good a guess as any other, conclusive proof being quite out of the
question.
Were it not for sections VI and VIII the poem would be little more than
a battle-ground for scholars, but those two sections are in many ways
as fine as anything in Old Norse poetry. Sigrun’s curse of her brother
for the slaying of Helgi and her lament for her dead husband, and the
extraordinary vividness of the final scene in the burial hill, have a
quality which fully offsets the baffling confusion of the rest of the
poem.
King Sigmund, the son of Volsung, had as wife Borghild, from Bralund.
They named their son Helgi, after Helgi Hjorvarthsson; Hagal was
Helgi’s foster-father. Hunding was the name of a powerful king, and
Hundland is named from him. He was a mighty warrior, and had many sons
with him on his campaigns. There was enmity and strife between these
two, King Hunding and King Sigmund, and each slew the other’s kinsmen.
King Sigmund and his family were called Volsungs and Ylfings.
Helgi went as a spy to the home of King Hunding in disguise. Hæming, a
son of King Hunding’s, was at home. When Helgi went forth, then he met
a young herdsman, and said:
1. “Say to Hæming | that Helgi knows
Whom the heroes | in armor hid;
A gray wolf had they | within their hall,
Whom King Hunding | Hamal thought.”
Hamal was the name of Hagal’s son. King Hunding sent men to Hagal to
seek Helgi, and Helgi could not save himself in any other way, so he
put on the clothes of a bond-woman and set to work at the mill. They
sought Helgi but found him not.
2. Then Blind spake out, | the evil-minded:
“Of Hagal’s bond-woman | bright are the eyes;
Yon comes not of churls | who stands at the quern;
The millstones break, | the boards are shattered.
3. “The hero has | a doom full hard,
That barley now | he needs must grind;
Better befits | his hand to feel
The hilt of the sword | than the millstone’s handle.”
Hagal answered and said:
4. “Small is the wonder | if boards are splintered;
By a monarch’s daughter | the mill is turned;
Once through clouds | she was wont to ride,
And battles fought | like fighting men,
(Till Helgi a captive | held her fast;
Sister she is | of Sigar and Hogni,
Thus bright are the eyes | of the Ylfings’ maid.)”
Helgi escaped and went to a fighting ship. He slew King Hunding, and
thenceforth was called Helgi Hundingsbane.
(II)
He lay with his host in Brunavagar, and they had there a
strand-slaughtering, and ate the flesh raw. Hogni was the name of a
king. His daughter was Sigrun; she was a Valkyrie and rode air and
water; she was Svava reborn. Sigrun rode to Helgi’s ship and said:
5. “Who rules the ship | by the shore so steep?
Where is the home | ye warriors have?
Why do ye bide | in Brunavagar,
Or what the way | that ye wish to try?”
Helgi spake:
6. “Hamal’s the ship | by the shore so steep,
Our home in Hlesey | do we have;
For fair wind bide we | in Brunavagar,
Eastward the way | that we wish to try.”
Sigrun spake:
7. “Where hast thou, warrior, | battle wakened,
Or gorged the birds | of the sisters of Guth?
Why is thy byrnie | spattered with blood,
Why helmed dost feast | on food uncooked?”
Helgi spake:
8. “Latest of all, | the Ylfings’ son
On the western sea, | if know thou wilt,
Captured bears | in Bragalund,
And fed the eagles | with edge of sword.
Now is it shown | why our shirts are bloody,
And little our food | with fire is cooked.”
Sigrun spake:
9. “Of battle thou tellest, | and there was bent
Hunding the king | before Helgi down;
There was carnage when thou | didst avenge thy kin,
And blood flowed fast | on the blade of the sword.”
Helgi spake:
10. “How didst thou know | that now our kin,
Maiden wise, | we have well avenged?
Many there are | of the sons of the mighty
Who share alike | our lofty race.”
Sigrun spake:
11. “Not far was I | from the lord of the folk,
Yester morn, | when the monarch was slain;
Though crafty the son | of Sigmund, methinks,
When he speaks of the fight | in slaughter-runes.
12. “On the long-ship once | I saw thee well,
When in the blood-stained | bow thou wast,
(And round thee icy | waves were raging;)
Now would the hero | hide from me,
But to Hogni’s daughter | is Helgi known.”
(III)
Granmar was the name of a mighty king, who dwelt at Svarin’s hill. He
had many sons; one was named Hothbrodd, another Gothmund, a third
Starkath. Hothbrodd was in a kings’ meeting, and he won the promise of
having Sigrun, Hogni’s daughter, for his wife. But when she heard this,
she rode with the Valkyries over air and sea to seek Helgi. Helgi was
then at Logafjoll, and had fought with Hunding’s sons; there he killed
Alf and Eyolf, Hjorvarth and Hervarth. He was all weary with battle,
and sat under the eagle-stone. There Sigrun found him, and ran to throw
her arms about his neck, and kissed him, and told him her tidings, as
is set forth in the old Volsung lay:
13. Sigrun the joyful | chieftain sought,
Forthwith Helgi’s | hand she took;
She greeted the hero | helmed and kissed him,
The warrior’s heart | to the woman turned.
14. From her heart the daughter | of Hogni spake,
Dear was Helgi, | she said, to her;
“Long with all | my heart I loved
Sigmund’s son | ere ever I saw him.
15. “At the meeting to Hothbrodd | mated I was,
But another hero | I fain would have;
Though, king, the wrath | of my kin I fear,
Since I broke my father’s | fairest wish.”
Helgi spake:
16. “Fear not ever | Hogni’s anger,
Nor yet thy kinsmen’s | cruel wrath;
Maiden, thou | with me shalt live,
Thy kindred, fair one, | I shall not fear.”
(IV)
Helgi then assembled a great sea-host and went to Frekastein. On the
sea he met a perilous storm; lightning flashed overhead and the bolts
struck the ship. They saw in the air that nine Valkyries were riding,
and recognized Sigrun among them. Then the storm abated, and they came
safe and sound to land. Granmar’s sons sat on a certain mountain as the
ships sailed toward the land. Gothmund leaped on a horse and rode for
news to a promontory near the harbor; the Volsungs were even then
lowering their sails. Then Gothmund said, as is written before in the
Helgi lay:
“Who is the king | who captains the fleet,
And to the land | the warriors leads?”
Sinfjotli, Sigmund’s son, answered him, and that too is written.
Gothmund rode home with his tidings of the host; then Granmar’s sons
summoned an army. Many kings came there; there were Hogni, Sigrun’s
father, and his sons Bragi and Dag. There was a great battle, and all
Granmar’s sons were slain and all their allies; only Dag, Hogni’s son,
was spared, and he swore loyalty to the Volsungs. Sigrun went among the
dead and found Hothbrodd at the coming of death. She said:
17. “Never shall Sigrun | from Sevafjoll,
Hothbrodd king, | be held in thine arms;
Granmar’s sons | full cold have grown,
And the giant-steeds gray | on corpses gorge.”
Then she sought out Helgi, and was full of joy. He said:
18. “Maid, not fair | is all thy fortune,
The Norns I blame | that this should be;
This morn there fell | at Frekastein
Bragi and Hogni | beneath my hand.
19. “At Hlebjorg fell | the sons of Hrollaug,
Starkath the king | at Styrkleifar;
Fighters more noble | saw I never,
The body fought when | the head had fallen.
20. “On the ground full low | the slain are lying,
Most are there | of the men of thy race;
Nought hast thou won, | for thy fate it was
Brave men to bring | to the battle-field.”
Then Sigrun wept. | Helgi said:
21. “Grieve not, Sigrun, | the battle is gained,
The fighter can shun not his fate.”
Sigrun spake:
“To life would I call | them who slaughtered lie,
If safe on thy breast I might be.”
(V)
This Gothmund the son of Granmar spoke:
22. “What hero great | is guiding the ships?
A golden flag | on the stem he flies;
I find not peace | in the van of your faring,
And round the fighters | is battle-light red.”
Sinfjotli spake:
23. “Here may Hothbrodd | Helgi find,
The hater of flight, | in the midst of the fleet;
The home of all | thy race he has,
And over the realm | of the fishes he rules.”
Gothmund spake:
24. “First shall swords | at Frekastein
Prove our worth | in place of words;
Time is it, Hothbrodd, | vengeance to have,
If in battle worsted | once we were.”
Sinfjotli spake:
25. “Better, Gothmund, | to tend the goats,
And climb the rocks | of the mountain cliffs;
A hazel switch | to hold in thy hand
More seemly were | than the hilt of a sword.”
Helgi spake:
26. “Better, Sinfjotli, | thee ’twould beseem
Battles to give, | and eagles to gladden,
Than vain and empty | speech to utter,
Though warriors oft | with words do strive.
27. “Good I find not | the sons of Granmar,
But for heroes ’tis seemly | the truth to speak;
At Moinsheimar | proved the men
That hearts for the wielding | of swords they had,
(And ever brave | the warriors are.)”
(VI)
Helgi took Sigrun to wife, and they had sons. Helgi did not reach old
age. Dag, the son of Hogni, offered sacrifice to Othin to be avenged
for his father’s death; Othin gave Dag his spear. Dag found Helgi, his
brother-in-law, at a place which is called Fjoturlund. He thrust the
spear through Helgi’s body. Then Helgi fell, and Dag rode to Sevafjoll
and told Sigrun the tidings:
28. “Sad am I, sister, | sorrow to tell thee,
Woe to my kin | unwilling I worked;
In the morn there fell | at Fjoturlund
The noblest prince | the world has known,
(And his heel he set | on the heroes’ necks.)”
Sigrun spake:
29. “Now may every | oath thee bite
That with Helgi | sworn thou hast,
By the water | bright of Leipt,
And the ice-cold | stone of Uth.
30. “The ship shall sail not | in which thou sailest,
Though a favoring wind | shall follow after;
The horse shall run not | whereon thou ridest,
Though fain thou art | thy foe to flee.
31. . . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
“The sword shall bite not | which thou bearest,
Till thy head itself | it sings about.
32. “Vengeance were mine | for Helgi’s murder,
Wert thou a wolf | in the woods without,
Possessing nought | and knowing no joy,
Having no food | save corpses to feed on.”
Dag spake:
33. “Mad art thou, sister, | and wild of mind,
Such a curse | on thy brother to cast;
Othin is ruler | of every ill,
Who sunders kin | with runes of spite.
34. “Thy brother rings | so red will give thee,
All Vandilsve | and Vigdalir;
Take half my land | to pay the harm,
Ring-decked maid, | and as meed for thy sons.”
Sigrun spake:
35. “I shall sit not happy | at Sevafjoll,
Early or late, | my life to love,
If the light cannot show, | in the leader’s band,
Vigblær bearing him | back to his home,
(The golden-bitted; | I shall greet him never.)
36. “Such the fear | that Helgi’s foes
Ever felt, | and all their kin,
As makes the goats | with terror mad
Run from the wolf | among the rocks.
37. “Helgi rose | above heroes all
Like the lofty ash | above lowly thorns,
Or the noble stag, | with dew besprinkled,
Bearing his head | above all beasts,
(And his horns gleam bright | to heaven itself.)”
A hill was made in Helgi’s memory. And when he came to Valhall, then
Othin bade him rule over everything with himself.
(VII)
Helgi said:
38. “Thou shalt, Hunding, | of every hero
Wash the feet, | and kindle the fire,
Tie up dogs, | and tend the horses,
And feed the swine | ere to sleep thou goest.”
(VIII)
One of Sigrun’s maidens went one evening to Helgi’s hill, and saw that
Helgi rode to the hill with many men. The maiden said:
39. “Is this a dream | that methinks I see,
Or the doom of the gods, | that dead men ride,
And hither spurring | urge your steeds,
Or is home-coming now | to the heroes granted?”
Helgi spake:
40. “No dream is this | that thou thinkest to see,
Nor the end of the world, | though us thou beholdest,
And hither spurring | we urge our steeds,
Nor is home-coming now | to the heroes granted.”
The maiden went home and said to Sigrun:
41. “Go forth, Sigrun, | from Sevafjoll,
If fain the lord | of the folk wouldst find;
(The hill is open, | Helgi is come;)
The sword-tracks bleed; | the monarch bade
That thou his wounds | shouldst now make well.”
