Mildingr rauð í móðu
— mót hart vas þar — spjóta
(Dǫnum vôru goð) geira,
(grǫm) en þat vas skǫmmu.
Setti niðr á sléttu
Serklandi gramr merki;
— stóð at stillis ráði
stǫng — en þat vas lǫngu.
Mildingr rauð geira í móðu spjóta; hart mót vas þar; en þat vas skǫmmu; goð vôru grǫm Dǫnum. Gramr setti merki niðr á sléttu Serklandi; stǫng stóð at ráði stillis; en þat vas lǫngu.
The gracious ruler reddened lances in the river of spears [BLOOD]; a harsh encounter took place there; and that was a short time ago; the gods were wrathful towards the Danes. The lord planted his banner on level Serkland; the standard stood [high] at the command of the ruler; but that was a long time ago.
[3] geira ‘lances’: This is most naturally taken as object of rauð ‘reddened’. Presumably in order to integrate geira with the adjacent phrases, Kock took it with goð in l. 3 to give goð geira ‘deities of spears’, hence ‘valkyries’. However, as well as being slightly implausible, this entails either taking rauð ‘reddened’ as intransitive, or emending to réð (í móðu) ‘headed along the river’ (NN §§847C, 2268; Kock and Meissner 1931, I, 55 and II, 52 (: geirr), 138 (: ráða 10)).