GunnLeif Merl II 24VIII/7 — hegri ‘the heron’
‘Kemr ór skógi Kalatérío
fogl fljúgandi, sás fira villir.
Flýgr of nôttum, nýsir gǫrla;
kallar hegri hvern fogl til sín;
es um tvívetri tálráð samit.
‘Fogl kemr fljúgandi ór skógi Kalatérío, sás villir fira. Flýgr of nôttum, nýsir gǫrla; hegri kallar hvern fogl til sín; tálráð es samit um tvívetri.
‘From the forest of Calaterium a bird will come flying that will lead men astray. It will fly at night, spy thoroughly; the heron will call every bird to itself; treachery will be devised over a two-year span.
readings
[7] hegri: hegra Hb
notes
[7] hegri ‘the heron’: Emended from ms. hegra (refreshed) in Bret 1848-9, followed by Skj B and Skald. This is a rarely attested word in Old Norse; outside Merl there are only two attestations in poetry (LP: hegri) and in all four prose citations in ONP it is used as a nickname rather than a common noun; of the two men thus designated, one is a C12th Norwegian and the other an early settler in Iceland. Merl 2012 retains hegra without explanation of this form.