Útan varðk, áðr Jóta
andspilli fekk’k stillis,
— melld sák hús fyr hauldi —
húsdyrr fyrir spyrjask.
En eyrendi óru
ôttungr í sal knátti
Gorms — berk opt á armi
járnstúkur — vel lúka.
Varðk spyrjask fyrir útan húsdyrr, áðr fekk’k andspilli stillis Jóta; sák melld hús fyr hauldi. En ôttungr Gorms knátti lúka eyrendi óru vel í sal; opt berk járnstúkur á armi.
I had to make enquiries from outside the main door before I got an audience with the ruler of the Jótar [DANISH KING = Knútr]; I saw a locked building in front of the man [me]. But the descendant of Gormr [DANISH KING = Knútr] was able to conclude our [my] errand well in the hall; I often wear iron sleeves on my arm.
[4] fyrir spyrjask: spǫkum hlýra 61
[4] spyrjask fyrir ‘make enquiries’: While the prose word order might suggest that fyrir should be construed with útan ‘from outside’ it is, as Kock (NN §2472) notes, part of the prepositional verb spyrjask fyrir ‘to make enquiries’. Sigvatr uses the same construction in Austv 4/2, 4, in a context which, in a more comic vein, also pictures an approach to a building.