And off the heads | of beasts shall hew;
Die they shall | ere day has dawned,
A few nights hence, | and the folk shall have them.”
Atli spake:
45. “On my bed I sank, | nor slumber sought,
Weary with woe,— | full well I remember.”
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
NOTES
Prose. Thjothrek: the famous Theoderich, king of the Ostrogoths, who
became renowned in German story as Dietrich von Bern. The German
tradition early accepted the anachronism of bringing together Attila
(Etzel, Atli), who died in 453, and Theoderich, who was born about 455,
and adding thereto Ermanarich (Jormunrek), king of the Goths, who died
about 376. Ermanarich, in German tradition, replaced Theoderich’s
actual enemy, Odovakar, and it was in battle with Jormunrek (i.e.,
Odovakar) that Thjothrek is here said to have lost most of his men. The
annotator found the material for this note in Guthrunarkvitha III, in
which Guthrun is accused of having Thjothrek as her lover. At the time
when Guthrunarkvitha II was composed (early tenth century) it is
probable that the story of Theoderich had not reached the North at all,
and the annotator is consequently wrong in giving the poem its setting.
2. Cf. Guthrunarkvitha I, 17.
4. Regarding the varying accounts of the manner of Sigurth’s death cf.
Brot, concluding prose and note. Grani: cf. Brot, 7.
6. No gap indicated in the manuscript. Some editions combine these two
lines with either stanza 5 or stanza 7.
7. Gotthorm: from this it appears that in both versions of the death of
Sigurth the mortally wounded hero killed his murderer, the younger
brother of Gunnar and Hogni. The story of how Gotthorm was slain after
killing Sigurth in his bed is told in Sigurtharkvitha en skamma, 22–23,
and in the Volsungasaga.
11. On lines 3–4 cf. Guthrunarkvitha I, 1. Line 5 is probably spurious.
12. Many editions make one stanza of stanzas 12 and 13, reconstructing
line 3; the manuscript shows no gap. Bugge fills out the stanza thus:
“The wolves were howling | on all the ways, / The eagles cried |
as their food they craved.”
13. Cf. note on preceding stanza. Grundtvig suggests as a first line:
“Long did I bide, | my brothers awaiting.” Many editors reject line
4.
14. The manuscript marks line 3 as beginning a stanza, and many
editions combine lines 3–4 with lines 1–2 of stanza 15. Hoalf (or
Half): Gering thinks this Danish king may be identical with Alf, son of
King Hjalprek, and second husband of Hjordis, Sigurth’s mother (cf. Fra
Dautha Sinfjotla and note), but the name was a common one. Thora and
Hokon have not been identified (cf. Guthrunarkvitha I, concluding
prose, which is clearly based on this stanza). A Thora appears in
Hyndluljoth, 18, as the wife of Dag, one of the sons of Halfdan the
Old, the most famous of Denmark’s mythical kings, and one of her sons
is Alf (Hoalf?).
15. The manuscript marks line 3 as the beginning of a stanza. Some
editors combine lines 5–6 with lines 1–2 of stanza 16, while others
mark them as interpolated.
16. Some editions combine lines 3–4 with stanza 17. Sigmund: Sigurth’s
father, who here appears as a sea-rover in Guthrun’s tapestry. Sigar:
named in Fornaldar sögur II, 10, as the father of Siggeir, the latter
being the husband of Sigmund’s twin sister, Signy (cf. Fra Dautha
Sinfjotla). Fjon: this name, referring to the Danish island of Fünen,
is taken from the Volsungasaga paraphrase as better fitting the Danish
setting of the stanza than the name in Regius, which is “Fife”
(Scotland).
17. No gap is indicated in the manuscript, and most editions combine
these two lines either with lines 3–4 of stanza 16, with lines 1–2 of
stanza 18, or with the whole of stanza 18. Line 2 has been filled out
in various ways. The Volsungasaga paraphrase indicates that these two
lines are the remains of a full stanza, the prose passage running: “Now
Guthrun was somewhat comforted of her sorrows. Then Grimhild learned
where Guthrun was now dwelling.” The first two lines may be the ones
missing. Gothic: the term “Goth” was used in the North without much
discrimination to apply to all south-Germanic peoples. In Gripisspo,
35, Gunnar, Grimhild’s son, appears as “lord of the Goths.”
18. The manuscript marks line 3 as the beginning of a stanza. Grimhild
is eager to have amends made to Guthrun for the slaying of Sigurth and
their son, Sigmund, because Atli has threatened war if he cannot have
Guthrun for his wife.
19. Lines 5–6 are almost certainly interpolations, made by a scribe
with a very vague understanding of the meaning of the stanza, which
refers simply to the journey of the Gjukungs to bring their sister home
from Denmark.
20. Lines 1–2 are probably interpolated, though the Volsungasaga
includes the names. Some one apparently attempted to supply the names
of Atli’s messengers, the “long-beard men” of line 4, who have come to
ask for Guthrun’s hand. Some commentators assume, as the Volsungasaga
does, that these messengers went with the Gjukungs to Denmark in search
of Guthrun, but it seems more likely that a transitional stanza has
dropped out after stanza 19, and that Guthrun received Atli’s
emissaries in her brothers’ home. Long-beards: the word may actually
mean Langobards or Lombards, but, if it does, it is presumably without
any specific significance here. Certainly the names in the interpolated
two lines do not fit either Lombards or Huns, for Valdar is identified
as a Dane, and Jarizleif and Jarizskar are apparently Slavic. The
manuscript indicates line 5 as beginning a new stanza.
21. Each: the reference is presumably to Gunnar and Hogni, and perhaps
also Grimhild. I suspect that this stanza belongs before stanza 20.
22. Stanzas 22–25 describe the draught of forgetfulness which Grimhild
gives Guthrun, just as she gave one to Sigurth (in one version of the
story) to make him forget Brynhild. The draught does not seem to work
despite Guthrun’s statement in stanza 25 (cf. stanza 30), for which
reason Vigfusson, not unwisely, places stanzas 22–25 after stanza 34.
Blood of swine: cf. Hyndluljoth, 39 and note.
23. The Volsungasaga quotes stanzas 23–24. Heather-fish: a snake.
Haddings’ land: the world of the dead, so called because, according to
Saxo Grammaticus, the Danish king Hadingus once visited it. It is
possible that the comma should follow “heather-fish,” making the “ear
uncut” (of grain) come from the world of the dead.
24. Dew of the hearth: soot.
25. In the manuscript, and in some editions, the first line is in the
third person plural: “Then they forgot, | when the draught they had
drunk.” The second line in the original is manifestly in bad shape, and
has been variously emended. I forgot: this emendation is doubtful, in
view of stanza 30, but cf. note to stanza 22. The kings all three:
probably Atli’s emissaries, though the interpolated lines of stanza 20
name four of them. I suspect that line 4 is wrong, and should read:
“Ere he himself (Atli) | to speak began.” Certainly stanzas 26–27
fit Atli much better than they do Grimhild, and there is nothing
unreasonable in Atli’s having come in person, along with his tributary
kings, to seek Guthrun’s hand. However, the “three kings” may not be
Atli’s followers at all, but Gunnar, Hogni, and the unnamed third
brother possibly referred to in Sigurtharkvitha en skamma, 18.
26. Thy father’s: So the manuscript, in which case the reference is
obviously to Gjuki. But some editions omit the “thy,” and if Atli, and
not Grimhild, is speaking (cf. note on stanza 25), the reference may
be, as in line 3 of stanza 27, to the wealth of Atli’s father, Buthli.
Hlothver: the northern form of the Frankish name Chlodowech (Ludwig),
but who this Hlothver was, beyond the fact that he was evidently a
Frankish king, is uncertain. If Atli is speaking, he is presumably a
Frankish ruler whose land Atli and his Huns have conquered.
27. Cf. note on stanza 25 as to the probable speaker.
28. In stanzas 28–32 the dialogue, in alternate stanzas, is clearly
between Guthrun and her mother, Grimhild, though the manuscript does
not indicate the speakers.
29. Sigmund: son of Sigurth and Guthrun, killed at Brynhild’s behest.
30. This stanza presents a strong argument for transposing the
description of the draught of forgetfulness (stanzas 22–24 and lines
1–2 of stanza 25) to follow stanza 33. Raven, etc.: the original is
somewhat obscure, and the line may refer simply to the “corpse-eating
raven.”
32. In the manuscript this stanza is immediately followed by the two
lines which here, following Bugge’s suggestion, appear as stanza 35. In
lines 3–4 Guthrun foretells what will (and actually does) happen if she
is forced to become Atli’s wife. If stanza 35 really belongs here, it
continues the prophesy to the effect that Guthrun will have no rest
till she has avenged her brothers’ death.
33. Very likely the remains of two stanzas; the manuscript marks line 4
as beginning a new stanza. On the other hand, lines 3 and 5 may be
interpolations. Vinbjorg and Valbjorg: apparently imaginary
place-names.
34. The kings: presumably Gunnar and Hogni. My sons: regarding
Guthrun’s slaying of her two sons by Atli, Erp and Eitil, cf. Drap
Niflunga, note.
35. In the manuscript this stanza follows stanza 32. The loss of two
lines, to the effect that “Ill was that marriage for my brothers, and
ill for Atli himself,” and the transposition of the remaining two lines
to this point, are indicated in a number of editions. The warrior,
etc.: Atli, whom Guthrun kills.
36. The stanza describes the journey to Atli’s home, and sundry
unsuccessful efforts have been made to follow the travellers through
Germany and down the Danube. Foreign women: slaves. Line 5, which the
manuscript marks as beginning a stanza, is probably spurious.
37. After these two lines there appears to be a considerable gap, the
lost stanzas giving Guthrun’s story of the slaying of her brothers. It
is possible that stanzas 38–45 came originally from another poem,
dealing with Atli’s dream, and were here substituted for the original
conclusion of Guthrun’s lament. Many editions combine stanzas 37 and
38, or combine stanza 38 (the manuscript marks line 1 as beginning a
stanza) with lines 1–2 of stanza 39.
