Út mun ekkja líta
— opt glóa vôpn á lopti
of hjalmtǫmum hilmi —
hrein, sús býr í steini,
hvé sigrfíkinn sœkir
snarla borgar karla
— dynr á brezkum brynjum
blóðíss — Dana vísi.
Hrein ekkja, sús býr í steini, mun líta út — vôpn glóa opt á lopti of hjalmtǫmum hilmi —, hvé sigrfíkinn vísi Dana sœkir snarla karla borgar; blóðíss dynr á brezkum brynjum.
The chaste widow who lives in stone will look out — weapons often glint in the air above the helmet-wearing ruler —, [seeing] how the victory-avid leader of the Danes [DANISH KING = Knútr] attacks sharply the men of the city; the blood-ice [SWORD] clangs against British mail-shirts.
[4] hrein ‘chaste’: De Vries (1964-7, I, 282), sceptical about the poem’s authenticity, noted that the adj. hreinn ‘chaste, pure’ is common in Christian terminology, and found it anomalous in the mouth of a retainer of Knútr, but it can be paralleled in Úlfr Lv 1/6II, datable to 1066 (Poole 1987, 284).