Thanks for your help, Brian.

In the last case I was trying to preserve the alliteration in the original -
(w)rite runes on roots.
Grace

> Anakinn fór nú til konungsgarðs með Falfaðin, en
> Víga-Óbívan keypti bát, ok sigldi aptr til Jeðifjarða.

> Anakinn went now to (the) king's castle with Palpatine,
> and Slayer Obiwan kept (the) boat and sailed back to Jedi
> Firths.

<Keypti> is from <kaupa>: he bought a boat.

> En áðr en þat at Anakinn fekk sagt Falfaðni þessi tíðindi,
> segir Falfaðinn konungr:

> But before ??? Anakinn was able to tell Palpatine these
> tidings, King Palpatine says,

'But before Anakinn could tell' or 'But before A. was able
to tell' is fine. Literally it's something like 'But before
that, that A. could tell', but English doesn't permit this
construction.

> "Anakinn, þú munt vita, at Jeðifjarðamenn vilja mik
> drepa."

> "Anakinn, you will know that (the) Jedi Firth men want to
> kill me."

I think that this is <munu> (2) in Zoëga: 'you must know'.

> Þú veizt, at Víga-Óbívan mik hatar, því at ek föður hans
> lét drepa, en hann sótti eigi á mik þá er hann kunni vel
> gøra fyrirsát á strönd.

> You know that Slayer Obiwan hates me, because I had his
> father killed and he did not attack me then when he was
> well able to do an ambush on (the) strand.

<En> has to be 'but' here. He's contrasting Obiwan's hatred
for him with Obiwan's failure to attack him when he had the
chance: O. didn't attack him even though he had more than
enough reason to do so. The king wants to use this failure
as evidence that O. didn't behave manfully and must have
something underhanded in mind.

> rista rúnar
> write runes

'Carve runes' would be better.

Brian
Fred and Grace Hatton
Hawley Pa