‘Illr es annarr; allir svelta,
þeirs af bekki bergja drekku.
Þós inn þriðja þyngst at reyna;
deyja þeir allir, es þar drekka af;
né hræ guma hyljask foldu.
‘Annarr es illr; allir svelta, þeirs bergja drekku af bekki. Þós inn þriðja þyngst at reyna; allir deyja, þeir es þar drekka af; né hyljask hræ guma foldu.
‘The second is bad; all those who taste a drink from the stream will die. Yet the third is most grievous to try; all those who drink from it will die; nor will men’s corpses be covered with earth.
[3] bekki: bekkjar Hb
[3-4] bergja drekku af bekki ‘taste a drink from the stream’: The refreshed reading bekkjar is emended to bekki ‘stream’ (dat. sg.) in this edn. Bret, Skj B, Skald and Merl 2012 have bergja af drekku bekkjar ‘taste a drink of the stream’, lit. ‘taste from a drink of the stream’. But the emendation provides a better fit with the attestations of bergja in ONP: bergja 1, where the prep. af represents the source of the thing tasted rather than the thing itself.