnar
— sveipr varð í fǫr — Greipar.
Þats of fátt á fjalla
Finns iljabrú minni.
Baugs þák bifum fáða
bifkleif at Þórleifi.
Skǫpt hófu skjótt brinna, en ginnregin skófu, en sunr biðils Greipar sviðnar; sveipr varð í fǫr. Þats of fátt á minni iljabrú Finns fjalla. Þák bifkleif baugs, fáða bifum, at Þórleifi.
Shafts quickly began to burn, which the mighty powers had shaved, and the son of the wooer of Greip <giantess> [GIANT > = Þjazi] is scorched; there was a swerve in his course. That’s depicted on my footsole-bridge of the Finnr <Saami> of the mountains [GIANT = Hrungnir > SHIELD]. I received the quivering cliff of the shield-boss [SHIELD], decorated with moving stories, from Þorleifr.
notes
[5-6] á minni iljabrú Finns fjalla ‘on my footsole-bridge of the Finnr <Saami> of the mountains [GIANT = Hrungnir > SHIELD]’: A tvíkent kenning for a shield, which depends on the audience’s knowledge of the myth of Þórr’s single combat with the giant Hrungnir, narrated in sts 14-20 of Haustl. According to Skm (SnE 1998, I, 21; cf. st. 17), it was Þórr’s companion Þjálfi who persuaded Hrungnir to stand on his stone shield, because, he claimed, Þórr was going to attack the giant from underground. For this reason, a shield can be referred to in a kenning as the bridge of this giant’s footsoles; cf. LP: Hrungnir, Bragi Rdr 1/3, 4 and Note. It is possible that Þjóðólfr deliberately introduced this kenning here to foreshadow the subject of the second section of Haustl, which recounts exactly this myth.
kennings
- Finns fjalla. — of the Finnr <Saami> of the mountains. [GIANT = Hrungnir]
- minni iljabrú Finns fjalla. — my footsole-bridge of the Finnr <Saami> of the mountains. [SHIELD]