Sigrun went in the hill to Helgi, and said:
42. “Now am I glad | of our meeting together,
As Othin’s hawks, | so eager for prey,
When slaughter and flesh | all warm they scent,
Or dew-wet see | the red of day.
43. “First will I kiss | the lifeless king,
Ere off the bloody | byrnie thou cast;
With frost thy hair | is heavy, Helgi,
And damp thou art | with the dew of death;
(Ice-cold hands | has Hogni’s kinsman,
What, prince, can I | to bring thee ease?)”
Helgi spake:
44. “Thou alone, Sigrun | of Sevafjoll,
Art cause that Helgi | with dew is heavy;
Gold-decked maid, | thy tears are grievous,
(Sun-bright south-maid, | ere thou sleepest;)
Each falls like blood | on the hero’s breast,
(Burned-out, cold, | and crushed with care.)
45. “Well shall we drink | a noble draught,
Though love and lands | are lost to me;
No man a song | of sorrow shall sing,
Though bleeding wounds | are on my breast;
Now in the hill | our brides we hold,
The heroes’ loves, | by their husbands dead.”
Sigrun made ready a bed in the hill.
46. “Here a bed | I have made for thee, Helgi,
To rest thee from care, | thou kin of the Ylfings;
I will make thee sink | to sleep in my arms,
As once I lay | with the living king.”
Helgi spake:
47. “Now do I say | that in Sevafjoll
Aught may happen, | early or late,
Since thou sleepest clasped | in a corpse’s arms,
So fair in the hill, | the daughter of Hogni!
(Living thou comest, | a daughter of kings.)
48. “Now must I ride | the reddened ways,
And my bay steed set | to tread the sky;
Westward I go | to wind-helm’s bridges,
Ere Salgofnir wakes | the warrior throng.”
Then Helgi and his followers rode on their way, and the women went home
to the dwelling. Another evening Sigrun bade the maiden keep watch at
the hill. And at sunset when Sigrun came to the hill she said:
49. “Now were he come, | if come he might,
Sigmund’s son, | from Othin’s seat;
Hope grows dim | of the hero’s return
When eagles sit | on the ash-tree boughs,
And men are seeking | the meeting of dreams.”
The Maiden said:
50. “Mad thou wouldst seem | alone to seek,
Daughter of heroes, | the house of the dead;
For mightier now | at night are all
The ghosts of the dead | than when day is bright.”
Sigrun was early dead of sorrow and grief. It was believed in olden
times that people were born again, but that is now called old wives’
folly. Of Helgi and Sigrun it is said that they were born again; he
became Helgi Haddingjaskati, and she Kara the daughter of Halfdan, as
is told in the Lay of Kara, and she was a Valkyrie.
NOTES
Prose. In the manuscript the poem is headed “Of the Volsungs,” but most
editions give it the title used here. Sigmund: cf. Helgakvitha
Hundingsbana I, 6 and note, which also mentions Volsung, Borghild and
Bralund: cf. Helgakvitha Hundingsbana I, 1 and note. Helgi: the
annotator’s explanation that the child was named after Helgi
Hjorvarthsson is a naive way of getting around the difficulties created
by the two sets of Helgi stories. He might equally well have said that
the new Helgi was the old one born again, as he accounts for Sigrun in
this way (“she was Svava reborn”). Hagal: not elsewhere mentioned; it
was a common custom to have boys brought up by foster-parents. Hunding
and Hundland: cf. Helgakvitha Hundingsbana I, 10 and note. Volsungs and
Ylfings: regarding this confusion of family names cf. Helgakvitha
Hundingsbana I, 5 and note. Hæming: his name does not appear in the
list of Hunding’s sons. It is quite possible that these opening stanzas
(1–4) do not refer to Hunding at all.
1. Helgi appears to have stayed with Hunding under the name of Hamal,
but now, thinking himself safe, he sends word of who he really is.
Hunding: it has been suggested that the compiler may have inserted this
name to fit what he thought the story ought to be, in place of Hæming,
or even Hadding. If stanzas 1–4 are a fragment of the Karuljoth (Lay of
Kara), this latter suggestion is quite reasonable, for in that poem,
which we do not possess, but which supplied material for the compilers
of the Hromundar saga Greipssonar, Helgi appears as Helgi
Haddingjaskati (cf. final prose note). Nothing beyond this one name
connects stanzas 1–4 with Hunding.
Prose. Hagal: Helgi’s foster-father, who naturally protects him.
2. The manuscript indicates line 2 as the beginning of the stanza, the
copyist evidently regarding line 1 as prose. This has caused various
rearrangements in the different editions. Blind: leader of the band
sent to capture Helgi.
3. The manuscript marks line 3 as the beginning of a stanza. Barley:
the word literally means “foreign grain,” and would afford an
interesting study to students of early commerce.
4. Possibly two stanzas with one line lost, or perhaps the lines in
parenthesis are spurious; each editor has his own guess. Sigar and
Hogni: it seems unlikely that Hagal refers to the Hogni who was
Sigrun’s father, for this part of the story has nothing whatever to do
with Sigrun. As Hagal is, of course, deliberately lying, it is useless
to test any part of his speech for accuracy.
Prose. No division indicated in the manuscript. Brunavagar (“Bruni’s
Sea”): mentioned only in this section. Strand-slaughtering: a killing
on the shore of cattle stolen in a raid. Hogni and Sigrun: cf.
Helgakvitha Hundingsbana I, 17 and note; the annotator’s notion of
Sigrun as the reincarnated Svava (cf. Helgakvitha Hjorvarthssonar,
concluding prose note) represents a naive form of scholarship. There is
nothing in stanzas 5–12 which clearly identifies Sigrun as a Valkyrie,
or which, except for the last line of stanza 12, identifies the speaker
as Sigrun. Some editors, therefore, call her simply “the Valkyrie,”
while Vigfusson, who thinks this section is also a remnant of the
Karuljoth, calls her Kara.
6. The manuscript does not indicate the speakers. Hamal: Helgi’s
assumption of this name seems to link this section (stanzas 5–12) with
stanza 1. Hlesey (“Island of Hler”—i.e., Ægir, the sea-god): generally
identified as the Danish island of Läsö; cf. Harbarthsljoth, 37 and
note.
7. Guth: a Valkyrie (cf. Voluspo, 31); the birds of her sisters are the
kites and ravens.
8. The manuscript indicates line 5 as the beginning of a new stanza;
some editors reject lines 1–2, while others make lines 5–6 into a
fragmentary stanza. Ylfings: cf. introductory prose and note. Bragalund
(“Bragi’s Wood”): a mythical place. Bears: presumably Berserkers,
regarding whom cf. Hyndluljoth, 23.
10. Helgi’s meaning in lines 3–4 is that, although he has already
declared himself an Ylfing (stanza 8, line 1), there are many heroes of
that race, and he does not understand how Sigrun knows him to be Helgi.
11. Slaughter-runes: equivocal or deceptive speech regarding the
battle. The word “rune” had the meaning of “magic” or “mystery” long
before it was applied to the signs or characters with which it was
later identified.
12. Some editors reject line 3, others line 5. The manuscript omits
Helgi’s name in line 5, thereby destroying both the sense and the
meter. Vigfusson, following his Karuljoth theory (cf. note on prose
following stanza 4), changes Hogni to Halfdan, father of Kara.
Prose. The manuscript indicates no division. Most of this prose passage
is evidently based on Helgakvitha Hundingsbana I; the only new features
are the introduction of Starkath as a third son of Granmar, which is
clearly an error based on a misunderstanding of stanza 19, and the
reference to the kings’ meeting, based on stanza 15. Kings’ meetings,
or councils, were by no means unusual; the North in early days was
prolific in kings. For the remaining names, cf. Helgakvitha
Hundingsbana I: Granmar, stanza 19; Hothbrodd, stanza 19; Gothmund,
stanza 33; Svarin’s hill, stanza 32; Logafjoll, stanza 13; Alf, Eyjolf,
Hjorvarth and Hervarth, stanza 14. The old Volsung lay: cf.
Introductory Note.
13. Some editions combine lines 3–4, or line 4, with part of stanza 14.
14. The lines of stanzas 14 and 15 are here rearranged in accordance
with Bugge’s emendation; in the manuscript they stand as follows: lines
3–4 of stanza 14; stanza 15; lines 1–2 of stanza 14. This confusion has
given rise to various editorial conjectures.
Prose. The manuscript indicates no division. Here again, the annotator
has drawn practically all his information from Helgakvitha Hundingsbana
I, which he specifically mentions and even quotes. The only new
features are the names of Hogni’s sons, Bragi and Dag. Bragi is
mentioned in stanza 18, though it is not there stated that he is
Hogni’s son. Dag, who figures largely in stanzas 28–34, is a puzzle,
for the verse never names him, and it is an open question where the
annotator got his name. Frekastein: cf. Helgakvitha Hjorvarthssonar, 39
and note. As is written: the two lines are quoted, with a change of two
words, from Helgakvitha Hundingsbana I, 33. Sinfjotli: cf. Helgakvitha
Hundingsbana I, 6 and note, and stanzas 33–48, in which the whole
dialogue is given. Loyalty: apparently the annotator got this bit of
information out of stanza 29, in which Sigrun refers to the oaths which
her brother had sworn to Helgi.
17. Sevafjoll (“Wet Mountain”): mentioned only in this poem.
Giant-steeds: wolves, the usual steeds of giantesses; cf. Helgakvitha
Hundingsbana I, 56.
18. Maid: the word thus rendered is the same doubtful one which appears
in Völundarkvitha, 1 and 5, and which may mean specifically a Valkyrie
(Gering translates it “helmed” or “heroic”) or simply “wise.” Cf.
Völundarkvitha, note on introductory prose. Norns: cf. Voluspo, 20 and
note. In stanza 33 Dag similarly lays the blame for the murder he has
committed on Othin. Bragi: probably Sigrun’s brother.
19. This stanza looks like an interpolation, and there is little or
nothing to connect it with the slaying of Granmar’s sons. In the
manuscript line 2, indicated as the beginning of a stanza, precedes
line 1. Hlebjorg (“Sea-Mountain”) and Styrkleifar (“Battle-Cliffs”):
place names not elsewhere mentioned. Of Hrollaug’s sons nothing further
is known. Starkath: this name gives a hint of the origin of this
stanza, for Saxo Grammaticus tells of the slaying of the Swedish hero
Starkath (“The Strong”) the son of Storverk, and describes how his
severed head bit the ground in anger (cf. line 4). In all probability
this stanza is from an entirely different poem, dealing with the
Starkath story, and the annotator’s attempt to identify the Swedish
hero as a third son of Granmar is quite without foundation.
21. The difference of meter would of itself be enough to indicate that
this stanza comes from an entirely different poem. A few editions
assign the whole stanza to Helgi, but lines 3–4 are almost certainly
Sigrun’s, and the manuscript begins line 3 with a large capital letter
following a period.
22. With this stanza begins the dispute between Gothmund and Sinfjotli
which, together with Helgi’s rebuke to his half-brother, appears at
much greater length in Helgakvitha Hundingsbana I, 33–48. It is
introduced here manifestly in the wrong place. The version here given
is almost certainly the older of the two, but the resemblance is so
striking, and in some cases (notably in Helgi’s rebuke) the stanzas are
so nearly identical, that it seems probable that the composer of the
first Helgi Hundingsbane lay borrowed directly from the poem of which
the present dialogue is a fragment. Flag: the banner (“gunnfani,” cf.
“gonfalon”) here serves as the signal for war instead of the red shield
mentioned in Helgakvitha Hundingsbana I, 34. Battle-light: perhaps the
“northern lights.”
23. Lines 3–4 are obscure, and in the manuscript show signs of error.
Helgi had not at this time, so far as we know, conquered any of
Hothbrodd’s land. The realm of the fishes, in line 4, presumably means
the sea, but the word here translated “fishes” is obscure, and many
editors treat it as a proper name, “the realm of the Fjorsungs,” but
without further suggestion as to who or what the Fjorsungs are.
24. The word here translated swords is a conjectural emendation; the
manuscript implies merely an invitation to continue the quarrel at
Frekastein. Hothbrodd: apparently he is here considered as present
during the dispute; some editors, in defiance of the meter, have
emended the line to mean “Time is it for Hothbrodd | vengeance to
have.”
