HSt Rst 35I/1 — Eigi ‘not’
Eigi einkar lága
ek fæ ina þriðju,
hyr-Njǫrðr, hróðri stœrða
hóps tvískelfða drôpu.
Slíkr hôttr — svá munk vátta —
sjaldstundum verðr fundinn;
herr prúðr hǫrvi kvæða
hafi gagn, en ek þagna.
Hóps hyr-Njǫrðr, ek fæ ina þriðju eigi einkar lága tvískelfða drôpu stœrða hróðri. Slíkr hôttr verðr sjaldstundum fundinn; munk svá vátta; herr prúðr hǫrvi hafi gagn kvæða, en ek þagna.
Njǫrðr <god> of the fire of the bay [(lit. ‘fire-Njǫrðr of the bay’) GOLD > MAN], I increase with praise the third not extremely poor drápa in tvískelft. Such a metre is rarely found; I can attest to that; may the troop splendid in linen [women] have benefit from the poem [lit. poems], and I fall silent.
notes
[1] eigi einkar lága ‘not extremely poor’: Lágr is more literally ‘low’. The poet’s reference to his own work is, at least superficially, modest in tone, as typical of skaldic poetry of the Christian era (cf. st. 24/3 and Note). It may also be noted that the line is not tvískelft or skjálfhent.