Gripla - 20.12.2015, Side 268

GRIPLA268
skrifa þau geysimörgu nöfn sem þeir gefa óðinn. Þetta eitt hans kennin-
garheiti, Gestumblindi, í þeim ljóðalagi nafna hans er svo stendur, meðal
annara orða: ‘Bölverkur, Eylúður, Brúnir, Sanngetal, Þekkur, Þýður, Ómi,
Þrundur og ófnir, Uður, jölnir, vakur, jálkur og Langbarður, Grímur og
Löndungur, Gestumblindi’. Og þeir greina hann hafi fengið þessi nöfn
flest af ferðalagi sínu, svo sem og þetta eitt. Þessi kóngur Heiðrekur hefur
verið mjög vitur maður og loflegur spekingur á veraldarhátt, sem heyra má
í úrlausnum þessara margra hvorra hulmæla í gátum þeim er hér standa.
Hvað ártal er hans kóngsstjórnar má uppleita í danskra kóngatali, því his-
torían segir hann hafi kóngur verið í Reiðgotalandi. Og lyktar svo þessi
fróði maður útleggingar yfir fornyrði gátna Gestum ins blinda, sem sá vísi
danski kóngur Heiðrekur rógsamlega réð. Björn Jónsson undirskrifar nafn
á skarðsá í skagafirði, 14 juníi, Anno 1641.
[30th riddle, about Óðinn’s private conversation with Baldur prior to his
funeral on the pyre: no one but they can know it. And with that the rid-
dles end. And this king of Denmark was an extremely wise man with the
utmost perspicuity, such that his equal has scarcely existed. As a context
for this story the old learned men, sæmundur and others, established the
Edda. there they retell and write in one place the extremely large number
of names which they give to Óðinn. this [is] one of his epithets, Blind-
Stranger, in this song-metre of his names, among other words: ‘Harm-
worker, Island-Box, Brown, Sheaf-Counter, Delight, Kind, resounding
One, thunderer, and Inciter, Beloved, yule-man, Wakeful, Gelder and
Longbeard, mask and Cloaked, Blind-Guest.’ And they record that he
received most of these names from his travels, as is also the case with this
one. this king Heiðrekur was a very wise man and and a much-lauded
sage in worldly matters, as may be heard in the solutions of each of these
many concealed utterances in the riddles which are presented here. What
the years of his reign were can be looked up in the list of Danish kings,
since the story says that he was king in reiðgotaland [Jutland]. And thus
this wise man ends the explanations of the ancient sayings of the riddles
of gestumblindi, which the intelligent Danish king Heiðrekur solved
through logic. Björn jónsson signs his name, at skarðsá in skagafjörður,
14th june, Anno 1641.]
GRIPLA XXVI. - 12.12.B.indd 268 12/13/15 8:25:02 PM