26–27. Cf. Helgakvitha Hundingsbana I, 47–48, which are nearly
identical. Stanza 27 in the manuscript is abbreviated to the first
letters of the words, except for line 5, which does not appear in the
other poem, and which looks like an interpolation.
Prose. Here begins a new section of the poem, dealing with Helgi’s
death at the hands of Dag, Sigrun’s brother. The note is based wholly
on stanzas 28–34, except for the introduction of Dag’s name (cf. note
on prose following stanza 16), and the reference to Othin’s spear, the
weapon which made victory certain, and which the annotator brought in
doubtless on the strength of Dag’s statement that Othin was responsible
for Helgi’s death (stanza 33). Fjoturlund (“Fetter-Wood”): mentioned
only here and in stanza 28.
28. Line 5 looks like an interpolation.
29. Leipt: this river is mentioned in Grimnismol, 28. Uth: a daughter
of the sea-god Ægir; regarding her sacred stone we know nothing.
According to the annotator, Dag’s life had been spared because he swore
loyalty to Helgi.
31. No gap indicated in the manuscript, but most editors have assumed
that either the first or the last two lines have been lost. Bugge adds
a line: “The shield shall not help thee | which thou holdest.”
34. Vandilsve (“Vandil’s Shrine”): who Vandil was we do not know; this
and Vigdalir (“Battle-Dale”) are purely mythical places.
35. Line 5 may be spurious. Vigblær (“Battle-Breather”): Helgi’s horse.
37. Line 5 (or possibly line 4) may be spurious. Cf. Guthrunarkvitha I,
17, and Guthrunarkvitha II, 2.
Prose. Valhall, etc.: there is no indication as to where the annotator
got this notion of Helgi’s sharing Othin’s rule. It is most unlikely
that such an idea ever found place in any of the Helgi poems, or at
least in the earlier ones; probably it was a late development of the
tradition in a period when Othin was no longer taken seriously.
38. This stanza apparently comes from an otherwise lost passage
containing a contest of words between Helgi and Hunding; indeed the
name of Hunding may have been substituted for another one beginning
with “H,” and the stanza originally have had no connection with Helgi
at all. The annotator inserts it here through an obvious
misunderstanding, taking it to be Helgi’s application of the power
conferred on him by Othin.
39. Here begins the final section (stanzas 39–50), wherein Sigrun
visits the dead Helgi in his burial hill. Doom of the gods: the phrase
“ragna rök” has been rather unfortunately Anglicized into the word
“ragnarok” (the Norse term is not a proper name), and rök, “doom,” has
been confused with rökkr, “darkness,” and so translated “dusk of the
Gods,” or “Götterdämmerung.”
40. In the manuscript most of this stanza is abbreviated to the first
letters of the words.
41. Line 3 (or possibly line 2) may be spurious. Sword-tracks: wounds.
One edition places stanza 48 after stanza 41, and another does the same
with stanza 50.
43. Possibly lines 5–6 are spurious, or part of a stanza the rest of
which has been lost. It has also been suggested that two lines may have
been lost after line 2, making a new stanza of lines 3–6. Kinsman:
literally “son-in-law.”
44. Lines 4 and 6 have been marked by various editors as probably
spurious. Others regard lines 1–2 as the beginning of a stanza the rest
of which has been lost, or combine lines 5–6 with lines 5–6 of stanza
45 to make a new stanza. South-maid: cf. Helgakvitha Hundingsbana I, 17
and note.
45. Both lines 3–4 and lines 5–6 have been suspected by editors of
being interpolated, and the loss of two lines has also been suggested.
Brides: the plural here is perplexing. Gering insists that only Sigrun
is meant, and translates the word as singular, but both “brides” and
“loves” are uncompromisingly plural in the text. Were the men of
Helgi’s ghostly following likewise visited by their wives? The
annotator may have thought so, for in the prose he mentions the “women”
returning to the house, although, of course, this may refer simply to
Sigrun and the maid.
47. Line 5 (or possibly line 4) may be interpolated.
48. Wind-helm: the sky; the bridge is Bifrost, the rainbow (cf.
Grimnismol, 29). Salgofnir (“Hall-Crower”): the cock Gollinkambi who
awakes the gods and warriors for the last battle.
49. Many editors assign this speech to the maid. Line 5 (or 4) may be
spurious. Meeting of dreams (“Dream-Thing”): sleep.
Prose. The attitude of the annotator is clearly revealed by his
contempt for those who put any faith in such “old wives’ folly” as the
idea that men and women could be reborn. As in the case of Helgi
Hjorvarthsson, the theory of the hero’s rebirth seems to have developed
in order to unite around a single Helgi the various stories in which
the hero is slain. The Lay of Kara (Karuljoth) is lost, although, as
has been pointed out, parts of the Helgakvitha Hundingsbana II may be
remnants of it, but we find the main outlines of the story in the
Hromundar saga Greipssonar, whose compilers appear to have known the
Karuljoth. In the saga Helgi Haddingjaskati (Helgi the Haddings’-Hero)
is protected by the Valkyrie Kara, who flies over him in the form of a
swan (note once more the Valkyrie swan-maiden confusion); but in his
fight with Hromund he swings his sword so high that he accidentally
gives Kara a mortal wound, whereupon Hromund cuts off his head. As this
makes the third recorded death of Helgi (once at the hands of Alf, once
at those of Dag, and finally in the fight with Hromund), the phenomenon
of his rebirth is not surprising. The points of resemblance in all the
Helgi stories, including the one told in the lost Karuljoth, are
sufficiently striking so that it is impossible not to see in them a
common origin, and not to believe that Helgi the son of Hjorvarth,
Helgi the son of Sigmund and Helgi the Haddings’-Hero (not to mention
various other Helgis who probably figured in songs and stories now
lost) were all originally the same Helgi who appears in the early
traditions of Denmark.
FRA DAUTHA SINFJOTLA
OF SINFJOTLI’S DEATH
INTRODUCTORY NOTE
It has been pointed out that the Helgi tradition, coming originally
from Denmark, was early associated with that of the Volsungs, which was
of German, or rather of Frankish, origin (cf. Introductory Note to
Helgakvitha Hjorvarthssonar). The connecting links between these two
sets of stories were few in number, the main point being the
identification of Helgi as a son of Sigmund Volsungsson. Another son of
Sigmund, however, appears in the Helgi poems, though not in any of the
poems dealing with the Volsung cycle proper. This is Sinfjotli, whose
sole function in the extant Helgi lays is to have a wordy dispute with
Gothmund Granmarsson.
Sinfjotli’s history is told in detail in the early chapters of the
Volsungasaga. The twin sister of Sigmund Volsungsson, Signy, had
married Siggeir, who hated his brother-in-law by reason of his desire
to possess a sword which had belonged to Othin and been won by Sigmund.
Having treacherously invited Volsung and his ten sons to visit him,
Siggeir slew Volsung and captured his sons, who were set in the stocks.
Each night a wolf (“some men say that she was Siggeir’s mother”) came
out of the woods and ate up one of the brothers, till on the tenth
night Sigmund alone was left. Then, however, Signy aided him to escape,
and incidentally to kill the wolf. He vowed vengeance on Siggeir, and
Signy, who hated her husband, was determined to help him. Convinced
that Sigmund must have a helper of his own race, Signy changed forms
with a witch, and in this guise sought out Sigmund, who, not knowing
who she was, spent three nights with her. Thereafter she gave birth to
a boy, whom she named Sinfjotli (“The Yellow-Spotted”?), whom she sent
to Sigmund. For a time they lived in the woods, occasionally turning
into wolves (whence perhaps Sinfjotli’s name). When Sinfjotli was full
grown, he and his father came to Siggeir’s house, but were seen and
betrayed by the two young sons of Signy and Siggeir, whereupon
Sinfjotli slew them. Siggeir promptly had Sigmund and Sinfjotli buried
alive, but Signy managed to smuggle Sigmund’s famous sword into the
grave, and with this the father and son dug themselves out. The next
night they burned Siggeir’s house, their enemy dying in the flames, and
Signy, who had at the last refused to leave her husband, from a sense
of somewhat belated loyalty, perishing with him.
Was this story, which the Volsungasaga relates in considerable detail,
the basis of an old poem which has been lost? Almost certainly it was,
although, as I have pointed out, many if not most of the old stories
appear to have been handed down rather in prose than in verse, for the
Volsungasaga quotes two lines of verse regarding the escape from the
grave. At any rate, Sinfjotli early became a part of the Volsung
tradition, which, in turn, formed the basis for no less than fifteen
poems generally included in the Eddic collection. Of this tradition we
may recognize three distinct parts: the Volsung-Sigmund-Sinfjotli
story; the Helgi story, and the Sigurth story, the last of these three
being by far the most extensive, and suggesting an almost limitless
amount of further subdivision. With the Volsung-Sigmund-Sinfjotli story
the Sigurth legend is connected only by the fact that Sigurth appears
as Sigmund’s son by his last wife, Hjordis; with the Helgi legend it is
not connected directly at all. Aside from the fact that Helgi appears
as Sigmund’s son by his first wife, Borghild, the only link between the
Volsung story proper and that of Helgi is the appearance of Sinfjotli
in two of the Helgi poems. Originally it is altogether probable that
the three stories, or sets of stories, were entirely distinct, and that
Sigurth (the familiar Siegfried) had little or nothing more to do with
the Volsungs of northern mythological-heroic tradition than he had with
Helgi.
The annotator or compiler of the collection of poems preserved in the
Codex Regius, having finished with the Helgi lays, had before him the
task of setting down the fifteen complete or fragmentary poems dealing
with the Sigurth story. Before doing this, however, he felt it
incumbent on him to dispose of both Sigmund and Sinfjotli, the sole
links with the two other sets of stories. He apparently knew of no poem
or poems concerning the deaths of these two; perhaps there were none,
though this is unlikely. Certainly the story of how Sinfjotli and
Sigmund died was current in oral prose tradition, and this story the
compiler set forth in the short prose passage entitled Of Sinfjotli’s
Death which, in Regius, immediately follows the second lay of Helgi
Hundingsbane. The relation of this passage to the prose of the
Reginsmol is discussed in the introductory note to that poem.
Sigmund, the son of Volsung, was a king in the land of the Franks;
Sinfjotli was his eldest son, the second was Helgi, and the third
Hamund. Borghild, Sigmund’s wife, had a brother who was named ——.
Sinfjotli, her stepson, and —— both wooed the same woman, wherefore
Sinfjotli slew him. And when he came home, Borghild bade him depart,
but Sigmund offered her atonement-money, and this she had to accept. At
the funeral feast Borghild brought in ale; she took poison, a great
horn full, and brought it to Sinfjotli. But when he looked into the
horn, he saw that it was poison, and said to Sigmund: “Muddy is the
drink, Father!” Sigmund took the horn and drank therefrom. It is said
that Sigmund was so hardy that poison might not harm him, either
outside or in, but all his sons could withstand poison only without on
their skin. Borghild bore another horn to Sinfjotli and bade him drink,
and all happened as before. And yet a third time she brought him a
horn, and spoke therewith scornful words of him if he should not drink
from it. He spoke as before with Sigmund. The latter said: “Let it
trickle through your beard, Son!” Sinfjotli drank, and straightway was
dead. Sigmund bore him a long way in his arms, and came to a narrow and
long fjord, and there was a little boat and a man in it. He offered to
take Sigmund across the fjord. But when Sigmund had borne the corpse
out into the boat, then the craft was full. The man told Sigmund to go
round the inner end of the fjord. Then the man pushed the boat off, and
disappeared.
King Sigmund dwelt long in Denmark in Borghild’s kingdom after he had
married her. Thereafter Sigmund went south into the land of the Franks,
to the kingdom which he had there. There he married Hjordis, the
daughter of King Eylimi; their son was Sigurth. King Sigmund fell in a
battle with the sons of Hunding, and Hjordis then married Alf the son
of King Hjalprek. There Sigurth grew up in his boyhood. Sigmund and all
his sons were far above all other men in might and stature and courage
and every kind of ability. Sigurth, however, was the foremost of all,
and all men call him in the old tales the noblest of mankind and the
mightiest leader.
NOTE
Prose. Regarding Sigmund, Sinfjotli, and Volsung see Introductory Note.
