Þás fyr borð á barða
* bǫðvar fangs at ganga
veðrmagnanda Viðris
virðendr Búa kenndu.
Mikinn gerði herr hjǫrva
hljóm*; runnu þá sunnan
bauga skeiðr at breiðu
Baldrs Hôkunar valdi.
Þás virðendr fangs * bǫðvar á barða kenndu Viðris veðrmagnanda, Búa, at ganga fyr borð. Herr gerði mikinn hljóm* hjǫrva; skeiðr Baldrs bauga runnu þá sunnan at breiðu valdi Hôkunar.
When the guardians of the tunic of battle [MAIL-SHIRT > WARRIORS] on the ship taught the strengthener of the storm of Viðrir <= Óðinn> [(lit. ‘storm-strengthener of Viðrir’) BATTLE > WARRIOR], Búi, to go overboard. The army made a great tumult of swords [BATTLE]; the warships of the Baldr <god> of rings [MAN] then ran from the south towards the wide domain of Hákon.
[7, 8] Baldrs bauga ‘of the Baldr <god> of rings [MAN]’: Following Finnur Jónsson (1886b, 352-3; Skj B), gen. sg. Baldrs (emended from ms. Baldr) bauga is construed with skeiðr ‘longships’. Finnur takes the kenning to refer to Búi, but unless ms. Búi is retained in l. 6 it is not clear why the attacking fleet should be referred to as Búi’s in particular. Sveinbjörn Egilsson (Fms 12; SHI 11) read Baldr baugs as a vocative, addressed to a member of the skald’s audience, but this is less convincing.