‘Falla fyrðar í fleindrífu;
verðr enskri þjóð aldrspell skipat.
Es vǫllr roðinn en víg boðin;
hlýtr hôvan sigr helmingr Breta.
‘Fyrðar falla í fleindrífu; aldrspell verðr skipat enskri þjóð. Vǫllr es roðinn en víg boðin; helmingr Breta hlýtr hôvan sigr.
‘Men will fall in the arrow-blizzard [BATTLE]; loss of life will be allotted for the English people. The field will be stained red and killing proffered; the forcè of Britons will win a great victory.
[6] víg ‘killing’: The heiti can mean either ‘killing’ or ‘battle’ and it is often difficult to distinguish between these senses (cf. LP: víg), but context in this passage seems to suggest the former. Bret 1848-9 has Slagmarken den röde bedækkes af Döde ‘the red battlefield is covered with the dead’ (an atypically free translation, perhaps intended to match the end-rhyme in the original) and Skj B mandefald sker ‘slaughter of men occurs’.