39. The manuscript indicates line 3 as the beginning of a stanza. The
manuscript and most editions do not indicate the speakers in this and
the following stanzas.
40. Guthrun, somewhat obscurely, interprets Atli’s first dream (stanza
39) to mean that she will cure him of an abscess by cauterizing it. Her
interpretation is, of course, intended merely to blind him to her
purpose.
41. In stanzas 41–43 Atli’s dreams forecast the death of his two sons,
whose flesh Guthrun gives him to eat (cf. Atlakvitha, 39, and Atlamol,
78).
44. This stanza is evidently Guthrun’s intentionally cryptic
interpretation of Atli’s dreams, but the meaning of the original is
more than doubtful. The word here rendered “sacrifice” may mean
“sea-catch,” and the one rendered “beasts” may mean “whales.” None of
the attempted emendations have rendered the stanza really intelligible,
but it appears to mean that Atli will soon make a sacrifice of beasts
at night, and give their bodies to the people. Guthrun of course has in
mind the slaying of his two sons.
45. With these two lines the poem abruptly ends; some editors assign
the speech to Atli (I think rightly), others to Guthrun. Ettmüller
combines the lines with stanza 38. Whether stanzas 38–45 originally
belonged to Guthrun’s lament, or were interpolated here in place of the
lost conclusion of that poem from another one dealing with Atli’s
dreams (cf. note on stanza 37), it is clear that the end has been lost.
GUTHRUNARKVITHA III
THE THIRD LAY OF GUTHRUN
INTRODUCTORY NOTE
The short Guthrunarkvitha III, entitled in the manuscript simply
Guthrunarkvitha, but so numbered in most editions to distinguish it
from the first and second Guthrun lays, appears only in the Codex
Regius. It is neither quoted nor paraphrased in the Volsungasaga, the
compilers of which appear not to have known the story with which it
deals. The poem as we have it is evidently complete and free from
serious interpolations. It can safely be dated from the first half of
the eleventh century, for the ordeal by boiling water, with which it is
chiefly concerned, was first introduced into Norway by St. Olaf, who
died in 1030, and the poem speaks of it in stanza 7 as still of foreign
origin.
The material for the poem evidently came from North Germany, but there
is little indication that the poet was working on the basis of a
narrative legend already fully formed. The story of the wife accused of
faithlessness who proves her innocence by the test of boiling water had
long been current in Germany, as elsewhere, and had attached itself to
various women of legendary fame, but not except in this poem, so far as
we can judge, to Guthrun (Kriemhild). The introduction of Thjothrek
(Theoderich, Dietrich, Thithrek) is another indication of relative
lateness, for the legends of Theoderich do not appear to have reached
the North materially before the year 1000. On the anachronism of
bringing Thjothrek to Atli’s court cf. Guthrunarkvitha II, introductory
prose, note, in which the development of the Theoderich tradition in
its relation to that of Atli is briefly outlined.
Guthrunarkvitha III is, then, little more than a dramatic German story
made into a narrative lay by a Norse poet, with the names of Guthrun,
Atli, Thjothrek, and Herkja incorporated for the sake of greater
effectiveness. Its story probably nowhere formed a part of the living
tradition of Sigurth and Atli, but the poem has so little distinctively
Norse coloring that it may possibly have been based on a story or even
a poem which its composer heard in Germany or from the lips of a German
narrator.
Herkja was the name of a serving-woman of Atli’s; she had been his
concubine. She told Atli that she had seen Thjothrek and Guthrun both
together. Atli was greatly angered thereby. Then Guthrun said:
1. “What thy sorrow, Atli, | Buthli’s son?
Is thy heart heavy-laden? | Why laughest thou never?
It would better befit | the warrior far
To speak with men, | and me to look on.”
Atli spake:
2. “It troubles me, Guthrun, | Gjuki’s daughter,
What Herkja here | in the hall hath told me,
That thou in the bed | with Thjothrek liest,
Beneath the linen | in lovers’ guise.”
Guthrun spake:
3. “This shall I | with oaths now swear,
Swear by the sacred | stone so white,
That nought was there | with Thjothmar’s son
That man or woman | may not know.
4. “Nor ever once | did my arms embrace
The hero brave, | the leader of hosts;
In another manner | our meeting was,
When our sorrows we | in secret told.
5. “With thirty warriors | Thjothrek came,
Nor of all his men | doth one remain;
Thou hast murdered my brothers | and mail-clad men,
Thou hast murdered all | the men of my race.
6. “Gunnar comes not, | Hogni I greet not,
No longer I see | my brothers loved;
My sorrow would Hogni | avenge with the sword,
Now myself for my woes | I shall payment win.
7. “Summon Saxi, | the southrons’ king,
For he the boiling | kettle can hallow.”
Seven hundred | there were in the hall,
Ere the queen her hand | in the kettle thrust.
8. To the bottom she reached | with hand so bright,
And forth she brought | the flashing stones:
“Behold, ye warriors, | well am I cleared
Of sin by the kettle’s | sacred boiling.”
9. Then Atli’s heart | in happiness laughed,
When Guthrun’s hand | unhurt he saw;
“Now Herkja shall come | the kettle to try,
She who grief | for Guthrun planned.”
10. Ne’er saw man sight | more sad than this,
How burned were the hands | of Herkja then;
In a bog so foul | the maid they flung,
And so was Guthrun’s | grief requited.
NOTES
Prose. The annotator derived all the material for this note from the
poem itself, except for the reference to Herkja as Atli’s former
concubine. Herkja: the historical Kreka and the Helche of the
Nibelungenlied, who there appears as Etzel’s (Attila’s) first wife.
Thjothrek: cf. Introductory Note.
2. The manuscript omits the names of the speakers throughout.
3. Holy stone: just what this refers to is uncertain; it may be
identical with the “ice-cold stone of Uth” mentioned in an oath in
Helgakvitha Hundingsbana II, 29. Thjothmar’s son: the manuscript has
simply “Thjothmar.” Some editions change it as here, some assume that
Thjothmar is another name or an error for Thjothrek, and Finnur Jonsson
not only retains Thjothmar here but changes Thjothrek to Thjothmar in
stanza 5 to conform to it.
5. Regarding the death of Thjothrek’s men cf. Guthrunarkvitha II,
introductory prose, note. It was on these stanzas of Guthrunarkvitha
III that the annotator based his introduction to Guthrunarkvitha II.
The manuscript repeats the “thirty” in line 2, in defiance of metrical
requirements.
6. In the manuscript this stanza follows stanza 7; many editions have
made the transposition.
7. Who Saxi may be is not clear, but the stanza clearly points to the
time when the ordeal by boiling water was still regarded as a foreign
institution, and when a southern king (i.e., a Christian from some
earlier-converted region) was necessary to consecrate the kettle used
in the test. The ordeal by boiling water followed closely the
introduction of Christianity, which took place around the year 1000.
Some editions make two stanzas out of stanza 7, and Müllenhoff contends
that lines 1–2 do not constitute part of Guthrun’s speech.
10. The word “requited” in line 4 is omitted in the manuscript, but it
is clear that some such word was intended. The punishment of casting a
culprit into a bog to be drowned was particularly reserved for women,
and is not infrequently mentioned in the sagas.
ODDRUNARGRATR
THE LAMENT OF ODDRUN
INTRODUCTORY NOTE
The Oddrunargratr follows Guthrunarkvitha III in the Codex Regius; it
is not quoted or mentioned elsewhere, except that the composer of the
“short” Sigurth lay seems to have been familiar with it. The
Volsungasaga says nothing of the story on which it is based, and
mentions Oddrun only once, in the course of its paraphrase of
Brynhild’s prophecy from the “short” Sigurth lay. That the poem comes
from the eleventh century is generally agreed; prior to the year 1000
there is no trace of the figure of Oddrun, Atli’s sister, and yet the
Oddrunargratr is almost certainly older than the “short” Sigurth lay,
so that the last half of the eleventh century seems to be a fairly safe
guess.
Where or how the figure of Oddrun entered the Sigurth-Atli cycle is
uncertain. She does not appear in any of the extant German versions,
and it is generally assumed that she was a creation of the North,
though the poet refers to “old tales” concerning her. She does not
directly affect the course of the story at all, though the poet has
used effectively the episode of Gunnar’s death, with the implication
that Atli’s vengeance on Gunnar and Hogni was due, at least in part, to
his discovery of Gunnar’s love affair with Oddrun. The material which
forms the background of Oddrun’s story belongs wholly to the German
part of the legend (cf. introductory note to Gripisspo), and is
paralleled with considerable closeness in the Nibelungenlied; only
Oddrun herself and the subsidiary figures of Borgny and Vilmund are
Northern additions. The geography, on the other hand, is so utterly
chaotic as to indicate that the original localization of the Atli story
had lost all trace of significance by the time this poem was composed.
In the manuscript the poem, or rather the brief introductory prose
note, bears the heading “Of Borgny and Oddrun,” but nearly all
editions, following late paper manuscripts, have given the poem the
title it bears here. Outside of a few apparently defective stanzas, and
some confusing transpositions, the poem has clearly been preserved in
good condition, and the beginning and end are definitely marked.
Heithrek was the name of a king, whose daughter was called Borgny.
Vilmund was the name of the man who was her lover. She could not give
birth to a child until Oddrun, Atli’s sister, had come to her; Oddrun
had been beloved of Gunnar, son of Gjuki. About this story is the
following poem.
1. I have heard it told | in olden tales
How a maiden came | to Morningland;
No one of all | on earth above
To Heithrek’s daughter | help could give.
2. This Oddrun learned, | the sister of Atli,
That sore the maiden’s | sickness was;
The bit-bearer forth | from his stall she brought,
And the saddle laid | on the steed so black.
3. She let the horse go | o’er the level ground,
Till she reached the hall | that loftily rose,
(And in she went | from the end of the hall;)
From the weary steed | the saddle she took;
Hear now the speech | that first she spake:
4. “What news on earth, | . . . . . . . .
