Róa skal fyrst
fjarri reyði,
* koma þó niðr
nær, áðr lúki.
Þar hefk hugt
hróðri þessum
orðum þeim
eptir at mynda.
Skal fyrst róa fjarri reyði, * koma þó niðr nær, áðr lúki. Þar hefk hugt at mynda eptir þeim orðum þessum hróðri.
One must first row far from the whale, yet come down close before it is finished. Now I have thought to imitate those words with this praise.
[6] þessum hróðri (m. dat. sg.) ‘with this praise’: Taken as a dat. instr. here. Finnur Jónsson (LP: mynda) treats it tentatively as a dat. object of mynda ‘imitate’ (l. 8) (Skj B: efter de ord har jeg tænkt at indrette dette digt ‘according to those words I have planned to fashion this poem’), but mynda does not take a dat. object (see Fritzner: mynda).