without any interruption; the heading “Of Fafnir’s Death” is written in
the manuscript very faintly just before stanza 1. Gnitaheith: cf.
Gripisspo, 11 and note. Fafnir: Regin’s brother: cf. Reginsmol, prose
after stanza 14. Venom: in the Volsungasaga it was the blood, and not
the venom, that poured down on Sigurth’s head. Sigurth was much worried
about this danger, and before he dug the trench asked Regin what would
happen if the dragon’s blood overcame him. Regin thereupon taunted him
with cowardice (Sigurth refers to this taunt in stanza 30, but the
stanza embodying it has disappeared). After Sigurth had dug his trench,
an old man (Othin, of course) appeared and advised him to dig other
trenches to carry off the blood, which he did, thereby escaping harm.
1. The first line in the original, as here, is unusually long, but
dramatically very effective on that account.
3. The names of the speakers do not appear in the manuscript, though
they seem originally to have been indicated in the margin for stanzas
3–30. The last two lines of stanza 3 are missing in the manuscript,
with no gap indicated, but the Volsungasaga prose paraphrase indicates
that something was omitted, and the lines here given are conjecturally
reconstructed from this paraphrase.
4. The manuscript marks line 3 as the beginning of a stanza.
5. Line 4, utterly obscure in the manuscript, is guesswork.
7. Fafnir here refers to the fact that Hjordis, mother of the still
unborn Sigurth, was captured by Alf after Sigmund’s death; cf. Fra
Dautha Sinfjotla, note.
11. Stanzas 11–15 are probably interpolated, and come from a poem
similar to Vafthruthnismol. The headland: Fafnir is apparently quoting
proverbs; this one seems to mean that disaster (“the fate of the
Norns”) awaits when one rounds the first headland (i.e., at the
beginning of life’s voyage, in youth). The third line is a commentary
on obstinate rashness. The Volsungasaga paraphrases stanzas 11–15
throughout.
12. Norns: cf. stanza 13 and note. Sigurth has no possible interest in
knowing what Norns are helpful in childbirth, but interpolations were
seldom logical.
13. Snorri quotes this stanza. There were minor Norns, or fates, in
addition to the three great Norns, regarding whom cf. Voluspo, 20.
Dvalin: chief of the dwarfs; cf. Voluspo, 14.
14. Surt: ruler of the fire world; the reference is to the last great
battle. Sword-sweat: blood.
15. Oskopnir (“Not-Made”): apparently another name for Vigrith, which
is named in Vafthruthnismol, 18, as the final battle-ground. Bilrost
(or Bifrost): the rainbow bridge which breaks beneath Surt’s followers;
cf. Grimnismol, 29 and note.
16. With this stanza Fafnir returns to the situation. Fear-helm:
regarding the “ægis-hjalmr” cf. Reginsmol, prose after stanza 14 and
note.
18. Lines 3–4 do not appear in the manuscript, and no gap is indicated;
they are here conjecturally paraphrased from the prose passage in the
Volsungasaga.
20. It has been suggested that this stanza is spurious, and that stanza
21 ought to follow stanza 22. Lines 3–4, abbreviated in the manuscript,
are identical with lines 3–4 of stanza 9. The Volsungasaga paraphrase
in place of these two lines makes Fafnir say: “For it often happens
that he who gets a deadly wound yet avenges himself.” It is quite
likely that two stanzas have been lost.
22. The Volsungasaga places its paraphrase of this stanza between those
of stanzas 15 and 16.
24. Line 2 is probably spurious, but it is a phrase typical of such
poems as Grimnismol or Vafthruthnismol.
25. Gram: Sigurth’s sword; cf. Reginsmol, prose after 14.
26. In the manuscript stanzas 26–29 stand after stanza 31, which fails
to make clear sense; they are here rearranged in accordance with the
Volsungasaga paraphrase.
28–29. Almost certainly interpolated from some such poem as the
Hovamol. Even the faithful Volsungasaga fails to paraphrase stanza 29.
30. Something has evidently been lost before this stanza. Sigurth
clearly refers to Regin’s reproach when he was digging the trench (cf.
note on introductory prose), but the poem does not give such a passage.
Prose. Rithil (“Swift-Moving”): Snorri calls the sword Refil
(“Serpent”).
32. That the birds’ stanzas come from more than one source is fairly
apparent, but whether from two or from three or more is uncertain. It
is also far from clear how many birds are speaking. The manuscript
numbers II, III, and IV in the margin with numerals; the Volsungasaga
makes a different bird speak each time. There are almost as many
guesses as there are editions. I suspect that in the original poem
there was one bird, speaking stanzas 34 and 37. Stanza 38 is little
more than a repetition of stanza 34, and may well have been a later
addition. As for the stanzas in Fornyrthislag (32–33 and 35–36), they
apparently come from another poem, in which several birds speak (cf.
“we sisters” in stanza 35). This may be the same poem from which
stanzas 40–44 were taken, as well as some of the Fornyrthislag stanzas
in the Sigrdrifumol.
34. Some editions turn this speech from the third person into the
second, but the manuscript is clear enough.
35. Wolf, etc.: the phrase is nearly equivalent to “there must be fire
where there is smoke.” The proverb appears elsewhere in Old Norse.
36. Tree of battle: warrior.
37. Here, as in stanza 34, some editions turn the speech from the third
person into the second.
38. Giant: Regin was certainly not a frost-giant, and the whole stanza
looks like some copyist’s blundering reproduction of stanza 34.
40. Neither the manuscript nor any of the editions suggest the
existence of more than one bird in stanzas 40–44. It seems to me,
however, that there are not only two birds, but two distinct stories.
Stanzas 40–41 apply solely to Guthrun, and suggest that Sigurth will go
straight to Gunnar’s hall. Stanzas 42–44, on the other hand, apply
solely to Brynhild, and indicate that Sigurth will find her before he
visits the Gjukungs. The confusion which existed between these two
versions of the story, and which involved a fundamental difference in
the final working out of Brynhild’s revenge, is commented on in the
note on Gripisspo, 13. In the present passage it is possible that two
birds are speaking, each reflecting one version of the story; it seems
even more likely that one speech or the other (40–41 or 42–44) reflects
the original form of the narrative, the other having been added, either
later or from another poem. In the Volsungasaga the whole passage is
condensed into a few words by one bird: “Wiser were it if he should
then ride up on Hindarfjoll, where Brynhild sleeps, and there would he
get much wisdom.” The Guthrun-bird does not appear at all.
41. Gjuki: father of Gunnar and Guthrun: cf. Gripisspo, 13 and note.
42. Hindarfjoll: “Mountain of the Hind.” Light of the flood: gold; cf.
Reginsmol, 1 and note.
43. Battle-maid: Brynhild, here clearly defined as a Valkyrie. Bane of
the wood: fire. Ygg: Othin; cf. Grimnismol, 53. The thorn: a prose note
in Sigrdrifumol calls it “sleep-thorn.” The fighter: the story of the
reason for Brynhild’s punishment is told in the prose following stanza
4 of Sigrdrifumol.
44. Vingskornir: Brynhild’s horse, not elsewhere mentioned.
Victory-bringer: the word thus translated is in the original
“sigrdrifa.” The compiler of the collection, not being familiar with
this word, assumed that it was a proper name, and in the prose
following stanza 4 of the Sigrdrifumol he specifically states that this
was the Valkyrie’s name. Editors, until recently, have followed him in
this error, failing to recognize that “sigrdrifa” was simply an epithet
for Brynhild. It is from this blunder that the so-called Sigrdrifumol
takes its name. Brynhild’s dual personality as a Valkyrie and as the
daughter of Buthli has made plenty of trouble, but the addition of a
second Valkyrie in the person of the supposed “Sigrdrifa” has made
still more.
Prose. There is no break in the manuscript between the end of this
prose passage and the beginning of the one introducing the
Sigrdrifumol: some editors include the entire prose passage with one
poem or the other. Hrotti; “Thruster.”
SIGRDRIFUMOL
THE BALLAD OF THE VICTORY-BRINGER
INTRODUCTORY NOTE
The so-called Sigrdrifumol, which immediately follows the Fafnismol in
the Codex Regius without any indication of a break, and without
separate title, is unquestionably the most chaotic of all the poems in
the Eddic collection. The end of it has been entirely lost, for the
fifth folio of eight sheets is missing from Regius, the gap coming
after the first line of stanza 29 of this poem. That stanza has been
completed, and eight more have been added, from much later paper
manuscripts, but even so the conclusion of the poem is in obscurity.
Properly speaking, however, the strange conglomeration of stanzas which
the compiler of the collection has left for us, and which, in much the
same general form, seems to have lain before the authors of the
Volsungasaga, in which eighteen of its stanzas are quoted, is not a
poem at all. Even its customary title is an absurd error. The mistake
made by the annotator in thinking that the epithet “sigrdrifa,” rightly
applied to Brynhild as a “bringer of victory,” was a proper name has
already been explained and commented on (note on Fafnismol, 44). Even
if the collection of stanzas were in any real sense a poem, which it
emphatically is not, it is certainly not the “Ballad of Sigrdrifa”
which it is commonly called. “Ballad of Brynhild” would be a
sufficiently suitable title, and I have here brought the established
name “Sigrdrifumol” into accord with this by translating the epithet
instead of treating it as a proper name.
Even apart from the title, however, the Sigrdrifumol has little claim
to be regarded as a distinct poem, nor is there any indication that the
compiler did so regard it. Handicapped as we are by the loss of the
concluding section, and of the material which followed it on those
missing pages, we can yet see that the process which began with the
prose Fra Dautha Sinfjotla, and which, interrupted by the insertion of
the Gripisspo, went on through the Reginsmol and the Fafnismol,
continued through as much of the Sigrdrifumol as is left to us. In
other words, the compiler told the story of Sigurth in mixed prose and
verse, using whatever verse he could find without much questioning as
to its origin, and filling in the gaps with his own prose. Fra Dautha
Sinfjotla, Reginsmol, Fafnismol, and Sigrdrifumol are essentially a
coherent unit, but one of the compiler’s making only; they represent
neither one poem nor three distinct poems, and the divisions and titles
which have been almost universally adopted by editors are both
arbitrary and misleading.
The Sigrdrifumol section as we now have it is an extraordinary piece of
patchwork. It is most unlikely that the compiler himself brought all
these fragments together for the first time; little by little, through
a process of accretion and also, unluckily, through one of elimination,
the material grew into its present shape. Certainly the basis of it is
a poem dealing with the finding of Brynhild by Sigurth, but of this
original poem only five stanzas (2–4 and 20–21) can be identified with
any degree of confidence. To these five stanzas should probably,
however, be added some, if not all, of the passage (stanzas 6–12) in
which Brynhild teaches Sigurth the magic runes. These stanzas of
rune-lore attracted sundry similar passages from other sources,
including stanza 5, in which a magic draught is administered (not
necessarily by Brynhild or to Sigurth), the curious rune-chant in
stanzas 15–17, and stanzas 13–14 and 18–19. Beginning with stanza 22,
and running to the end of the fragment (stanza 37), is a set of
numbered counsels closely resembling the Loddfafnismol (Hovamol,
stanzas 111–138), which manifestly has nothing whatever to do with
Brynhild. Even in this passage there are probably interpolations
(stanzas 25, 27, 30, 34, and 36). Finally, and bespeaking the existence
at some earlier time of another Sigurth-Brynhild poem, is stanza 1,
sharply distinguished by its metrical form from stanzas 2–4 and 20–21.
Many critics argue that stanzas 6–10 of Helreith Brynildar belonged
originally to the same poem as stanza 1 of the Sigrdrifumol.
The Sigrdrifumol, then, must be regarded simply as a collection of
fragments, most of them originally having no relation to the main
subject. All of the story, the dialogue and the characterization are
embodied in stanzas 1–4 and 20–21 and in the prose notes accompanying
the first four stanzas; all of the rest might equally well (or better)
be transferred to the Hovamol, where its character entitles it to a
place. Yet stanzas 2–4 are as fine as anything in Old Norse poetry, and
it is out of the scanty material of these three stanzas that Wagner
constructed much of the third act of “Siegfried.”
The Sigrdrifumol represents almost exclusively the contributions of the
North to the Sigurth tradition (cf. introductory note to the
Gripisspo). Brynhild, here disguised by the annotator as “Sigrdrifa,”
appears simply as a battle-maid and supernatural dispenser of wisdom;
there is no trace of the daughter of Buthli and the rival of Guthrun.
There is, however, so little of the “poem” which can definitely be
assigned to the Sigurth cycle that it is impossible to trace back any
of the underlying narrative substance.
The nature and condition of the material have made editorial
conjectures and emendations very numerous, and as most of the guesses
are neither conclusive nor particularly important, only a few of them
are mentioned in the notes.
Sigurth rode up on Hindarfjoll and turned southward toward the land of
the Franks. On the mountain he saw a great light, as if fire were
burning, and the glow reached up to heaven. And when he came thither,
there stood a tower of shields, and above it was a banner. Sigurth went
into the shield-tower, and saw that a man lay there sleeping with all
his war-weapons. First he took the helm from his head, and then he saw
that it was a woman. The mail-coat was as fast as if it had grown to
the flesh. Then he cut the mail-coat from the head-opening downward,
and out to both the arm-holes. Then he took the mail-coat from her, and
she awoke, and sat up and saw Sigurth, and said:
1. “What bit through the byrnie? | how was broken my sleep?
Who made me free | of the fetters pale?”
He answered:
“Sigmund’s son, | with Sigurth’s sword,
That late with flesh | hath fed the ravens.”
Sigurth sat beside her and asked her name. She took a horn full of mead
and gave him a memory-draught.
2. “Hail, day! | Hail, sons of day!
And night and her daughter now!
Look on us here | with loving eyes,
That waiting we victory win.
