Anon Líkn 7VII/7 — völlum ‘the fields’
Hauðrs, veit helgar ræður,
hildingr, ok kenningar,
mána hvéls, ór mínu,
mannvandr, hugar ranni.
Öll eru orð þín gulli,
alhreinn, ok gimsteinum
vísi sæll, ór völlum,
vegs, bjartari ok fegri.
Hildingr hauðrs mána hvéls, mannvandr, veit helgar ræður ok kenningar ór mínu ranni hugar. Alhreinn, sæll vísi vegs, öll þín orð eru bjartari ok fegri gulli ok gimsteinum ór völlum.
King of the land of the moon’s wheel [MOON > SKY/HEAVEN > = God], exacting of man, direct holy discourses and doctrines out of my house of thought [BREAST]. Completely pure, blessed prince of glory, all your words are brighter and fairer than gold and gems from the fields.
notes
[7] ór völlum ‘from the fields’: Sveinbjörn Egilsson, followed by Rydberg, emends to gjørvøllum ‘all’, adj. modifying gimsteinum ‘gems’; Skj B and Skald emend to ok vellum ‘and (than) golden things’ (i.e. pl. redundancy with gulli). But the ms. reading makes sense if the poet is implicitly contrasting earthly riches (extracted from the ground) with the heavenly riches alluded to in such biblical passages as Jer. XLI.8 quia habemus thesauros in agro ‘for we have treasures in the field’ and Matt. XIII.44 in which the kingdom of heaven is likened to a thesauro abscondito in agro ‘treasure hidden in a field’.