The Franks: although the Sigurth story had reached the North as early
as the sixth or seventh century, it never lost all the marks of its
Frankish origin. Helgi and Hamund: sons of Sigmund and Borghild; Helgi
is, of course Helgi Hundingsbane; of Hamund nothing further is
recorded. Borghild: the manuscript leaves a blank for the name of her
brother; evidently the compiler hoped some day to discover it and write
it in, but never did. A few editions insert wholly unauthorized names
from late paper manuscripts, such as Hroar, Gunnar, or Borgar. In the
Volsungasaga Borghild bids Sinfjotli drink “if he has the courage of a
Volsung.” Sigmund gives his advice because “the king was very drunk,
and that was why he spoke thus.” Gering, on the other hand, gives
Sigmund credit for having believed that the draught would deposit its
poisonous contents in Sinfjotli’s beard, and thus do him no harm. Boat:
the man who thus carries off the dead Sinfjotli in his boat is
presumably Othin. Denmark: Borghild belongs to the Danish Helgi part of
the story. The Franks: with this the Danish and Norse stories of Helgi
and Sinfjotli come to an end, and the Frankish story of Sigurth begins.
Sigmund’s two kingdoms are an echo of the blended traditions. Hjordis:
just where this name came from is not clear, for in the German story
Siegfried’s mother is Sigelint, but the name of the father of Hjordis,
Eylimi, gives a clew, for Eylimi is the father of Svava, wife of Helgi
Hjorvarthsson. Doubtless the two men are not identical, but it seems
likely that both Eylimi and Hjordis were introduced into the
Sigmund-Sigurth story, the latter replacing Sigelint, from some version
of the Helgi tradition. Hunding: in the Helgi lays the sons of Hunding
are all killed, but they reappear here and in two of the poems
(Gripisspo, 9, and Reginsmol, 15), and the Volsungasaga names Lyngvi as
the son of Hunding who, as the rejected lover of Hjordis, kills Sigmund
and his father-in-law, Eylimi, as well. The episode of Hunding and his
sons belongs entirely to the Danish (Helgi) part of the story; the
German legend knows nothing of it, and permits the elderly Sigmund to
outlive his son. There was doubtless a poem on this battle, for the
Volsungasaga quotes two lines spoken by the dying Sigmund to Hjordis
before he tells her to give the pieces of his broken sword to their
unborn son. Alf: after the battle, according to the Volsungasaga,
Lyngvi Hundingsson tried to capture Hjordis, but she was rescued by the
sea-rover Alf, son of King Hjalprek of Denmark, who subsequently
married her. Here is another trace of the Danish Helgi tradition. The
Nornageststhattr briefly tells the same story.
GRIPISSPO
GRIPIR’S PROPHECY
INTRODUCTORY NOTE
The Gripisspo immediately follows the prose Fra Dautha Sinfjotla in the
Codex Regius, and is contained in no other early manuscript. It is
unquestionably one of the latest of the poems in the Eddic collection;
most critics agree in calling it the latest of all, dating it not much
before the year 1200. Its author (for in this instance the word may be
correctly used) was not only familiar with the other poems of the
Sigurth cycle, but seems to have had actual written copies of them
before him; it has, indeed, been suggested, and not without
plausibility, that the Gripisspo may have been written by the very man
who compiled and annotated the collection of poems preserved in the
Codex Regius.
In form the poem is a dialogue between the youthful Sigurth and his
uncle, Gripir, but in substance it is a condensed outline of Sigurth’s
whole career as told piecemeal in the older poems. The writer was
sufficiently skillful in the handling of verse, but he was utterly
without inspiration; his characters are devoid of vitality, and their
speeches are full of conventional phrases, with little force or
incisiveness. At the same time, the poem is of considerable interest as
giving, in brief form, a summary of the story of Sigurth as it existed
in Iceland (for the Gripisspo is almost certainly Icelandic) in the
latter half of the twelfth century.
It is not desirable here to go in detail into the immensely complex
question of the origin, growth, and spread of the story of Sigurth
(Siegfried). The volume of critical literature on the subject is
enormous, and although some of the more patently absurd theories have
been eliminated, there are still wide divergencies of opinion regarding
many important points. At the same time, a brief review of the chief
facts is necessary in order to promote a clearer understanding of the
poems which follow, and which make up more than a third of the Eddic
collection.
That the story of Sigurth reached the North from Germany, having
previously developed among the Franks of the Rhine country, is now
universally recognized. How and when it spread from northwestern
Germany into Scandinavia are less certainly known. It spread, indeed,
in every direction, so that traces of it are found wherever Frankish
influence was extensively felt; but it was clearly better known and
more popular in Norway, and in the settlements established by
Norwegians, than anywhere else. We have historical proof that there was
considerable contact, commercial and otherwise, between the Franks of
northwestern Germany and the Norwegians (but not the Swedes or the
Danes) throughout the period from 600 to 800; coins of Charlemagne have
been found in Norway, and there is other evidence showing a fairly
extensive interchange of ideas as well as of goods. Presumably, then,
the story of the Frankish hero found its way into Norway in the seventh
century. While, at this stage of its development, it may conceivably
have included a certain amount of verse, it is altogether probable that
the story as it came into Norway in the seventh century was told
largely in prose, and that, even after the poets had got hold of it,
the legend continued to live among the people in the form of oral prose
saga.
The complete lack of contemporary material makes it impossible for us
to speak with certainty regarding the character and content of the
Sigurth legend as it existed in the Rhine country in the seventh
century. It is, however, important to remember the often overlooked
fact that any popular traditional hero became a magnet for originally
unrelated stories of every kind. It must also be remembered that in the
early Middle Ages there existed no such distinction between fiction and
history as we now make; a saga, for instance, might be anything from
the most meticulously accurate history to the wildest of fairy tales,
and a single saga might (and sometimes did) combine both elements. This
was equally true of the Frankish traditions, and the two principles
just stated account for most of the puzzling phenomena in the growth of
the Sigurth story.
Of the origin of Sigurth himself we know absolutely nothing. No
historical analogy can be made to fit in the slightest degree. If one
believes in the possibility of resolving hero stories into nature
myths, he may be explained in that fashion, but such a solution is not
necessary. The fact remains that from very early days Sigurth (Sifrit)
was a great traditional hero among the Franks. The tales of his
strength and valor, of his winning of a great treasure, of his wooing a
more or less supernatural bride, and of his death at the hands of his
kinsmen, probably were early features of this legend.
The next step was the blending of this story with one which had a clear
basis in history. In the year 437 the Burgundians, under their king,
Gundicarius (so the Latin histories call him), were practically
annihilated by the Huns. The story of this great battle soon became one
of the foremost of Rhineland traditions; and though Attila was
presumably not present in person, he was quite naturally introduced as
the famous ruler of the invading hordes. The dramatic story of Attila’s
death in the year 453 was likewise added to the tradition, and during
the sixth century the chain was completed by linking together the
stories of Sigurth and those of the Burgundian slaughter. Gundicarius
becomes the Gunther of the Nibelungenlied and the Gunnar of the Eddic
poems; Attila becomes Etzel and Atli. A still further development came
through the addition of another, and totally unrelated, set of
historical traditions based on the career of Ermanarich, king of the
Goths, who died about the year 376. Ermanarich figures largely in many
stories unconnected with the Sigurth cycle, but, with the zeal of the
medieval story-tellers for connecting their heroes, he was introduced
as the husband of Sigurth’s daughter, Svanhild, herself originally part
of a separate narrative group, and as Jormunrek he plays a considerable
part in a few of the Eddic poems.
Such, briefly, appears to have been the development of the legend
before it came into Norway. Here it underwent many changes, though the
clear marks of its southern origin were never obliterated. The names
were given Scandinavian forms, and in some cases were completely
changed (e.g., Kriemhild becomes Guthrun). New figures, mostly of
secondary importance, were introduced, and a large amount of purely
Northern local color was added. Above all, the earlier part of the
story was linked with Northern mythology in a way which seems to have
had no counterpart among the southern Germanic peoples. The Volsungs
become direct descendants of Othin; the gods are closely concerned with
Fafnir’s treasure, and so on. Above all, the Norse story-tellers and
poets changed the figure of Brynhild. In making her a Valkyrie,
sleeping on the flame-girt rock, they were never completely successful,
as she persisted in remaining, to a considerable extent, the entirely
human daughter of Buthli whom Sigurth woos for Gunnar. This confusion,
intensified by a mixing of names (cf. Sigrdrifumol, introductory note),
and much resembling that which existed in the parallel cases of Svava
and Sigrun in the Helgi tradition, created difficulties which the Norse
poets and story-tellers were never able to smooth out, and which have
perplexed commentators ever since.
Those who read the Sigurth poems in the Edda, or the story told in the
Volsungasaga, expecting to find a critically accurate biography of the
hero, will, of course, be disappointed. If, however, they will
constantly keep in mind the general manner in which the legend grew,
its accretions ranging all the way from the Danube to Iceland, they
will find that most of the difficulties are simply the natural results
of conflicting traditions. Just as the Danish Helgi had to be “reborn”
twice in order to enable three different men to kill him, so the story
of Sigurth, as told in the Eddic poems, involves here and there
inconsistencies explicable only when the historical development of the
story is taken into consideration.
Gripir was the name of Eylimi’s son, the brother of Hjordis; he ruled
over lands and was of all men the wisest and most forward-seeing.
Sigurth once was riding alone and came to Gripir’s hall. Sigurth was
easy to recognize; he found out in front of the hall a man whose name
was Geitir. Then Sigurth questioned him and asked:
1. “Who is it has | this dwelling here,
Or what do men call | the people’s king?”
Geitir spake:
“Gripir the name | of the chieftain good
Who holds the folk | and the firm-ruled land.”
Sigurth spake:
2. “Is the king all-knowing | now within,
Will the monarch come | with me to speak?
A man unknown | his counsel needs,
And Gripir fain | I soon would find.”
Geitir spake:
3. “The ruler glad | of Geitir will ask
Who seeks with Gripir | speech to have.”
Sigurth spake:
“Sigurth am I, | and Sigmund’s son,
And Hjordis the name | of the hero’s mother.”
4. Then Geitir went | and to Gripir spake:
“A stranger comes | and stands without;
Lofty he is | to look upon,
And, prince, thyself | he fain would see.”
5. From the hall the ruler | of heroes went,
And greeted well | the warrior come:
“Sigurth, welcome | long since had been thine;
Now, Geitir, shalt thou | Grani take.”
6. Then of many | things they talked,
When thus the men | so wise had met.
Sigurth spake:
“To me, if thou knowest, | my mother’s brother,
Say what life | will Sigurth’s be.”
Gripir spake:
7. “Of men thou shalt be | on earth the mightiest,
And higher famed | than all the heroes;
Free of gold-giving, | slow to flee,
Noble to see, | and sage in speech.”
Sigurth spake:
8. “Monarch wise, | now more I ask;
To Sigurth say, | if thou thinkest to see,
What first will chance | of my fortune fair,
When hence I go | from out thy home?”
Gripir spake:
9. “First shalt thou, prince, | thy father avenge,
And Eylimi, | their ills requiting;
The hardy sons | of Hunding thou
Soon shalt fell, | and victory find.”
Sigurth spake:
10. “Noble king, | my kinsman, say
Thy meaning true, | for our minds we speak:
For Sigurth mighty | deeds dost see,
The highest beneath | the heavens all?”
Gripir spake:
11. “The fiery dragon | alone thou shalt fight
That greedy lies | at Gnitaheith;
Thou shalt be of Regin | and Fafnir both
The slayer; truth | doth Gripir tell thee.”
Sigurth spake:
12. “Rich shall I be | if battles I win
With such as these, | as now thou sayest;
Forward look, | and further tell:
What the life | that I shall lead?”
Gripir spake:
13. “Fafnir’s den | thou then shalt find,
And all his treasure | fair shalt take;
Gold shalt heap | on Grani’s back,
And, proved in fight, | to Gjuki fare.”
Sigurth spake:
14. “To the warrior now | in words so wise,
Monarch noble, | more shalt tell;
I am Gjuki’s guest, | and thence I go:
What the life | that I shall lead?”
Gripir spake:
15. “On the rocks there sleeps | the ruler’s daughter,
Fair in armor, | since Helgi fell;
Thou shalt cut | with keen-edged sword,
And cleave the byrnie | with Fafnir’s killer.”
Sigurth spake:
16. “The mail-coat is broken, | the maiden speaks,
The woman who | from sleep has wakened;
What says the maid | to Sigurth then
That happy fate | to the hero brings?”