3. “Hail to the gods! | Ye goddesses, hail,
And all the generous earth!
Give to us wisdom | and goodly speech,
And healing hands, life-long.
4. “Long did I sleep, | my slumber was long,
And long are the griefs of life;
Othin decreed | that I could not break
The heavy spells of sleep.”
Her name was Sigrdrifa, and she was a Valkyrie. She said that two kings
fought in battle; one was called Hjalmgunnar, an old man but a mighty
warrior, and Othin had promised him the victory, and
The other was Agnar, | brother of Autha,
None he found | who fain would shield him.
Sigrdrifa slew Hjalmgunnar in the battle, and Othin pricked her with
the sleep-thorn in punishment for this, and said that she should never
thereafter win victory in battle, but that she should be wedded. “And I
said to him that I had made a vow in my turn, that I would never marry
a man who knew the meaning of fear.” Sigurth answered and asked her to
teach him wisdom, if she knew of what took place in all the worlds.
Sigrdrifa said:
5. “Beer I bring thee, | tree of battle,
Mingled of strength | and mighty fame;
Charms it holds | and healing signs,
Spells full good, | and gladness-runes.”
* * * * * *
6. Winning-runes learn, | if thou longest to win,
And the runes on thy sword-hilt write;
Some on the furrow, | and some on the flat,
And twice shalt thou call on Tyr.
7. Ale-runes learn, | that with lies the wife
Of another betray not thy trust;
On the horn thou shalt write, | and the backs of thy hands,
And Need shalt mark on thy nails.
Thou shalt bless the draught, | and danger escape,
And cast a leek in the cup;
(For so I know | thou never shalt see
Thy mead with evil mixed.)
8. Birth-runes learn, | if help thou wilt lend,
The babe from the mother to bring;
On thy palms shalt write them, | and round thy joints,
And ask the fates to aid.
9. Wave-runes learn, | if well thou wouldst shelter
The sail-steeds out on the sea;
On the stem shalt thou write, | and the steering-blade,
And burn them into the oars;
Though high be the breakers, | and black the waves,
Thou shalt safe the harbor seek.
10. Branch-runes learn, | if a healer wouldst be,
And cure for wounds wouldst work;
On the bark shalt thou write, | and on trees that be
With boughs to the eastward bent.
11. Speech-runes learn, | that none may seek
To answer harm with hate;
Well he winds | and weaves them all,
And sets them side by side,
At the judgment-place, | when justice there
The folk shall fairly win.
12. Thought-runes learn, | if all shall think
Thou art keenest minded of men.
* * * * * *
13. Them Hropt arranged, | and them he wrote,
And them in thought he made,
Out of the draught | that down had dropped
From the head of Heithdraupnir,
And the horn of Hoddrofnir.
14. On the mountain he stood | with Brimir’s sword,
On his head the helm he bore;
Then first the head | of Mim spoke forth,
And words of truth it told.
* * * * * *
15. He bade write on the shield | before the shining goddess,
On Arvak’s ear, | and on Alsvith’s hoof,
On the wheel of the car | of Hrungnir’s killer,
On Sleipnir’s teeth, | and the straps of the sledge.
16. On the paws of the bear, | and on Bragi’s tongue,
On the wolf’s claws bared, | and the eagle’s beak,
On bloody wings, | and bridge’s end,
On freeing hands | and helping foot-prints.
17. On glass and on gold, | and on goodly charms,
In wine and in beer, | and on well-loved seats,
On Gungnir’s point, | and on Grani’s breast,
On the nails of Norns, | and the night-owl’s beak.
* * * * * *
18. Shaved off were the runes | that of old were written,
And mixed with the holy mead,
And sent on ways so wide;
So the gods had them, | so the elves got them,
And some for the Wanes so wise,
And some for mortal men.
19. Beech-runes are there, | birth-runes are there,
And all the runes of ale,
And the magic runes of might;
Who knows them rightly | and reads them true,
Has them himself to help;
Ever they aid,
Till the gods are gone.
* * * * * *
Brynhild spake:
20. “Now shalt thou choose, | for the choice is given,
Thou tree of the biting blade;
Speech or silence, | ’tis thine to say,
Our evil is destined all.”
Sigurth spake:
21. “I shall not flee, | though my fate be near,
I was born not a coward to be;
Thy loving word | for mine will I win,
As long as I shall live.”
* * * * * *
22. Then first I rede thee, | that free of guilt
Toward kinsmen ever thou art;
No vengeance have, | though they work thee harm,
Reward after death thou shalt win.
23. Then second I rede thee, | to swear no oath
If true thou knowest it not;
Bitter the fate | of the breaker of troth,
And poor is the wolf of his word.
24. Then third I rede thee, | that thou at the Thing
Shalt fight not in words with fools;
For the man unwise | a worser word
Than he thinks doth utter oft.
25. Ill it is | if silent thou art,
A coward born men call thee,
And truth mayhap they tell;
Seldom safe is fame,
Unless wide renown be won;
On the day thereafter | send him to death,
Let him pay the price of his lies.
26. Then fourth I rede thee, | if thou shalt find
A wily witch on thy road,
It is better to go | than her guest to be,
Though night enfold thee fast.
27. Eyes that see | need the sons of men
Who fight in battle fierce;
Oft witches evil | sit by the way,
Who blade and courage blunt.
28. Then fifth I rede thee, | though maidens fair
Thou seest on benches sitting,
Let the silver of kinship | not rob thee of sleep,
And the kissing of women beware.
29. Then sixth I rede thee, | if men shall wrangle,
And ale-talk rise to wrath,
No words with a drunken | warrior have,
For wine steals many men’s wits.
30. Brawls and ale | full oft have been
An ill to many a man,
Death for some, | and sorrow for some;
Full many the woes of men.
31. Then seventh I rede thee, | if battle thou seekest
With a foe that is full of might;
It is better to fight | than to burn alive
In the hall of the hero rich.
32. Then eighth I rede thee, | that evil thou shun,
And beware of lying words;
Take not a maid, | nor the wife of a man,
Nor lure them on to lust.
33. Then ninth I rede thee: | burial render
If thou findest a fallen corpse,
Of sickness dead, | or dead in the sea,
Or dead of weapons’ wounds.
34. A bath shalt thou give them | who corpses be,
And hands and head shalt wash;
Wipe them and comb, | ere they go in the coffin,
And pray that they sleep in peace.
35. Then tenth I rede thee, | that never thou trust
The word of the race of wolves,
(If his brother thou broughtest to death,
Or his father thou didst fell;)
Often a wolf | in a son there is,
Though gold he gladly takes.
36. Battle and hate | and harm, methinks,
Full seldom fall asleep;
Wits and weapons | the warrior needs
If boldest of men he would be.
37. Then eleventh I rede thee, | that wrath thou shun,
And treachery false with thy friends;
Not long the leader’s | life shall be,
For great are the foes he faces.
NOTES
Prose. The introductory prose follows without break the prose
concluding the Fafnismol, the point of division being arbitrary and not
agreed upon by all editors. Hindarfjoll: cf. Fafnismol, 42 and note.
Franks: this does not necessarily mean that Sigurth was on his way to
the Gjukungs’ home, for Sigmund had a kingdom in the land of the Franks
(cf. Fra Dautha Sinfjotla). Shields: the annotator probably drew the
notion of the shield-tower from the reference in Helreith Brynhildar,
9. The flame-girt tower was not uncommon; cf. Mengloth’s hall in
Svipdagsmol.
1. This stanza, and the two lines included in the prose after stanza 4,
and possibly stanza 5 as well, evidently come from a different poem
from stanzas 2–4. Lines 3–4 in the original are obscure, though the
general meaning is clear.
Prose (after stanza 1). In the manuscript stanza 4 stands before this
prose note and stanzas 2–3. The best arrangement of the stanzas seems
to be the one here given, following Müllenhoff’s suggestion, but the
prose note is out of place anywhere. The first sentence of it ought to
follow stanza 4 and immediately precede the next prose note; the second
sentence ought to precede stanza 5.
2. Sons of day: the spirits of light. The daughter of night (Not),
according to Snorri, was Jorth (Earth).
Prose (after stanza 4). Sigrdrifa: on the error whereby this epithet,
“victory-bringer,” became a proper name cf. Fafnismol, 44 and note.
Hjalmgunnar: in Helreith Brynhildar (stanza 8) he is called a king of
the Goths, which means little; of him and his adversary, Agnar, we know
nothing beyond what is told here. The two lines quoted apparently come
from the same poem as stanza 1; the two first lines of the stanza have
been reconstructed from the prose thus: “Hjalmgunnar was one, | the
hoary king, / And triumph to him | had Heerfather promised.” A few
editions insert in this prose passage stanzas 7–10 of Helreith
Brynhildar, which may or may not have belonged originally to this poem.
5. This stanza is perhaps, but by no means surely, from the same poem
as stanza 1. Tree of battle: warrior. Runes: the earliest runes were
not letters, but simply signs supposed to possess magic power; out of
them developed the “runic alphabet.”
6. Stanzas 6–12 give a list of runes which probably had no original
connection with the Brynhild-Sigurth story. Tyr: the sword-god (cf.
Hymiskvitha, 4 and note); “tyr” is also the name of a rune which became
“T.”
7. Regius gives only lines 1–6; lines 7–8 are added from Volsungasaga.
Lies, etc.: a guest on his arrival received a draught of ale from the
hands of his host’s wife, and it was to prevent this draught from
bewitching him that the runes were recommended. Need: the word “nauth,”
meaning “need,” is also the name of the rune which became “N.” Leek:
leeks were long supposed to have the power of counteracting poison or
witchcraft.
9. Sail-steeds: ships.
10. Branch-runes: runes cut in the bark of trees. Such runes were
believed to transfer sickness from the invalid to the tree. Some
editors, however, have changed “limrunar” (“branch-runes”) to
“lifrunar” (“life-runes”).
11. Lines 3–6 look like an accidental addition, replacing two lines now
lost. They mean, apparently, that the man who interweaves his speech
with “speech-runes” when he pleads his case at the “Thing,” or popular
tribunal, will not unduly enrage his adversary in the argument of the
case.
12. Here the list of runes breaks off, though the manuscript indicates
no gap, and three short passages of a different type, though all
dealing with runes, follow.
13. Stanzas 13–14 appear to have come from a passage regarding Othin’s
getting of the runes similar to Hovamol, 139–146. Editors have tried
various combinations of the lines in stanzas 12–14. Hropt: Othin; cf.
Voluspo, 62. The draught, etc.: apparently the reference is to the head
of Mim, from which Othin derived his wisdom in magic (cf. Voluspo, 47
and note); Heithdraupnir (“Light-Dropper”) and Hoddrofnir
(“Treasure-Opener”) seem to be names for Mim.
14. This stanza is clearly in bad shape; perhaps, as the manuscript
indicates, a new stanza, of which most has been lost, should begin with
line 3. Brimir: a giant (cf. Voluspo, 9 and 37); why Othin should have
his sword is unknown.
15. Stanzas 15–17 constitute a wholly distinct rune-chant. Line 1 is
unusually long in the original, as here. Shield: the shield Svalin
(“Cooling”) that stands in front of the sun; cf. Grimnismol, 38. Arvak
(“Early Walter”) and Alsvith (“All-Swift”): the horses that draw the
sun’s car; cf. Grimnismol, 37. Hrungnir: the slayer of the giant
Hrungnir was Thor (cf. Harbarthsljoth, 14 and note), but the line is in
bad shape; the name may not be Hrungnir, and “killer” is a conjectural
addition. Sleipnir: Othin’s eight-legged horse; cf. Grimnismol, 44 and
note. Sledge: perhaps the one mentioned in Grimnismol, 49.
16. Bragi: the god of poetry; cf. Grimnismol, 44 and note.
17. Charms: the wearing of amulets was very common. Gungnir: Othin’s
spear, made by the dwarfs, which he occasionally lent to heroes to whom
he granted victory. Grani: Sigurth’s horse; the Volsungasaga has
“giantesses’.”
18. Stanzas 18–19, which editors have freely rearranged, apparently
come from another source than any of the rest. Shaved off: the runes
were shaved off by Othin from the wood on which they were carved, and
the shavings bearing them were put into the magic mead. Wanes: cf.
Voluspo, 21, note.
19. Lines 3, 6, and 7 look like spurious additions, but the whole
stanza is chaotic. Beech-runes: runes carved on beech-trees.
20. Stanzas 20–21 are all that remains of the dialogue between Brynhild
and Sigurth from the poem to which stanzas 2–4 belong; cf. Introductory
Note. In the intervening lost stanzas Brynhild has evidently warned
Sigurth of the perils that will follow if he swears loyalty to her;
hence the choice to which she here refers. Tree, etc.: warrior. The
manuscript does not indicate the speaker of either this or the
following stanza; the Volsungasaga names Sigurth before stanza 21.
21. It is quite possible that the original poem concluded with two
stanzas after this, paraphrased thus in the Volsungasaga: “Sigurth
said: ‘Nowhere is to be found any one wiser than thou, and this I
swear, that I shall have thee for mine, and that thou art after my
heart’s desire.’ She answered: ‘I would rather have thee though I might
choose among all men.’ And this they bound between them with oaths.”
Stanzas 22–37, which the Volsungasaga paraphrases, may have been
introduced at a relatively early time, but can hardly have formed part
of the original poem.
22. With this stanza begins the list of numbered counsels, closely
resembling the Loddfafnismol (Hovamol, 111–138), here attributed to
Brynhild. That the section originally had anything to do with Brynhild
is more than improbable.
23. Wolf of his word: oath-destroyer, oath-breaker.
25. This chaotic and obscure jumble of lines has been unsuccessfully
“improved” by various editors. It is clearly an interpolation, meaning,
in substance: “It is dangerous to keep silent too long, as men may
think you a coward; but if any one taunts you falsely because of your
silence, do not argue with him, but the next morning kill him as proof
that he is a liar.”
