Uggðu Egðir
ǫrbeiðis fǫr
svans sigrlana
sǫkrammir mjǫk.
Allt vas golli
grams skip framit;
vǫrum sjón sǫgu
slíks ríkari.
Sǫkrammir Egðir uggðu mjǫk fǫr ǫrbeiðis svans sigrlana. Skip grams vas allt framit golli; sjón slíks vǫrum ríkari sǫgu.
The battle-strong Egðir greatly feared the journey of the eager demander of the swan of victory-heaps [CORPSES > RAVEN/EAGLE > WARRIOR]. The king’s ship was all decorated with gold; the sight of such was to me more powerful than [any] telling.
[8] ríkari: líkari FskAˣ
[7, 8] ríkari sǫgu ‘more powerful than [any] telling’: The sense seems to be that the poet is glad he saw the ship, rather than simply hearing about it. Snorri Sturluson (ÍF 27, 310) comments that Þórarinn is here boasting that he himself was present on Knútr’s expedition to Norway. The alternative possibility is that this is a rhetorical figure, declaring that the sight was greater than he could possibly tell in words.