Grietu meyjar mætar
minniligr sem kvinna
flokkrinn; kallmenn klökkva,
kvöl barmandi arma.
Dregin var drós til skógar
döpr og mædd; svá hræddiz,
— griet sárliga sæta
synd — er bálið kyndu.
Mætar meyjar sem minniligr flokkrinn kvinna grietu; kallmenn klökkva, barmandi arma kvöl. Drós var dregin til skógar, döpr og mædd; hræddiz svá, er kyndu bálið; sæta griet synd sárliga.
Glorious maidens as well as the memorable group of women wept; men sob, pitying the miserable torment. The woman was dragged to the forest, mournful and weary; she feared so much when they kindled the pyre; the lady wept for her sin bitterly.
[8] kyndu: kyndir 721
[8] kyndu (3rd pers. pl. pret. indic.) ‘they kindled’: So Skj B. Kyndir (3rd pers. sg. pres. indic.) ‘kindles’ (so 721) is ungrammatical. Sperber retains that form and treats it as an impersonal construction with bálið ‘the pyre’, as the acc. object (so also Wrightson). However, kynda ‘kindle’ is not attested in impersonal constructions. Skald emends to kyndiz (3rd pers. sg. pres. indic. m.v.) ‘is kindled’, which is also a possible reading.