27. Probably another interpolation.
28. Silver of kinship: the passage is doubtful, but apparently it means
the “marriage-price” for which a bride was “bought.”
29. Line 1 comes at the end of the thirty-second leaf of Regius, and
whatever further was contained in that manuscript has vanished with the
lost eight-leaf folio (cf. Introductory Note). The rest of stanza 29,
and stanzas 30–37, are added from later paper manuscripts, which were
undoubtedly copied from an old parchment, though probably not from the
complete Regius. The Volsungasaga paraphrases these additional stanzas.
30. Probably an interpolation.
31. The meaning is that it is better to go forth to battle than to stay
at home and be burned to death. Many a Norse warrior met his death in
this latter way; the burning of the house in the Njalssaga is the most
famous instance.
34. Probably an interpolation.
35. Lines 3–4 are probably interpolated. Race of wolves: family of a
slain foe.
36. Probably an interpolation.
37. Lines 3–4 may well have come from the old Sigurth-Brynhild poem,
like stanzas 2–4 and 20–21, being inserted here, where they do not fit
particularly well, in place of the two lines with which the eleventh
counsel originally ended. Perhaps they formed part of the stanza of
warning which evidently preceded Brynhild’s speech in stanza 20. In the
Volsungasaga they are paraphrased at the end of Brynhild’s long speech
of advice (stanzas 20–37), and are immediately followed by the prose
passage given in the note on stanza 21. It seems likely, therefore,
that the paper manuscripts have preserved all of the so-called
Sigrdrifumol which was contained in the lost section of Regius, with
the possible exception of these two concluding stanzas, and these may
very well have been given only in the form of a prose note, though it
is practically certain that at one time they existed in verse form.
BROT AF SIGURTHARKVITHU
FRAGMENT OF A SIGURTH LAY
INTRODUCTORY NOTE
The gap of eight leaves in the Codex Regius (cf. introductory note to
the Sigrdrifumol) is followed by a passage of twenty stanzas which is
evidently the end of a longer poem, the greater part of it having been
contained in the lost section of the manuscript. There is here little
question of such a compilation as made up the so-called Reginsmol,
Fafnismol, and Sigrdrifumol; the extant fragment shows every sign of
being part of a poem which, as it stood in the manuscript, was a
complete and definite unit. The end is clearly marked; the following
poem, Guthrunarkvitha I, carries a specific heading in the manuscript,
so that there is no uncertainty as to where the fragment closes.
It seems altogether likely that the twenty stanzas thus remaining are
the end of a poem entitled Sigurtharkvitha (Lay of Sigurth), and, more
specifically, the “Long” Lay of Sigurth. The extant and complete
Sigurth lay, a relatively late work, is referred to by the annotator as
the “Short” Lay of Sigurth, which, of course, presupposes the existence
of a longer poem with the same title. As the “short” lay is one of the
longest poems in the whole collection (seventy stanzas), it follows
that the other one must have been considerably more extensive in order
to have been thus distinguished by its length. It may be guessed, then,
that not less than eighty or a hundred stanzas, and possibly more, of
the “Long” Lay of Sigurth have been lost with the missing pages of
Regius.
The narrative, from the point at which the so-called Sigrdrifumol
breaks off to that at which the Brot takes it up, is given with
considerable detail in the Volsungasaga. In this prose narrative four
stanzas are quoted, and one of them is specifically introduced with the
phrase: “as is told in the Lay of Sigurth.” It is possible, but most
unlikely, that the entire passage paraphrases this poem alone; such an
assumption would give the Lay of Sigurth not less than two hundred and
fifty stanzas (allowing about fifteen stanzas to each of the missing
pages), and moreover there are inconsistencies in the Volsungasaga
narrative suggesting that different and more or less conflicting poems
were used as sources. The chances are that the “Long” Lay of Sigurth
filled approximately the latter half of the lost section of the
manuscript, the first half including poems of which the only trace is
to be found in the Volsungasaga prose paraphrase and in two of the
stanzas therein quoted.
The course of the Volsungasaga’s story from the Sigrdrifumol to the
Brot is, briefly, as follows. After leaving the Valkyrie, Sigurth comes
to the dwelling of Heimir, Brynhild’s brother-in-law, where he meets
Brynhild and they swear oaths of fidelity anew (the Volsungasaga is no
more lucid with regard to the Brynhild-Sigrdrifa confusion than was the
annotator of the poems). Then the scene shifts to the home of the
Gjukungs. Guthrun, Gjuki’s daughter, has a terrifying dream, and visits
Brynhild to have it explained, which the latter does by foretelling
pretty much everything that is going to happen; this episode was
presumably the subject of a separate poem in the lost section of the
manuscript. Guthrun returns home, and Sigurth soon arrives, to be made
enthusiastically welcome. Grimhild, mother of Gunnar and Guthrun, gives
him a magic draught which makes him forget all about Brynhild, and
shortly thereafter he marries Guthrun.
Then follows the episode of the winning of Brynhild for Gunnar (cf.
Gripisspo, 37 and note). This was certainly the subject of a poem,
possibly of the first part of the “Long” Lay of Sigurth, although it
seems more likely that the episode was dealt with in a separate poem.
The Volsungasaga quotes two stanzas describing Sigurth’s triumphant
passing through the flames after Gunnar has failed and the two have
changed forms. They run thus:
The fire raged, | the earth was rocked,
The flames leaped high | to heaven itself;
Few were the hardy | heroes would dare
To ride or leap | the raging flames.
Sigurth urged Grani | then with his sword,
The fire slackened | before the hero,
The flames sank low | for the greedy of fame,
The armor flashed | that Regin had fashioned.
After Sigurth has spent three nights with Brynhild, laying his sword
between them (cf. Gripisspo, 41 and note), he and Gunnar return home,
while Brynhild goes to the dwelling of her brother-in-law, Heimir, and
makes ready for her marriage with Gunnar, directing Heimir to care for
her daughter by Sigurth, Aslaug. The wedding takes place, to be
followed soon after by the quarrel between Guthrun and Brynhild, in
which the former betrays the fact that it was Sigurth, and not Gunnar,
who rode through the flames. Brynhild speaks with contempt of Guthrun
and her whole family, and the following stanza, which presumably
belongs to the same Sigurth lay as the Brot, is quoted at this point:
Sigurth the dragon | slew, and that
Will men recall | while the world remains;
But little boldness | thy brother had
To ride or leap | the raging flames.
Gunnar and Sigurth alike try to appease the angry Brynhild, but in
vain. After Sigurth has talked with her, his leaving her hall is
described in the following stanza, introduced by the specific phrase:
“as is said in the Lay of Sigurth”:
Forth went Sigurth, | and speech he sought not,
The friend of heroes, | his head bowed down;
Such was his grief | that asunder burst
His mail-coat all | of iron wrought.
Brynhild then tells Gunnar that she had given herself wholly to Sigurth
before she had become Gunnar’s wife (the confusion between the two
stories is commented on in the note to Gripisspo, 47), and Gunnar
discusses plans of vengeance with his brother, Hogni. It is at this
point that the action of the Brot begins.
Beginning with this poem, and thence to the end of the cycle, the
German features of the narrative predominate (cf. introductory note to
Gripisspo).
Hogni spake:
1. “(What evil deed | has Sigurth) done,
That the hero’s life | thou fain wouldst have?”
Gunnar spake:
2. “Sigurth oaths | to me hath sworn,
Oaths hath sworn, | and all hath broken;
He betrayed me there | where truest all
His oaths, methinks, | he ought to have kept.”
Hogni spake:
3. “Thy heart hath Brynhild | whetted to hate,
Evil to work | and harm to win;
She grudges the honor | that Guthrun has,
And that joy of herself | thou still dost have.”
4. They cooked a wolf, | they cut up a snake,
They gave to Gotthorm | the greedy one’s flesh,
Before the men, | to murder minded,
Laid their hands | on the hero bold.
5. Slain was Sigurth | south of the Rhine;
From a limb a raven | called full loud:
“Your blood shall redden | Atli’s blade,
And your oaths shall bind | you both in chains.”
6. Without stood Guthrun, | Gjuki’s daughter,
Hear now the speech | that first she spake:
“Where is Sigurth now, | the noble king,
That my kinsmen riding | before him come?”
7. Only this | did Hogni answer:
“Sigurth we | with our swords have slain;
The gray horse mourns | by his master dead.”
8. Then Brynhild spake, | the daughter of Buthli:
“Well shall ye joy | in weapons and lands;
Sigurth alone | of all had been lord,
If a little longer | his life had been.
9. “Right were it not | that so he should rule
O’er Gjuki’s wealth | and the race of the Goths;
Five are the sons | for ruling the folk,
And greedy of fight, | that he hath fathered.”
10. Then Brynhild laughed— | and the building echoed—
Only once, | with all her heart;
“Long shall ye joy | in lands and men,
Now ye have slain | the hero noble.”
11. Then Guthrun spake, | the daughter of Gjuki:
“Much thou speakest | in evil speech;
Accursed be Gunnar, | Sigurth’s killer,
Vengeance shall come | for his cruel heart.”
12. Early came evening, | and ale was drunk,
And among them long | and loud they talked;
They slumbered all | when their beds they sought,
But Gunnar alone | was long awake.
13. His feet were tossing, | he talked to himself,
And the slayer of hosts | began to heed
What the twain from the tree | had told him then,
The raven and eagle, | as home they rode.
14. Brynhild awoke, | the daughter of Buthli,
The warrior’s daughter, | ere dawn of day:
“Love me or hate me, | the harm is done,
And my grief cries out, | or else I die.”
15. Silent were all | who heard her speak,
And nought of the heart | of the queen they knew,
Who wept such tears | the thing to tell
That laughing once | of the men she had won.
Brynhild spake:
16. “Gunnar, I dreamed | a dream full grim:
In the hall were corpses; | cold was my bed;
And, ruler, thou | didst joyless ride,
With fetters bound | in the foemen’s throng.
17. “. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
Utterly now | your Niflung race
All shall die; | your oaths ye have broken.
18. “Thou hast, Gunnar, | the deed forgot,
When blood in your footprints | both ye mingled;
All to him | hast repaid with ill
Who fain had made thee | the foremost of kings.
19. “Well did he prove, | when proud he rode
To win me then | thy wife to be,
How true the host-slayer | ever had held
The oaths he had made | with the monarch young.
20. “The wound-staff then, | all wound with gold,
The hero let | between us lie;
With fire the edge | was forged full keen,
And with drops of venom | the blade was damp.”
Here it is told in this poem about the death of Sigurth, and the story
goes here that they slew him out of doors, but some say that they slew
him in the house, on his bed while he was sleeping. But German men say
that they killed him out of doors in the forest; and so it is told in
the old Guthrun lay, that Sigurth and Gjuki’s sons had ridden to the
council-place, and that he was slain there. But in this they are all
agreed, that they deceived him in his trust of them, and fell upon him
when he was lying down and unprepared.
NOTES
1. The fragment begins with the last words of line 1 (probably line 3
of the stanza). A few editors ascribe this speech to Gunnar and the
next to Brynhild; one reconstruction of lines 1–2 on this probably
false assumption runs: “Why art thou, Brynhild, | daughter of
Buthli, / Scheming ill | with evil counsel?” Hogni (German Hagene):
brother of Gunnar and Guthrun.
2. A few editors ascribe this speech to Brynhild. Gunnar, if the stanza
is his, has believed Brynhild’s statement regarding Sigurth’s
disloyalty to his blood-brother.
4. The Volsungasaga quotes a somewhat different version of this stanza,
in which the snake is called “wood-fish” and the third line adds “beer
and many things.” Eating snakes and the flesh of beasts of prey was
commonly supposed to induce ferocity. Gotthorm: Grimhild’s son,
half-brother to Gunnar. He it is who, not having sworn brotherhood with
Sigurth, does the killing.
5. In the manuscript this stanza stands between stanzas 11 and 12; most
editions have made the change here indicated. South of the Rhine: the
definite localization of the action shows how clearly all this part of
the story was recognized in the North as of German origin. Atli
(Attila; cf. introductory note to Gripisspo): the Northern version of
the story makes him Brynhild’s brother. His marriage with Guthrun, and
his slaying of her brothers, are told in the Atli poems. Regarding the
manner of Sigurth’s death cf. concluding prose passage and note. Stanza
13 indicates that after stanza 5 a stanza containing the words of an
eagle has been lost.
7. One line of this stanza, but it is not clear which, seems to have
been lost. The gray horse: Grani.
8. Some editions set stanzas 8 and 9 after stanza 11; Sijmons marks
them as spurious. Buthli: cf. Gripisspo, 19, note.
9. Goths: a generic term for any German race; cf. Gripisspo, 35 and
note. Five sons: according to the Volsungasaga Sigurth had only one
son, named Sigmund, who was killed at Brynhild’s behest.
Sigurtharkvitha en skamma and Guthrunarkvitha II likewise mention only
one son. The daughter of Sigurth and Guthrun, Svanhild, marries
Jormunrek (Ermanarich).
12. The manuscript marks line 4 as the beginning of a new stanza, and a
few editions combine it with stanza 13.
13. Slayer of hosts: warrior (Gunnar). Raven and eagle: cf. note on
stanza 5.
16. Mogk regards stanzas 16 and 17 as interpolated, but on not very
satisfactory grounds. On the death of Gunnar cf. Drap Niflunga.
17. No gap is indicated in the manuscript, and some editions attach
these two lines to stanza 16. Niflungs: this name (German Nibelungen),
meaning “sons of the mist,” seems to have belonged originally to the
race of supernatural beings to which the treasure belonged in the
German version. It was subsequently extended to include the Gjukungs
and their Burgundians. This question, of minor importance in the Norse
poems, has evoked an enormous amount of learned discussion in
connection with the Nibelungenlied.
