Tímarit Þjóðræknisfélags Íslendinga - 01.01.1967, Page 60

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TÍMARIT ÞJÓÐRÆKNISFÉLAGS ÍSLENDINGA
like Sancie saior/suffragaior or
from some native poetry like the
Old English Rime Poem.
The substance of Egill’s Höfuð-
lausn is the conventional praise for
bravery in battle and liberality in
the hall to the King’s men. Praise
of this kind Egill could offer with
clear conscience even to his worst
enemy as long as that enemy was
not noted for cowardice or sting-
iness.
Considering its fresh modernity
of the meter, Höfuðlausn must have
been very effective in recital, as
indeed it still is. The poem is highly
suggestive of the rush of weapons
and the clash of battle. A couple
of stanzas from the original will
prove this point:
I. Vestr fórk of ver
en ek viðris ber
munstrandar mar,
svá es mitt of far;
drók eik á flot
við ísa brot
hlóðk mærðar hlut
munknarrar skut.
n. Flugu hjaldrs tranar
á hræs lanar,
órut blóðs vanar
benmás granar,
sleit und freki
en oddbreki
gnúði hrafni
á höfuðstafni.
The first refrain (stef) occurring
in stanzas 6 and 9 sounds:
Orðstír of gat/Eiríkr at þat Great
honor him gat/Eric at that, the sec-
ond, occurring in 12 and 15:
Bauð ulfum hræ/Eiríkr of sæ To
wolfes corpses gave, the king by the
wave.
Egill’s art of harmonious meta-
phor is as evident here as elsewhere
in his poetry. In this he was an
innovator because his predecessors
in the field of poetry mixed their
metaphors to a high degree. The
past three lines of stanza 11. are
literally translated:
but the point-breaker
brimmed on the raven’s head-stem
Here we have the mighty surf of
the sea breaking on the stem (or
the prow) on a ship — but the
obverse of the coin tells us that
this is not a ship’s prow but a ra-
ven’s beak, and not the sea but the
blood — the sword-point-breaker.
What effect did the poem have on
King Eiríkr? The saga tells us:
“King Eiríkr sat bolt upright while
Egill recited his poem, glaring at
him; and when he had finished, the
king said: “Most excellently this
poem has been recited. And noW
Arinbjörn, I have thought over our
business with Egill and what is to
be done about it. You have support-
ed his cause with great zeal, going
so far as to bid me defiance. NoW
I shall for your sake do what yon
have asked me to, and let off Egill
unscathed and unharmed. But yon
Egill, be sure never to come before
my eyes again, and I want you to
know that this is no peace with me
nor my sons or any of my kinsmen
who may wish to avenge them-
selves.”
Then Egill quoth this stanza:
Loath I am not
though loathly it be
my head to owe
to the hero king:
Was there ever a man
who ever had
a greater gift
from a gladsome prince?
After that Arinbjörn gave him