Hirði ek eigi, þótt heitir þú,
fárgjarnt höfuð, Freys reiði mér.
Veit ek í eldi ásu brenna;
tröll eigi þik; trúi ek guði einum.
Ek hirði eigi, þótt þú, fárgjarnt höfuð, heitir mér reiði Freys. Ek veit ásu brenna í eldi; tröll eigi þik; ek trúi guði einum.
I do not care though you, evil-inclined person, call down Freyr’s wrath upon me. I know the gods are burning in the fire; may trolls have you; I believe in one god.
[8] ek trúi guði einum ‘I believe in one god’: By contrast with the heathen pantheon. Or possibly ‘I believe in the one god’, an indubitably Christian idea, which, along with much else in these stanzas in their surviving form, puts paid to the notion that they can be very old. This line is also in málaháttr rather than fornyrðislag.