Editiones Arnamagnæanæ. Series B - 01.10.1968, Side 190

CLXXXVIII
present edition (pp. 138-47). The text is printed
from F2 with variants from F3. It is sufficient to
compare the number of stanzas in the main text of
KrR with those in F2-3 to see that the last two rímur
in the latter texts are exceptional. The first ríma
in the main text has 83 stanzas, in F2-3 79 (78 F3);
second ríma 66 and 64; third ríma 57 and 51;
fourth ríma 77 and 63 (62 F3); fifth ríma 50 and 56
(53 F3).
A number of the alterations, particularly in the
fourth rírna are made on metrical grounds. The
revisor has decided to replace all masculine rhymes
with feminine ones. Only in stanzas 1, 2 and 28 do
masculine rhymes survive in F2, and in the fair
copy F3, 1 and 2 have been altered and 28 omitted.
In the fifth ríma masculine rhymes survive in F2
in stanzas 22, 42 and 46; in F3 22 is altered and
42 and 46 omitted.
Tlie first 21 stanzas of the fourth ríma correspond
stanza for stanza with the older text but from that
point onwards the revisor begins on a more in-
dependent composition. The stanzas in the two
versions do not correspond with each other in the
same way as before but occasionally in the younger
text a stanza survives more or less unaltered or
there are clear echoes from the older text, so the poet
must still have been using it. The more radical
nature of the revision of the text cannot, therefore,
be ascribed to a defective source MS. In the fifth
ríma the two texts are once again more or less
parallel.
In the fourth and fifth rímur are found a few
details which do not appear in the older text of KrR.
1. F2-3 IV 22-26. The number of the sentries is
given as twelve; the three rods do not grow together