Herfanga bauð Hringi
hjaldr einskǫpuðr galdra
— Gautr hvatti þrym þreyta
þann — ok Hilditanni.
Oflengi veldr yngva
ósætt, en vel mætti
herstefnandi hafna
hans dóm, Vǫlundr rómu.
Einskǫpuðr galdra herfanga bauð Hringi ok Hilditanni hjaldr; Gautr hvatti þreyta þann þrym. Oflengi veldr Vǫlundr rómu ósætt yngva, en herstefnandi mætti vel hafna dóm hans.
The one creator of incantations of army-tunics [BYRNIES > BATTLES > = Óðinn] ordered Hringr (‘Ring’) and Hilditǫnn (‘War-tooth’) to fight; Gautr <= Óðinn> incited [them] to prolong that clash. For too long the Vǫlundr <legendary smith> of strife [WARRIOR = Gautr Jónsson] has caused the rulers’ conflict, and the army-summoner [RULER = Hákon] would do well to reject his judgement.
[1, 2] einskǫpuðr galdra herfanga ‘the one creator of incantations of army-tunics [BYRNIES > BATTLES > = Óðinn]’: The present interpretation follows TGT 1927. In Skj B Finnur Jónsson adopts Sveinbjörn Egilsson’s version (SnE 1848-87, III) of the helmingr and construes einskǫpuðr galdra ‘the one creator of incantations > = Óðinn]’ and hjaldr herfanga ‘the din of army-tunics [BYRNIES > BATTLE]’ (so also LP: herfang 2). Hjaldr is, however, much more common as a heiti for ‘battle’ than as a base-word in battle-kennings (see LP: hjaldr 1, 2). Björn Magnússon Ólsen (TGT 1884) takes herfanga ‘of army-struggles’ (with ‑fanga as a gen. pl. in the meaning ‘struggles, wrestling’) with einskǫpuðr ‘the one creator’ (einskǫpuðr herfanga ‘the one creator of army-struggles’ [BATTLES > WARRIOR > = Óðinn]’) and construes hjaldrgaldra ‘din-incantations’ as a kenning for ‘battle’.