HSt Rst 16I/4 — þrenna ‘three’
Raunskjótt ræsir hitti
— rít vasa friðr at líta —
— sól rauð Svǫlnis éla —
senn dǫglinga þrenna.
Fimtán fjǫrnis mána
fleygjendr at gram renndu
Ekkils ýtiblǫkkum.
Óláfr und veg sólar.
Raunskjótt hitti ræsir senn þrenna dǫglinga; friðr vasa rít at líta; rauð sól éla Svǫlnis. Fleygjendr mána fjǫrnis renndu fimtán ýtiblǫkkum Ekkils at gram. Óláfr und veg sólar …
Rapidly indeed the ruler encountered three princes at the same time; peace was not to be seen for the shield; [he] reddened the sun of the storms of Svǫlnir <= Óðinn> [BATTLES > SWORD]. Throwers of the moon of the helmet [SWORD > WARRIORS] steered fifteen surging steeds of Ekkill <sea-king> [SHIPS] against the king. Óláfr under the path of the sun [SKY] …
readings
[4] þrenna: corrected from ‘(tv)enna’ (?) Bb(112ra), tvenna 54, Bb(100ra), þrennra Flat
notes
[4] þrenna ‘three’: The beginning of the word is unclear in Bb(112ra), but the scribe appears to have corrected tvenna ‘two’ to þrenna ‘three’ (cf. also Flat ‘þrennra’). The three enemy princes are King Óláfr sœnski ‘the Swede’ Eiríksson, the Danish King Sveinn tjúguskegg ‘Fork-beard’ Haraldsson and the Norwegian Eiríkr jarl Hákonarson, and with this helmingr Rst commences the account of the action at Svǫlðr by summarising the events. Presumably the tvenna ‘two’ in 54 and Bb(100ra) refers to the first two attacking fleets, since in those mss the stanza is placed just before the third opponent, Eiríkr jarl, launches his attack; this therefore appears to be an alteration serving the needs of the prose narrative (Heslop 2006a, 386).