Hafa vildak þat, er ek hafða í gær;
vittu, hvat þat var:
lýða lemill, orða tefill,
ok orða upphefill.
Heiðrekr konungr, hyggðu at gátu.
Vildak hafa þat, er ek hafða í gær; vittu, hvat þat var: lemill lýða, tefill orða, ok upphefill orða. Heiðrekr konungr, hyggðu at gátu.
I would wish to have what I had yesterday; find out what that was: crippler of people, hinderer of words, and instigator of words. King Heiðrekr, think about the riddle.
[2] ek ‘I’: Describing the referent as something the riddler has experienced is a convention occurring in several riddling traditions of Indo-European origin (West 2007, 366-7). Cf. Gestumbl Heiðr 2, 3, 8-16, 25, 31, 33-5 (Heiðr 49, 50, 55-63, 72, 78, 80-2).