Bana þóttusk þeir bíða vel;
Brandingi svaf loks í hel;
Mardallar var glysligr grátr;
gleðr sá mann, er opt er kátr.
Ásmundr tamði Gnóð við gjálfr;
gulli mælti Þjazi sjálfr;
Niðjungr skóf af haugi horn;
hølzti eru nú minni forn.
Þeir þóttusk bíða bana vel; Brandingi svaf loks í hel; grátr Mardallar var glysligr; sá, er opt er kátr, gleðr mann. Ásmundr tamði Gnóð við gjálfr; Þjazi sjálfr mælti gulli; Niðjungr skóf horn af haugi; eru nú hølzti forn minni.
They determined to face death well; Brandingi at last slept to death; the weeping of Mardǫll <= Freyja> was glittering; the one who is often happy gladdens another. Ásmundr accustomed Gnóð <legendary ship> to the sea; Þjazi himself spoke in gold; Niðjungr scraped a horn from a burial mound; these are now exceedingly old stories.
[7] skóf ‘scraped’: This is 3rd pers. sg. pret. of the verb skafa ‘shave, scrape’ (see st. 26/5) used figuratively (‘take, strip, steal’). See OED: shave for such slang meanings from at least the C14th on. The taking of a horn from a mound recalls the removal of a hart’s horn from a burial mound in Anon Sól 78/4-6VII. Amory (1985, 24 n. 42 and 1990a, 262 n. 43) argues that in Mhkv horn refers to the ‘corner’ of the mound. The story alluded to, like the name, remains obscure.