Note 42 — The Short Lay of Sigurth

Hardly any two editions agree as to the arrangement of the lines in stanzas 42–44. I have followed the manuscript except in transposing line 4 of stanza 43 to this position from the place it holds in the manuscript after line 4 of stanza 44. All the other arrangements involve the rejection of two or more lines as spurious and the assumption of various gaps. Gering and Sijmons both arrange the lines thus: 42, 1–2; two-line gap; 43, 3 (marked probably spurious); 44, 1–4; 43–4 (marked probably spurious); 42, 3–4; 43, 1–2.