Hvervetna frák hǫlða
— herr œxti gný darra —
fyr hreggviðum hjǫrva
hrøkkva gunnar rǫkkum,
áðr í ǫrva drífu
ýtum grimmr at blóta
— framm kom heipt in harða —
Hákun þegar tœki.
Frák hǫlða hrøkkva hvervetna fyr hjǫrva hreggviðum rǫkkum gunnar — herr œxti gný darra —, áðr Hákun, grimmr ýtum í drífu ǫrva, tœki þegar at blóta; in harða heipt kom framm.
I have heard that everywhere men recoiled before trees of the storm of swords [(lit. ‘storm-trees of swords’) BATTLE > WARRIORS] bold in battle — the army caused the din of spears [BATTLE] to increase —, before Hákon, cruel to men in the snow-storm of arrows [BATTLE], proceeded at once to make a sacrifice; the harsh violence proceeded.
[8] þegar: syni all others
[8] þegar ‘at once’: This, the R reading, makes sense in context. The ÓT variant syni ‘son’ also gives good sense and makes explicit reference to Hákon’s alleged human sacrifice (otherwise lacking in the stanza) by providing a grammatical (dat.) object for at blóta ‘to sacrifice’. It is adopted in Jvs 1879, Skj B and Skald.