18. Footprints: the actual mingling of blood in one another’s
footprints was a part of the ceremony of swearing blood-brotherhood,
the oath which Gunnar and Sigurth had taken. The fourth line refers to
the fact that Sigurth had won many battles for Gunnar.
20. Regarding the sword episode cf. Gripisspo, 41 and note.
Wound-staff: sword.
Prose. This prose passage has in the manuscript, written in red, the
phrase “Of Sigurth’s Death” as a heading; there is no break between it
and the prose introducing Guthrunarkvitha I, the heading for that poem
coming just before stanza 1. This note is of special interest as an
effort at real criticism. The annotator, troubled by the two versions
of the story of Sigurth’s death, feels it incumbent on him not only to
point the fact out, but to cite the authority of “German men” for the
form which appears in this poem. The alternative version, wherein
Sigurth is slain in bed, appears in Sigurtharkvitha en skamma,
Guthrunarhvot, and Hamthesmol, and also in the Volsungasaga, which
tells how Gotthorm tried twice to kill Sigurth but was terrified by the
brightness of his eyes, and succeeded only after the hero had fallen
asleep. That the annotator was correct in citing German authority for
the slaying of Sigurth in the forest is shown by the Nibelungenlied and
the Thithrekssaga. The “old” Guthrun lay is unquestionably
Guthrunarkvitha II.
GUTHRUNARKVITHA I
THE FIRST LAY OF GUTHRUN
INTRODUCTORY NOTE
The First Lay of Guthrun, entitled in the Codex Regius simply
Guthrunarkvitha, immediately follows the remaining fragment of the
“long” Sigurth lay in that manuscript. Unlike the poems dealing with
the earlier part of the Sigurth cycle, the so-called Reginsmol,
Fafnismol, and Sigrdrifumol, it is a clear and distinct unit,
apparently complete and with few and minor interpolations. It is also
one of the finest poems in the entire collection, with an extraordinary
emotional intensity and dramatic force. None of its stanzas are quoted
elsewhere, and it is altogether probable that the compilers of the
Volsungasaga were unfamiliar with it, for they do not mention the
sister and daughter of Gjuki who appear in this poem, or Herborg,
“queen of the Huns” (stanza 6).
The lament of Guthrun (Kriemhild) is almost certainly among the oldest
parts of the story. The lament was one of the earliest forms of poetry
to develop among the Germanic peoples, and I suspect, though the matter
is not susceptible of proof, that the lament of Sigurth’s wife had
assumed lyric form as early as the seventh century, and reached the
North in that shape rather than in prose tradition (cf. Guthrunarkvitha
II, introductory note). We find traces of it in the seventeenth
Aventiure of the Nibelungenlied, and in the poems of the Edda it
dominates every appearance of Guthrun. The two first Guthrun lays (I
and II) are both laments, one for Sigurth’s death and the other
including both that and the lament over the slaying of her brothers;
the lament theme is apparent in the third Guthrun lay and in the
Guthrunarhvot.
In their present forms the second Guthrun lay is undoubtedly older than
the first; in the prose following the Brot the annotator refers to the
“old” Guthrun lay in terms which can apply only to the second one in
the collection. The shorter and “first” lay, therefore, can scarcely
have been composed much before the year 1000, and may be somewhat
later. The poet appears to have known and made use of the older lament;
stanza 17, for example, is a close parallel to stanza 2 of the earlier
poem; but whatever material he used he fitted into a definite poetic
scheme of his own. And while this particular poem is, as critics have
generally agreed, one of the latest of the collection, it probably
represents one of the earliest parts of the entire Sigurth cycle to
take on verse form.
Guthrunarkvitha I, so far as the narrative underlying it is concerned,
shows very little northern addition to the basic German tradition.
Brynhild appears only as Guthrun’s enemy and the cause of Sigurth’s
death; the three women who attempt to comfort Guthrun, though unknown
to the southern stories, seem to have been rather distinct creations of
the poet’s than traditional additions to the legend. Regarding the
relations of the various elements in the Sigurth cycle, cf.
introductory note to Gripisspo.
Guthrun sat by the dead Sigurth; she did not weep as other women, but
her heart was near to bursting with grief. The men and women came to
her to console her, but that was not easy to do. It is told of men that
Guthrun had eaten of Fafnir’s heart, and that she understood the speech
of birds. This is a poem about Guthrun.
1. Then did Guthrun | think to die,
When she by Sigurth | sorrowing sat;
Tears she had not, | nor wrung her hands,
Nor ever wailed, | as other women.
2. To her the warriors | wise there came,
Longing her heavy | woe to lighten;
Grieving could not | Guthrun weep,
So sad her heart, | it seemed, would break.
3. Then the wives | of the warriors came,
Gold-adorned, | and Guthrun sought;
Each one then | of her own grief spoke,
The bitterest pain | she had ever borne.
4. Then spake Gjaflaug, | Gjuki’s sister:
“Most joyless of all | on earth am I;
Husbands five | were from me taken,
(Two daughters then, | and sisters three,)
Brothers eight, | yet I have lived.”
5. Grieving could not | Guthrun weep,
Such grief she had | for her husband dead,
And so grim her heart | by the hero’s body.
6. Then Herborg spake, | the queen of the Huns:
“I have a greater | grief to tell;
My seven sons | in the southern land,
And my husband, fell | in fight all eight.
(Father and mother | and brothers four
Amid the waves | the wind once smote,
And the seas crashed through | the sides of the ship.)
7. “The bodies all | with my own hands then
I decked for the grave, | and the dead I buried;
A half-year brought me | this to bear;
And no one came | to comfort me.
8. “Then bound I was, | and taken in war,
A sorrow yet | in the same half-year;
They bade me deck | and bind the shoes
Of the wife of the monarch | every morn.
9. “In jealous rage | her wrath she spake,
And beat me oft | with heavy blows;
Never a better | lord I knew,
And never a woman | worse I found.”
10. Grieving could not | Guthrun weep,
Such grief she had | for her husband dead,
And so grim her heart | by the hero’s body.
11. Then spake Gollrond, | Gjuki’s daughter:
“Thy wisdom finds not, | my foster-mother,
The way to comfort | the wife so young.”
She bade them uncover | the warrior’s corpse.
12. The shroud she lifted | from Sigurth, laying
His well-loved head | on the knees of his wife:
“Look on thy loved one, | and lay thy lips
To his as if yet | the hero lived.”
13. Once alone | did Guthrun look;
His hair all clotted | with blood beheld,
The blinded eyes | that once shone bright,
The hero’s breast | that the blade had pierced.
14. Then Guthrun bent, | on her pillow bowed,
Her hair was loosened, | her cheek was hot,
And the tears like raindrops | downward ran.
15. Then Guthrun, daughter | of Gjuki, wept,
And through her tresses | flowed the tears;
And from the court | came the cry of geese,
The birds so fair | of the hero’s bride.
16. Then Gollrond spake, | the daughter of Gjuki:
“Never a greater | love I knew
Than yours among | all men on earth;
Nowhere wast happy, | at home or abroad,
Sister mine, | with Sigurth away.”
Guthrun spake:
17. “So was my Sigurth | o’er Gjuki’s sons
As the spear-leek grown | above the grass,
Or the jewel bright | borne on the band,
The precious stone | that princes wear.
18. “To the leader of men | I loftier seemed
And higher than all | of Herjan’s maids;
As little now | as the leaf I am
On the willow hanging; | my hero is dead.
19. “In his seat, in his bed, | I see no more
My heart’s true friend; | the fault is theirs,
The sons of Gjuki, | for all my grief,
That so their sister | sorely weeps.
20. “So shall your land | its people lose
As ye have kept | your oaths of yore;
Gunnar, no joy | the gold shall give thee,
(The rings shall soon | thy slayers be,)
Who swarest oaths | with Sigurth once.
21. “In the court was greater | gladness then
The day my Sigurth | Grani saddled,
And went forth Brynhild’s | hand to win,
That woman ill, | in an evil hour.”
22. Then Brynhild spake, | the daughter of Buthli:
“May the witch now husband | and children want
Who, Guthrun, loosed | thy tears at last,
And with magic today | hath made thee speak.”
23. Then Gollrond, daughter | of Gjuki, spake:
“Speak not such words, | thou hated woman;
Bane of the noble | thou e’er hast been,
(Borne thou art | on an evil wave,
Sorrow hast brought | to seven kings,)
And many a woman | hast loveless made.”
24. Then Brynhild, daughter | of Buthli, spake:
“Atli is guilty | of all the sorrow,
(Son of Buthli | and brother of mine,)
When we saw in the hall | of the Hunnish race
The flame of the snake’s bed | flash round the hero;
(For the journey since | full sore have I paid,
And ever I seek | the sight to forget.)”
25. By the pillars she stood, | and gathered her strength,
From the eyes of Brynhild, | Buthli’s daughter,
Fire there burned, | and venom she breathed,
When the wounds she saw | on Sigurth then.
Guthrun went thence away to a forest in the waste, and journeyed all
the way to Denmark, and was there seven half-years with Thora, daughter
of Hokon. Brynhild would not live after Sigurth. She had eight of her
thralls slain and five serving-women. Then she killed herself with a
sword, as is told in the Short Lay of Sigurth.
NOTES
Prose. The prose follows the concluding prose of the Brot without
indication of a break, the heading standing immediately before stanza
1. Fafnir’s heart: this bit of information is here quite without point,
and it is nowhere else stated that Guthrun understood the speech of
birds. In the Volsungasaga it is stated that Sigurth gave Guthrun some
of Fafnir’s heart to eat, “and thereafter she was much grimmer than
before, and wiser.”
1. This stanza seems to be based on Guthrunarkvitha II, 11–12.
4. Gjaflaug: nothing further is known of this aunt of Guthrun, or of
the many relatives whom she has lost. Very likely she is an invention
of the poet’s, for it seems improbable that otherwise all further trace
of her should have been lost. Line 4 has been marked by many editors as
spurious.
5. Some editors assume the loss of a line, after either line 1 or line
3. I prefer to believe that here and in stanza 10 the poet knew exactly
what he was doing, and that both stanzas are correct.
6. Herborg: neither she nor her sorrows are elsewhere mentioned, nor is
it clear what a “queen of the Huns” is doing in Gunnar’s home, but the
word “Hun” has little definiteness of meaning in the poems, and is
frequently applied to Sigurth himself (cf. note on stanza 24). Herborg
appears from stanza 11 to have been the foster-mother of Gollrond,
Guthrun’s sister. Lines 5–7 may be interpolations, or may form a
separate stanza.
7. Lines 1 and 2 stand in reversed order in the manuscript; I have
followed Gering’s conjectural transposition.
9. Herborg implies that the queen’s jealousy was not altogether
misplaced.
10. Cf. stanza 5 and note. The manuscript abbreviates to first letters.
11. Gollrond: not elsewhere mentioned. Line 4 looks like an
interpolation replacing a line previously lost.
12. The manuscript indicates line 3 as the beginning of a stanza, and
some editors have attempted to follow this arrangement.
14. Many editors assume the loss of a line from this stanza.
15. The word here translated “tresses” is sheer guesswork. The detail
of the geese is taken from Sigurtharkvitha en skamma, 29, line 3 here
being identical with line 4 of that stanza.
16. Line 1, abbreviated in the manuscript, very likely should be simply
“Gollrond spake.”
17. Cf. Guthrunarkvitha II, 2. The manuscript does not name the
speaker, and some editions have a first line, “Then Guthrun spake, |
the daughter of Gjuki.”
18. Herjan: Othin; his maids are the Valkyries; cf. Voluspo, 31, where
the same phrase is used.
20. Line 4 looks like an interpolation (cf. Fafnismol, 9, line 4), but
some editors instead have queried line 5. How Guthrun’s curse is
fulfilled is told in the subsequent poems. That desire for Sigurth’s
treasure (the gold cursed by Andvari and Loki) was one of the motives
for his murder is indicated in Sigurtharkvitha en skamma (stanza 16),
and was clearly a part of the German tradition, as it appears in the
Nibelungenlied.
21. Cf. Gripisspo, 35 and note.
22. Line 1 is abbreviated in the manuscript.
23. Editors are agreed that this stanza shows interpolations, but
differ as to the lines to reject. Line 4 (literally “every wave of
ill-doing drives thee”) is substantially a proverb, and line 5, with
its apparently meaningless reference to “seven” kings, may easily have
come from some other source.
24. The stanza is obviously in bad shape; perhaps it represents two
separate stanzas, or perhaps three of the lines are later additions.
Atli: Brynhild here blames her brother, following the frequent custom
of transferring the responsibility for a murder (cf. Helgakvitha
Hundingsbana II, 33), because he compelled her to marry Gunnar against
her will, an idea which the poet seems to have gained from
Sigurtharkvitha en skamma, 32–39. These stanzas represent an entirely
different version of the story, wherein Atli, attacked by Gunnar and
Sigurth, buys them off by giving Gunnar his sister, Brynhild, as wife.
He seems to have induced the latter to marry Gunnar by falsely telling
her that Gunnar was Sigurth (a rationalistic explanation of the
interchange of forms described in the Volsungasaga and Gripisspo,
37–39). In the present stanza Atli is made to do this out of desire for
Sigurth’s treasure. Hunnish race: this may be merely an error (neither
Gunnar nor Sigurth could properly have been connected in any way with
Atli and his Huns), based on Sigurtharkvitha en skamma, wherein Sigurth
appears more than once as the “Hunnish king.” The North was very much
in the dark as to the differences between Germans, Burgundians, Franks,
Goths, and Huns, and used the words without much discrimination. On the
other hand, it may refer to Sigurth’s appearance when, adorned with
gold, he came with Gunnar to besiege Atli, in the alternative version
of the story just cited (cf. Sigurtharkvitha en skamma, 36). Flame of
the snake’s bed: gold, so called because serpents and dragons were the
traditional guardians of treasure, on which they lay.