Or what has happened | in Hunland now?”
A serving-maid spake:
“Here Borgny lies | in bitter pain,
Thy friend, and, Oddrun, | thy help would find.”
Oddrun spake:
5. “Who worked this woe | for the woman thus,
Or why so sudden | is Borgny sick?”
The serving-maid spake:
“Vilmund is he, | the heroes’ friend,
Who wrapped the woman | in bedclothes warm,
(For winters five, | yet her father knew not).”
6. Then no more | they spake, methinks;
She went at the knees | of the woman to sit;
With magic Oddrun | and mightily Oddrun
Chanted for Borgny | potent charms.
7. At last were born | a boy and girl,
Son and daughter | of Hogni’s slayer;
Then speech the woman | so weak began,
Nor said she aught | ere this she spake:
8. “So may the holy | ones thee help,
Frigg and Freyja | and favoring gods,
As thou hast saved me | from sorrow now.”
Oddrun spake:
9. “I came not hither | to help thee thus
Because thou ever | my aid didst earn;
I fulfilled the oath | that of old I swore,
That aid to all | I should ever bring,
(When they shared the wealth | the warriors had).”
Borgny spake:
10. “Wild art thou, Oddrun, | and witless now,
That so in hatred | to me thou speakest;
I followed thee | where thou didst fare,
As we had been born | of brothers twain.”
Oddrun spake:
11. “I remember the evil | one eve thou spakest,
When a draught I gave | to Gunnar then;
Thou didst say that never | such a deed
By maid was done | save by me alone.”
12. Then the sorrowing woman | sat her down
To tell the grief | of her troubles great.
13. “Happy I grew | in the hero’s hall
As the warriors wished, | and they loved me well;
Glad I was | of my father’s gifts,
For winters five, | while my father lived.
14. “These were the words | the weary king,
Ere he died, | spake last of all:
He bade me with red gold | dowered to be,
And to Grimhild’s son | in the South be wedded.
15. “But Brynhild the helm | he bade to wear,
A wish-maid bright | he said she should be;
For a nobler maid | would never be born
On earth, he said, | if death should spare her.
16. “At her weaving Brynhild | sat in her bower,
Lands and folk | alike she had;
The earth and heaven | high resounded
When Fafnir’s slayer | the city saw.
17. “Then battle was fought | with the foreign swords,
And the city was broken | that Brynhild had;
Not long thereafter, | but all too soon,
Their evil wiles | full well she knew.
18. “Woeful for this | her vengeance was,
As so we learned | to our sorrow all;
In every land | shall all men hear
How herself at Sigurth’s | side she slew.
19. “Love to Gunnar | then I gave,
To the breaker of rings, | as Brynhild might;
To Atli rings | so red they offered,
And mighty gifts | to my brother would give.
20. “Fifteen dwellings | fain would he give
For me, and the burden | that Grani bore;
But Atli said | he would never receive
Marriage gold | from Gjuki’s son.
21. “Yet could we not | our love o’ercome,
And my head I laid | on the hero’s shoulder;
Many there were | of kinsmen mine
Who said that together | us they had seen.
22. “Atli said | that never I
Would evil plan, | or ill deed do;
But none may this | of another think,
Or surely speak, | when love is shared.
23. “Soon his men | did Atli send,
In the murky wood | on me to spy;
Thither they came | where they should not come,
Where beneath one cover | close we lay.
24. “To the warriors ruddy | rings we offered,
That nought to Atli | e’er they should say;
But swiftly home | they hastened thence,
And eager all | to Atli told.
25. “But close from Guthrun | kept they hid
What first of all | she ought to have known.
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
26. “Great was the clatter | of gilded hoofs
When Gjuki’s sons | through the gateway rode;
The heart they hewed | from Hogni then,
And the other they cast | in the serpents’ cave.
27. “The hero wise | on his harp then smote,
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
For help from me | in his heart yet hoped
The high-born king, | might come to him.
28. “Alone was I gone | to Geirmund then,
The draught to mix | and ready to make;
Sudden I heard | from Hlesey clear
How in sorrow the strings | of the harp resounded.
29. “I bade the serving-maids | ready to be,
For I longed the hero’s | life to save;
Across the sound | the boats we sailed,
Till we saw the whole | of Atli’s home.
30. “Then crawling the evil | woman came,
Atli’s mother— | may she ever rot!
And hard she bit | to Gunnar’s heart,
So I could not help | the hero brave.
31. “Oft have I wondered | how after this,
Serpents’-bed goddess! | I still might live,
For well I loved | the warrior brave,
The giver of swords, | as my very self.
32. “Thou didst see and listen, | the while I said
The mighty grief | that was mine and theirs;
Each man lives | as his longing wills,—
Oddrun’s lament | is ended now.”
NOTES
Prose. Nothing further is known of Heithrek, Borgny or Vilmund. The
annotator has added the name of Borgny’s father, but otherwise his
material comes from the poem itself. Oddrun, sister of Atli and
Brynhild, here appears as proficient in birth-runes (cf. Sigrdrifumol,
8). Regarding her love for Gunnar, Guthrun’s brother, and husband of
her sister, Brynhild, cf. Sigurtharkvitha en skamma, 57 and note.
1. Olden tales: this may be merely a stock phrase, or it may really
mean that the poet found his story in oral prose tradition.
Morningland: the poem’s geography is utterly obscure. “Morningland” is
apparently identical with “Hunland” (stanza 4), and yet Oddrun is
herself sister of the king of the Huns. Vigfusson tries to make
“Mornaland” into “Morva land” and explain it as Moravia. Probably it
means little more than a country lying vaguely in the East. With stanza
28 the confusion grows worse.
3. Line 3 (cf. Völundarkvitha, 17) or line 5 (cf. Thrymskvitha, 2),
both quoted from older poems, is probably spurious; the manuscript
marks line 3 as the beginning of a new stanza.
4. Line 1 in the original appears to have lost its second half. In line
2 the word rendered “has happened” is doubtful. The manuscript does not
indicate the speaker of lines 3–4, and a few editors assign them to
Borgny herself.
5. The manuscript does not indicate the speakers. For the woman:
conjectural; the manuscript has instead: “What warrior now | hath
worked this woe?” The manuscript indicates line 3 as beginning a new
stanza. Line 5, apparently modeled on line 4 of stanza 13, is probably
spurious.
6. Charms: cf. Sigrdrifumol, 8.
7. Hogni’s slayer: obviously Vilmund, but unless he was the one of
Atli’s followers who actually cut out Hogni’s heart (cf. Drap
Niflunga), there is nothing else to connect him with Hogni’s death.
Sijmons emends the line to read “Born of the sister | of Hogni’s
slayer.”
8. Regarding Frigg as a goddess of healing cf. Svipdagsmol, 52, note.
Regarding Freyja as the friend of lovers cf. Grimnismol, 14, note. A
line is very possibly missing from this stanza.
9. The manuscript does not name the speaker. In line 2 the word
rendered “earn” is omitted in the manuscript, but nearly all editions
have supplied it. Line 5 is clearly either interpolated or out of
place. It may be all that is left of a stanza which stood between
stanzas 15 and 16, or it may belong in stanza 12.
10–20. In the manuscript the order is as follows: 12; 13; 14; 15, 3–4;
10; 11; 16; 17; 18; 19, 1–2; 15, 1–2; 19, 3–4; 20. The changes made
here, following several of the editions, are: (a) the transposition of
stanzas 10–11, which are clearly dialogue, out of the body of the
lament to a position just before it; (b) the transposition of lines 1–2
of stanza 15 to their present position from the middle of stanza 19.
10. The manuscript does not name the speaker; cf. note on stanzas
10–20.
11. The manuscript does not name the speaker; cf. note on stanzas
10–20. The word rendered “evil” in line 1 is a conjectural addition.
Apparently Borgny was present at Atli’s court while the love affair
between Oddrun and Gunnar was in progress, and criticised Oddrun for
her part in it. A draught, etc.: apparently in reference to a secret
meeting of the lovers.
12. In the manuscript this stanza follows stanza 9; cf. note on stanzas
10–20. No gap is indicated, but something has presumably been lost.
Grundtvig supplies as a first line: “The maid her evil | days
remembered,” and inserts as a second line line 5 of stanza 9.
13. The manuscript indicates line 3 as the beginning of a new stanza;
many editions combine lines 1–2 with stanza 12 and lines 3–4 with lines
1–2 of stanza 14. The hero: Buthli, father of Oddrun, Atli, and
Brynhild.
14. The manuscript indicates line 3, but not line 1, as the beginning
of a new stanza; some editions combine lines 3–4 with lines 3–4 of
stanza 15. Making Buthli plan the marriage of Oddrun and Gunnar may be
a sheer invention of the poet, or may point to an otherwise lost
version of the legend.
15. Lines 1–2 have here been transposed from the middle of stanza 19;
cf. note on stanzas 10–20. Wish-maid: a Valkyrie, so called because the
Valkyries fullfilled Othin’s wish in choosing the slain heroes for
Valhall. The reference to Brynhild as a Valkyrie by no means fits with
the version of the story used in stanzas 16–17, and the poet seems to
have attempted to combine the two contradictory traditions; cf.
Fafnismol, note on stanza 44. In the manuscript stanzas 10–11 follow
line 4 of stanza 15.
16. In stanzas 16–17 the underlying story seems to be the one used in
Sigurtharkvitha en skamma (particularly stanzas 32–39), and referred to
in Guthrunarkvitha I, 24, wherein Gunnar and Sigurth lay siege to
Atli’s city (it here appears as Brynhild’s) and are bought off only by
Atli’s giving Brynhild to Gunnar as wife, winning her consent thereto
by falsely representing to her that Gunnar is Sigurth. This version is,
of course, utterly at variance with the one in which Sigurth wins
Brynhild for Gunnar by riding through the ring of flames, and is
probably more closely akin to the early German traditions. In the
Nibelungenlied Brynhild appears as a queen ruling over lands and
peoples. Fafnir’s slayer: Sigurth.
