The probable old form of lines 1 and 2 was:
Høyr þú, høyr þú ríðari,
ríð, ríð, renn!
(Hark you, horseman, ride, ride, run! i.e.: ride quickly!)
ria in line 1 is prob. *ríðari, No. ridar, m., horseman. The twice repeated ria in line 2 must, on the other hand, be imp. (2. pers. sing.), “ríð”! of the verb ríða, to ride. sina divla, etc., tell her, Divla (Tivla, see the foll. variants), that Vivla (Fivla) — — — —, something has been dropped here. The contents of the latter part of the verse is said to be: the dog has upset the copper-kettle into the fire, and the child (Vivla, Fivla) has burnt itself. It is of this accident that the horseman is asked to carry tidings to Divla (Tivla). But there are only three detached words left: 1) ketel [kētəl], which is O.N. ketill, kettle, with parallel form (in version a) jadla, meaning kjadla = kjatla with “breaking” of e to ja in the stem; koppereketel and kopperajadla, copper-kettle. 2) “hundena, hunde [hɔᶇdəna, hɔᶇdə]” = the dog. 3) bradna and bredn [bredən] from O.N. brenna, vb., to burn, with the change nn > dn, characteristic of Foula. This change does not, however, always appear; note e.g. renn, and not redn, in line 2 of this verse.
Fetlar versions.
A. From Fetlar come some variants of this fairy-verse in a mixture, chiefly L.Scottish with scraps of Norn preserved in between. The Fetlar version, most similar to the Foula form, is the following: Geng hame to Fivla [fɩvla], and tell Divla [dɩvla] at de honnins [hȯᶇɩns] wis lopen [lopən] in a “tuilly” [tøli] and brunt de bonnins [bȯᶇɩns]; go home to Fivla, and tell Divla (Tivla) that the dogs were fighting and had "burnt the bairns", i.e., had knocked over the children into the fire.
Here, as in the Foula versions, the dogs have caused the mischief.
B. A second Fetlar version is as follows:
Tri̇̄ra rāra gɔŋga,
tell du tɩvla,
at fɩvla is fa’en i’ de fire and is brunt [burnt] her.
The first line is corrupt Norn. The only intelligible word is gonga, to go, O.N. ganga.
C. A third Fetlar version is:
Du at rides de rød
and rins de grey,
tell tūna [tuəna] tɩvla
at nūna nɩvla
is väᶅna väƫna [= fallinn í vatnit].
