Hvat er þat dýra, er Dönum hlífir,
berr blóðugt bak, en bergr firum,
geirum mætir, gefr líf sumum,
leggr við lófa lík sitt guma?
Heiðrekr konungr, hyggðu at gátu.
Hvat er þat dýra, er hlífir Dönum, berr blóðugt bak, en bergr firum, mætir geirum, gefr sumum líf, leggr lík sitt við lófa guma? Heiðrekr konungr, hyggðu at gátu.
What is that creature, that protects Danes, bears a bloody back, but saves men, meets spears, gives life to some, lays its body against the palm of a man? King Heiðrekr, think about the riddle.
[8] guma: so R715ˣ, gumi all others
[8] guma ‘of a man’: Only R715ˣ has the gen. sg., which makes most sense and is adopted by most eds, as here. The other mss read gumi nom. sg., which could be construed ‘a man lays his body against its palm’. Tolkien, who adopts this reading (Heiðr 1960, 39 and n. 3), surmises that ‘R’s text means that the inner side of the shield is called its lófi (palm, i.e. hollow inner side of the hand)’, but there are no recorded instances of such a usage.