Gripir spake:
17. “Runes to the warrior | will she tell,
All that men | may ever seek,
And teach thee to speak | in all men’s tongues,
And life with health; | thou’rt happy, king!”
Sigurth spake:
18. “Now is it ended, | the knowledge is won,
And ready I am | forth thence to ride;
Forward look | and further tell:
What the life | that I shall lead?”
Gripir spake:
19. “Then to Heimir’s | home thou comest,
And glad shalt be | the guest of the king;
Ended, Sigurth, | is all I see,
No further aught | of Gripir ask.”
Sigurth spake:
20. “Sorrow brings me | the word thou sayest,
For, monarch, forward | further thou seest;
Sad the grief | for Sigurth thou knowest,
Yet nought to me, Gripir, | known wilt make.”
Gripir spake:
21. “Before me lay | in clearest light
All of thy youth | for mine eyes to see;
Not rightly can I | wise be called,
Nor forward-seeing; | my wisdom is fled.”
Sigurth spake:
22. “No man, Gripir, | on earth I know
Who sees the future | as far as thou;
Hide thou nought, | though hard it be,
And base the deeds | that I shall do.”
Gripir spake:
23. “With baseness never | thy life is burdened,
Hero noble, | hold that sure;
Lofty as long | as the world shall live,
Battle-bringer, | thy name shall be.”
Sigurth spake:
24. “Nought could seem worse, | but now must part
The prince and Sigurth, | since so it is;
My road I ask,— | the future lies open,—
Mighty one, speak, | my mother’s brother.”
Gripir spake:
25. “Now to Sigurth | all shall I say,
For to this the warrior | bends my will;
Thou knowest well | that I will not lie,—
A day there is | when thy death is doomed.”
Sigurth spake:
26. “No scorn I know | for the noble king,
But counsel good | from Gripir I seek;
Well will I know, | though evil awaits,
What Sigurth may | before him see.”
Gripir spake:
27. “A maid in Heimir’s | home there dwells,
Brynhild her name | to men is known,
Daughter of Buthli, | the doughty king,
And Heimir fosters | the fearless maid.”
Sigurth spake:
28. “What is it to me, | though the maiden be
So fair, and of Heimir | the fosterling is?
Gripir, truth | to me shalt tell,
For all of fate | before me thou seest.”
Gripir spake:
29. “Of many a joy | the maiden robs thee,
Fair to see, | whom Heimir fosters;
Sleep thou shalt find not, | feuds thou shalt end not,
Nor seek out men, | if the maid thou seest not.”
Sigurth spake:
30. “What may be had | for Sigurth’s healing?
Say now, Gripir, | if see thou canst;
May I buy the maid | with the marriage-price,
The daughter fair | of the chieftain famed?”
Gripir spake:
31. “Ye twain shall all | the oaths then swear
That bind full fast; | few shall ye keep;
One night when Gjuki’s | guest thou hast been,
Will Heimir’s fosterling | fade from thy mind.”
Sigurth spake:
32. “What sayst thou, Gripir? | give me the truth,
Does fickleness hide | in the hero’s heart?
Can it be that troth | I break with the maid,
With her I believed | I loved so dear?”
Gripir spake:
33. “Tricked by another, | prince, thou art,
And the price of Grimhild’s | wiles thou must pay;
Fain of thee | for the fair-haired maid,
Her daughter, she is, | and she drags thee down.”
Sigurth spake:
34. “Might I with Gunnar | kinship make,
And Guthrun win | to be my wife,
Well the hero | wedded would be,
If my treacherous deed | would trouble me not.”
Gripir spake:
35. “Wholly Grimhild | thy heart deceives,
She will bid thee go | and Brynhild woo
For Gunnar’s wife, | the lord of the Goths;
And the prince’s mother | thy promise shall win.”
Sigurth spake:
36. “Evil waits me, | well I see it,
And gone is Sigurth’s | wisdom good,
If I shall woo | for another to win
The maiden fair | that so fondly I loved.”
Gripir spake:
37. “Ye three shall all | the oaths then take,
Gunnar and Hogni, | and, hero, thou;
Your forms ye shall change, | as forth ye fare,
Gunnar and thou; | for Gripir lies not.”
Sigurth spake:
38. “How meanest thou? | Why make we the change
Of shape and form | as forth we fare?
There must follow | another falsehood
Grim in all ways; | speak on, Gripir!”
Gripir spake:
39. “The form of Gunnar | and shape thou gettest,
But mind and voice | thine own remain;
The hand of the fosterling | noble of Heimir
Now dost thou win, | and none can prevent.”
Sigurth spake:
40. “Most evil it seems, | and men will say
Base is Sigurth | that so he did;
Not of my will | shall I cheat with wiles
The heroes’ maiden | whom noblest I hold.”
Gripir spake:
41. “Thou dwellest, leader | lofty of men,
With the maid as if | thy mother she were;
Lofty as long | as the world shall live,
Ruler of men, | thy name shall remain.”
Sigurth spake:
42. “Shall Gunnar have | a goodly wife,
Famed among men,— | speak forth now, Gripir!
Although at my side | three nights she slept,
The warrior’s bride? | Such ne’er has been.”
Gripir spake:
43. “The marriage draught | will be drunk for both,
For Sigurth and Gunnar, | in Gjuki’s hall;
Your forms ye change, | when home ye fare,
But the mind of each | to himself remains.”
Sigurth spake:
44. “Shall the kinship new | thereafter come
To good among us? | Tell me, Gripir!
To Gunnar joy | shall it later give,
Or happiness send | for me myself?”
Gripir spake:
45. “Thine oaths remembering, | silent thou art,
And dwellest with Guthrun | in wedlock good;
But Brynhild shall deem | she is badly mated,
And wiles she seeks, | herself to avenge.”
Sigurth spake:
46. “What may for the bride | requital be,
The wife we won | with subtle wiles?
From me she has | the oaths I made,
And kept not long; | they gladdened her little.”
Gripir spake:
47. “To Gunnar soon | his bride will say
That ill didst thou | thine oath fulfill,
When the goodly king, | the son of Gjuki,
With all his heart | the hero trusted.”
Sigurth spake:
48. “What sayst thou, Gripir? | give me the truth!
Am I guilty so | as now is said,
Or lies does the far-famed | queen put forth
Of me and herself? | Yet further speak.”
Gripir spake:
49. “In wrath and grief | full little good
The noble bride | shall work thee now;
No shame thou gavest | the goodly one,
Though the monarch’s wife | with wiles didst cheat.”
Sigurth spake:
50. “Shall Gunnar the wise | to the woman’s words,
And Gotthorm and Hogni, | then give heed?
Shall Gjuki’s sons, | now tell me, Gripir,
Redden their blades | with their kinsman’s blood?”
Gripir spake:
51. “Heavy it lies | on Guthrun’s heart,
When her brothers all | shall bring thee death;
Never again | shall she happiness know,
The woman so fair; | ’tis Grimhild’s work.”
Sigurth spake:
52. “Now fare thee well! | our fates we shun not;
And well has Gripir | answered my wish;
More of joy | to me wouldst tell
Of my life to come | if so thou couldst.”
Gripir spake:
53. “Ever remember, | ruler of men,
That fortune lies | in the hero’s life;
A nobler man | shall never live
Beneath the sun | than Sigurth shall seem.”
NOTES
Prose. The manuscript gives the poem no title. Gripir: this uncle of
Sigurth’s was probably a pure invention of the poet’s. The Volsungasaga
mentions him, but presumably only because of his appearance here. On
Eylimi and Hjordis see Fra Dautha Sinfjotla and note. Geitir, the
serving-man, is likewise apparently an invention of the poet’s.
1. The manuscript does not indicate the speakers anywhere in the poem.
Some editors have made separate stanzas out of the two-line speeches in
stanzas 1, 3 and 6.
3. Sigurth: a few editions use in the verse the older form of this
name, “Sigvorth,” though the manuscript here keeps to the form used in
this translation. The Old High German “Sigifrid” (“Peace-Bringer
through Victory”) became the Norse “Sigvorth” (“Victory-Guarder”),
this, in turn, becoming “Sigurth.”
4. Bugge thinks a stanza has been lost after stanza 4, in which Geitir
tells Gripir who Sigurth is.
5. Grani: Sigurth’s horse. According to the Volsungasaga his father was
Sleipnir, Othin’s eight-legged horse, and Othin himself gave him to
Sigurth. The introductory note to the Reginsmol tells a different
story.
9. Thy father: on the death of Sigmund and Eylimi at the hands of
Hunting’s sons see Fra Dautha Sinfjotla and note.
11. The dragon: Fafnir, brother of the dwarf Regin, who turns himself
into a dragon to guard Andvari’s hoard; cf. Reginsmol and Fafnismol.
Gnitaheith: a relic of the German tradition; it has been identified as
lying south of Paderborn.
13. Gjuki: the Norse form of the name Gibeche (“The Giver”). Gjuki is
the father of Gunnar, Hogni, and Guthrun, the family which reflects
most directly the Burgundian part of the tradition (cf. Introductory
Note). The statement that Sigurth is to go direct from the slaying of
Fafnir to Gjuki’s hall involves one of the confusions resulting from
the dual personality of Brynhild. In the older (and the original South
Germanic) story, Sigurth becomes a guest of the Gjukungs before he has
ever heard of Brynhild, and first sees her when, having changed forms
with Gunnar, he goes to woo her for the latter. In another version he
finds Brynhild before he visits the Gjukungs, only to forget her as the
result of the magic draught administered by Guthrun’s mother. Both
these versions are represented in the poems of which the author of the
Gripisspo made use, and he tried, rather clumsily, to combine them, by
having Sigurth go to Gjuki’s house, then find the unnamed Valkyrie, and
then return to Gjuki, the false wooing following this second visit.
15. Basing his story on the Sigrdrifumol, the poet here tells of
Sigurth’s finding of the Valkyrie, whom he does not identify with
Brynhild, daughter of Buthli (stanza 27), at all. His error in this
respect is not surprising, in view of Brynhild’s dual identity (cf.
Introductory Note, and Fafnismol, 44 and note). Helgi: according to
Helreith Brynhildar (stanza 8), with which the author of the Gripisspo
was almost certainly familiar, the hero for whose death Brynhild was
punished was named Hjalmgunnar. Is Helgi here identical with
Hjalmgunnar, or did the author make a mistake? Finnur Jonsson thinks
the author regarded Sigurth’s Valkyrie as a fourth incarnation of
Svava-Sigrun-Kara, and wrote Helgi’s name in deliberately. Many
editors, following Bugge, have tried to reconstruct line 2 so as to get
rid of Helgi’s name.
19. Heimir: the Volsungasaga says that Heimir was the husband of
Brynhild’s sister, Bekkhild. Brynhild’s family connections involve a
queer mixture of northern and southern legend. Heimir and Bekkhild are
purely of northern invention; neither of them is mentioned in any of
the earlier poems, though Brynhild speaks of her “foster-father” in
Helreith Brynhildar. In the older Norse poems Brynhild is a sister of
Atli (Attila), a relationship wholly foreign to the southern stories,
and the father of this strangely assorted pair is Buthli, who in the
Nibelungenlied is apparently Etzel’s grandfather. Add to this her role
of Valkyrie, and it is small wonder that the annotator himself was
puzzled.
27. Brynhild (“Armed Warrior”): on her and her family see Introductory
Note and note to stanza 19.
33. Most editions have no comma after line 3, and change the meaning to
“Fain of thee | the fair-haired one / For her daughter is.”
Grimhild: in the northern form of the story Kriemhild, Gunther’s sister
and Siegfried’s wife, becomes Grimhild, mother of Gunnar and Guthrun,
the latter taking Kriemhild’s place. The Volsungasaga tells how
Grimhild gave Sigurth a magic draught which made him utterly forget
Brynhild. Edzardi thinks two stanzas have been lost after stanza 33,
their remains appearing in stanza 37.
35. In the Volsungasaga Grimhild merely advises Gunnar to seek Brynhild
for his wife, and to have Sigurth ride with him. Goths: the historical
Gunnar (Gundicarius, cf. Introductory Note) was not a Goth, but a
Burgundian, but the word “Goth” was applied in the North without much
discrimination to the southern Germanic peoples.
