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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Anon Ól 3I/1 — báru ‘the wave’

Fór í braut á báru
bauglestir af hesti
†… á … da …†
bekkjar herrekkir.
Satt var, að seggjum þótti
— sáz þeingils spor eingi —
— oft siez Ólafs gifta —
jöfurs ferð kynjum verða.

Bauglestir fór í braut á báru af hesti †… á … da …† bekkjar herrekkir … Satt var, að ferð jöfurs þótti seggjum verða kynjum; eingi spor þeingils sáz; gifta Ólafs siez oft.

The ring-harmer [GENEROUS MAN] went away on the wave from the horse … of the bench … the troop-emboldener [RULER] … It was true that the prince’s journey seemed to men to turn out miraculously; no footprints of the ruler were to be seen; Óláfr’s blessedness is often seen.

notes

[1] fór í braut á báru ‘went away on the wave’: This appears to suggest that Óláfr walked on the water. Given the poor state of the text and the fact that gekk ‘walked’ rather than fór ‘went, travelled’ might have been expected, this remains uncertain, and such a claim would be unique to this poem: ÓT (1958-2000, II, 231) only has engi uissi með hveriu moti hann for ꜳ land ‘no-one knew by what means he got to land’. Nevertheless, walking on water seems likely since it would match and justify the second helmingr and would allude to the Gospel story of Jesus walking on the Sea of Galilee (Matt. XIV. 22-33), with which the Þorkell episode shares several elements: Jesus/Óláfr is praying alone on land at night, while his companions are on a boat; Jesus/Óláfr walks on the water; Peter/Þorkell has to be rescued from the water by Jesus/Óláfr. A further possibility is that he was carried by an angel, as is reported elsewhere of Óláfr (cf. Flat 1860-8, I, 464).

grammar

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