Page:Poeticedda00belluoft.djvu/341
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Helgakvitha Hundingsbana I
(By dewy dales and chasms dark,Mist's horse shook where the men went by;)The king they found at his courtyard gate,And told him the foeman fierce was come.
50.[1] Forth stood Hothbrodd, helmed for battle,Watched the riding of his warriors;.............."Why are the Hniflungs white with fear?"
Gothmund spake:51.[2] "Swift keels lie hard by the land,(Mast-ring harts and mighty yards,Wealth of shields and well-planed oars;)The king's fair host, the Ylfings haughty;Fifteen bands to land have fared,But out in Sogn are seven thousand.
- ↑ No gap indicated in the manuscript. Hniflungs: cf. introductory note.
- ↑ Lines 2-3 may be interpolated, or a new stanza may begin, as the manuscript indicates, with line 5. Many editors combine lines 5-6 with all or part of stanza 52. Possibly Gothmund is not the speaker. Mast-ring harts: ships, so called from the ring attaching the yard to the mast. Ylfings: cf. stanza 5 and note. Sogn: this name, which actually belongs in western Norway, seems to have been used here with no particular significance.
- ↑ The manuscript indicates line 3 as beginning a new stanza; some editors combine lines 3-4 with all or part of stanza
lowers. Sviputh and Sveggjuth ("Swift" and "Lithe"): horses' names. Mist's horse: the Valkyrie's name is the same as the English word "mist," and the "horse" on which the mist rides is the earth. The two lines in parenthesis may be interpolated, or line 5 may begin a new stanza, as the manuscript indicates.
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