> Well, here's what I've made of it so far. Lots of guesswork and
> gaps. And I'm sure some of my guesses are very daft. I await more
> expert explications with curiosity...

I wish I had them, Llama Nom. I haven't found anything about this poem
anywhere I've looked. Even the text itself is just my reading of the
photos of the manuscript - and is doubtless wrong in places. Eysteinn
corrected several of my errors but there are no doubt more.

Try your own eye here:
http://sagnanet.is/saganet/?MIval=/SinglePage&Manuscript=725&Page=251&language=icelandic

> 1. Flugu valir
> er fylgdu kyni
> eyglóu djásna
> ættar lilju.
> Sat að gildi
> Sigurðar bur,
> Eysteins, Ragnar,
> Uppsala grams.
>
> Falcons flew who followed the kin of the sun of diadems (=lady) of
> the lilly's lineage. Sigurðr's son (=King Sigurd Ring's son =
> Ragnarr loðbrók) sat at the feast of Eysteinn, lord of Uppsala.

Yes, that has to be it, more or less. I hadn't thought of precisely this
way to parse it, though - I was thinking: "Falcons flew who followed the
kin of the sun of jewels [woman] - the lily of her race. etc." Otherwise
we have to assume that "ætt lilju" exists and that idea is not familiar to
me.

> 2. Þannig flugu,
> þreyttu vængi,
> sátu á bustum
> salarkynna
> þar er landrekar
> leiddu að grönum
> mæran drykk mjaðar.
>
> Thus they flew, wore out their wings, sat on the gables of the
> homestead where the kings brought glorious mead to their lips.

Indeed. Though I'd understand "þreyta vængi" as something like "exert
their wings".

> 3. Tiggjar reifir
> og teitir voru.
> Lék að als oddum
> inndrótt jöfra.
> Heyrðu haukar
> hvert orð mæltu
> Yngva arfþegi
> og Skjöldungur.
>
> Cheery and merry the rulers were. The retinue of the chiefs
> balenced on the point of an awl(?! That can´t be right...). The
> hawks heard every word that Yngvi's heir (=the king of Sweden) and
> the Skjöldungr (=the king of Denmark) spoke.

Ah, there's an idiomatic phrase here. "Leika at als oddi" = To have fun.

More later.

Kveðja,
Haukur