Watch out for a tricky 3-part kenning in the next strophe, 'hlaðs
beðgunnr'. The context is Hjálmarr describing how he took his leave
of his betrothed Ingibjörg on Agnafit, an isthmus on Lake Mälaren in
Sweden. Nobody knows who Sóti (in strophe 7) was. Turville-Petre
writes, "It has been suggested that Sóti may have been the companion
of Hjálmarr in an older form of the story. Cf. R. C. Boer, Örvar-odds
saga, 1892, p. XVI." (The poem is thought to be older than the prose
sagas in which it appears in its various forms.)
Hvarf ek frá hvítri
hlaðs beðgunni
á Agnafit
utanverðri;
saga mun sannask,
sú er hon sagði mér,
at aptr koma
eigi mundak.
Drag þú mér af hendi
hring inn rauða,
foerðu inni ungu
Ingibjörgu;
sá mun henni
hugfastr tregi,
er ek eigi kem
til Uppsala.
Hvarf ek frá fögrum
fljóða söngvi
ótrauðr gamans
austr við Sóta;
för skundaðak
ok fórk í lið
hinzta sinni
frá hollvinum.
Hrafn flýgr austan
af hám meiði,
flýgr honum eptir
örn í sinni;
þeim gef ek erni
efstum bráðir,
sá mun á blóði
bergja mínu."