Prose. The manuscript has “Gunnar” in place of “Guthrun,” but this is
an obvious mistake; the entire prose passage is based on
Guthrunarkvitha II, 14. The Volsungasaga likewise merely paraphrases
Guthrunarkvitha II, and nothing further is known of Thora or her
father, Hokon, though many inconclusive attempts have been made to
identify the latter. Brynhild: the story of her death is told in great
detail in the latter part of Sigurtharkvitha en skamma.
SIGURTHARKVITHA EN SKAMMA
THE SHORT LAY OF SIGURTH
INTRODUCTORY NOTE
Guthrunarkvitha I is immediately followed in the Codex Regius by a long
poem which in the manuscript bears the heading “Sigurtharkvitha,” but
which is clearly referred to in the prose link between it and
Guthrunarkvitha I as the “short” Lay of Sigurth. The discrepancy
between this reference and the obvious length of the poem has led to
many conjectures, but the explanation seems to be that the “long”
Sigurth lay, of which the Brot is presumably a part, was materially
longer even than this poem. The efforts to reduce the “short” Sigurth
lay to dimensions which would justify the appellation in comparison
with other poems in the collection, either by separating it into two
poems or by the rejection of many stanzas as interpolations, have been
utterly inconclusive.
Although there are probably several interpolated passages, and
indications of omissions are not lacking, the poem as we now have it
seems to be a distinct and coherent unit. From the narrative point of
view it leaves a good deal to be desired, for the reason that the
poet’s object was by no means to tell a story, with which his hearers
were quite familiar, but to use the narrative simply as the background
for vivid and powerful characterization. The lyric element, as Mogk
points out, overshadows the epic throughout, and the fact that there
are frequent confusions of narrative tradition does not trouble the
poet at all.
The material on which the poem was based seems to have existed in both
prose and verse form; the poet was almost certainly familiar with some
of the other poems in the Eddic collection, with poems which have since
been lost, and with the narrative prose traditions which never fully
assumed verse form. The fact that he seems to have known and used the
Oddrunargratr, which can hardly have been composed before 1050, and
that in any case he introduces the figure of Oddrun, a relatively late
addition to the story, dates the poem as late as the end of the
eleventh century, or even the first half of the twelfth. There has been
much discussion as to where it was composed, the debate centering
chiefly on the reference to glaciers (stanza 8). There is something to
be said in favor of Greenland as the original home of the poem (cf.
introductory note to Atlakvitha), but the arguments for Iceland are
even stronger; Norway in this case is practically out of the question.
The narrative features of the poem are based on the German rather than
the Norse elements of the story (cf. introductory note to Gripisspo),
but the poet has taken whatever material he wanted without much
discrimination as to its source. By the year 1100 the story of Sigurth,
with its allied legends, existed throughout the North in many and
varied forms, and the poem shows traces of variants of the main story
which do not appear elsewhere.
1. Of old did Sigurth | Gjuki seek,
The Volsung young, | in battles victor;
Well he trusted | the brothers twain,
With mighty oaths | among them sworn.
2. A maid they gave him, | and jewels many,
Guthrun the young, | the daughter of Gjuki;
They drank and spake | full many a day,
Sigurth the young | and Gjuki’s sons.
3. Thereafter went they | Brynhild to woo,
And so with them | did Sigurth ride,
The Volsung young, | in battle valiant,—
Himself would have had her | if all he had seen.
4. The southern hero | his naked sword,
Fair-flashing, let | between them lie;
(Nor would he come | the maid to kiss;)
The Hunnish king | in his arms ne’er held
The maiden he gave | to Gjuki’s sons.
5. Ill she had known not | in all her life,
And nought of the sorrows | of men she knew;
Blame she had not, | nor dreamed she should bear it,
But cruel the fates | that among them came.
6. By herself at the end | of day she sat,
And in open words | her heart she uttered:
“I shall Sigurth have, | the hero young,
E’en though within | my arms he die.
7. “The word I have spoken; | soon shall I rue it,
His wife is Guthrun, | and Gunnar’s am I;
Ill Norns set for me | long desire.”
8. Oft did she go | with grieving heart
On the glacier’s ice | at even-tide,
When Guthrun then | to her bed was gone,
And the bedclothes Sigurth | about her laid.
9. “(Now Gjuki’s child | to her lover goes,)
And the Hunnish king | with his wife is happy;
Joyless I am | and mateless ever,
Till cries from my heavy | heart burst forth.”
10. In her wrath to battle | she roused herself:
“Gunnar, now | thou needs must lose
Lands of mine | and me myself,
No joy shall I have | with the hero ever.
11. “Back shall I fare | where first I dwelt,
Among the kin | that come of my race,
To wait there, sleeping | my life away,
If Sigurth’s death | thou shalt not dare,
(And best of heroes | thou shalt not be.)
12. “The son shall fare | with his father hence,
And let not long | the wolf-cub live;
Lighter to pay | is the vengeance-price
After the deed | if the son is dead.”
13. Sad was Gunnar, | and bowed with grief,
Deep in thought | the whole day through;
Yet from his heart | it was ever hid
What deed most fitting | he should find,
(Or what thing best | for him should be,
Or if he should seek | the Volsung to slay,
For with mighty longing | Sigurth he loved.)
14. Much he pondered | for many an hour;
Never before | was the wonder known
That a queen should thus | her kingdom leave;
In counsel then | did he Hogni call,
(For him in truest | trust he held.)
15. “More than all | to me is Brynhild,
Buthli’s child, | the best of women;
My very life | would I sooner lose
Than yield the love | of yonder maid.
16. “Wilt thou the hero | for wealth betray?
’Twere good to have | the gold of the Rhine,
And all the hoard | in peace to hold,
And waiting fortune | thus to win.”
17. Few the words | of Hogni were:
“Us it beseems not | so to do,
To cleave with swords | the oaths we swore,
The oaths we swore | and all our vows.
18. “We know no mightier | men on earth
The while we four | o’er the folk hold sway,
And while the Hunnish | hero lives,
Nor higher kinship | the world doth hold.
19. “If sons we five | shall soon beget,
Great, methinks, | our race shall grow;
Well I see | whence lead the ways;
Too bitter far | is Brynhild’s hate.”
Gunnar spake:
20. “Gotthorm to wrath | we needs must rouse,
Our younger brother, | in rashness blind;
He entered not | in the oaths we swore,
The oaths we swore | and all our vows.”
21. It was easy to rouse | the reckless one.
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
The sword in the heart | of Sigurth stood.
22. In vengeance the hero | rose in the hall,
And hurled his sword | at the slayer bold;
At Gotthorm flew | the glittering steel
Of Gram full hard | from the hand of the king.
23. The foeman cleft | asunder fell,
Forward hands | and head did sink,
And legs and feet | did backward fall.
24. Guthrun soft | in her bed had slept,
Safe from care | at Sigurth’s side;
She woke to find | her joy had fled,
In the blood of the friend | of Freyr she lay.
25. So hard she smote | her hands together
That the hero rose up, | iron-hearted:
“Weep not, Guthrun, | grievous tears,
Bride so young, | for thy brothers live.
26. “Too young, methinks, | is my son as yet,
He cannot flee | from the home of his foes;
Fearful and deadly | the plan they found,
The counsel new | that now they have heeded.
27. “No son will ride, | though seven thou hast,
To the Thing as the son | of their sister rides;
Well I see | who the ill has worked,
On Brynhild alone | lies the blame for all.
28. “Above all men | the maiden loved me,
Yet false to Gunnar | I ne’er was found;
I kept the oaths | and the kinship I swore;
Of his queen the lover | none may call me.”
29. In a swoon she sank | when Sigurth died;
So hard she smote | her hands together
That all the cups | in the cupboard rang,
And loud in the courtyard | cried the geese.
30. Then Brynhild, daughter | of Buthli, laughed,
Only once, | with all her heart,
When as she lay | full loud she heard
The grievous wail | of Gjuki’s daughter.
31. Then Gunnar, monarch | of men, spake forth:
“Thou dost not laugh, | thou lover of hate,
In gladness there, | or for aught of good;
Why has thy face | so white a hue,
Mother of ill? | Foredoomed thou art.
32. “A worthier woman | wouldst thou have been
If before thine eyes | we had Atli slain;
If thy brother’s bleeding | body hadst seen
And the bloody wounds | that thou shouldst bind.”
Brynhild spake:
33. “None mock thee, Gunnar! | thou hast mightily fought,
But thy hatred little | doth Atli heed;
Longer than thou, | methinks, shall he live,
And greater in might | shall he ever remain.
34. “To thee I say, | and thyself thou knowest,
That all these ills | thou didst early shape;
No bonds I knew, | nor sorrow bore,
And wealth I had | in my brother’s home.
35. “Never a husband | sought I to have,
Before the Gjukungs | fared to our land;
Three were the kings | on steeds that came,—
Need of their journey | never there was.
36. “To the hero great | my troth I gave
Who gold-decked sat | on Grani’s back;
Not like to thine | was the light of his eyes,
(Nor like in form | and face are ye,)
Though kingly both | ye seemed to be.
37. “And so to me | did Atli say
That share in our wealth | I should not have,
Of gold or lands, | if my hand I gave not;
(More evil yet, | the wealth I should yield,)
The gold that he | in my childhood gave me,
(The wealth from him | in my youth I had.)
38. “Oft in my mind | I pondered much
If still I should fight, | and warriors fell,
Brave in my byrnie, | my brother defying;
That would wide | in the world be known,
And sorrow for many | a man would make.
39. “But the bond at last | I let be made,
For more the hoard | I longed to have,
The rings that the son | of Sigmund won;
No other’s treasure | e’er I sought.
40. “One alone | of all I loved,
Nor changing heart | I ever had;
All in the end | shall Atli know,
When he hears I have gone | on the death-road hence.”
* * * * * *
41. “Never a wife | of fickle will
Yet to another | man should yield.
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
So vengeance for all | my ills shall come.”
42. Up rose Gunnar, | the people’s ruler,
And flung his arms | round her neck so fair;
And all who came, | of every kind,
Sought to hold her | with all their hearts.
43. But back she cast | all those who came,
Nor from the long road | let them hold her;
In counsel then | did he Hogni call:
“Of wisdom now | full great is our need.
44. “Let the warriors here | in the hall come forth,
Thine and mine, | for the need is mighty,
If haply the queen | from death they may hold,
Till her fearful thoughts | with time shall fade.”
45. (Few the words | of Hogni were:)
“From the long road now | shall ye hold her not,
That born again | she may never be!
Foul she came | from her mother forth,
And born she was | for wicked deeds,
(Sorrow to many | a man to bring.)”
46. From the speaker gloomily | Gunnar turned,
For the jewel-bearer | her gems was dividing;
On all her wealth | her eyes were gazing,
On the bond-women slain | and the slaughtered slaves.
47. Her byrnie of gold | she donned, and grim
Was her heart ere the point | of her sword had pierced it;
On the pillow at last | her head she laid,
And, wounded, her plan | she pondered o’er.
48. “Hither I will | that my women come
Who gold are fain | from me to get;
Necklaces fashioned | fair to each
Shall I give, and cloth, | and garments bright.”
49. Silent were all | as so she spake,
And all together | answer made:
“Slain are enough; | we seek to live,
Not thus thy women | shall honor win.”
50. Long the woman, | linen-decked, pondered,—
—Young she was,— | and weighed her words:
“For my sake now | shall none unwilling
Or loath to die | her life lay down.
51. “But little of gems | to gleam on your limbs
Ye then shall find | when forth ye fare
To follow me, | or of Menja’s wealth.
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
52. “Sit now, Gunnar! | for I shall speak
Of thy bride so fair | and so fain to die;
Thy ship in harbor | home thou hast not,
Although my life | I now have lost.
53. “Thou shalt Guthrun requite | more quick than thou
thinkest,
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
Though sadly mourns | the maiden wise
Who dwells with the king, | o’er her husband dead.
54. “A maid shall then | the mother bear;
Brighter far | than the fairest day
Svanhild shall be, | or the beams of the sun.
55. “Guthrun a noble | husband thou givest,
Yet to many a warrior | woe will she bring,
Not happily wedded | she holds herself;
Her shall Atli | hither seek,
(Buthli’s son, | and brother of mine.)
56. “Well I remember | how me ye treated
When ye betrayed me | with treacherous wiles;
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
Lost was my joy | as long as I lived.
57. “Oddrun as wife | thou fain wouldst win,
But Atli this | from thee withholds;
Yet in secret tryst | ye twain shall love;
She shall hold thee dear, | as I had done
If kindly fate | to us had fallen.
58. “Ill to thee | shall Atli bring,
When he casts thee down | in the den of snakes.
59. “But soon thereafter | Atli too
His life, methinks, | as thou shalt lose,
(His fortune lose | and the lives of his sons;)
Him shall Guthrun, | grim of heart,
With the biting blade | in his bed destroy.
60. “It would better beseem | thy sister fair
To follow her husband | first in death,
If counsel good | to her were given,
Or a heart akin | to mine she had.
61. “Slowly I speak,— | but for my sake
Her life, methinks, | she shall not lose;
She shall wander over | the tossing waves,
To where Jonak rules | his father’s realm.
62. “Sons to him | she soon shall bear,
Heirs therewith | of Jonak’s wealth;
But Svanhild far | away is sent,
The child she bore | to Sigurth brave.
63. “Bikki’s word | her death shall be,
For dreadful the wrath | of Jormunrek;
So slain is all | of Sigurth’s race,
And greater the woe | of Guthrun grows.
