Page:Poeticedda00belluoft.djvu/358

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

Poetic Edda

  Gothmund spake:
24.[1] "First shall swords  at Frekastein
Prove our worth  in place of words;
Time is it, Hothbrodd,  vengeance to have,
If in battle worsted  once we were."

  Sinfjotli spake:
25. "Better, Gothmund,  to tend the goats,
And climb the rocks  of the mountain cliffs;
A hazel switch  to hold in thy hand
More seemly were  than the hilt of a sword."

  Helgi spake:
26.[2] "Better, Sinfjotli,  thee 'twould beseem
Battles to give,  and eagles to gladden,
Than vain and empty  speech to utter,
Though warriors oft  with words do strive.

27.[2] "Good I find not  the sons of Granmar,
But for heroes 'tis seemly  the truth to speak;
At Moinsheimar  proved the men
That hearts for the wielding  of swords they had,
(And ever brave  the warriors are.)"

  1. ↑ The word here translated swords is a conjectural emendation; the manuscript implies merely an invitation to continue the quarrel at Frekastein. Hothbrodd: apparently he is here considered as present during the dispute; some editors, in defiance of the meter, have emended the line to mean "Time is it for Hothbrodd  vengeance to have."
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Cf. Helgakvitha Hundingsbana I, 47-48, which are nearly identical. Stanza 27 in the manuscript is abbreviated to the first letters of the words, except for line 5, which does not appear in the other poem, and which looks like an interpolation.

[322]

This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.