Hraustr lét Elfi austarr
allvaldr saman gjalla
— vitr stillir rauð vǫllu —
valskan brand ok randir.
Varð á víg, þars ferðir,
vellmildr konungr, fellu,
— bolr lá gauzkr und gulri
grás arnar kló — þrási.
Hraustr allvaldr lét valskan brand ok randir gjalla saman austarr Elfi; vitr stillir rauð vǫllu. Vellmildr konungr varð þrási á víg, þars ferðir fellu; gauzkr bolr lá und gulri kló grás arnar.
The brave mighty ruler let the Frankish sword and shields crash together east of the Götaälv; the wise leader reddened the fields. The gold-generous king persisted in battle where troops fell; the Gautish torso lay beneath the yellow claw of the grey eagle.
[5] ferðir: so F, herðir Mork, H, ‘giordi’ Hr
[5] ferðir (f. nom. pl.) ‘troops’: The Mork and H variant herðir (m. nom. sg.) ‘strengthener’ is syntactically impossible because the verb (fellu ‘fell’ (l. 6)) is in the pl. Skj B emends to herjar (m. nom. pl.) ‘warriors’ and Skald to herðar (f. nom. pl.) ‘shoulders’ (see NN §2533). Because Skj A did not use F, neither Finnur nor Kock was aware of the above variants.