Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1979, Side 86

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The Case of »Hernilds kvæði
6 TaS var hildi Aksal,
sum einki so vildi hann,
hann var so ræddur í sín hug,
hann tordi ikki at blógva mann.
7 Aksal var so ræddur í hug,
sum so ganga søgur frá,
hann torir ikki við svørði leika,
ei bera brynju blá.
8 Hernild eitur tann yngri,
eitt sterkt megi hevði hann pá,
tá ið hann var fjúrtan ár,
drap hann, hvat hann sá.
9 Hernild eitur tann yngri,
og sterkari var hann,
tá ið hann var fjúrtan ár,
tá drap hann, hvat hann fann.
10 Tann yngri hann eitur Hernildur,
sum væl kann við at fara,
hvat sum hann fyri eygum sær,
tað fellir hann niður til jarðar.
11 Tá ið hann var fjúrtan ár,
tá gav hann mongum knekk,
tá ið hann var fimtan ár,
tá drap hann, hvat hann fekk.23
What we must try to explain is this: why did the ballad
man open »Hernilds kvæði« with four stanzas that have their
models in his source ballad and then suddenly strike off on
his own, forging a series of new stanzas? We can eliminate
from consideration the possibility that he was thematically
motivated to create new stanzas to describe Aksal and Hernild,
for they are the exact counterparts of Heiðrikur and Her-
mundur. Furthermore, the fact that none of the new stanzas
is a commonplace suggests that they were not composed by