17. Cf. note on preceding stanza.
18. Cf. Sigurtharkvitha en skamma, stanzas 64–70.
19. In the manuscript lines 1–2 of stanza 15 follow line 2, resulting
in various conjectural combinations. The manuscript marks line 3 as
beginning a new stanza. Rings, etc.: possibly, as Gering maintains,
payment offered by Gunnar and Hogni for Brynhild’s death, but more
probably, as in stanza 20, Gunnar’s proffered “marriage gold” for the
hand of Oddrun.
20. Grani’s burden: the treasure won by Sigurth from Fafnir; cf.
Fafnismol, concluding prose. The manuscript marks line 3 as beginning a
new stanza, as also in stanzas 21 and 22.
23. Murky wood: the forest which divided Atli’s realm from that of the
Gjukungs is in Atlakvitha, 3, called Myrkwood. This hardly accords with
the extraordinary geography of stanzas 28–29, or with the journey
described in Guthrunarkvitha II, 36.
24. In the manuscript lines 3 and 4 stand in reversed order.
25. No gap is indicated in the manuscript; some editors assume the loss
not only of two lines, but of an additional stanza. Evidently Guthrun
has already become Atli’s wife.
26. If a stanza has been lost after stanza 25, it may well have told of
Atli’s treacherous invitation to the Gjukungs to visit him; cf. Drap
Niflunga, which likewise tells of the slaying of Hogni and Gunnar (the
other).
27. In the manuscript these three lines follow line 2 of stanza 28. No
gap is indicated in the manuscript. In the Volsungasaga Guthrun gives
her brother the harp, with which he puts the serpents to sleep. The
episode is undoubtedly related to the famous thirtieth Aventiure of the
Nibelungenlied, in which Volker plays the followers of Gunther to sleep
before the final battle.
28. In the manuscript the three lines of stanza 27 follow line 2, and
line 3 is marked as beginning a new stanza. Geirmund: nothing further
is known of him, but he seems to be an ally or retainer of Atli, or
possibly his brother. Hlesey: the poet’s geography is here in very bad
shape. Hlesey is (or may be) the Danish island of Läsö, in the Kattegat
(cf. Harbarthsljoth, 37 and note), and thither he has suddenly
transported not only Gunnar’s death-place but Atli’s whole dwelling
(cf. stanza 29), despite his previous references to the ride to Hunland
(stanzas 3–4) and the “murky wood” (stanza 23). Geirmund’s home, where
Oddrun has gone, is separated from Hlesey and Atli’s dwelling by a
sound (stanza 29). However, geographical accuracy is seldom to be
looked for in heroic epic poetry.
29. Many editions combine this stanza with lines 3–4 of stanza 28. The
sound: cf. note on stanza 28.
30. The manuscript marks line 3 as beginning a new stanza. Atli’s
mother: the Volsungasaga does not follow this version; Gunnar puts all
the serpents but one to sleep with his harp playing, “but a mighty and
evil adder crawled to him and drove his fangs into him till they
reached his heart, and so he died.” It is possible that “Atli” is a
scribal error for a word meaning “of serpents.”
31. Serpents’-bed goddess: woman (i.e., Borgny); “goddess of gold” was
a frequent term for a woman, and gold was often called the “serpents’
bed” (cf. Guthrunarkvitha I, 24 and note).
32. Some editions make line 4 a statement of the poet’s, and not part
of Oddrun’s speech.
ATLAKVITHA EN GRÖNLENZKA
THE GREENLAND LAY OF ATLI
INTRODUCTORY NOTE
There are two Atli poems in the Codex Regius, the Atlakvitha (Lay of
Atli) and the Atlamol (Ballad of Atli). The poems are not preserved or
quoted in any other old manuscript, but they were extensively used by
the compilers of the Volsungasaga. In the manuscript superscription to
each of these poems appears the word “Greenland,” which has given rise
to a large amount of argument. The scribe was by no means infallible,
and in this case his statement proves no more than that in the period
round 1300 there was a tradition that these two poems originated in the
Greenland settlement.
The two Atli poems deal with substantially the same material: the visit
of the sons of Gjuki to Atli’s court, their deaths, and the subsequent
revenge of their sister, Guthrun, Atli’s wife, on her husband. The
shorter of the two, the Atlakvitha, tells the story with little
elaboration; the Atlamol, with about the same narrative basis, adds
many details, some of them apparently of the poet’s invention, and with
a romantic, not to say sentimental, quality quite lacking in the
Atlakvitha. Both poems are sharply distinguished from the rest of the
collection by their metrical form, which is the Malahattr (used
irregularly also in the Harbarthsljoth), employed consistently and
smoothly in the Atlamol, and with a considerable mixture of what appear
to be Fornyrthislag lines (cf. Introduction) in the Atlakvitha.
It is altogether probable that both poems belong to the eleventh
century, the shorter Atlakvitha being generally dated from the first
quarter thereof, and the longer Atlamol some fifty years or more later.
In each case the poet was apparently a Christian; in the Atlamol
(stanza 82) Guthrun expresses her readiness to die and “go into another
light,” and in the Atlakvitha there is frequent use of mythological
names (e.g., Valhall, Hlithskjolf) with an evident lack of
understanding of their relation to the older gods. These facts fit the
theory of a Greenland origin exceedingly well, for the Greenland
settlement grew rapidly after the first explorations of Eirik the Red,
which were in 982–985, and its most flourishing period was in the
eleventh century. The internal evidence, particularly in the case of
the Atlamol, points likewise to an origin remote from Iceland, Norway,
and the “Western Isles”; and the two poems are sufficiently alike so
that, despite the efforts of Finnur Jonsson and others to separate
them, assigning one to Greenland and the other to Norway or elsewhere,
it seems probable that the manuscript statement is correct in both
instances, and that the two Atli poems did actually originate in
Greenland. An interesting account of this Greenland settlement is given
in William Hovgaard’s Voyages of the Norsemen to America, published by
the American-Scandinavian Foundation in 1914, and an extraordinarily
vivid picture of the sufferings of the early settlers appears in
Maurice Hewlett’s Thorgils, taken from the Floamannasaga.
From the standpoint of narrative material there is little that is
distinctively Norse in either the Atlakvitha or the Atlamol. The story
is the one outlined in the prose Drap Niflunga (largely based on these
two poems), representing almost exclusively the southern blending of
the Attila and Burgundian legends (cf. introductory note to Gripisspo).
In the Atlakvitha, indeed, the word “Burgundians” is actually used.
Brynhild is not mentioned in either poem; Sigurth’s name appears but
once, in the Atlamol. Thus the material goes directly back to its
South-Germanic origins, with little of the Northern making-over which
resulted in such extensive changes in most parts of the Sigurth story.
The general atmosphere, on the other hand, particularly in the Atlamol,
is essentially Norse.
As has been said, the Atlakvitha is metrically in a chaotic state, the
normal Malahattr lines being frequently interspersed with lines and
even stanzas which apparently are of the older Fornyrthislag type. How
much of this confusion is due to faulty transmission is uncertain, but
it has been suggested that the composer of the Atlakvitha made over in
Malahattr an older Atli poem in Fornyrthislag, and this suggestion has
much to recommend it. That he worked on the basis of an older poem is,
indeed, almost certain, for in oral prose tradition a far larger number
of distinctively Norse traits would unquestionably have crept in than
are found in the material of the Atlakvitha. As for the Atlamol, here
again the poet seems to have used an older poem as his basis, possibly
the Atlakvitha itself, although in that case he must have had other
material as well, for there are frequent divergences in such matters as
proper names.
The translation of the Atlakvitha is rendered peculiarly difficult by
the irregularity of the metre, by the evident faultiness of the
transmission, and above all by the exceptionally large number of words
found nowhere else in Old Norse, involving much guesswork as to their
meanings. The notes do not attempt to indicate all the varying
suggestions made by editors and commentators as to the reconstruction
of defective stanzas and the probable meanings of obscure passages; in
cases which are purely or largely guesswork the notes merely point out
the uncertainty without cataloguing the proposed solutions.
Guthrun, Gjuki’s daughter, avenged her brothers, as has become well
known. She slew first Atli’s sons, and thereafter she slew Atli, and
burned the hall with his whole company. Concerning this was the
following poem made:
1. Atli sent | of old to Gunnar
A keen-witted rider, | Knefröth did men call him;
To Gjuki’s home came he | and to Gunnar’s dwelling,
With benches round the hearth, | and to the beer so sweet.
2. Then the followers, hiding | their falseness, all drank
Their wine in the war-hall, | of the Huns’ wrath wary;
And Knefröth spake loudly, | his words were crafty,
The hero from the south, | on the high bench sitting:
3. “Now Atli has sent me | his errand to ride,
On my bit-champing steed | through Myrkwood the secret,
To bid you, Gunnar, | to his benches to come,
With helms round the hearth, | and Atli’s home seek.
4. “Shields shall ye choose there, | and shafts made of
ash-wood,
Gold-adorned helmets, | and slaves out of Hunland,
Silver-gilt saddle-cloths, | shirts of bright scarlet,
With lances and spears too, | and bit-champing steeds.
5. “The field shall be given you | of wide Gnitaheith,
With loud-ringing lances, | and stems gold-o’erlaid,
Treasures full huge, | and the home of Danp,
And the mighty forest | that Myrkwood is called.”
6. His head turned Gunnar, | and to Hogni he said:
“What thy counsel, young hero, | when such things we hear?
No gold do I know | on Gnitaheith lying
So fair that other | its equal we have not.
7. “We have seven halls, | each of swords is full,
(And all of gold | is the hilt of each;)
My steed is the swiftest, | my sword is sharpest,
My bows adorn benches, | my byrnies are golden,
My helm is the brightest | that came from Kjar’s hall,
(Mine own is better | than all the Huns’ treasure.)”
