> Þorsteinn Ingimundarson var þá höfðingi í Vatnsdal. Hann bjó at

Hofi,

> ok þótti mestr maðr þar í sveitum. Ingólfr ok Guðbrandr váru synir

hans.

> Ingólfr var vænstr maðr norðanlands; um hann var þetta kveðit:
> Allar vildu meyjar með Ingólfi ganga
> þær's vaxnar váru -- vesl emk æ til lítil!
> Ek skal ok, kvað kerling, með Ingólfi ganga
> meðan mér tvær of tolla tennr í efra gómi.

Oooh poetry, can I have a go?


Thorstein Ingimundarson was chieftain in Vatnsdal then. He lived at
Hof and was considered the greatest man in the district [plural with
singular meaning]. His sons were Ingolf and Gudbrand. Ingolf was
the most handsome man in the north country [the north of Iceland].
Of him this was said/sung:

All they-wanted girls / with Ingolf to-go / those-who [þær´s = þær
er] grown-up were / wretched/miserable [poor me] I'm, alas, too
little. I shall too ['ok' = "too, also", when not at the beginning
of the sentence] said [the] old-woman / with Ingolf go / while to-me
two cling ['of' here a meaningless filler word used to help the
metre] / teeth in the-top gum.

And loosely and doggerally:

All the girls they wanted
with Ingolf to go,
those ones who were grown-up;
woe's me that I'm too small.
Me too said granny,
I shall go with Ingolf
while two teeth are sticking
still to my upper jaw.

Yes, it's "gum", but I strayed for the rhyme and the length. Re.
line-length, Patricia, I think that's just a typographical quirk:
editor's choice. Sometimes Norse poetry is printed like this is the
same way as Old English verse. But other editors print what in Old
English would be "half-lines" on separate lines. Gordon uses the OE-
style layout for most things except dróttkvætt.

Llama Nom