Nær var forðum nösgás vaxin,
barngjörn, sú er bar bútimbr saman.
Hlífðu henni hálms bitskálmir;
þó lá drykkjar drynhraun yfir.
Heiðrekr konungr, hyggðu at gátu.
Nösgás var forðum nær vaxin, barngjörn, sú er bar saman bútimbr. Bitskálmir hálms hlífðu henni; þó lá drynhraun drykkjar yfir. Heiðrekr konungr, hyggðu at gátu.
Long ago, a nostrils-goose [DUCK] was nearly grown, child-eager, who brought house-timber together. Biting-swords of straw [OX TEETH] protected her; yet the bellowing lava-field of drink [OX SKULL] lay over. King Heiðrekr, think about the riddle.
[6] bitskálmir hálms ‘biting-swords of straw [OX TEETH]’: Meissner 133. A situation-specific kenning, referring to the teeth of a grazing animal. Cf. the teeth-kenning hvítgeirar hvapta ‘the white spears of mouths [TEETH]’, StjOdd Geirdr 9/7V (StjǫrnODr 14), where the base-word is also a weapon. Bitskǫlm only appears here and in the prose in the H redaction.