Hogni spake:
8. “What seeks she to say, | that she sends us a ring,
Woven with a wolf’s hair? | methinks it gives warning;
In the red ring a hair | of the heath-dweller found I,
Wolf-like shall our road be | if we ride on this journey.”
9. Not eager were his comrades, | nor the men of his kin,
The wise nor the wary, | nor the warriors bold.
But Gunnar spake forth | as befitted a king,
Noble in the beer-hall, | and bitter his scorn:
10. “Stand forth now, Fjornir! | and hither on the floor
The beakers all golden | shalt thou bring to the warriors.
. . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . .
11. “The wolves then shall rule | the wealth of the Niflungs,
Wolves aged and grey-hued, | if Gunnar is lost,
And black-coated bears | with rending teeth bite,
And make glad the dogs, | if Gunnar returns not.”
12. A following gallant | fared forth with the ruler,
Yet they wept as their home | with the hero they left;
And the little heir | of Hogni called loudly:
“Go safe now, ye wise ones, | wherever ye will!”
13. Then let the bold heroes | their bit-champing horses
On the mountains gallop, | and through Myrkwood the secret;
All Hunland was shaken | where the hard-souled ones rode,
On the whip-fearers fared they | through fields that were
green.
14. Then they saw Atli’s halls, | and his watch-towers high,
On the walls so lofty | stood the warriors of Buthli;
The hall of the southrons | with seats was surrounded,
With targets bound | and shields full bright.
15. Mid weapons and lances | did Atli his wine
In the war-hall drink, | without were his watchmen,
For Gunnar they waited, | if forth he should go,
With their ringing spears | they would fight with the ruler.
16. This their sister saw, | as soon as her brothers
Had entered the hall,— | little ale had she drunk:
“Betrayed art thou, Gunnar! | what guard hast thou, hero,
’Gainst the plots of the Huns? | from the hall flee swiftly!
17. “Brother, ’twere far better | to have come in byrnie,
With thy household helmed, | to see Atli’s home,
And to sit in the saddle | all day ’neath the sun,
(That the sword-norns might weep | for the death-pale warriors,
And the Hunnish shield-maids | might shun not the sword,)
And send Atli himself | to the den of the snakes;
(Now the den of the snakes | for thee is destined.)”
Gunnar spake:
18. . . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
“Too late is it, sister, | to summon the Niflungs,
Long is it to come | to the throng of our comrades,
The heroes gallant, | from the hills of the Rhine.”
* * * * * *
19. Then Gunnar they seized, | and they set him in chains,
The Burgundians’ king, | and fast they bound him.
20. Hogni slew seven | with sword so keen,
And an eighth he flung | in the fire hot;
A hero should fight | with his foemen thus,
As Hogni strove | in Gunnar’s behalf.
21. . . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
The leader they asked | if his life he fain
With gold would buy, | the king of the Goths.
Gunnar spake:
22. “First the heart of Hogni | shall ye lay in my hands,
All bloody from the breast | of the bold one cut
With keen-biting sword, | from the son of the king.”
23. . . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
They cut out the heart | from the breast of Hjalli,
On a platter they bore it, | and brought it to Gunnar.
24. Then Gunnar spake forth, | the lord of the folk:
“Here have I the heart | of Hjalli the craven,
Unlike to the heart | of Hogni the valiant,
For it trembles still | as it stands on the platter;
Twice more did it tremble | in the breast of the man.”
25. Then Hogni laughed | when they cut out the heart
Of the living helm-hammerer; | tears he had not.
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
On a platter they bore it, | and brought it to Gunnar.
26. Then Gunnar spake forth, | the spear of the Niflungs:
“Here have I the heart | of Hogni the valiant,
Unlike to the heart | of Hjalli the craven,
Little it trembles | as it lies on the platter,
Still less did it tremble | when it lay in his breast.
27. “So distant, Atli, | from all men’s eyes,
Shalt thou be as thou | . . . . . from the gold.
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
28. “To no one save me | is the secret known
Of the Niflungs’ hoard, | now Hogni is dead;
Of old there were two, | while we twain were alive,
Now is none but I, | for I only am living.
29. “The swift Rhine shall hold | the strife-gold of heroes,
That once was the gods’, | the wealth of the Niflungs,
In the depths of the waters | the death-rings shall glitter,
And not shine on the hands | of the Hunnish men.”
Atli spake:
30. “Ye shall bring the wagon, | for now is he bound.”
* * * * * *
31. On the long-maned Glaum | rode Atli the great,
About him were warriors | . . . . . . . .
But Guthrun, akin | to the gods of slaughter,
Yielded not to her tears | in the hall of tumult.
Guthrun spake:
32. “It shall go with thee, Atli, | as with Gunnar thou heldest
The oaths ofttimes sworn, | and of old made firm,
By the sun in the south, | by Sigtyr’s mountain,
By the horse of the rest-bed, | and the ring of Ull.”
33. Then the champer of bits | drew the chieftain great,
The gold-guarder, down | to the place of death.
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
34. By the warriors’ host | was the living hero
Cast in the den | where crawling about
Within were serpents, | but soon did Gunnar
With his hand in wrath on | the harp-strings smite;
The strings resounded,— | so shall a hero,
A ring-breaker, gold | from his enemies guard.
35. Then Atli rode | on his earth-treading steed,
Seeking his home, | from the slaughter-place;
There was clatter of hoofs | of the steeds in the court,
And the clashing of arms | as they came from the field.
36. Out then came Guthrun | to meeting with Atli,
With a golden beaker | as gift to the monarch:
“Thou mayst eat now, chieftain, | within thy dwelling,
Blithely with Guthrun | young beasts fresh slaughtered.”
37. The wine-heavy ale-cups | of Atli resounded,
When there in the hall | the Hunnish youths clamored,
And the warriors bearded, | the brave ones, entered.
38. Then in came the shining one, | . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . | and drink she bore them;
Unwilling and bitter | brought she food to the warrior,
Till in scorn to the white-faced | Atli did she speak:
39. “Thou giver of swords, | of thy sons the hearts
All heavy with blood | in honey thou hast eaten;
Thou shalt stomach, thou hero, | the flesh of the slain,
To eat at thy feast, | and to send to thy followers.
40. “Thou shalt never call | to thy knees again
Erp or Eitil, | when merry with ale;
Thou shalt never see | in their seats again
The sharers of gold | their lances shaping,
(Clipping the manes | or minding their steeds.)”
41. There was clamor on the benches, | and the cry of men,
The clashing of weapons, | and weeping of the Huns,
Save for Guthrun only, | she wept not ever
For her bear-fierce brothers, | or the boys so dear,
So young and so unhappy, | whom with Atli she had.
42. Gold did she scatter, | the swan-white one,
And rings of red gold | to the followers gave she;
The fate she let grow, | and the shining wealth go,
Nor spared she the treasure | of the temple itself.
43. Unwise then was Atli, | he had drunk to wildness,
No weapon did he have, | and of Guthrun bewared not;
Oft their play was better | when both in gladness
Each other embraced | among princes all.
44. With her sword she gave blood | for the bed to drink,
With her death-dealing hand, | and the hounds she loosed,
The thralls she awakened, | and a firebrand threw
In the door of the hall; | so vengeance she had.
45. To the flames she gave all | who yet were within,
And from Myrkheim had come | from the murder of Gunnar;
The timbers old fell, | the temple was in flames,
The dwelling of the Buthlungs, | and the shield-maids burned,
They were slain in the house, | in the hot flames they sank.
46. Now the tale is all told, | nor in later time
Will a woman in byrnie | avenge so her brothers;
The fair one to three | of the kings of the folk
Brought the doom of death | ere herself she died.
Still more is told in the Greenland ballad of Atli.
NOTES
Prose. On the marriage of Guthrun to Atli at the instigation of her
brothers, Gunnar and Hogni, and on the slaying of Atli and his two
sons, Erp and Eitil, cf. Drap Niflunga and note.
1. Line 1 apparently is in Fornyrthislag. Knefröth (the name is spelt
in various ways, and its meaning is uncertain): in the Atlamol (stanza
4) there are two messengers, one named Vingi and the other unnamed; the
annotator combines the two versions in the Drap Niflunga. Benches,
etc.: the adjective rendered “round the hearth,” which etymologically
it ought to mean, is made obscure by its application to “helmets” in
stanzas 3 and 17.
2. Falseness: i.e., Gunnar’s followers concealed their fear and hatred
of the Huns at the feast; but the word may mean “fear of treachery.”
War-hall: the word used is “Valhall,” the name of Othin’s hall of slain
warriors.
3. Myrkwood the secret (the adjective is literally “unknown”): the
forest which divided Atli’s realm from that of the Gjukungs; cf.
Oddrunargratr, 23 and note. Around the hearth: the adjective is the
same one which is applied to “benches” in stanza 1 (cf. note); it may
be an error here, or it may possibly have the force of “of your
followers,” i.e., Gunnar is to arm the men of his household (those who
are round his hearth) for the journey.
4. Slaves, etc.: some editions have “swords in plenty.” Scarlet: the
word apparently means “slaughter-red,” “blood-red,” but it may mean
something entirely different.
5. Gnitaheith: here the dragon Fafnir had his lair (cf. Gripisspo, 11).
Sigurth doubtless owned it after Fafnir’s death, and the Gjukungs after
they had killed Sigurth. Possibly they had given it to Atli in
recompense for the death of his sister, Brynhild, and he now offered to
restore it to them, or—as seems more likely—the poet was not very clear
about its ownership himself. Stems: i.e., the gilded stems of ships,
carved like dragons,—an evident northern touch, if the word is correct,
which is by no means certain. Danp: this name was early applied to a
mythical Danish king (cf. Rigsthula, 49 and note), but it may have been
fabricated by error out of the word “Danparstaþir” (the phrase here
used is “staþi Danpar”), used in the Hervararsaga of a field of battle
between the Goths and the Huns, and quite possibly referring to the
region of the Dnieper. The name seems to have clung to the Atli
tradition long after it had lost all definite significance. Myrkwood:
cf. note on stanza 3.
