Skulut ráðgjafar reiðask
(ryðr þat, konungr) yðrir
(dróttins orð til dýrðar)
dǫglingr, við bersǫgli.
Hafa kveðask lǫg, nema ljúgi
landherr, búendr verri
endr í Ulfasundum
ǫnnur, an þú hézt mǫnnum.
Dǫglingr, ráðgjafar yðrir skulut reiðask við bersǫgli; þat orð dróttins ryðr til dýrðar, konungr. Búendr kveðask hafa ǫnnur verri lǫg, nema landherr ljúgi, an þú hézt mǫnnum endr í Ulfasundum.
Lord, your counsellors must not get enraged at my plain-speaking; that royal command will open the way for glory, king. The farmers claim they have other, inferior laws, unless the countrymen lie, than you promised people earlier in Ulvesundet.
[8] þú hézt ‘you promised’: Retention of the pron. þú ‘you’ (so all mss) forces elision in metrical position 2 involving a closed syllable and a syllable with vocalic onset (-ur a-; ǫnnur an ‘other than’). That does not otherwise occur in early dróttkvætt poetry (see Kuhn 1983, 67). However, Sigvatr is known for bending the rules of skaldic composition, and full stress on the pron. þú certainly seems warranted by the tenor of the st.