Bú þú mik at öllu, sem þú hraðast kunnir,
sannfróð kona, sem þú son myndir.
Satt eitt mun mér í svefn bera;
fæ ek ekki hér ynði it næsta.
Bú þú mik at öllu, sem þú kunnir hraðast, sannfróð kona, sem þú myndir son. Satt eitt mun bera mér í svefn; fæ ek ekki hér ynði it næsta.
Dress me in all respects, as quickly as you can, truly-wise woman, as you would a son. The truth alone will be brought to me in a dream; I will not get happiness here in the near future.
[2] hraðast: so R715ˣ, ‘hataz’ 2845
[2] hraðast ‘as quickly as you can’: Lit. ‘quickest’. The long-line lacks alliteration and the text is not sound, 2845 appearing to read hvatast (so, e.g. Heiðr 1924, 16 n. 3; Skj A) though with an ambiguous abbreviation (Heiðr 1873, 313 n. 14); the meaning is similar. Rafn (FSN 1, 432) and Tolkien (Heiðr 1960, 11) take the reading bráðast, also implying ‘speed, haste’, from a C17th ms., AM 345 4°ˣ. This, however, stems from a copy of 203ˣ and has no independent textual value (Heiðr 1924, xliv-xlv); the reading may be a scribal conjecture to restore alliteration, but results in a hypermetrical line. Skj B, Skald and Edd. Min., following Bugge (Heiðr 1873, 313), opt for bezt ‘best’. Andrews (1920, 96) suggests that bú ‘prepare’ in l. 1 may be where the corruption lies, but does not suggest an alternative.