7. The stanza is clearly in bad shape; the manuscript indicates line 5
as beginning a new stanza. In line 5 the manuscript has “and shield”
after “helm.” Kjar: Gering ingeniously identifies this Kjar with Kjar
the father of Olrun, mentioned in the Völundarkvitha, introductory
prose and stanza 2, on the basis of a genealogy in the Flateyjarbok, in
which Authi, the grandfather of Kjar (by no means certainly the same
man) and Buthli, father of Atli, are mentioned as making a raiding
voyage together. This identification, however, rests on slight
evidence.
8. The manuscript does not name the speaker. One editor gives the first
sentence to Gunnar. She, etc.: Guthrun, seeking to warn her brothers of
Atli’s treachery, sends them a ring with a wolf’s hair as a sign of
danger; in the Atlamol (stanza 4) she sends a message written in runes;
cf. Drap Niflunga. Heath-dweller: wolf.
9. In line 1 the manuscript has “His comrades did not urge Gunnar,” but
the name, involving a metrical error, seems to have been inserted
through a scribal blunder.
10. The manuscript indicates no lacuna, but probably two lines have
dropped out, for the Volsungasaga paraphrase runs: “Give us to drink in
great cups, for it may well be that this shall be our last feast.”
Fjornir: Gunnar’s cup-bearer.
11. Bugge thinks this stanza is spoken by Gunnar’s terrified followers;
Grundtvig assigns it to Hogni. Apparently, however, Gunnar means that
if he and his men are not valiant enough to make the journey and return
safely, it matters little what may happen to them. Niflungs: regarding
the application of this name to Gunnar’s Burgundians cf. Brot, 17 and
note. Bears: these “black” bears have been used as arguments against
the Greenland origin of the poem. And make glad the dogs: i.e., by
giving them corpses to eat, but the phrase in the original is more than
doubtful.
12. Some editions in line 2 read “home of the Niflungs” instead of
“their home,” and others “home of the Huns,” the manuscript reading
being “home of the men.” Heir: the Atlamol (stanza 28) names two sons
of Hogni, Snævar and Solar, both of whom make the journey with their
father and are killed. The Volsungasaga, combining the two versions,
says that Snævar and Solar went with their father, and implies that it
was a third and still younger son who said: “Farewell, and have a good
time” (thus literally).
13. Myrkwood: cf. stanza 3 and note; the journey is here made by land,
whereas in the Atlamol it is made partly by boat; cf. Atlamol, 34 and
note. Whip-fearers: horses, but there is some uncertainty as to the
word.
14. In line 1 the manuscript has “land” instead of “halls,” which
involves a metrical error. Watch-towers: the word used is identical
with the name of Othin’s watch-tower, Hlithskjolf (cf. Grimnismol,
introductory prose). Buthli: the manuscript has “Bikki,” which has led
some editors to transfer this stanza to the Hamthesmol, placing it
between stanzas 16 and 17; it seems more likely, however, that “Bikki”
was a scribal error for “Buthli.” Regarding Bikki cf. Sigurtharkvitha
en skamma, 63 and note. Line 4 is apparently in Fornyrthislag.
15. Line 1 in the manuscript is apparently incorrectly copied, and some
editions omit “Mid weapons and lances” and assume a gap in either line
1 or line 3.
17. This may be the remains of two stanzas; the manuscript marks line 5
as beginning a new stanza. Editorial conjectures are numerous and
varied. Household: the phrase is the same “helms round the hearth”
commented on in stanza 3. Some editions insert a conjectural line after
line 3. Sword-norns, etc.: the line is exceedingly obscure, and the
phrase rendered “sword-norns” may mean “corpse-norns.” Apparently it
refers to the warrior-women of the Huns, the “shield-maids” of line 5
and of stanza 45. Roman writers refer to the warrior-women among the
early Germanic tribes, and the tradition, closely allied to that of the
Valkyries, attached itself readily to the ferocious Huns. Den of
snakes: concerning the manner of Gunnar’s death cf. Drap Niflunga.
18. The manuscript indicates no lacuna and does not name the speaker;
perhaps a line similar to line 1 of stanza 24 (or 26) should be
inserted here. Rhine: Gunnar’s Burgundian home is here clearly
localized. After this stanza it is probable that a passage describing
the battle has been lost.
19. These two lines, apparently the remains of a full stanza, may
belong after stanza 20. Burgundians’ king: the phrase may mean
“Burgundians’ men,” i.e., they bound all the Burgundians who were left
alive after the battle. This is the only place in the poems in which
the name “Burgundian” appears; that the poet had no very clear
conception of its meaning is indicated by the fact that in stanza 21 he
calls Gunnar “king of the Goths.”
20. Apparently a Fornyrthislag stanza, though most editions have
attempted to expand the lines into Malahattr. The exploits of Hogni
(Hagene), with the names of many of his victims, are told in the
Nibelungenlied. The fire: in the Nibelungenlied Kriemhild has the hall
set on fire, and the Burgundians fight amid the flames. Line 4 is
clearly defective, and some editors regard the name “Gunnar” as all
that is left of the first two lines of stanza 21.
21. Again apparently the remains of a Fornyrthislag stanza. Editors
have attempted various combinations of the lines. Gold: presumably
Sigurth’s treasure.
22. The manuscript does not indicate the speaker; perhaps a first line
similar to line 1 of stanza 24 should appear here. Some editors,
however, assume that a line is missing after line 3. Gunnar demands
proof that Hogni is dead because, as stanza 28 shows, he is unwilling
to die himself until he is assured that the secret of the treasure will
perish with him. He did not, of course, intend that the heart should be
cut from the living Hogni.
23. Most editions assume a gap (lines 1–2, 2–3 or 3–4). Hjalli: Atli’s
cook, killed to deceive Gunnar, as Atli hoped to wring the secret of
the hoard from Hogni if Gunnar remained silent. In the Atlamol (stanzas
59–60) Atli’s men prepare to kill Hjalli, but he is spared at Hogni’s
intercession.
25. Helm-hammerer (literally “helmet-smith”): warrior, i.e., Hogni. No
gap indicated in the manuscript.
26. Line 1 may belong elsewhere (stanzas 18 or 22).
27. Apparently the remains of two Fornyrthislag lines; the manuscript
combines them with lines 1–2 of stanza 28. Gunnar foretells Atli’s
speedy death.
28. Apparently in Fornyrthislag. The manuscript indicates line 3 as the
beginning of a stanza, and many editions combine lines 3–4 with stanza
29. This stanza explains Gunnar’s demand for Hogni’s heart in stanza
22.
29. The manuscript marks line 3, and not line 1, as the beginning of a
stanza. Rhine, etc.: the stanza shows the blending of three different
traditions with regard to the treasure: the German tradition of the
gold of the Rhine (cf. Völundarkvitha, 16, and Sigurtharkvitha en
skamma, 16), the tradition, likewise German, of the hoard of the
Nibelungen (Niflungs), early blended with the first one, and finally
the northern tradition of the theft of Andvari’s treasure by Othin,
Hönir, and Loki (cf. Reginsmol, 1–9).
30. Apparently all that is left of a full stanza. The manuscript does
not name Atli as the speaker, and Grundtvig inserts: “Then Atli called,
| the king of the Huns,” as a first line. Some editors combine this
line with the two lines of stanza 33. Wagon: in Brot, 16, Gunnar is led
to his death in the serpents’ den on horseback, not in a wagon.
31. The stanza in the original is hopelessly confused. Glaum: this
horse of Atli’s is mentioned by name elsewhere. Long-maned: uncertain.
The manuscript indicates no gap, but something has evidently been lost.
Gods of slaughter: perhaps the phrase, usually applied to Othin and the
other gods, is here used simply to mean “heroes,” i.e., Atli, Gunnar,
and Hogni. Line 4 suggests Guthrun’s tearlessness after Sigurth’s death
(cf. Guthrunarkvitha II, 11).
32. The manuscript does not indicate the speaker. Sigtyr
(“Victory-God”): Othin; what particular mountain (if any) is meant is
unknown. Horse of the rest-bed: probably this means “bedpost,” i.e.,
the support of the marriage-bed. Ull: the archer-god, cf. Grimnismol, 5
and note. Nothing is known of his ring.
33. Apparently the remains of a Fornyrthislag stanza. Some editors
combine the two lines with the line here indicated as stanza 30.
Champer of bits: horse. The manuscript indicates no gap.
34. Six Fornyrthislag lines which editors have tried to reconstruct in
all sorts of ways. The manuscript marks line 5 as the beginning of a
new stanza. Regarding the serpents’ den, Gunnar’s harp-playing, and the
manner of his death, cf. Drap Niflunga and Oddrunargratr, 27–30, and
notes. In Atlamol, 62, Gunnar plays the harp with his feet, his hands
being bound, and some editors change hand in line 4 to “foot.” Lines
5–6 may be interpolated, or, as Bugge maintains, lines 1–4 may have
been expanded out of two lines.
35. The manuscript marks line 3 as beginning a new stanza. Two
(possibly three) of the lines appear to be in Fornyrthislag. Field: so
the manuscript, involving a metrical error; many editions have “wood.”
36. Young beasts: Guthrun means Atli’s sons, Erp and Eitil, but of
course he thinks she refers to newly slaughtered beasts; cf.
Guthrunarkvitha II, 41–45.
37. Youths: a conjectural addition. The brave ones is also conjectural,
the manuscript having “each.” No gap indicated in the manuscript; some
editions insert as line 3 or line 4 a slightly altered version of line
2 of stanza 45.
38. No gap indicated in the manuscript, but the two fragments cannot be
fitted together as one line. The shining one: Guthrun.
39. Giver of swords: generous prince, i.e., Atli. Honey: cf.
Guthrunarkvitha II, 42. To send to thy followers: literally, “to send
from thy high seat.”
40. Apparently a Fornyrthislag stanza. Merry with ale: presumably this
refers to Atli, but the manuscript reading makes it apply to the two
boys. Sharers of gold: princes. Line 5 is either interpolated or all
that is left of a separate stanza.
