GunnLeif Merl II 39VIII/3 — fær ‘the sheep’
‘En í fjalli felsk fádyggt hǫfuð;
hyggr færtǫpuðr flærð at œxla.
En villigǫltr vargi ok birni
segir sárliga sorg ok missu.
‘En fádyggt hǫfuð felsk í fjalli; færtǫpuðr hyggr at œxla flærð. En villigǫltr segir vargi ok birni sárliga sorg ok missu.
‘But the untrustworthy person will hide in the mountain; the sheep-destroyer [FOX] will intend to add to his deception. And the wild boar will tell the wolf and the bear of his grievous sorrow and loss.
notes
[3] færtǫpuðr ‘the sheep-destroyer [FOX]’: This is the hitherto unrecognised reading of Hb. With this kenning cf. II 28/8 týnir sauða ‘that destroyer of sheep [FOX]’ and Note there. For the agentive tǫpuðr see LP: tǫpuðr; Gunnlaugr uses its formative verb, tapa ‘kill’, in reference to the fox in II 28/7. Earlier eds read the ms. at this point as þær (or þar) jǫfuðr. Bret 1848-9 adopts þar jǫfuðr, translating the line as der tænker han ‘there he thinks’, which indicates that jǫfuðr is regarded as a heiti for ‘king’, like jǫfurr. Skj B and NN §2163G (cf. Skald) emend to þar fóa ‘there the vixen’ and þar jǫfurr (‘there the ruler’) respectively. Additionally NN §2163G (cf. Skald) transposes the word order in l. 4 in order to maintain correct alliteration. Merl 2012 proposes lofuðr ‘praised’, i.e. ‘the leader’, but without any supporting attestations for such a usage.
kennings
- færtǫpuðr — the sheep-destroyer [FOX]