37. In the Nibelungenlied Siegfried merely makes himself invisible in
order to lend Gunther his strength for the feats which must be
performed in order to win the redoubtable bride. In the northern
version Sigurth and Gunnar change forms, “as Grimhild had taught them
how to do.” The Volsungasaga tells how Sigurth and Gunnar came to
Heimir, who told them that to win Brynhild one must ride through the
ring of fire which surrounded her hall (cf. the hall of Mengloth in
Svipdagsmol). Gunnar tries it, but his horse balks; then he mounts
Grani, but Grani will not stir for him. So they change forms, and
Sigurth rides Grani through the flames. Oaths: the blood-brotherhood
sworn by Sigurth, Gunnar, and Hogni makes it impossible for the
brothers to kill him themselves, but they finally get around the
difficulty by inducing their half-brother, Gotthorm (cf. Hyndluljoth,
27 and note) to do it.
39. The last half of line 4 is obscure, and the reading is conjectural.
41. Something is clearly wrong with stanzas 41–43. In the manuscript
the order is 41, 43, 42, which brings two of Gripir’s answers together,
followed by two of Sigurth’s questions. Some editors have arranged the
stanzas as in this translation, while others have interchanged 41 and
43. In any case, Sigurth in stanza 42 asks about the “three nights”
which Gripir has never mentioned. I suspect that lines 3–4 of stanza
41, which are practically identical with lines 3–4 of stanza 23, got in
here by mistake, replacing two lines which may have run thus: “With thy
sword between, | three nights thou sleepest / With her thou winnest
| for Gunnar’s wife.” The subsequent poems tell how Sigurth laid his
sword Gram between himself and Brynhild.
43. The simultaneous weddings of Sigurth and Gunnar form a memorable
feature of the German tradition as it appears in the Nibelungenlied,
but in the Volsungasaga Sigurth marries Guthrun before he sets off with
Gunnar to win Brynhild.
45. According to the Volsungasaga, Sigurth remembers his oaths to
Brynhild almost immediately after his return to Gunnar’s house.
Brynhild, on the other hand, knows nothing until the famous quarrel
between herself and Guthrun at the bath (another reminiscence of the
German story), when she taunts Guthrun with Sigurth’s inferiority to
Gunnar, and Guthrun retorts with the statement that it was Sigurth, and
not Gunnar, who rode through the flames.
47. Brynhild tells Gunnar that Sigurth really possessed her during the
three nights when he slept by her in Gunnar’s form, thus violating his
oath. Here again there is a confusion of two traditions. If Sigurth did
not meet Brynhild until after his oath to Gunnar (cf. note on stanza
13), Brynhild’s charge is entirely false, as she herself admits in
Helreith Brynhildar. On the other hand, according to the version in
which Sigurth finds Brynhild before he meets Gjuki’s sons, their union
was not only completed, but she had by him a daughter, Aslaug, whom she
leaves in Heimir’s charge before going to become Gunnar’s wife. This is
the Volsungasaga version, and thus the statement Brynhild makes to
Gunnar, as a result of which Sigurth is slain, is quite true.
50. Gotthorm: Gunnar’s half-brother, and slayer of Sigurth.
52. The manuscript has stanzas 52 and 53 in inverse order.
REGINSMOL
THE BALLAD OF REGIN
INTRODUCTORY NOTE
The Reginsmol immediately follows the Gripisspo in the Codex Regius,
and in addition stanzas 1, 2, 6, and 18 are quoted in the Volsungasaga,
and stanzas 13–26 in the Nornageststhattr. In no instance is the title
of the poem stated, and in Regius there stands before the introductory
prose, very faintly written, what appears to be “Of Sigurth.” As a
result, various titles have been affixed to it, the two most often used
being “the Ballad of Regin” and “the First Lay of Sigurth Fafnisbane.”
As a matter of fact, it is by no means clear that the compiler of the
Eddic collection regarded this or either of the two following poems,
the Fafnismol and the Sigrdrifumol, as separate and distinct poems at
all. There are no specific titles given, and the prose notes link the
three poems in a fairly consecutive whole. Furthermore, the prose
passage introducing the Reginsmol connects directly with Fra Dautha
Sinfjotla, and only the insertion of the Gripisspo at this point, which
may well have been done by some stupid copyist, breaks the continuity
of the story.
For convenience I have here followed the usual plan of dividing this
material into distinct parts, or poems, but I greatly doubt if this
division is logically sound. The compiler seems, rather, to have
undertaken to set down the story of Sigurth in consecutive form, making
use of all the verse with which he was familiar, and which, by any
stretch of the imagination, could be made to fit, filling up the gaps
with prose narrative notes based on the living oral tradition.
This view is supported by the fact that not one of the three poems in
question, and least of all the Reginsmol, can possibly be regarded as a
unit. For one thing, each of them includes both types of stanza
commonly used in the Eddic poems, and this, notwithstanding the efforts
of Grundtvig and Müllenhoff to prove the contrary, is almost if not
quite conclusive proof that each poem consists of material taken from
more than one source. Furthermore, there is nowhere continuity within
the verse itself for more than a very few stanzas. An analysis of the
Reginsmol shows that stanzas 1–4, 6–10, and 12, all in Ljothahattr
stanza form, seem to belong together as fragments of a poem dealing
with Loki’s (not Andvari’s) curse on the gold taken by the gods from
Andvari and paid to Hreithmar, together with Hreithmar’s death at the
hands of his son, Fafnir, as the first result of this curse. Stanza 5,
in Fornyrthislag, is a curse on the gold, here ascribed to Andvari, but
the only proper name in the stanza, Gust, is quite unidentifiable, and
the stanza may originally have had to do with a totally different
story. Stanza 11, likewise in Fornyrthislag, is merely a father’s
demand that his daughter rear a family to avenge his death; there is
nothing in it to link it necessarily with the dying Hreithmar. Stanzas
13–18, all in Fornyrthislag, give Regin’s welcome to Sigurth (stanzas
13–14), Sigurth’s announcement that he will avenge his father’s death
on the sons of Hunding before he seeks any treasure (stanza 15), and a
dialogue between a certain Hnikar, who is really Othin, and Regin, as
the latter and Sigurth are on the point of being shipwrecked. This
section (stanzas 13–18) bears a striking resemblance to the Helgi lays,
and may well have come originally from that cycle. Next follows a
passage in Ljothahattr form (stanzas 19–22 and 24–25) in which
Hnikar-Othin gives some general advice as to lucky omens and good
conduct in battle; the entire passage might equally well stand in the
Hovamol, and I suspect that it originally came from just such a
collection of wise saws. Inserted in this passage is stanza 23, in
Fornyrthislag, likewise on the conduct of battle, with a bit of
tactical advice included. The “poem” ends with a single stanza, in
Fornyrthislag, simply stating that the bloody fight is over and that
Sigurth fought well—a statement equally applicable to any part of the
hero’s career.
Finnur Jonsson has divided the Reginsmol into two poems, or rather into
two sets of fragments, but this, as the foregoing analysis has
indicated, does not appear to go nearly far enough. It accords much
better with the facts to assume that the compiler of the collection
represented by the Codex Regius, having set out to tell the story of
Sigurth, took his verse fragments pretty much wherever he happened to
find them. In this connection, it should be remembered that in the
fluid state of oral tradition poems, fragments, and stanzas passed
readily and frequently from one story to another. Tradition, never
critical, doubtless connected with the Sigurth story much verse that
never originated there.
If the entire passage beginning with the prose Fra Dautha Sinfjotla,
and, except for the Gripisspo, including the Reginsmol, Fafnismol, and
Sigrdrifumol, be regarded as a highly uncritical piece of compilation,
rendered consecutive by the compiler’s prose narrative, its
difficulties are largely smoothed away; any other way of looking at it
results in utterly inconclusive attempts to reconstruct poems some of
which quite possibly never existed.
The twenty-six stanzas and accompanying prose notes included under the
heading of Reginsmol belong almost wholly to the northern part of the
Sigurth legend; the mythological features have no counterpart in the
southern stories, and only here and there is there any betrayal of the
tradition’s Frankish home. The story of Andvari, Loki, and Hreithmar is
purely Norse, as is the concluding section containing Othin’s counsels.
If we assume that the passage dealing with the victory over Hunding’s
sons belongs to the Helgi cycle (cf. introductory notes to Helgakvitha
Hjorvarthssonar and Helgakvitha Hundingsbana I), there is very little
left to reflect the Sigurth tradition proper.
Regarding the general development of the story of Sigurth in the North,
see the introductory note to the Gripisspo.
Sigurth went to Hjalprek’s stud and chose for himself a horse, who
thereafter was called Grani. At that time Regin, the son of Hreithmar,
was come to Hjalprek’s home; he was more ingenious than all other men,
and a dwarf in stature; he was wise, fierce and skilled in magic. Regin
undertook Sigurth’s bringing up and teaching, and loved him much. He
told Sigurth of his forefathers, and also of this: that once Othin and
Hönir and Loki had come to Andvari’s waterfall, and in the fall were
many fish. Andvari was a dwarf, who had dwelt long in the waterfall in
the shape of a pike, and there he got his food. “Otr was the name of a
brother of ours,” said Regin, “who often went into the fall in the
shape of an otter; he had caught a salmon, and sat on the high bank
eating it with his eyes shut. Loki threw a stone at him and killed him;
the gods thought they had had great good luck, and stripped the skin
off the otter. That same evening they sought a night’s lodging at
Hreithmar’s house, and showed their booty. Then we seized them, and
told them, as ransom for their lives, to fill the otter skin with gold,
and completely cover it outside as well with red gold. Then they sent
Loki to get the gold; he went to Ron and got her net, and went then to
Andvari’s fall and cast the net in front of the pike, and the pike
leaped into the net.” Then Loki said:
1. “What is the fish | that runs in the flood,
And itself from ill cannot save?
If thy head thou wouldst | from hell redeem,
Find me the water’s flame.”
Andvari spake:
2. “Andvari am I, | and Oin my father,
In many a fall have I fared;
An evil Norn | in olden days
Doomed me in waters to dwell.”
Loki spake:
3. “Andvari, say, | if thou seekest still
To live in the land of men,
What payment is set | for the sons of men
Who war with lying words?”
Andvari spake:
4. “A mighty payment | the men must make
Who in Vathgelmir’s waters wade;
On a long road lead | the lying words
That one to another utters.”
Loki saw all the gold that Andvari had. But when he had brought forth
all the gold, he held back one ring, and Loki took this from him. The
dwarf went into his rocky hole and said:
5. “Now shall the gold | that Gust once had
Bring their death | to brothers twain,
And evil be | for heroes eight;
Joy of my wealth | shall no man win.”
The gods gave Hreithmar the gold, and filled up the otter-skin, and
stood it on its feet. Then the gods had to heap up gold and hide it.
And when that was done, Hreithmar came forward and saw a single
whisker, and bade them cover it. Then Othin brought out the ring
Andvaranaut and covered the hair. Then Loki said:
6. “The gold is given, | and great the price
Thou hast my head to save;
But fortune thy sons | shall find not there,
The bane of ye both it is.”
Hreithmar spake:
7. “Gifts ye gave, | but ye gave not kindly,
Gave not with hearts that were whole;
Your lives ere this | should ye all have lost,
If sooner this fate I had seen.”
Loki spake:
8. “Worse is this | that methinks I see,
For a maid shall kinsmen clash;
Heroes unborn | thereby shall be,
I deem, to hatred doomed.”
Hreithmar spake:
9. “The gold so red | shall I rule, methinks,
So long as I shall live;
Nought of fear | for thy threats I feel,
So get ye hence to your homes.”
Fafnir and Regin asked Hreithmar for a share of the wealth that was
paid for the slaying of their brother, Otr. This he refused, and Fafnir
thrust his sword through the body of his father, Hreithmar, while he
was sleeping. Hreithmar called to his daughters:
10. “Lyngheith and Lofnheith, | fled is my life,
And mighty now is my need!”
Lyngheith spake:
“Though a sister loses | her father, seldom
Revenge on her brother she brings.”
Hreithmar spake:
11. “A daughter, woman | with wolf’s heart, bear,
If thou hast no son | with the hero brave;
If one weds the maid, | for the need is mighty,
Their son for thy hurt | may vengeance seek.”
