Enn fór hann eitt sinn
ofanvert nætrrof
heiman yfir stórstraum;
strangan efldi foss gang.
Farið gjörðiz fult nær,
flóðið þar er hann stóð;
leynir óttaz líftjón
lýta, ef skipið brýtr.
Enn fór hann eitt sinn ofanvert nætrrof heiman yfir stórstraum; foss efldi strangan gang. Farið gjörðiz nær fult, þar er flóðið stóð hann; leynir lýta óttaz líftjón, ef skipið brýtr.
Again he went one time at the end of the night’s retreat from home across the mighty stream; the torrent gathered a strong current. The vessel became almost full, because the flooding overtook him; the concealer of sins [NEGLIGENT PRIEST] fears life-loss if the ship breaks.
[4] foss efldi strangan gang ‘the torrent gathered a strong current’: Efla means ‘make strong, gather, muster’. Skj B and Wrightson take stórstraum ‘mighty river’ (l. 3) as the understood subject of the cl., and construe a cpd fossgang ‘river-current’ as the object (see NN §3366).