Bersi Skáldtorfuson

:hagkennanda þenna,

:en snarrœki slíku

:svarat unnum vér gunnar ;

:orð seldum þau elda

:úthauðrs boða, trauðir,

:knarrar, hapts, sem keyptak,

:kynstórs, at við brynju.

:Sveins raunir hefk sénar

:(snart rekninga bjartar)

:þars (svaltungur sungu)

:saman fórum vér, stórar ;

:elds, munk eigi fylgja

:út, hríðboði, síðan,

:hests, at hverjum kosti,

:hranna, dýrra manni.Eysteinn Björnsson translates [http://www.hi.is/~eybjorn/ugm/kennings/bersi2.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060721222806/http://www.hi.is/~eybjorn/ugm/kennings/bersi2.html|date=2006-07-21}}: "I will never again, under no circumstance, follow a greater leader (than this) storm-herald of fire of horse of waves."

:Krýpk eigi svá, sveigir

:sára linns - í ári

:búum ólítinn Áta

:öndur þér til handa -,

:at herstefnir hafnak

:heiðmildr eða þá leiðumk,

:ungr kunnak, þar, þrøngvi

:þínn, hollvini mína.

::Finnur Jónsson's editionHere taken from Eysteinn Björnsson's online edition of the skaldic corpus. [http://www.hi.is/~eybjorn/ugm/skindex/bers1.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070311031315/http://www.hi.is/~eybjorn/ugm/skindex/bers1.html|date=2007-03-11}}

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:Thou badest this eager

:Worshipper of poetryThe original has hagkennandi hróðrs, a kenning for "poet". farewell,

:And we could answer

:The same, O strife-wont warrior!

:It listed me not to be delayed

:Longer; therefore I sold

:To the noble-born giver of goldThe original kenning is boði elda úthauðrs knarrar; "herald of the fire of the outer land of the knörr", i.e. "herald of the fire of the sea", i.e. "herald of the gold", i.e. "generous man". Hollander substitutes a kenning referring to the dragon Fáfnir who lay on a pile of gold.

:Those words as I bought them.

:I have seen the great fights

:Of Swein; we fared together

:Once when the cool bladesThe original has a kenning for "blades"; bjartar svaltungur rekninga, "bright cool tongues of swords".

:Afterwards sang loudly;

:Never again hereafter

:Shall I follow in a host,

:O king, any chieftain

:More glorious than he.

:This year I lie in chains

:For a long while in the great ship.The original has a kenning for "ship"; Áta öndurr, "ski of Áti (a sea-king)".

:O swinger of the sword! I humble

:Myself never so lowly,

:That I betray, O wise war king,

:My loyal friends or be loath

:To have them. In my youth

:Among my friends I found thy foe.

::Translation by Monsen and SmithMonsen 2004, p. 253.

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:"Depart in peace," thou didst,

:prince, bid me, the poet;

:and I said the same to

:seasoned tree-of-combat.A kenning for "warrior". The kenning in the original is snarrœkir gunnar; "swift tender of gunnr (battle)". See [http://www.hi.is/~eybjorn/ugm/kennings/wartest.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061215002749/http://www.hi.is/~eybjorn/ugm/kennings/wartest.html|date=2006-12-15}}.

:Unwillingly these words in

:weapon-thing returned I

:as from the Fáfnir's-treasure's-

:foe I had received them.

:Seen have I Svein tested

:since we fared together—

:sang loud polished swords—in

:serious conflicts, ruler.

:Never on shipboard shall I,

:should whate'er betide me,

:in fiercest fray tested

:follow a better master.

:Crouch I shall not, King, nor

:crawl before thee—rather,

:let us ready, liege, a

:large ship, this year—and so

:turn my back on true and

:tried friends and aggrieve them.

:Young when I was I held dear

:him who was your enemy.

::Hollander's translationHollander 1991, p. 285.

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