Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1975, Síða 313
297
the top line of lv does not continue the bottom line of the reeto.
The parallel text in 238 XXVII shows that ca. four lines are mis-
sing here. If they were added, the first page would have too many
lines, 34, compared to 30 on lv and 31 on 2r. On f. 2v only 23 lines
and a few words of the 24th have been written. The last words are
“oh vt af spiots od|24denvm ser koragrr”. Gering, I, p. 37, has a note
at this point which shows that he did not notice the words in line
24 and remarks, moreover, that “der rest der seite ist ausradiert”,
but this is incorrect, for the space has never been written upon.
Some seven lines, which would be needed to complete the page,
must have been left blank by the scribe because there was a lacuna
in his prototype.
Inaccuracies abound in the text of 238 XXI. Parallel texts show
that necessary words have sometimes been omitted: lr 17 teckur
[hann] barnet, lrl9 ok [tekr] Rikimadur, lr20 lætur hann [leika],
lv8 at [eigi somer at]. There are several misreadings or misunder-
standings: lrl8 formi (i.e. fostri), lr27 bar ungum (i.e. burdugum),
lv6 uistazt (i.e. uisazt), lvl2 hier uopn (i.e. heruopn), lv24 exem-
plis (i.e. expens), and the same words are written twice in lines lr2,
10, 27, 28, lv20.
At the top of lr is written in a 19th century hånd (Gu&brandur
Vigfusson’s ?): Um Jon biskup Halldorsson. This is a misleading
title doubtless based on a superficial reading of the opening words
of the text.
The Fragment 238 XXIV
Two single leaves, both from the same manuscript, each contain
part of separate exempla, The Knight and the Elf -Woman occupying
the first leaf and The Earl in the Bath the second. Both tales are
defective, lacking a beginning and an end.
The inner edge of each leaf is badly moldered. Only a few lines
are complete or lack just one or two letters, but in the remainder
much more has been lost. Moreover, there are holes in some of the
top lines, especially on f. 2. Horizontal folds on both leaves indi-
cate that they owe their preservation to once having been used as
bookcovers. It appears that the leaves were originally conjoint and
that the moldering which separated them was due to wear along
the spine of the book which they covered.