64. “Yet one boon | I beg of thee,
The last of boons | in my life it is:
Let the pyre be built | so broad in the field
That room for us all | will ample be,
(For us who slain | with Sigurth are.)
65. “With shields and carpets | cover the pyre,
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
Shrouds full fair, | and fallen slaves,
And besides the Hunnish | hero burn me.
66. “Besides the Hunnish | hero there
Slaves shall burn, | full bravely decked,
Two at his head | and two at his feet,
A brace of hounds | and a pair of hawks,
For so shall all | be seemly done.
67. “Let between us | lie once more
The steel so keen, | as so it lay
When both within | one bed we were,
And wedded mates | by men were called.
68. “The door of the hall | shall strike not the heel
Of the hero fair | with flashing rings,
If hence my following | goes with him;
Not mean our faring | forth shall be.
69. “Bond-women five | shall follow him,
And eight of my thralls, | well-born are they,
Children with me, | and mine they were
As gifts that Buthli | his daughter gave.
70. “Much have I told thee, | and more would say
If fate more space | for speech had given;
My voice grows weak, | my wounds are swelling;
Truth I have said, | and so I die.”
NOTES
1. Gjuki: father of the brothers twain, Gunnar and Hogni, and of
Guthrun. In this version of the story Sigurth goes straight to the home
of the Gjukungs after his victory over the dragon Fafnir, without
meeting Brynhild on the way (cf. Gripisspo, 13 and note). Volsung:
Sigurth’s grandfather was Volsung; cf. Fra Dautha Sinfjotla and note.
Oaths: regarding the blood-brotherhood sworn by Sigurth, Gunnar, and
Hogni cf. Brot, 18 and note.
3. Brynhild: on the winning of Brynhild by Sigurth in Gunnar’s shape
cf. Gripisspo, 37 and note. The poet here omits details, and in stanzas
32–39 appears a quite different tradition regarding the winning of
Brynhild, which I suspect he had in mind throughout the poem.
4. Southern hero: Sigurth, whose Frankish origin is seldom wholly lost
sight of in the Norse versions of the story. On the episode of the
sword cf. Gripisspo, 41 and note. Line 3 may well be an interpolation;
both lines 4 and 5 have also been questioned, and some editions combine
line 5 with lines 1–3 of stanza 5. Hunnish king: Sigurth, who was, of
course, not a king of the Huns, but was occasionally so called in the
later poems owing to the lack of ethnological distinction made by the
Norse poets (cf. Guthrunarkvitha I, 24 and note).
5. This stanza may refer, as Gering thinks, merely to the fact that
Brynhild lived happy and unsuspecting as Gunnar’s wife until the fatal
quarrel with Guthrun (cf. Gripisspo, 45 and note) revealed to her the
deceit whereby she had been won, or it may refer to the version of the
story which appears in stanzas 32–39, wherein Brynhild lived happily
with Atli, her brother, until he was attacked by Gunnar and Sigurth,
and was compelled to give his sister to Gunnar, winning her consent
thereto by representing Gunnar as Sigurth, her chosen hero (cf.
Guthrunarkvitha I, 24 and note). The manuscript marks line 4 as the
beginning of a new stanza, and many editors combine it with stanza 6.
6. Brynhild has now discovered the deceit that has been practised on
her. That she had loved Sigurth from the outset (cf. stanza 40) fits
well with the version of the story wherein Sigurth meets her before he
comes to Gunnar’s home (the version not used in this poem), or the one
outlined in the note on stanza 5, but does not accord with the story of
Sigurth’s first meeting Brynhild in Gunnar’s form—an added reason for
believing that the poet in stanzas 5–6 had in mind the story
represented by stanzas 32–39. The hero: the manuscript originally had
the phrase thus, then corrected it to “though I die,” and finally
crossed out the correction. Many editions have “I.”
7. Perhaps a line is missing after line 3.
8. Glacier: a bit of Icelandic (or Greenland) local color.
9. Line 1 does not appear in the manuscript, and is based on a
conjecture by Bugge. Some editions add line 2 to stanza 8. The
manuscript indicates line 3 as the beginning of a stanza, and some
editors assume a gap of two lines after line 4. Hunnish king: cf.
stanza 4.
10. Lands: Brynhild’s wealth again points to the story represented by
stanzas 32–39; elsewhere she is not spoken of as bringing wealth to
Gunnar.
11. Line 5, or perhaps line 3, may be interpolated.
12. The son: the three-year-old son of Sigurth and Guthrun, Sigmund,
who was killed at Brynhild’s behest.
13. This stanza has been the subject of many conjectural emendations.
Some editions assume a gap after line 2, and make a separate stanza of
lines 3–7; others mark lines 5–7 as spurious. The stanza seems to have
been expanded by repetition. Grief (line 1): the manuscript has
“wrath,” involving a metrical error.
14. Bugge and Gering transfer lines 4–5 to the beginning of stanza 16,
on the basis of the Volsungasaga paraphrase, and assume a gap of one
line after line 3. Line 5, which is in the nature of a stereotyped
clause, may well be interpolated.
15. After “Buthli” in line 2 the manuscript has “my brother,”
apparently a scribal error. In line 4 the manuscript has “wealth”
instead of “love,” apparently with stanza 10 in mind, but the
Volsungasaga paraphrase has “love,” and many editors have suspected an
error.
16. Cf. note on stanza 14. After thus adding lines 4–5 of stanza 14 at
the beginning of stanza 16, Gering marks line 4 as probably spurious;
others reject both lines 3 and 4 as mere repetitions. Rhine: the Rhine,
the sands of which traditionally contained gold, was apparently the
original home of the treasure of the Nibelungs, converted in the North
to Andvari’s treasure (cf. Reginsmol, 1–9). That greed for Sigurth’s
wealth was one of the motives for his slaying is indicated likewise in
Guthrunarkvitha I, 20, and in the German versions of the story.
18. We four: if line 1 of stanza 19 is spurious, or the reference
therein to “five” is a blunder, as may well be the case, then the
“four” are Sigurth and the three brothers, Gunnar, Hogni, and Gotthorm.
But it may be that the poet had in mind a tradition which, as in the
Thithrekssaga, gave Gjuki a fourth son, in which case the “four” refers
only to the four Gjukungs. Hunnish hero: Sigurth; cf. stanza 4 and
note. Some editions put line 4 between lines 1 and 2. Some add lines
1–2 of stanza 19 to stanza 18, marking them as spurious.
19. We five: see note on preceding stanza. Some editors mark lines 1–2
as spurious, and either assume a gap of two lines after line 4 or
combine lines 3–4 with stanza 20. Whence lead the ways: a proverbial
expression signifying “whence the trouble comes.”
20. The manuscript does not name the speaker. Gotthorm (the name is
variously spelt): half-brother of Gunnar and Hogni (cf. Hyndluljoth, 27
and note, and Brot, 4 and note). The name is the northern form of
Gundomar; a prince of this name is mentioned in the Lex Burgundionum,
apparently as a brother of Gundahari (Gundicarius). In the
Nibelungenlied the third brother is called Gernot.
21. No gap is indicated in the manuscript, and many editors combine
stanza 21 with stanza 22, but it seems likely that not only two lines,
but one or more stanzas in addition, have been lost; cf. Brot, 4, and
also the detailed account of the slaying of Sigurth in the
Volsungasaga, wherein, as here, Sigurth is killed in his bed (cf.
stanza 24) and not in the forest.
22. Some editions combine lines 3–4 with stanza 23. Gram: Sigurth’s
sword (cf. Reginsmol, prose after stanza 14); the word here, however,
may not be a proper name, but may mean “the hero.”
23. A line may well have been lost from this stanza.
24. Freyr: if the phrase “the friend of Freyr” means anything more than
“king” (cf. Rigsthula, 46 etc.), which I doubt, it has reference to the
late tradition that Freyr, and not Othin, was the ancestor of the
Volsungs (cf. Helgakvitha Hundingsbana I, 57 and note).
25. Müllenhoff thinks this stanza, or at any rate lines 1–2, a later
addition based on stanza 29.
26. My son: Sigmund; cf. stanza 12 and note, and also Brot, 9 and note.
27. Sigurth means that although Guthrun may have seven sons by a later
marriage, none of them will equal Sigmund, “son of their (i.e.,
Gunnar’s and Hogni’s) sister.” Thing: council.
28. Sigurth’s protestation of guiltlessness fits perfectly with the
story of his relations with Brynhild used in this poem, but not, of
course, with the alternative version, used in the Gripisspo and
elsewhere, wherein Sigurth meets Brynhild before he woos her for
Gunnar, and they have a daughter, Aslaug.
29. Cf. Guthrunarkvitha I, 15.
30. Cf. Brot, 10.
31. Line 1 may well be a mere expansion of “Gunnar spake.” The
manuscript marks line 4 as the beginning of a new stanza, and some
editions combine lines 4–5 with stanza 32.
32. This stanza, which all editors have accepted as an integral part of
the poem, apparently refers to the same story represented by stanzas
37–39, which most editors have (I believe mistakenly) marked as
interpolated. As is pointed out in the notes on stanzas 3, 5, 6 and 10,
the poet throughout seems to have accepted the version of the story
wherein Gunnar and Sigurth besiege Atli, and are bought off by the gift
of Atli’s sister, Brynhild, to Gunnar as wife, her consent being won by
Atli’s representation that Gunnar is Sigurth (cf. also Guthrunarkvitha
I, 24 and note).
33. The manuscript does not name the speaker, and some editions add a
first line: “Then Brynhild, daughter | of Buthli, spake.”
34. Cf. stanza 5.
35. Three kings: Gunnar, Hogni, and Sigurth.
36. Some editions place this stanza after stanza 39, on the theory that
stanzas 37–39 are interpolated. Line 4, as virtually a repetition of
line 3, has generally been marked as spurious. In this version of the
winning of Brynhild it appears that Atli pointed out Sigurth as Gunnar,
and Brynhild promptly fell in love with the hero whom, as he rode on
Grani and was decked with some of the spoils taken from Fafnir, she
recognized as the dragon’s slayer. Thus no change of form between
Sigurth and Gunnar was necessary. The oath to marry Gunnar had to be
carried out even after Brynhild had discovered the deception.
37. Most editors mark stanzas 37–39 as interpolated, but cf. note on
stanza 32. Stanza 37 has been variously emended. Lines 4 and 6 look
like interpolated repetitions, but many editors make two stanzas,
following the manuscript in beginning a new stanza with line 4. After
line 1 Grundtvig adds: “Son of Buthli, | and brother of mine.”
After line 6 Bugge adds: “Not thou was it, Gunnar, | who Grani
rode, / Though thou my brother | with rings didst buy.” Regarding
Brynhild’s wealth cf. stanza 10 and note.
38. Brynhild here again appears as a Valkyrie. The manuscript marks
line 4 as the beginning of a new stanza. Any one of the last three
lines may be spurious.
39. Some editions combine this stanza with lines 4–5 of stanza 38, with
lines 1–2 of stanza 40, or with the whole of stanza 40. The bond:
Brynhild thought she was marrying Sigurth, owner of the treasure,
whereas she was being tricked into marrying Gunnar.
41. At this point there seem to be several omissions. Brynhild’s
statement in lines 1–2 seems to refer to the episode, not here
mentioned but told in detail in the Volsungasaga, of Sigurth’s effort
to repair the wrong that has been done her by himself giving up Guthrun
in her favor, an offer which she refuses. The lacuna here suggested,
which is not indicated in the manuscript, may be simply a single line
(line 1) or a stanza or more. After line 2 there is almost certainly a
gap of at least one stanza, and possibly more, in which Brynhild states
her determination to die.
42. Hardly any two editions agree as to the arrangement of the lines in
stanzas 42–44. I have followed the manuscript except in transposing
line 4 of stanza 43 to this position from the place it holds in the
manuscript after line 4 of stanza 44. All the other arrangements
involve the rejection of two or more lines as spurious and the
assumption of various gaps. Gering and Sijmons both arrange the lines
thus: 42, 1–2; two-line gap; 43, 3 (marked probably spurious); 44, 1–4;
43–4 (marked probably spurious); 42, 3–4; 43, 1–2.
43. Cf. note on preceding stanza.
44. Cf. note on stanza 42.
45. Perhaps the remains of two stanzas; the manuscript marks line 4 as
the beginning of a new stanza, and after line 4 an added line has been
suggested: “She was ever known | for evil thoughts.” On the other
hand, line 1, identical with line 1 of stanza 17, may well be a mere
expansion of “Hogni spake,” and line 6 may have been introduced, with a
slight variation, from line 5 of stanza 38. Born again: this looks like
a trace of Christian influence (the poem was composed well after the
coming of Christianity to Iceland) in the assumption that if Brynhild
killed herself she could not be “born again” (cf. concluding prose to
Helgakvitha Hundingsbana II).
46. The manuscript marks line 3 as beginning a stanza; some editions
treat lines 1–2 as a separate stanza, and combine lines 3–4 with lines
1–2 of stanza 47. Jewel-bearer (literally “land of jewels”): woman,
here Brynhild. Bond-women, etc.: in stanza 69 we learn that five female
slaves and eight serfs were killed to be burned on the funeral pyre,
and thus to follow Sigurth in death.
47. The manuscript marks line 3, and not line 1, as beginning a stanza,
and some editions treat lines 3–4 as a separate stanza, or combine them
with stanza 48.
48. Brynhild means, as stanzas 49–51 show, that those of her women who
wish to win rewards must be ready to follow her in death. The word
translated “women” in line 1 is conjectural, but the general meaning is
clear enough.
49. In place of “as so she spake” in line 1 the manuscript has “of
their plans they thought,” which involves a metrical error.
