Anon Mhkv 7III/6 — Eljárnir ‘Eljárnir’
Bjarki átti hugarkorn hart;
herlið feldi Stǫrkuðr mart;
ekki var hann í hvíldum hœgr;
Hrómundr þótti garpr ok slœgr.
Ókat þeim né einn á bug;
Eljárnir var trúr at hug;
fílinn gat hann í fylking sótt;
fullstrǫng hefr sú mannraun þótt.
Bjarki átti hart hugarkorn; Stǫrkuðr feldi mart herlið; hann var ekki hœgr í hvíldum; Hrómundr þótti garpr ok slœgr. Né einn ókat þeim á bug; Eljárnir var trúr at hug; hann gat fílinn sótt í fylking; sú mannraun hefr þótt fullstrǫng.
Bjarki had a firm kernel of courage [HEART]; Starkaðr felled a great troop; he was not gentle in repose; Hrómundr seemed bold and cunning. No one made him give way; Eljárnir was loyal at heart; he conquered the elephant in the phalanx; that test of manhood seemed very tough.
notes
[6] Eljárnir: Eleazar Avaran, crushed beneath the elephant he had stabbed from below in 1 Macc. VI.43-7, the only allusion to a biblical story in Mhkv and one of the more embarrassing deaths in world history. Guðbrandur Vigfússon (CPB II, 363) was first to identify Eljárnir with the Hebrew hero. Hermann Pálsson (1984, 263) sees a confusion between the pers. n. Eleazar and the adj. aljárnaðr ‘caparisoned’, used of the elephant killed by Eleazar in Gyðinga saga.