Haraldr þeysti nú hraustla
helming sinn at Elfi;
náttar Nóregs dróttinn
nær at landamæri.
Gramr á þing við Þumla;
þars eindagaðr Sveini
hrafni skyldr, nema haldi,
hans fundr, Danir undan.
Haraldr þeysti nú helming sinn hraustla at Elfi; dróttinn Nóregs náttar nær at landamæri. Gramr á þing við Þumla; þars fundr hans, skyldr hrafni, eindagaðr Sveini, nema Danir haldi undan.
Haraldr has now rushed his troop boldly towards the Götaälv (Elfr); the lord of Norway [= Haraldr] overnights close to the lands’ boundary. The prince holds an assembly off Þumli; there a meeting with him, owed to the raven, is appointed for Sveinn, unless the Danes head away.
[2] helming ‘troop’: (a) The mss have helming, and this is the usual normalisation of the word (see also Valg Har 4/1). In retaining it, the present edn follows Kock, who prints helming in Skald and in NN §3089 argues for a rhyme of first consonant only, here [l], as also in l. 5 gramr : Þumla. (b) The form helfing may be suggested by the aðalhending on Elf-, and this is adopted in Skj B; see also ANG §237.2. Kock, however, describes helfing as non-occurring, while helfningr and helningr do occur, and Bjarni Aðalbjarnason in ÍF 28 prints helfning.