1.2 * * *
The Shepherd said:
“Who by himself hath come hither on isle?
Go thou straightway, get thee shelter!”
Hervor said:
2. “I care not go and get me shelter:
not any one know I of the island’s men.
Ere hence thou hiest, in haste tell me:
where are the howes for Hiorvarth3 named?”
The Shepherd said:
3. “Ask not of such, if sage thou art,
friend-of-vikings:4 thou ’rt on ferly ways;
let us fare hence so fast as feet will carry!
Without now is it awful for men.”
Hervor said:
4. “This trinket’s thine if thou tell me this:
’t were hard to hold back the heroes’-friend.”4
The Shepherd said:
“Thou canst not give such golden trinkets,
such fair-shining rings, that I fare with thee.5
5. “’Tis folly, in faith, to fare thither
for a man alone in this murky dark:
is fire abroad, the barrows open,
burn field and fen: let us flee in haste.”
[2. The Hauksbók MS has pieced out the missing lines with this introductory (narrative) half-stanza:
Met the young maid in Munar Bay with setting of sun, a swain by his herd.
*Note*: Hollander's removal of the first 4 lines of the ON in stanza one has resulted in only Hollander's
lines 5 - 8 matching the ON in stanza 1.
Munar Bay is a fictitious locality recalling the Una Bay in the First Lay of Helgi, 32.
3. One of Angantýr’s brothers, interred with him in the grave-mound (howe, barrow).
4. Kenning for “warrior.”
5. A difficult stanza. I have followed the interpretation of the Prose in the distribution of the rôles; which, to be sure,
involves the interpretation of eigi as the first person singular subjunctive of eiga.]
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1. Hitt hefr mær ung í Munarvági
við sólar setr segg at hjörðu.
Hirðir kvað:
"Hverr er einn saman í ey kominn?
Gakk þú greiðliga gistingar til!"
Hervör kvað:
2. "Muna-at ek ganga gistingar til,
því at ek engi kann eyjaskeggja;
segðu hraðliga, áðr heðan líðir:
hvar eru Hjörvarði haugar kenndir?"
Hirðir kvað:
4. "Men bjóðum þér máls at gjöldum;
mun-a drengja vin dælt at letja:
fær engi mér svá fríðar hnossir,
fagra bauga, at ek fara eigi."
Hirðir kvað:
5. "Heimskr þykki mér, sá er heðra ferr
maðr einn saman myrkvar grímur;
hyrr er á sveimun, haugar opnask,
brenn fold ok fen; förum harðara."
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