which he narrowly escapes capture when he ventures into Hunding’s home
in disguise. Section II (stanzas 5–12) is a dialogue between Helgi and
Sigrun at their first meeting. Section III (stanzas 13–16, the “old
Volsung lay” group) is another dialogue between Helgi and Sigrun when
she invokes his aid to save her from Hothbrodd. Section IV (stanzas
17–21), which may well be from the same poem as Section III, is made up
of speeches by Helgi and Sigrun after the battle in which Hothbrodd is
killed; stanza 21, however, is certainly an interpolation from another
poem, as it is in a different meter. Section V (stanzas 22–27) is the
dispute between Sinfjotli and Gothmund, evidently in an older form than
the one included in the first Helgi Hundingsbane lay. Section VI
(stanzas 28–37) gives Dag’s speech to his sister, Sigrun, telling of
Helgi’s death, her curse on her brother and her lament for her slain
husband. Section VII (stanza 38) is the remnant of a dispute between
Helgi and Hunding, here inserted absurdly out of place. Section VIII
(stanzas 39–50) deals with the return of the dead Helgi and Sigrun’s
visit to him in the burial hill.
Sijmons maintains that sections I and II are fragments of the Kara lay
mentioned by the annotator in his concluding prose note, and that
sections IV, VI, and VIII are from a lost Helgi-Sigrun poem, while