Hafs létum vér hesta
hlýr stinn á brim renna,
meðan á bjartar brynjur
blóði dreif um síðir.
Ylgr gein aldri mönnum
eyragrán of svíra
— harð-meldri fám vér heiða
Hveðnu — blóði roðna.
Vér létum stinn hlýr hesta hafs renna á brim, meðan blóði dreif um síðir á bjartar brynjur. Eyragrán ylgr gein aldri of svíra mönnum, roðna blóði; vér fám heiða harð-meldri Hveðnu.
We made the sturdy prows of the horses of the sea [SHIPS] advance on the surf while blood at last sprayed onto bright corslets. The grey-eared she-wolf never gaped over necks of [our] men, reddened with blood; we obtain the gleaming hard flour of Hveðna <giantess> [GOLD].
[5] aldri ‘never’: The ms. reading can be retained, as here and by Örnólfur Thorsson (Ragn 1985), provided that the mönnum ‘men’ are assumed to be of the speaker’s party: they have not been overcome. Kock (NN §1466) proposes emending aldri to öldur-, thus obtaining in l. 5 the cpd noun öldurmönnum ‘noblemen’. Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) more radically emends aldri to arnar and ‘eyragrat’ to eyddisk gráðr, hence ‘the greed of the eagle was destroyed (i.e. the eagle was sated)’.