Then Hreithmar died, and Fafnir took all the gold. Thereupon Regin
asked to have his inheritance from his father, but Fafnir refused this.
Then Regin asked counsel of Lyngheith, his sister, how he should win
his inheritance. She said:
12. “In friendly wise | the wealth shalt thou ask
Of thy brother, and better will;
Not seemly is it | to seek with the sword
Fafnir’s treasure to take.”
All these happenings did Regin tell to Sigurth.
One day, when he came to Regin’s house, he was gladly welcomed. Regin
said:
13. “Hither the son | of Sigmund is come,
The hero eager, | here to our hall;
His courage is more | than an ancient man’s,
And battle I hope | from the hardy wolf.
14. “Here shall I foster | the fearless prince,
Now Yngvi’s heir | to us is come;
The noblest hero | beneath the sun,
The threads of his fate | all lands enfold.”
Sigurth was there continually with Regin, who said to Sigurth that
Fafnir lay at Gnitaheith, and was in the shape of a dragon. He had a
fear-helm, of which all living creatures were terrified. Regin made
Sigurth the sword which was called Gram; it was so sharp that when he
thrust it down into the Rhine, and let a strand of wool drift against
it with the stream, it cleft the strand asunder as if it were water.
With this sword Sigurth cleft asunder Regin’s anvil. After that Regin
egged Sigurth on to slay Fafnir, but he said:
15. “Loud will the sons | of Hunding laugh,
Who low did Eylimi | lay in death,
If the hero sooner | seeks the red
Rings to find | than his father’s vengeance.”
King Hjalprek gave Sigurth a fleet for the avenging of his father. They
ran into a great storm, and were off a certain headland. A man stood on
the mountain, and said:
16. “Who yonder rides | on Rævil’s steeds,
O’er towering waves | and waters wild?
The sail-horses all | with sweat are dripping,
Nor can the sea-steeds | the gale withstand.”
Regin answered:
17. “On the sea-trees here | are Sigurth and I,
The storm wind drives us | on to our death;
The waves crash down | on the forward deck,
And the roller-steeds sink; | who seeks our names?”
The Man spake:
18. “Hnikar I was | when Volsung once
Gladdened the ravens | and battle gave;
Call me the Man | from the Mountain now,
Feng or Fjolnir; | with you will I fare.”
They sailed to the land, and the man went on board the ship, and the
storm subsided. Sigurth spake:
19. “Hnikar, say, | for thou seest the fate
That to gods and men is given;
What sign is fairest | for him who fights,
And best for the swinging of swords?”
Hnikar spake:
20. “Many the signs, | if men but knew,
That are good for the swinging of swords;
It is well, methinks, | if the warrior meets
A raven black on his road.
21. “Another it is | if out thou art come,
And art ready forth to fare,
To behold on the path | before thy house
Two fighters greedy of fame.
22. “Third it is well | if a howling wolf
Thou hearest under the ash;
And fortune comes | if thy foe thou seest
Ere thee the hero beholds.
23. “A man shall fight not | when he must face
The moon’s bright sister | setting late;
Win he shall | who well can see,
And wedge-like forms | his men for the fray.
24. “Foul is the sign | if thy foot shall stumble
As thou goest forth to fight;
Goddesses baneful | at both thy sides
Will that wounds thou shalt get.
25. “Combed and washed | shall the wise man go,
And a meal at morn shall take;
For unknown it is | where at eve he may be;
It is ill thy luck to lose.”
Sigurth had a great battle with Lyngvi, the son of Hunding, and his
brothers; there Lyngvi fell, and his two brothers with him. After the
battle Regin said:
26. “Now the bloody eagle | with biting sword
Is carved on the back | of Sigmund’s killer;
Few were more fierce | in fight than his son,
Who reddened the earth | and gladdened the ravens.”
Sigurth went home to Hjalprek’s house; thereupon Regin egged him on to
fight with Fafnir.
NOTES
Prose. Hjalprek: father of Alf, Sigurth’s step-father; cf. Fra Dautha
Sinfjotla, and note. Grani: cf. Gripisspo, 5 and note. Regin
(“Counsel-Giver”): undoubtedly he goes back to the smith of the German
story; in the Thithrekssaga version he is called Mimir, while Regin is
there the name of the dragon (here Regin’s brother, Fafnir). The
Voluspo (stanza 12) names a Regin among the dwarfs, and the name may
have assisted in making Regin a dwarf here. Hreithmar: nothing is known
of him outside of this story. Othin, Hönir and Loki: these same three
gods appear in company in Voluspo, 17–18. Andvari’s fall: according to
Snorri, who tells this entire story in the Skaldskaparmal, Andvari’s
fall was in the world of the dark elves, while the one where Loki
killed the otter was not; here, however, the two are considered
identical. With his eyes shut: according to Snorri, Otr ate with his
eyes shut because he was so greedy that he could not bear to see the
food before him diminishing. Ron: wife of the sea-god Ægir, who draws
down drowning men with her net; cf. Helgakvitha Hjorvarthssonar, 18 and
note. Snorri says that Loki caught the pike with his hands.
1. Snorri quotes this stanza. Water’s flame: gold, so called because
Ægir, the sea-god, was wont to light his hall with gold.
2. Snorri quotes this stanza. The name of the speaker is not given in
the manuscripts. Oin: nothing further is known of Andvari’s father.
Norn: cf. Voluspo, 20.
3. Stanzas 3–4 may well be fragments of some other poem. Certainly
Loki’s question does not fit the situation, and the passage looks like
an extract from some such poem as Vafthruthnismol. In Regius the phrase
“Loki spake” stands in the middle of line 1.
4. The manuscript does not name the speaker. Vathgelmir (“Raging to
Wade”): a river not elsewhere mentioned, but cf. Voluspo, 39.
Prose. Snorri says Andvari’s ring had the power to create new gold. In
this it resembled Baldr’s ring, Draupnir; cf. Skirnismol, 21 and note.
5. This stanza apparently comes from a different source from stanzas
1–4 (or 1–2 if 3–4 are interpolated) and 6–10; cf. Introductory Note.
In the Volsungasaga Andvari lays his curse particularly on the ring.
Gust: possibly a name for Andvari himself, or for an earlier possessor
of the treasure. Brothers twain: Fafnir and Regin. Heroes eight: the
word “eight” may easily have been substituted for something like “all”
to make the stanza fit the case; the “eight” in question are presumably
Sigurth, Gotthorm, Gunnar, Hogni, Atli, Erp, Sorli and Hamther, all of
whom are slain in the course of the story. But the stanza may
originally not have referred to Andvari’s treasure at all.
Prose. Andvaranaut: “Andvari’s Gem.”
6. Snorri quotes this stanza, introducing it, as here, with “Then Loki
said” in the prose. Regius omits this phrase, but inserts “said Loki”
in line 1.
8. The word translated “maid” in line 2 is obscure, and “gold” may be
meant. Apparently, however, the reference is to the fight between
Sigurth and the sons of Gjuki over Brynhild. The manuscript does not
name the speaker, and many editions assign this stanza to Hreithmar.
9. The manuscript includes “said Hreithmar” (abbreviated) in the middle
of line 1, and some editors have followed this.
10. Hreithmar’s daughters do not appear elsewhere. It has been
suggested that originally stanza 10 was followed by one in which
Lofnheith lamented her inability to avenge her father, as she was
married and had no son.
11. Apparently an interpolation (cf. Introductory Note). Vigfusson
tries to reconstruct lines 2 and 4 to fit the Ljothahattr rhythm, but
without much success. Hreithmar urges his daughter, as she has no sons,
to bear a daughter who, in turn, will have a son to avenge his
great-grandfather. Grundtvig worked out an ingenious theory to fit this
stanza, making Sigurth’s grandfather, Eylimi, the husband of
Lyngheith’s daughter, but there is absolutely no evidence to support
this. The stanza may have nothing to do with Hreithmar.
13. This and the following stanza may be out of place here, really
belonging, together with their introductory prose sentence, in the
opening prose passage, following the first sentence describing Regin.
Certainly they seem to relate to Regin’s first meeting with Sigurth.
Stanzas 13–26, interspersed with prose, are quoted in the
Nornageststhattr. Stanzas 13–18 may be the remnants of a lost poem
belonging to the Helgi cycle (cf. Introductory Note). Hardy wolf:
warrior, i.e., Sigurth.
14. Yngvi’s heir: Yngvi was one of the sons of the Danish king Halfdan
the Old, and traditionally an ancestor of Helgi (cf. Helgakvitha
Hundingsbana I, 57 and note). Calling Sigurth a descendant of Yngvi is,
of course, absurd, and the use of this phrase is one of the many
reasons for believing that stanzas 13–18 belonged originally to the
Helgi cycle. The threads, etc.: another link with Helgi; cf.
Helgakvitha Hundingsbana I, 3–4. As Helgi was likewise regarded as a
son of Sigmund, stanzas 13–14 would fit him just as well as Sigurth.
Prose. Gnitaheith: cf. Gripisspo, 11 and note. Fear-helm: the word
“ægis-hjalmr,” which occurs both here and in Fafnismol, suggests an
extraordinarily interesting, and still disputed, question of etymology.
Gram: according to the Volsungasaga Regin forged this sword from the
fragments of the sword given by Othin to Sigmund (cf. Fra Dautha
Sinfjotla and note).
15. Regarding the sons of Hunding and Eylimi, father of Sigurth’s
mother, all of whom belong to the Helgi tradition, cf. Fra Dautha
Sinfjotla and note.
Prose. The fleet, and the subsequent storm, are also reminiscent of the
Helgi cycle; cf. Helgakvitha Hundingsbana I, 29–31, and II, prose after
stanza 16. A man: Othin.
16. Rævil’s steeds (Rævil was a sea-king, possibly the grandson of
Ragnar Lothbrok mentioned in the Hervararsaga), sail-horses and
sea-steeds all mean “ships.”
17. Sea-trees and roller-steeds (the latter because ships were pulled
up on shore by means of rollers) both mean “ships.”
18. The Volsungasaga quotes this stanza. Hnikar and Fjolnir: Othin
gives himself both these names in Grimnismol, 47; Feng (“The Seizer”)
does not appear elsewhere. According to the Volsungasaga, no one knew
Othin’s name when he came to Volsung’s house and left the sword there
for Sigmund.
19. This and the following stanzas are strongly suggestive of the
Hovamol, and probably came originally from some such collection.
23. This stanza is clearly an interpolation, drawn in by the
common-sense advice, as distinct from omens, given in the last lines of
stanza 22. Moon’s sister: the sun; cf. Vafthruthnismol, 23 and note.
Wedge-like: the wedge formation (prescribed anew in 1920 for the United
States Army under certain circumstances) was said to have been invented
by Othin himself, and taught by him only to the most favored warriors.
24. Goddesses: Norse mythology included an almost limitless number of
minor deities, the female ones, both kind and unkind, being generally
classed among the lesser Norns.
25. This stanza almost certainly had nothing originally to do with the
others in this passage; it may have been taken from a longer version of
the Hovamol itself.
Prose. Lyngvi: the son of Hunding who killed Sigmund in jealousy of his
marriage with Hjordis; cf. Fra Dautha Sinfjotla and note. The
Volsungasaga names one brother who was with Lyngvi in the battle,
Hjorvarth, and Sigurth kills him as readily as if he had not already
been killed long before by Helgi. But, as has been seen, it was nothing
for a man to be killed in two or three different ways.
26. Bloody eagle, etc.: the Nornageststhattr describes the manner in
which the captured Lyngvi was put to death. “Regin advised that they
should carve the bloody eagle on his back. So Regin took his sword and
cleft Lyngvi’s back so that he severed his back from his ribs, and then
drew out his lungs. So died Lyngvi with great courage.”
Prose. In Regius there is no break of any kind between this prose
passage and the prose introduction to the Fafnismol (cf. Introductory
Note).
FAFNISMOL
THE BALLAD OF FAFNIR
INTRODUCTORY NOTE
The so-called Fafnismol, contained in full in the Codex Regius, where
it immediately follows the Reginsmol without any indication of a break,
is quoted by Snorri in the Gylfaginning (stanza 13) and the
Skaldskaparmal (stanzas 32 and 33), and stanzas 6, 3, and 4 appear in
the Sverrissaga. Although the Volsungasaga does not actually quote any
of the stanzas, it gives a very close prose parallel to the whole poem
in chapters 18 and 19.
