Haki Kraki
hoddum broddum
særði mærði
seggi leggi.
Veitir neitir
vella pella
báli stáli
beittiz heittiz.
Haki særði leggi broddum; Kraki mærði seggi hoddum. Veitir pella heittiz báli; neitir vella beittiz stáli.
Haki wounded legs with pikes; Kraki (‘Pole-ladder’) honoured men with treasures. The giver of costly materials [GENEROUS MAN = Haki] was burnt on a pyre; the squanderer of gold [GENEROUS MAN = Kraki] was killed by a steel weapon.
[1] Kraki ‘(“Pole-ladder”)’: Nickname of the legendary Danish king and hero Hrólfr kraki, who was the subject of numerous narratives, including Hrólfs saga kraka and the now lost Skjǫldunga saga. He was renowned for his generosity. Snorri Sturluson tells an elaborate narrative in Skm to account for the gold-kenning ‘seed of Kraki’ (SnE 1998, I, 58-9). Accounts of his and his champions’ deaths vary across the sources, but in all cases he dies in battle.