51. No gap indicated in the manuscript; many editions place it between
lines 3 and 4. Menja’s wealth: gold; the story of the mill Grotti,
whereby the giantesses Menja and Fenja ground gold for King Frothi, is
told in the Grottasongr.
52. With this stanza begins Brynhild’s prophesy of what is to befall
Gunnar, Guthrun, Atli, and the many others involved in their fate. Line
3 is a proverbial expression meaning simply “your troubles are not at
an end.”
53. No gap is indicated in the manuscript; one suggestion for line 2
runs: “Grimhild shall make her | to laugh once more.” Gering
suggests a loss of three lines, and joins lines 3–4 with stanza 54.
54. Probably a line has been lost from this stanza. Grundtvig adds as a
new first line: “Her shalt thou find | in the hall of Half.” Some
editions query line 3 as possibly spurious. Svanhild: the figure of
Svanhild is exceedingly old. The name means “Swan-Maiden-Warrior,”
applying to just such mixtures of swan-maiden and Valkyrie as appear in
the Völundarkvitha. Originally part of a separate tradition, Svanhild
appears first to have been incorporated in the Jormunrek (Ermanarich)
story as the unhappy wife of that monarch, and much later to have been
identified as the daughter of Sigurth and Guthrun, thus linking the two
sets of legends.
55. Line 2 in the original is almost totally obscure. Line 4 should
very possibly precede line 2, while line 5 looks like an unwarranted
addition.
56. This stanza probably ought to follow stanza 52, as it refers solely
to the winning of Brynhild by Gunnar and Sigurth. Müllenhoff regards
stanzas 53–55 as interpolated. The manuscript indicates no gap after
line 3.
57. Stanzas 57–58 seem to be the remains of two stanzas, but the
Volsungasaga paraphrase follows closely the form here given. Line 3 may
well be spurious; line 5 has likewise been questioned. Oddrun: this
sister of Atli and Brynhild, known mainly through the Oddrunargratr, is
a purely northern addition to the cycle, and apparently one of a
relatively late date. She figures solely by reason of her love affair
with Gunnar.
58. Possibly two lines have been lost; many editions combine the two
remaining lines with lines 1–3 of stanza 59. Concerning the manner of
Gunnar’s death cf. Drap Niflunga.
59. Line 3 may well be spurious, as it is largely repetition. The
manuscript has “sofa” (“sleep”) in place of “sona” (“sons”), but the
Volsungasaga paraphrase says clearly “sons.” The slaying of Atli by
Guthrun in revenge for his killing of her brothers is told in the two
Atli lays. The manuscript marks line 4 as the beginning of a new
stanza, and some editions make a separate stanza out of lines 4–5, or
else combine them with stanza 60.
60. To follow in death: this phrase is not in Regius, but is included
in late paper manuscripts, and has been added in most editions.
61. Jonak: this king, known only through the Hamthesmol and the stories
which, like this one, are based thereon, is another purely northern
addition to the legend. The name is apparently of Slavic origin. He
appears solely as Guthrun’s third husband and the father of Hamther,
Sorli, and Erp (cf. introductory prose to Guthrunarhvot).
62. Svanhild: cf. stanza 54 and note.
63. Bikki: Svanhild is married to the aged Jormunrek (Ermanarich), but
Bikki, one of his followers, suggests that she is unduly intimate with
Jormunrek’s son, Randver. Thereupon Jormunrek has Randver hanged, and
Svanhild torn to pieces by wild horses. Ermanarich’s cruelty and his
barbarous slaying of his wife and son were familiar traditions long
before they became in any way connected with the Sigurth cycle (cf.
introductory note to Gripisspo).
64. Line 5 is very probably spurious.
65. The manuscript indicates no gap; a suggested addition runs “Gold
let there be, | and jewels bright.” Fallen slaves: cf. stanzas 66
and 69. Hunnish hero: cf. stanza 4 and note.
66. In place of lines 3–4 the manuscript has one line “Two at his head,
| and a pair of hawks”; the addition is made from the Volsungasaga
paraphrase. The burning or burying of slaves or beasts to accompany
their masters in death was a general custom in the North. The number of
slaves indicated in this stanza does not tally with the one given in
stanza 69, wherefore Vigfusson rejects most of this stanza.
67. Cf. Gripisspo, 41 and note. After line 1 the manuscript adds the
phrase “bright, ring-decked,” referring to the sword, but it is
metrically impossible, and many editions omit it.
68. The door: The gate of Hel’s domain, like that of Mengloth’s house
(cf. Svipdagsmol, 26 and note), closes so fast as to catch any one
attempting to pass through. Apparently the poet here assumes that the
gate of Valhall does likewise, but that it will be kept open for
Sigurth’s retinue.
69. Cf. stanza 66.
HELREITH BRYNHILDAR
BRYNHILD’S HELL-RIDE
INTRODUCTORY NOTE
The little Helreith Brynhildar immediately follows the “short” Sigurth
lay in the Codex Regius, being linked to it by the brief prose note;
the heading, “Brynhild’s Ride on Hel-Way,” stands just before the first
stanza. The entire poem, with the exception of stanza 6, is likewise
quoted in the Nornageststhattr. Outside of one stanza (No. 11), which
is a fairly obvious interpolation, the poem possesses an extraordinary
degree of dramatic unity, and, certain pedantic commentators
notwithstanding, it is one of the most vivid and powerful in the whole
collection. None the less, it has been extensively argued that parts of
it belonged originally to the so-called Sigrdrifumol. That it stands in
close relation to this poem is evident enough, but it is difficult to
believe that such a masterpiece of dramatic poetry was ever the result
of mere compilation. It seems more reasonable to regard the Helreith,
with the exception of stanza 11 and allowing for the loss of two lines
from stanza 6, as a complete and carefully constructed unit, based
undoubtedly on older poems, but none the less an artistic creation in
itself.
The poem is generally dated as late as the eleventh century, and the
concluding stanza betrays Christian influence almost unmistakably. It
shows the confusion of traditions manifest in all the later poems; for
example, Brynhild is here not only a Valkyrie but also a swan-maiden.
Only three stanzas have any reference to the Guthrun-Gunnar part of the
story; otherwise the poem is concerned solely with the episode of
Sigurth’s finding the sleeping Valkyrie. Late as it is, therefore, it
is essentially a Norse creation, involving very few of the details of
the German cycle (cf. introductory note to Gripisspo).
After the death of Brynhild there were made two bale-fires, the one for
Sigurth, and that burned first, and on the other was Brynhild burned,
and she was on a wagon which was covered with a rich cloth. Thus it is
told, that Brynhild went in the wagon on Hel-way, and passed by a house
where dwelt a certain giantess. The giantess spake:
1. “Thou shalt not further | forward fare,
My dwelling ribbed | with rocks across;
More seemly it were | at thy weaving to stay,
Than another’s husband | here to follow.
2. “What wouldst thou have | from Valland here,
Fickle of heart, | in this my house?
Gold-goddess, now, | if thou wouldst know,
Heroes’ blood | from thy hands hast washed.”
Brynhild spake:
3. “Chide me not, woman | from rocky walls,
Though to battle once | I was wont to go;
Better than thou | I shall seem to be,
When men us two | shall truly know.”
The giantess spake:
4. “Thou wast, Brynhild, | Buthli’s daughter,
For the worst of evils | born in the world;
To death thou hast given | Gjuki’s children,
And laid their lofty | house full low.”
Brynhild spake:
5. “Truth from the wagon | here I tell thee,
Witless one, | if know thou wilt
How the heirs of Gjuki | gave me to be
Joyless ever, | a breaker of oaths.
6. “Hild the helmed | in Hlymdalir
They named me of old, | all they who knew me.
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
7. “The monarch bold | the swan-robes bore
Of the sisters eight | beneath an oak;
Twelve winters I was, | if know thou wilt,
When oaths I yielded | the king so young.
8. “Next I let | the leader of Goths,
Hjalmgunnar the old, | go down to hell,
And victory brought | to Autha’s brother;
For this was Othin’s | anger mighty.
9. “He beset me with shields | in Skatalund,
Red and white, | their rims o’erlapped;
He bade that my sleep | should broken be
By him who fear | had nowhere found.
10. “He let round my hall, | that southward looked,
The branches’ foe | high-leaping burn;
Across it he bade | the hero come
Who brought me the gold | that Fafnir guarded.
11. “On Grani rode | the giver of gold,
Where my foster-father | ruled his folk;
Best of all | he seemed to be,
The prince of the Danes, | when the people met.
12. “Happy we slept, | one bed we had,
As he my brother | born had been;
Eight were the nights | when neither there
Loving hand | on the other laid.
13. “Yet Guthrun reproached me, | Gjuki’s daughter,
That I in Sigurth’s | arms had slept;
Then did I hear | what I would were hid,
That they had betrayed me | in taking a mate.
14. “Ever with grief | and all too long
Are men and women | born in the world;
But yet we shall live | our lives together,
Sigurth and I. | Sink down, Giantess!”
NOTES
Prose. The prose follows the last stanza of Sigurtharkvitha en skamma
without break. Two bale-fires: this contradicts the statement made in
the concluding stanzas of Sigurtharkvitha en skamma, that Sigurth and
Brynhild were burned on the same pyre; there is no evidence that the
annotator here had anything but his own mistaken imagination to go on.
2. Valland: this name (“Land of Slaughter”) is used elsewhere of
mythical places; cf. Harbarthsljoth, 24, and prose introduction to
Völundarkvitha; it may here not be a proper name at all. Gold-goddess:
poetic circumlocution for “woman.”
6. In Regius these two lines stand after stanza 7, but most editions
place them as here. They are not quoted in the Nornageststhattr.
Presumably two lines, and perhaps more, have been lost. It has
frequently been argued that all or part of the passage from stanza 6
through stanza 10 (6–10, 7–10 or 8–10) comes originally from the
so-called Sigrdrifumol, where it would undoubtedly fit exceedingly
well. Hild: a Valkyrie name meaning “Fighter” (cf. Voluspo, 31). In
such compound names as Brynhild (“Fighter in Armor”) the first element
was occasionally omitted. Hlymdalir (“Tumult-Dale”): a mythical name,
merely signifying the place of battle as the home of Valkyries.
7. Regarding the identification of swan-maidens with Valkyries, and the
manner in which men could get them in their power by stealing their
swan-garments, cf. Völundarkvitha, introductory prose and note, where
the same thing happens. The monarch: perhaps Agnar, brother of Autha,
mentioned in Sigrdrifumol (prose and quoted verse following stanza 4)
as the warrior for whose sake Brynhild defied Othin in slaying
Hjalmgunnar. Eight: the Nornageststhattr manuscripts have “sisters of
Atli” instead of “sisters eight.”
8. Hjalmgunnar: regarding this king of the Goths (the phrase means
little) and his battle with Agnar, brother of Autha, cf. Sigrdrifumol,
prose after stanza 4. One Nornageststhattr manuscript has “brother of
the giantess” in place of “leader of Goths.”
9. Cf. Sigrdrifumol, prose introduction. Skatalund (“Warriors’ Grove”):
a mythical name; elsewhere the place where Brynhild lay is called
Hindarfjoll.
10. Branches’ foe: fire. Regarding the treasure cf. Fafnismol.
11. This stanza is presumably an interpolation, reflecting a different
version of the story, wherein Sigurth meets Brynhild at the home of her
brother-in-law and foster-father, Heimir (cf. Gripisspo, 19 and 27).
Grani: Sigurth’s horse. Danes: nowhere else does Sigurth appear in this
capacity. Perhaps this is a curious relic of the Helgi tradition.
12. Eight nights: elsewhere (cf. Gripisspo, 42) the time is stated as
three nights, not eight. There is a confusion of traditions here, as in
Gripisspo. In the version of the story wherein Sigurth met Brynhild
before he encountered the Gjukungs, Sigurth was bound by no oaths, and
the union was completed; it is only in the alternative version that the
episode of the sword laid between the two occurs.
14. The idea apparently conveyed in the concluding lines, that Sigurth
and Brynhild will be together in some future life, is utterly out of
keeping with the Norse pagan traditions, and the whole stanza indicates
the influence of Christianity.
DRAP NIFLUNGA
THE SLAYING OF THE NIFLUNGS
INTRODUCTORY NOTE
It has been already pointed out (introductory note to Reginsmol) that
the compiler of the Eddic collection had clearly undertaken to
formulate a coherent narrative of the entire Sigurth cycle, piecing
together the various poems by means of prose narrative links. To some
extent these links were based on traditions existing outside of the
lays themselves, but in the main the material was gathered from the
contents of the poems. The short prose passage entitled Drap Niflunga,
which in the Codex Regius immediately follows the Helreith Brynhildar,
is just such a narrative link, and scarcely deserves a special heading,
but as nearly all editions separate it from the preceding and following
poems, I have followed their example.
With Sigurth and Brynhild both dead, the story turns to the slaying of
the sons of Gjuki by Atli, Guthrun’s second husband, and to a few
subsequent incidents, mostly late incorporations from other narrative
cycles, including the tragic death of Svanhild, daughter of Sigurth and
Guthrun and wife of Jormunrek (Ermanarich), and the exploits of
Hamther, son of Guthrun and her third husband, Jonak. These stories are
told, or outlined, in the two Atli lays, the second and third Guthrun
lays, the Oddrunargratr, the Guthrunarhvot, and the Hamthesmol. Had the
compiler seen fit to put the Atli lays immediately after the Helreith
Brynhildar, he would have needed only a very brief transitional note to
make the course of the story clear, but as the second Guthrun lay, the
next poem in the collection, is a lament following the death of
Guthrun’s brothers, some sort of a narrative bridge was manifestly
needed.