41. The text of the whole stanza has required a considerable amount of
emendation. Lines 3–5 may have been expanded out of two lines, or line
5 may be an interpolation, possibly from stanza 12 of the
Guthrunarhvot. Weapons: the word literally means “good-weaving,” and
may refer to silken garments, but this hardly fits the noun here
rendered “clashing.” Wept not: cf. stanza 31 and note.
42. Line 1 appears to be in Fornyrthislag. Guthrun distributes Atli’s
treasures among his followers apparently to prevent their wrath at the
slaying of Erp and Eitil from turning against her; Atli, as stanza 43
shows, is too drunk to realize or prevent what she is doing.
43. The second half of line 4 is apparently an error, but none of the
editorial suggestions have improved it.
44. Guthrun allows the dogs and the house-thralls, who had no part in
Gunnar’s death, to escape before she burns the dwelling with all who
are left therein. In Atlamol, stanzas 83–84, Atli is slain by a son of
Hogni (Hniflung?) with Guthrun’s help.
45. Some editions transfer line 2 to stanza 37; others reject line 3 as
interpolated. Myrkheim (“Dark-Home”): probably identical with Myrkwood;
cf. stanza 3. Temple: probably both here and in stanza 42 the word
means little more than the place where Atli’s treasures were kept; the
poet was by no means literal in his use of terms connected with the
heathen religion. Buthlungs: sons of Buthli, i.e., Atli and his family.
Shield-maids: cf. stanza 17 and note.
46. The entire stanza is very likely a later addition. Three kings:
Atli and his two sons, Erp and Eitil.
ATLAMOL EN GRÖNLENZKU
THE GREENLAND BALLAD OF ATLI
INTRODUCTORY NOTE
Many of the chief facts regarding the Atlamol, which follows the
Atlakvitha in the Codex Regius, are outlined in the introductory note
to the earlier Atli lay. That the superscription in the manuscript is
correct, and that the poem was actually composed in Greenland, is
generally accepted; the specific reference to polar bears (stanza 17),
and the general color of the entire poem make this origin exceedingly
likely. Most critics, again, agree in dating the poem nearer 1100 than
1050. As to its state of preservation there is some dispute, but,
barring one or two possible gaps of some importance, and the usual
number of passages in which the interpolation or omission of one or two
lines may be suspected, the Atlamol has clearly come down to us in
fairly good shape.
Throughout the poem the epic quality of the story itself is
overshadowed by the romantically sentimental tendencies of the poet,
and by his desire to adapt the narrative to the understanding of his
fellow-Greenlanders. The substance of the poem is the same as that of
the Atlakvitha; it tells of Atli’s message to the sons of Gjuki, their
journey to Atli’s home, the slaying of Hogni and Gunnar, Guthrun’s
bitterness over the death of her brothers, and her bloody revenge on
Atli. Thus in its bare outline the Atlamol represents simply the
Frankish blending of the legends of the slaughter of the Burgundians
and the death of Attila (cf. Gripisspo, introductory note). But here
the resemblance ends. The poet has added characters, apparently of his
own creation, for the sake of episodes which would appeal to both the
men and the women of the Greenland settlement. Sea voyages take the
place of journeys by land; Atli is reproached, not for cowardice in
battle, but for weakness at the Thing or great council. The additions
made by the poet are responsible for the Atlamol’s being the longest of
all the heroic poems in the Eddic collection, and they give it a kind
of emotional vividness, but it has little of the compressed intensity
of the older poems. Its greatest interest lies in its demonstration of
the manner in which a story brought to the North from the South
Germanic lands could be adapted to the understanding and tastes of its
eleventh century hearers without any material change of the basic
narrative.
In what form or forms the story of the Gjukungs and Atli reached the
Greenland poet cannot be determined, but it seems likely that he was
familiar with older poems on the subject, and possibly with the
Atlakvitha itself. That the details which are peculiar to the Atlamol,
such as the figures of Kostbera and Glaumvor, existed in earlier
tradition seems doubtful, but the son of Hogni, who aids Guthrun in the
slaying of Atli, appears, though under another name, in other late
versions of the story, and it is impossible to say just how much the
poet relied on his own imagination and how far he found suggestions and
hints in the prose or verse stories of Atli with which he was familiar.
The poem is in Malahattr (cf. Introduction) throughout, the verse being
far more regular than in the Atlakvitha. The compilers of the
Volsungasaga evidently knew it in very much the form in which we now
have it, for in the main it is paraphrased with great fidelity.
1. There are many who know | how of old did men
In counsel gather; | little good did they get;
In secret they plotted, | it was sore for them later,
And for Gjuki’s sons, | whose trust they deceived.
2. Fate grew for the princes, | to death they were given;
Ill counsel was Atli’s, | though keenness he had;
He felled his staunch bulwark, | his own sorrow fashioned,
Soon a message he sent | that his kinsmen should seek him.
3. Wise was the woman, | she fain would use wisdom,
She saw well what meant | all they said in secret;
From her heart it was hid | how help she might render,
The sea they should sail, | while herself she should go not.
4. Runes did she fashion, | but false Vingi made them,
The speeder of hatred, | ere to give them he sought;
Then soon fared the warriors | whom Atli had sent,
And to Limafjord came, | to the home of the kings.
5. They were kindly with ale, | and fires they kindled,
They thought not of craft | from the guests who had come;
The gifts did they take | that the noble one gave them,
On the pillars they hung them, | no fear did they harbor.
6. Forth did Kostbera, wife | of Hogni, then come,
Full kindly she was, | and she welcomed them both;
And glad too was Glaumvor, | the wife of Gunnar,
She knew well to care | for the needs of the guests.
7. Then Hogni they asked | if more eager he were,
Full clear was the guile, | if on guard they had been;
Then Gunnar made promise, | if Hogni would go,
And Hogni made answer | as the other counseled.
8. Then the famed ones brought mead, | and fair was the feast,
Full many were the horns, | till the men had drunk deep;
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
Then the mates made ready | their beds for resting.
9. Wise was Kostbera, | and cunning in rune-craft,
The letters would she read | by the light of the fire;
But full quickly her tongue | to her palate clave,
So strange did they seem | that their meaning she saw not.
10. Full soon then his bed | came Hogni to seek,
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
The clear-souled one dreamed, | and her dream she kept not,
To the warrior the wise one | spake when she wakened:
11. “Thou wouldst go hence, Hogni, | but heed my counsel,—
Known to few are the runes,— | and put off thy faring;
I have read now the runes | that thy sister wrote,
And this time the bright one | did not bid thee to come.
12. “Full much do I wonder, | nor well can I see,
Why the woman wise | so wildly hath written;
But to me it seems | that the meaning beneath
Is that both shall be slain | if soon ye shall go.
But one rune she missed, | or else others have marred it.”
Hogni spake:
13. “All women are fearful; | not so do I feel,
Ill I seek not to find | till I soon must avenge it;
The king now will give us | the glow-ruddy gold;
I never shall fear, | though of dangers I know.”
Kostbera spake:
14. “In danger ye fare, | if forth ye go thither,
No welcoming friendly | this time shall ye find;
For I dreamed now, Hogni, | and nought will I hide,
Full evil thy faring, | if rightly I fear.
15. “Thy bed-covering saw I | in the flames burning,
And the fire burst high | through the walls of my home.”
Hogni spake:
“Yon garment of linen | lies little of worth,
It will soon be burned, | so thou sawest the bed-cover.”
Kostbera spake:
16. “A bear saw I enter, | the pillars he broke,
And he brandished his claws | so that craven we were;
With his mouth seized he many, | and nought was our might,
And loud was the tumult, | not little it was.”
Hogni spake:
17. “Now a storm is brewing, | and wild it grows swiftly,
A dream of an ice-bear | means a gale from the east.”
Kostbera spake:
18. “An eagle I saw flying | from the end through the house,
Our fate must be bad, | for with blood he sprinkled us;
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
From the evil I fear | that ’twas Atli’s spirit.”
Hogni spake:
19. “They will slaughter soon, | and so blood do we see,
Oft oxen it means | when of eagles one dreams;
True is Atli’s heart, | whatever thou dreamest.”
Then silent they were, | and nought further they said.
20. The high-born ones wakened, | and like speech they had,
Then did Glaumvor tell | how in terror she dreamed,
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
. . . . . Gunnar | two roads they should go.
Glaumvor spake:
21. “A gallows saw I ready, | thou didst go to thy hanging,
Thy flesh serpents ate, | and yet living I found thee;
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
The gods’ doom descended; | now say what it boded.”
* * * * * *
22. “A sword drawn bloody | from thy garments I saw,—
Such a dream is hard | to a husband to tell,—
A spear stood, methought, | through thy body thrust,
And at head and feet | the wolves were howling.”
Gunnar spake:
23. “The hounds are running, | loud their barking is heard,
Oft hounds’ clamor follows | the flying of spears.”
Glaumvor spake:
24. “A river the length | of the hall saw I run,
Full swiftly it roared, | o’er the benches it swept;
O’er the feet did it break | of ye brothers twain,
The water would yield not; | some meaning there was.”
* * * * * *
25. “I dreamed that by night | came dead women hither,
Sad were their garments, | and thee were they seeking;
They bade thee come swiftly | forth to their benches,
And nothing, methinks, | could the Norns avail thee.”
Gunnar spake:
26. “Too late is thy speaking, | for so is it settled;
From the faring I turn not, | the going is fixed,
Though likely it is | that our lives shall be short.”
27. Then bright shone the morning, | the men all were ready,
They said, and yet each | would the other hold back;
Five were the warriors, | and their followers all
But twice as many,— | their minds knew not wisdom.
28. Snævar and Solar, | they were sons of Hogni,
Orkning was he called | who came with the others,
Blithe was the shield-tree, | the brother of Kostbera;
The fair-decked ones followed, | till the fjord divided them,
Full hard did they plead, | but the others would hear not.