The general character of the Fafnismol, and its probable relation to
the Reginsmol and the Sigrdrifumol, have been discussed in the
introductory note to the Reginsmol. While it is far more nearly a unit
than the Reginsmol, it shows many of the same characteristics. It has
the same mixture of stanza forms, although in this case only nine
stanzas (32–33, 35–36 and 40–44) vary from the normal Ljothahattr
measure. It shows, though to a much less marked extent, the same
tendency to introduce passages from extraneous sources, such as the
question-and-answer passage in stanzas 11–15. At the same time, in this
instance it is quite clear that one distinct poem, including probably
stanzas 1–10, 16–23, 25–31, and 34–39, underlay the compilation which
we here have. This may, perhaps, have been a long poem (not, however,
the “Long” Sigurth Lay; see introductory note to Brot af
Sigurtharkvithu) dealing with the Regin-Fafnir-Sigurth-Brynhild story,
and including, besides most of the Fafnismol, stanzas 1–4 and 6–11 of
the Reginsmol and part of the so-called Sigrdrifumol, together with
much that has been lost. The original poem may, on the other hand, have
confined itself to the Fafnir episode.
In any case, and while the extant Fafnismol can be spoken of as a
distinct poem far more justly than the Reginsmol, there is still no
indication that the compiler regarded it as a poem by itself. His prose
notes run on without a break, and the verses simply cover a dramatic
episode in Sigurth’s early life. The fact that the work of compilation
has been done more intelligently than in the case of the Reginsmol
seems to have resulted chiefly from the compiler’s having been familiar
with longer consecutive verse passages dealing with the Fafnir episode.
The Reginsmol is little more than a clumsy mosaic, but in the Fafnismol
it is possible to distinguish between the main substance of the poem
and the interpolations.
Here, as in the Reginsmol, there is very little that bespeaks the
German origin of the Sigurth story. Sigurth’s winning of the treasure
is in itself undoubtedly a part of the earlier southern legend, but the
manner in which he does it is thoroughly Norse. Moreover, the
concluding section, which points toward the finding of the sleeping
Brynhild, relates entirely to the northern Valkyrie, the warrior-maiden
punished by Othin, and not at all to the southern Brynhild the daughter
of Buthli. The Fafnismol is, however, sharply distinguished from the
Reginsmol by showing no clear traces of the Helgi tradition, although a
part of the bird song (stanzas 40–44, in Fornyrthislag form, as
distinct from the body of the poem) sounds suspiciously like the bird
passage in the beginning of the Helgakvitha Hjorvarthssonar. Regarding
the general relations of the various sets of traditions in shaping the
story of Sigurth, see the introductory note to Gripisspo.
The Fafnismol, together with a part of the Sigrdrifumol, has indirectly
become the best known of all the Eddic poems, for the reason that
Wagner used it, with remarkably little change of outline, as the basis
for his “Siegfried.”
Sigurth and Regin went up to the Gnitaheith, and found there the track
that Fafnir made when he crawled to water. Then Sigurth made a great
trench across the path, and took his place therein. When Fafnir crawled
from his gold, he blew out venom, and it ran down from above on
Sigurth’s head. But when Fafnir crawled over the trench, then Sigurth
thrust his sword into his body to the heart. Fafnir writhed and struck
out with his head and tail. Sigurth leaped from the trench, and each
looked at the other. Fafnir said:
1. “Youth, oh, youth! | of whom then, youth, art thou born?
Say whose son thou art,
Who in Fafnir’s blood | thy bright blade reddened,
And struck thy sword to my heart.”
Sigurth concealed his name because it was believed in olden times that
the word of a dying man might have great power if he cursed his foe by
his name. He said:
2. “The Noble Hart | my name, and I go
A motherless man abroad;
Father I had not, | as others have,
And lonely ever I live.”
Fafnir spake:
3. “If father thou hadst not, | as others have,
By what wonder wast thou born?
(Though thy name on the day | of my death thou hidest,
Thou knowest now thou dost lie.)”
Sigurth spake:
4. “My race, methinks, | is unknown to thee,
And so am I myself;
Sigurth my name, | and Sigmund’s son,
Who smote thee thus with the sword.”
Fafnir spake:
5. “Who drove thee on? | why wert thou driven
My life to make me lose?
A father brave | had the bright-eyed youth,
For bold in boyhood thou art.”
Sigurth spake:
6. “My heart did drive me, | my hand fulfilled,
And my shining sword so sharp;
Few are keen | when old age comes,
Who timid in boyhood be.”
Fafnir spake:
7. “If thou mightest grow | thy friends among,
One might see thee fiercely fight;
But bound thou art, | and in battle taken,
And to fear are prisoners prone.”
Sigurth spake:
8. “Thou blamest me, Fafnir, | that I see from afar
The wealth that my father’s was;
Not bound am I, | though in battle taken,
Thou hast found that free I live.”
Fafnir spake:
9. “In all I say | dost thou hatred see,
Yet truth alone do I tell;
The sounding gold, | the glow-red wealth,
And the rings thy bane shall be.”
Sigurth spake:
10. “Some one the hoard | shall ever hold,
Till the destined day shall come;
For a time there is | when every man
Shall journey hence to hell.”
Fafnir spake:
11. “The fate of the Norns | before the headland
Thou findest, and doom of a fool;
In the water shalt drown | if thou row ’gainst the wind,
All danger is near to death.”
Sigurth spake:
12. “Tell me then, Fafnir, | for wise thou art famed,
And much thou knowest now:
Who are the Norns | who are helpful in need,
And the babe from the mother bring?”
Fafnir spake:
13. “Of many births | the Norns must be,
Nor one in race they were;
Some to gods, others | to elves are kin,
And Dvalin’s daughters some.”
Sigurth spake:
14. “Tell me then, Fafnir, | for wise thou art famed,
And much thou knowest now:
How call they the isle | where all the gods
And Surt shall sword-sweat mingle?”
Fafnir spake:
15. “Oskopnir is it, | where all the gods
Shall seek the play of swords;
Bilrost breaks | when they cross the bridge,
And the steeds shall swim in the flood.
16. “The fear-helm I wore | to afright mankind,
While guarding my gold I lay;
Mightier seemed I | than any man,
For a fiercer never I found.”
Sigurth spake:
17. “The fear-helm surely | no man shields
When he faces a valiant foe;
Oft one finds, | when the foe he meets,
That he is not the bravest of all.”
Fafnir spake:
18. “Venom I breathed | when bright I lay
By the hoard my father had;
(There was none so mighty | as dared to meet me,
And weapons nor wiles I feared.)”
Sigurth spake:
19. “Glittering worm, | thy hissing was great,
And hard didst show thy heart;
But hatred more | have the sons of men
For him who owns the helm.”
Fafnir spake:
20. “I counsel thee, Sigurth, | heed my speech,
And ride thou homeward hence;
The sounding gold, | the glow-red wealth,
And the rings thy bane shall be.”
Sigurth spake:
21. “Thy counsel is given, | but go I shall
To the gold in the heather hidden;
And, Fafnir, thou | with death dost fight,
Lying where Hel shall have thee.”
Fafnir spake:
22. “Regin betrayed me, | and thee will betray,
Us both to death will he bring;
His life, methinks, | must Fafnir lose,
For the mightier man wast thou.”
Regin had gone to a distance while Sigurth fought Fafnir, and came back
while Sigurth was wiping the blood from his sword. Regin said:
23. “Hail to thee, Sigurth! | Thou victory hast,
And Fafnir in fight hast slain;
Of all the men | who tread the earth,
Most fearless art thou, methinks.”
Sigurth spake:
24. “Unknown it is, | when all are together,
(The sons of the glorious gods,)
Who bravest born shall seem;
Some are valiant | who redden no sword
In the blood of a foeman’s breast.”
Regin spake:
25. “Glad art thou, Sigurth, | of battle gained,
As Gram with grass thou cleansest;
My brother fierce | in fight hast slain,
And somewhat I did myself.”
Sigurth spake:
26. “Afar didst thou go | while Fafnir reddened
With his blood my blade so keen;
With the might of the dragon | my strength I matched,
While thou in the heather didst hide.”
Regin spake:
27. “Longer wouldst thou | in the heather have let
Yon hoary giant hide,
Had the weapon availed not | that once I forged,
The keen-edged blade thou didst bear.”
Sigurth spake:
28. “Better is heart | than a mighty blade
For him who shall fiercely fight;
The brave man well | shall fight and win,
Though dull his blade may be.
29. “Brave men better | than cowards be,
When the clash of battle comes;
And better the glad | than the gloomy man
Shall face what before him lies.
30. “Thy rede it was | that I should ride
Hither o’er mountains high;
The glittering worm | would have wealth and life
If thou hadst not mocked at my might.”
Then Regin went up to Fafnir and cut out his heart with his sword, that
was named Rithil, and then he drank blood from the wounds. Regin said:
31. “Sit now, Sigurth, | for sleep will I,
Hold Fafnir’s heart to the fire;
For all his heart | shall eaten be,
Since deep of blood I have drunk.”
Sigurth took Fafnir’s heart and cooked it on a spit. When he thought
that it was fully cooked, and the blood foamed out of the heart, then
he tried it with his finger to see whether it was fully cooked. He
burned his finger, and put it in his mouth. But when Fafnir’s
heart’s-blood came on his tongue, he understood the speech of birds. He
heard nut-hatches chattering in the thickets. A nut-hatch said:
32. “There sits Sigurth, | sprinkled with blood,
And Fafnir’s heart | with fire he cooks;
Wise were the breaker | of rings, I ween,
To eat the life-muscles | all so bright.”
A second spake:
33. “There Regin lies, | and plans he lays
The youth to betray | who trusts him well;
Lying words | with wiles will he speak,
Till his brother the maker | of mischief avenges.”
A third spake:
34. “Less by a head | let the chatterer hoary
Go from here to hell;
Then all of the wealth | he alone can wield,
The gold that Fafnir guarded.”
A fourth spake:
35. “Wise would he seem | if so he would heed
The counsel good | we sisters give;
Thought he would give, | and the ravens gladden,
There is ever a wolf | where his ears I spy.”
A fifth spake:
36. “Less wise must be | the tree of battle
Than to me would seem | the leader of men,
If forth he lets | one brother fare,
When he of the other | the slayer is.”
A sixth spake:
37. “Most foolish he seems | if he shall spare
His foe, the bane of the folk;
There Regin lies, | who hath wronged him so,
Yet falsehood knows he not.”
A seventh spake:
38. “Let the head from the frost-cold | giant be hewed,
And let him of rings be robbed;
Then all the wealth | which Fafnir’s was
Shall belong to thee alone.”
Sigurth spake:
39. “Not so rich a fate | shall Regin have
As the tale of my death to tell;
For soon the brothers | both shall die,
And hence to hell shall go.”
Sigurth hewed off Regin’s head, and then he ate Fafnir’s heart, and
drank the blood of both Regin and Fafnir. Then Sigurth heard what the
nut-hatch said:
40. “Bind, Sigurth, the golden | rings together,
Not kingly is it | aught to fear;
I know a maid, | there is none so fair,
Rich in gold, | if thou mightest get her.
41. “Green the paths | that to Gjuki lead,
And his fate the way | to the wanderer shows;
The doughty king | a daughter has,
That thou as a bride | mayst, Sigurth, buy.”
Another spake:
42. “A hall stands high | on Hindarfjoll,
All with flame | is it ringed without;
Warriors wise | did make it once
Out of the flaming | light of the flood.
43. “On the mountain sleeps | a battle-maid,
And about her plays | the bane of the wood;
Ygg with the thorn | hath smitten her thus,
For she felled the fighter | he fain would save.
44. “There mayst thou behold | the maiden helmed,
Who forth on Vingskornir | rode from the fight;
The victory-bringer | her sleep shall break not,
Thou heroes’ son, | so the Norns have set.”
Sigurth rode along Fafnir’s trail to his lair, and found it open. The
gate-posts were of iron, and the gates; of iron, too, were all the
beams in the house, which was dug down into the earth. There Sigurth
found a mighty store of gold, and he filled two chests full thereof; he
took the fear-helm and a golden mail-coat and the sword Hrotti, and
many other precious things, and loaded Grani with them, but the horse
would not go forward until Sigurth mounted on his back.
NOTES