Drap Niflunga is based entirely on the poems which follow it in the
collection, with no use of extraneous material. The part of the story
which it summarizes belongs to the semi-historical Burgundian tradition
(cf. introductory note to Gripisspo), in many respects parallel to the
familiar narrative of the Nibelungenlied, and, except in minor details,
showing few essentially Northern additions. Sigurth is scarcely
mentioned, and the outstanding episode is the slaying of Gunnar and
Hogni, following their journey to Atli’s home.
Gunnar and Hogni then took all the gold that Fafnir had had. There was
strife between the Gjukungs and Atli, for he held the Gjukungs guilty
of Brynhild’s death. It was agreed that they should give him Guthrun as
wife, and they gave her a draught of forgetfulness to drink before she
would consent to be wedded to Atli. The sons of Atli were Erp and
Eitil, and Svanhild was the daughter of Sigurth and Guthrun. King Atli
invited Gunnar and Hogni to come to him, and sent as messenger Vingi or
Knefröth. Guthrun was aware of treachery, and sent with him a message
in runes that they should not come, and as a token she sent to Hogni
the ring Andvaranaut and tied a wolf’s hair in it. Gunnar had sought
Oddrun, Atli’s sister, for his wife, but had her not; then he married
Glaumvor, and Hogni’s wife was Kostbera; their sons were Solar and
Snævar and Gjuki. And when the Gjukungs came to Atli, then Guthrun
besought her sons to plead for the lives of both the Gjukungs, but they
would not do it. Hogni’s heart was cut out, and Gunnar was cast into
the serpent’s den. He smote on the harp and put the serpents to sleep,
but an adder stung him in the liver.
NOTE
Prose. Niflungs: regarding the mistaken application of this name to the
sons of Gjuki, who were Burgundians, cf. Brot, 17 and note. Draught of
forgetfulness: according to the Volsungasaga Grimhild, Guthrun’s
mother, administered this, just as she did the similar draught which
made Sigurth forget Brynhild. Erp and Eitil: Guthrun kills her two sons
by Atli as part of her revenge; the annotator here explains her act
further by saying that Guthrun asked her sons to intercede with their
father in favor of Guthrun’s brothers, but that they refused, a detail
which he appears to have invented, as it is found nowhere else.
Svanhild: cf. Sigurtharkvitha en skamma, 54 and note. Vingi or
Knefröth: Atlakvitha (stanza 1) calls the messenger Knefröth; Atlamol
(stanza 4) speaks of two messengers, but names only one of them, Vingi.
The annotator has here tried, unsuccessfully, to combine the two
accounts. Andvaranaut: regarding the origin of Andvari’s ring cf.
Reginsmol, prose after stanzas 4 and 5 and notes; Sigurth gave the ring
to Guthrun. Here again the annotator is combining two stories; in
Atlakvitha (stanza 8) Guthrun sends a ring (not Andvaranaut) with a
wolf’s hair; in Atlamol (stanza 4) she sends a message written in
runes. The messenger obscures these runes, and Kostbera, Hogni’s wife,
who attempts to decipher them, is not clear as to their meaning, though
she suspects danger. Oddrun: cf. Sigurtharkvitha en skamma, 57 and
note. Glaumvor: almost nothing is told of Gunnar’s second wife, though
she appears frequently in the Atlamol. Kostbera (or Bera), Hogni’s
wife, is known only as skilled in runes. Her brother was Orkning. The
sons of Hogni and Kostbera, according to the Atlamol (stanza 28), were
Solar and Snævar; the third son, Gjuki, named after his grandfather,
seems to be an invention of the annotator’s. Adder: according to
Oddrunargratr (stanza 30) Atli’s mother assumed this form in order to
complete her son’s vengeance.
GUTHRUNARKVITHA II, EN FORNA
THE SECOND, OR OLD, LAY OF GUTHRUN
INTRODUCTORY NOTE
It has already been pointed out (introductory note to Guthrunarkvitha
I) that the tradition of Guthrun’s lament was known wherever the
Sigurth story existed, and that this lament was probably one of the
earliest parts of the legend to assume verse form. Whether it reached
the North as verse cannot, of course, be determined, but it is at least
possible that this was the case, and in any event it is clear that by
the tenth and eleventh centuries there were a number of Norse poems
with Guthrun’s lament as the central theme. Two of these are included
in the Eddic collection, the second one being unquestionably much the
older. It is evidently the poem referred to by the annotator in the
prose note following the Brot as “the old Guthrun lay,” and its
character and state of preservation have combined to lead most
commentators to date it as early as the first half of the tenth
century, whereas Guthrunarkvitha I belongs a hundred years later.
The poem has evidently been preserved in rather bad shape, with a
number of serious omissions and some interpolations, but in just this
form it lay before the compilers of the Volsungasaga, who paraphrased
it faithfully, and quoted five of its stanzas. The interpolations are
on the whole unimportant; the omissions, while they obscure the sense
of certain passages, do not destroy the essential continuity of the
poem, in which Guthrun reviews her sorrows from the death of Sigurth
through the slaying of her brothers to Atli’s dreams foretelling the
death of their sons. It is, indeed, the only Norse poem of the Sigurth
cycle antedating the year 1000 which has come down to us in anything
approaching complete form; the Reginsmol, Fafnismol, and Sigrdrifumol
are all collections of fragments, only a short bit of the “long”
Sigurth lay remains, and the others—Gripisspo, Guthrunarkvitha I and
III, Sigurtharkvitha en skamma, Helreith Brynhildar, Oddrunargratr,
Guthrunarhvot, Hamthesmol, and the two Atli lays—are all generally
dated from the eleventh and even the twelfth centuries.
An added reason for believing that Guthrunarkvitha II traces its origin
back to a lament which reached the North from Germany in verse form is
the absence of most of the characteristic Norse additions to the
narrative, except in minor details. Sigurth is slain in the forest, as
“German men say” (cf. Brot, concluding prose); the urging of Guthrun by
her mother and brothers to become Atli’s wife, the slaying of the
Gjukungs (here only intimated, for at that point something seems to
have been lost), and Guthrun’s prospective revenge on Atli, all belong
directly to the German tradition (cf. introductory note to Gripisspo).
In the Codex Regius the poem is entitled simply Guthrunarkvitha; the
numeral has been added in nearly all editions to distinguish this poem
from the other two Guthrun lays, and the phrase “the old” is borrowed
from the annotator’s comment in the prose note at the end of the Brot.
King Thjothrek was with Atli, and had lost most of his men. Thjothrek
and Guthrun lamented their griefs together. She spoke to him, saying:
1. A maid of maids | my mother bore me,
Bright in my bower, | my brothers I loved,
Till Gjuki dowered | me with gold,
Dowered with gold, | and to Sigurth gave me.
2. So Sigurth rose | o’er Gjuki’s sons
As the leek grows green | above the grass,
Or the stag o’er all | the beasts doth stand,
Or as glow-red gold | above silver gray.
3. Till my brothers let me | no longer have
The best of heroes | my husband to be;
Sleep they could not, | or quarrels settle,
Till Sigurth they | at last had slain.
4. From the Thing ran Grani | with thundering feet,
But thence did Sigurth | himself come never;
Covered with sweat | was the saddle-bearer,
Wont the warrior’s | weight to bear.
5. Weeping I sought | with Grani to speak,
With tear-wet cheeks | for the tale I asked;
The head of Grani | was bowed to the grass,
The steed knew well | his master was slain.
6. Long I waited | and pondered well
Ere ever the king | for tidings I asked.
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
7. His head bowed Gunnar, | but Hogni told
The news full sore | of Sigurth slain:
“Hewed to death | at our hands he lies,
Gotthorm’s slayer, | given to wolves.
8. “On the southern road | thou shalt Sigurth see,
Where hear thou canst | the ravens cry;
The eagles cry | as food they crave,
And about thy husband | wolves are howling.”
9. “Why dost thou, Hogni, | such a horror
Let me hear, | all joyless left?
Ravens yet | thy heart shall rend
In a land that never | thou hast known.”
10. Few the words | of Hogni were,
Bitter his heart | from heavy sorrow:
“Greater, Guthrun, | thy grief shall be
If the ravens so | my heart shall rend.”
11. From him who spake | I turned me soon,
In the woods to find | what the wolves had left;
Tears I had not, | nor wrung my hands,
Nor wailing went, | as other women,
(When by Sigurth | slain I sat).
12. Never so black | had seemed the night
As when in sorrow | by Sigurth I sat;
The wolves . . . . | . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
13. . . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
Best of all | methought ’twould be
If I my life | could only lose,
Or like to birch-wood | burned might be.
14. From the mountain forth | five days I fared,
Till Hoalf’s hall | so high I saw;
Seven half-years | with Thora I stayed,
Hokon’s daughter, | in Denmark then.
15. With gold she broidered, | to bring me joy,
Southern halls | and Danish swans;
On the tapestry wove we | warrior’s deeds,
And the hero’s thanes | on our handiwork;
(Flashing shields | and fighters armed,
Sword-throng, helm-throng, | the host of the king).
16. Sigmund’s ship | by the land was sailing,
Golden the figure-head, | gay the beaks;
On board we wove | the warriors faring,
Sigar and Siggeir, | south to Fjon.
17. Then Grimhild asked, | the Gothic queen,
Whether willingly | would I . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
18. Her needlework cast she | aside, and called
Her sons to ask, | with stern resolve,
Who amends to their sister | would make for her son,
Or the wife requite | for her husband killed.
19. Ready was Gunnar | gold to give,
Amends for my hurt, | and Hogni too;
Then would she know | who now would go,
The horse to saddle, | the wagon to harness,
(The horse to ride, | the hawk to fly,
And shafts from bows | of yew to shoot).
20. (Valdar, king | of the Danes, was come,
With Jarizleif, Eymoth, | and Jarizskar).
In like princes | came they all,
The long-beard men, | with mantles red,
Short their mail-coats, | mighty their helms,
Swords at their belts, | and brown their hair.
21. Each to give me | gifts was fain,
Gifts to give, | and goodly speech,
Comfort so | for my sorrows great
To bring they tried, | but I trusted them not.
22. A draught did Grimhild | give me to drink,
Bitter and cold; | I forgot my cares;
For mingled therein | was magic earth,
Ice-cold sea, | and the blood of swine.
23. In the cup were runes | of every kind,
Written and reddened, | I could not read them;
A heather-fish | from the Haddings’ land,
An ear uncut, | and the entrails of beasts.
24. Much evil was brewed | within the beer,
Blossoms of trees, | and acorns burned,
Dew of the hearth, | and holy entrails,
The liver of swine,— | all grief to allay.
25. Then I forgot, | when the draught they gave me,
There in the hall, | my husband’s slaying;
On their knees the kings | all three did kneel,
Ere she herself | to speak began:
26. “Guthrun, gold | to thee I give,
The wealth that once | thy father’s was,
Rings to have, | and Hlothver’s halls,
And the hangings all | that the monarch had.
27. “Hunnish women, | skilled in weaving,
Who gold make fair | to give thee joy,
And the wealth of Buthli | thine shall be,
Gold-decked one, | as Atli’s wife.”
Guthrun spake:
28. “A husband now | I will not have,
Nor wife of Brynhild’s | brother be;
It beseems me not | with Buthli’s son
Happy to be, | and heirs to bear.”
Grimhild spake:
29. “Seek not on men | to avenge thy sorrows,
Though the blame at first | with us hath been;
Happy shalt be | as if both still lived,
Sigurth and Sigmund, | if sons thou bearest.”
Guthrun spake:
30. “Grimhild, I may not | gladness find,
Nor hold forth hopes | to heroes now,
Since once the raven | and ravening wolf
Sigurth’s heart’s-blood | hungrily lapped.”
Grimhild spake:
31. “Noblest of birth | is the ruler now
I have found for thee, | and foremost of all;
Him shalt thou have | while life thou hast,
Or husbandless be | if him thou wilt choose not.”
Guthrun spake:
32. “Seek not so eagerly | me to send
To be a bride | of yon baneful race;
On Gunnar first | his wrath shall fall,
And the heart will he tear | from Hogni’s breast.”
33. Weeping Grimhild | heard the words
That fate full sore | for her sons foretold,
(And mighty woe | for them should work;)
“Lands I give thee, | with all that live there,
(Vinbjorg is thine, | and Valbjorg too,)
Have them forever, | but hear me, daughter.”
34. So must I do | as the kings besought,
And against my will | for my kinsmen wed;
Ne’er with my husband | joy I had,
And my sons by my brothers’ | fate were saved not.
35. . . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
I could not rest | till of life I had robbed
The warrior bold, | the maker of battles.
36. Soon on horseback | each hero was,
And the foreign women | in wagons faring;
A week through lands | so cold we went,
And a second week | the waves we smote,
(And a third through lands | that water lacked).
37. The warders now | on the lofty walls
Opened the gates, | and in we rode.
* * * * * *
38. Atli woke me, | for ever I seemed
Of bitterness full | for my brothers’ death.
Atli spake:
39. “Now from sleep | the Norns have waked me
With visions of terror,— | to thee will I tell them;
Methought thou, Guthrun, | Gjuki’s daughter,
With poisoned blade | didst pierce my body.”
Guthrun spake:
40. “Fire a dream | of steel shall follow
And willful pride | one of woman’s wrath;
A baneful sore | I shall burn from thee,
And tend and heal thee, | though hated thou art.”
Atli spake:
41. “Of plants I dreamed, | in the garden drooping,
That fain would I have | full high to grow;
Plucked by the roots, | and red with blood,
They brought them hither, | and bade me eat.
42. “I dreamed my hawks | from my hand had flown,
Eager for food, | to an evil house;
I dreamed their hearts | with honey I ate,
Soaked in blood, | and heavy my sorrow.
43. “Hounds I dreamed | from my hand I loosed,
Loud in hunger | and pain they howled;
Their flesh methought | was eagles’ food,
And their bodies now | I needs must eat.”
Guthrun spake: