‘Gerðar órar,’ kvað inn góði konungr,
‘viljum vér sjalfir hafa;
hjalm ok brynju skal hirða vel;
gótt es til gǫrs at taka.’
‘Vér viljum sjalfir hafa gerðar órar,’ kvað inn góði konungr; ‘skal hirða vel hjalm ok brynju; gótt es at taka til gǫrs.’
‘We ourselves [I myself] wish to keep our [my] armour,’ said the good king; ‘one should take good care of one’s helmet and mail-shirt; it is good to have recourse to ready gear.’
[6] gótt es at taka til gǫrs ‘it is good to have recourse to ready gear’: Two main possibilities are to hand here. (a) ‘Geyrs’ in F, J1ˣ, J2ˣ is a common spelling of gǫrs: see Jón Þorkelsson (1884, 45). Gǫrs gives satisfactory sense, and the expression in l. 6 may be proverbial, with the sense ‘it’s good to use what is to hand’ (see Heggstad et al. 1997: gerr I. 2). This would harmonise with the impersonal skal ‘one should’ in l. 5. (b) Several eds read geirs ‘spear’ for gǫrs (from Bartholin 1689, 526 to Kock, Skald and NN §1055, comparing Beowulf ll. 1245-6a), and this would complement the reference to helmet and mail-shirt in l. 4.