Kormáks saga
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Kormáks saga is an Icelandic saga telling of the 10th century Icelandic poet Kormákr and Steingerđr, the love of his life. The saga preserves a significant amount of poetry attributed to Kormákr, much of it dealing with his love for Steingerđr. Though the saga is believed to have been among the earliest sagas composed it is well preserved. The unknown author clearly relies on oral tradition and seems unwilling to add much of his own or even to fully integrate the different accounts he knew of Kormákr. Often he does little more than briefly set the scenes for Kormákr's stanzas.
The following stanzas represent some of Kormákr's love poetry. He tells us of the first time he met Steingerđr. Read aloud. (http://www.hi.is/~haukurth/norse/sounds/brunnu_beggja_kinna.wav)
| Brunnu beggja kinna | The bright lights of both | Brightly beamed the lights-of- |
| bjǫrt ljós á mik drósar, | her cheeks burned onto me | both-her-cheeks upon me— |
| oss hlœgir ţat eigi, | from the fire-hall's felled wood; | e'er will I recall it— |
| eldhúss of viđ felldan; | no cause of mirth for me in that. | o'er the heaped-up wood-pile; |
| enn til ǫkkla svanna | By the threshold I gained a glance | and the instep saw I |
| ítrvaxins gatk líta, | at the ankles of this girl | of the shapely woman— |
| ţrǫ́ muna oss of ćvi | of glorious shape; yet while I live | no laughing matter, lo! my |
| eldask, hjá ţreskeldi. | that longing will never leave me. | longing—by the threshold. |
| Brámáni skein brúna | The moon of her eyelash — that valkyrie | Brightly shone the beaming | brims und ljósum himni | adorned with linen, server of herb-surf — | brow-moons of the goodly |
| Hristar hǫrvi glćstrar | shone hawk-sharp upon me | lady linen-dight, how | haukfránn á mik lauka; | beneath her brows' bright sky; | like a hawk's, upon me; |
| en sá geisli sýslir | but that beam from the eyelid-moon | but that beam from forehead's- | síđan gullmens Fríđar | of the goddess of the golden torque | bright-hued-orbs, I fear me, |
| hvarmatungls ok hringa | will later bring trouble to me | of the Eir-of-gold doth | Hlínar óţurft mína. | and to the ring goddess herself. | ill spell for us later. |
| — Einar Ól. Sveinsson's edition | — Rory McTurk's translation | — Lee M. Hollander's adaptation |
References
Einar Ól. Sveinsson (Ed.) (1939). Íslenzk fornrit VIII - Vatnsdœla saga. Reykjavík: Hiđ íslenzka fornritafélag.
Hollander, Lee M. (Ed.) (1949). The Sagas of Kormák and The Sworn Brothers. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Viđar Hreinsson (Ed.) (1997). The Complete Sagas of Icelanders - Volume I. Reykjavík: Leifur Eiríksson Publishing. ISBN 9979-9293-1-6.
External links
- Full text of the saga in the original language (http://www.snerpa.is/net/isl/kormaks.htm)
- All of Kormákr's poetry in the original language (http://www.hi.is/~eybjorn/ugm/skindex/korm.html)
- An old translation of the saga into English (http://www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/lit/epics/LifeandDeathofCormactheSkald/Chap1.html)
- A scholarly article on the first ten stanzas of the saga (http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~alvismal/7kormak.pdf)