29. Then did Glaumvor speak forth, | the wife of Gunnar,
To Vingi she said | that which wise to her seemed:
“I know not if well | thou requitest our welcome,
Full ill was thy coming | if evil shall follow.”
30. Then did Vingi swear, | and full glib was his speech,
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
“May giants now take me | if lies I have told ye,
And the gallows if hostile | thought did I have.”
31. Then did Bera speak forth, | and fair was her thought,
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
“May ye sail now happy, | and victory have,
To fare as I bid ye, | may nought your way bar.”
32. Then Hogni made answer,— | dear held he his kin,—
courage, ye wise ones, | whatsoever may come;
Though many may speak, | yet is evil oft mighty,
And words avail little | to lead one homeward.
33. They tenderly looked | till each turned on his way,
Then with changing fate | were their farings divided.
34. Full stoutly they rowed, | and the keel clove asunder,
Their backs strained at the oars, | and their strength was
fierce;
The oar-loops were burst, | the thole-pins were broken,
Nor the ship made they fast | ere from her they fared.
35. Not long was it after— | the end must I tell—
That the home they beheld | that Buthli once had;
Loud the gates resounded | when Hogni smote them;
Vingi spake then a word | that were better unsaid:
36. “Go ye far from the house, | for false is its entrance,
Soon shall I burn you, | ye are swiftly smitten;
I bade ye come fairly, | but falseness was under,
Now bide ye afar | while your gallows I fashion.”
37. Then Hogni made answer, | his heart yielded little,
And nought did he fear | that his fate held in store:
“Seek not to affright us, | thou shalt seldom succeed;
If thy words are more, | then the worse grows thy fate.”
38. Then Vingi did they smite, | and they sent him to hell,
With their axes they clove him | while the death-rattle came.
39. Atli summoned his men, | in mail-coats they hastened,
All ready they came, | and between was the courtyard.
* * * * * *
40. Then came they to words, | and full wrathful they were:
“Long since did we plan | how soon we might slay you.”
Hogni spake:
41. “Little it matters | if long ye have planned it;
For unarmed do ye wait, | and one have we felled,
We smote him to hell, | of your host was he once.”
42. Then wild was their anger | when all heard his words;
Their fingers were swift | on their bowstrings to seize,
Full sharply they shot, | by their shields were they guarded.
43. In the house came the word | how the heroes without
Fought in front of the hall; | they heard a thrall tell it;
Grim then was Guthrun, | the grief when she heard,
With necklaces fair, | and she flung them all from her,
(The silver she hurled | so the rings burst asunder.)
44. Then out did she go, | she flung open the doors,
All fearless she went, | and the guests did she welcome;
To the Niflungs she went— | her last greeting it was,—
In her speech truth was clear, | and much would she speak.
45. “For your safety I sought | that at home ye should stay;
None escapes his fate, | so ye hither must fare.”
Full wisely she spake, | if yet peace they might win,
But to nought would they hearken, | and “No” said they all.
46. Then the high-born one saw | that hard was their battle,
In fierceness of heart | she flung off her mantle;
Her naked sword grasped she | her kin’s lives to guard,
Not gentle her hands | in the hewing of battle.
47. Then the daughter of Gjuki | two warriors smote down,
Atli’s brother she slew, | and forth then they bore him;
(So fiercely she fought | that his feet she clove off;)
Another she smote | so that never he stood,
To hell did she send him,— | her hands trembled never.
48. Full wide was the fame | of the battle they fought,
’Twas the greatest of deeds | of the sons of Gjuki;
Men say that the Niflungs, | while themselves they were living,
With their swords fought mightily, | mail-coats they sundered,
And helms did they hew, | as their hearts were fearless.
49. All the morning they fought | until midday shone,
(All the dusk as well | and the dawning of day,)
When the battle was ended, | the field flowed with blood;
Ere they fell, eighteen | of their foemen were slain,
By the two sons of Bera | and her brother as well.
50. Then the warrior spake, | and wild was his anger:
“This is evil to see, | and thy doing is all;
Once we were thirty, | we thanes keen for battle,
Now eleven are left, | and great is our lack.
51. “There were five of us brothers | when Buthli we lost,
Now Hel has the half, | and two smitten lie here;
A great kinship had I,— | the truth may I hide not,—
From a wife bringing slaughter | small joy could I win.
52. We lay seldom together | since to me thou wast given,
Now my kin all are gone, | of my gold am I robbed;
Nay, and worst, thou didst send | my sister to hell.”
Guthrun spake:
53. “Hear me now, Atli! | the first evil was thine;
My mother didst thou take, | and for gold didst murder her,
My sister’s daughter | thou didst starve in a prison.
A jest does it seem | that thy sorrow thou tellest,
And good do I find it | that grief to thee comes.”
Atli spake:
54. “Go now, ye warriors, | and make greater the grief
Of the woman so fair, | for fain would I see it;
So fierce be thy warring | that Guthrun shall weep,
I would gladly behold | her happiness lost.
55. “Seize ye now Hogni, | and with knives shall ye hew him,
His heart shall ye cut out, | this haste ye to do;
And grim-hearted Gunnar | shall ye bind on the gallows,
Swift shall ye do it, | to serpents now cast him.”
Hogni spake:
56. “Do now as thou wilt, | for glad I await it,
Brave shalt thou find me, | I have faced worse before;
We held thee at bay | while whole we were fighting,
Now with wounds are we spent, | so thy will canst thou work.”
57. Then did Beiti speak, | he was Atli’s steward:
“Let us seize now Hjalli, | and Hogni spare we!
Let us fell the sluggard, | he is fit for death,
He has lived too long, | and lazy men call him.”
58. Afraid was the pot-watcher, | he fled here and yon,
And crazed with his terror | he climbed in the corners:
“Ill for me is this fighting, | if I pay for your fierceness,
And sad is the day | to die leaving my swine
And all the fair victuals | that of old did I have.”
59. They seized Buthli’s cook, | and they came with the knife,
The frightened thrall howled | ere the edge did he feel;
He was willing, he cried, | to dung well the courtyard,
Do the basest of work, | if spare him they would;
Full happy were Hjalli | if his life he might have.
60. Then fain was Hogni— | there are few would do thus—
To beg for the slave | that safe hence he should go;
“I would find it far better | this knife-play to feel,
Why must we all hark | to this howling longer?”
61. Then the brave one they seized; | to the warriors bold
No chance was there left | to delay his fate longer;
Loud did Hogni laugh, | all the sons of day heard him,
So valiant he was | that well he could suffer.
* * * * * *
62. A harp Gunnar seized, | with his toes he smote it;
So well did he strike | that the women all wept,
And the men, when clear | they heard it, lamented;
Full noble was his song, | the rafters burst asunder.
63. Then the heroes died | ere the day was yet come;
Their fame did they leave | ever lofty to live.
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
64. Full mighty seemed Atli | as o’er them he stood,
The wise one he blamed, | and his words reproached her:
“It is morning, Guthrun; | now thy dear ones dost miss,
But the blame is part thine | that thus it has chanced.”
Guthrun spake:
65. “Thou art joyous, Atli, | for of evil thou tellest,
But sorrow is thine | if thou mightest all see;
Thy heritage heavy | here can I tell thee,
Sorrow never thou losest | unless I shall die.”
Atli spake:
66. “Not free of guilt am I; | a way shall I find
That is better by far,— | oft the fairest we shunned;—
With slaves I console thee, | with gems fair to see,
And with silver snow-white, | as thyself thou shalt choose.”
Guthrun spake:
67. “No hope shall this give thee, | thy gifts I shall take
not,
Requital I spurned | when my sorrows were smaller;
Once grim did I seem, | but now greater my grimness,
There was nought seemed too hard | while Hogni was living.
68. “Our childhood did we have | in a single house,
We played many a game, | in the grove did we grow;
Then did Grimhild give us | gold and necklaces;
Thou shalt ne’er make amends | for my brother’s murder,
Nor ever shalt win me | to think it was well.
69. “But the fierceness of men | rules the fate of women,
The tree-top bows low | if bereft of its leaves,
The tree bends over | if the roots are cleft under it;
Now mayest thou, Atli, | o’er all things here rule.”
70. Full heedless the warrior | was that he trusted her,
So clear was her guile | if on guard he had been;
But crafty was Guthrun, | with cunning she spake,
Her glance she made pleasant, | with two shields she played.
71. The beer then she brought | for her brothers’ death-feast,
And a feast Atli made | for his followers dead;
No more did they speak, | the mead was made ready,
Soon the men were gathered | with mighty uproar.
72. Thus bitterly planned she, | and Buthli’s race threatened,
And terrible vengeance | on her husband would take;
The little ones called she, | on a block she laid them;
Afraid were the proud ones, | but their tears did not fall;
To their mother’s arms went they, | and asked what she would.
Guthrun spake:
73. “Nay, ask me no more! | You both shall I murder,
For long have I wished | your lives to steal from you.”
The boys spake:
“Slay thy boys as thou wilt, | for no one may bar it,
Short the angry one’s peace | if all thou shalt do.”
74. Then the grim one slew both | of the brothers young,
Full hard was her deed | when their heads she smote off;
Fain was Atli to know | whither now they were gone,
The boys from their sport, | for nowhere he spied them.
Guthrun spake:
75. “My fate shall I seek, | all to Atli saying,
The daughter of Grimhild | the deed from thee hides not;
No joy thou hast, Atli, | if all thou shalt hear,
Great sorrow didst wake | when my brothers thou slewest.
76. “I have seldom slept | since the hour they were slain,
Baleful were my threats, | now I bid thee recall them;
Thou didst say it was morning,— | too well I remember,—
Now is evening come, | and this question thou askest.
77. “Now both of thy sons | thou hast lost . . .
. . . . . . . . | as thou never shouldst do;
The skulls of thy boys | thou as beer-cups didst have,
And the draught that I made thee | was mixed with their blood.
78. “I cut out their hearts, | on a spit I cooked them,
I came to thee with them, | and calf’s flesh I called them;
Alone didst thou eat them, | nor any didst leave,
Thou didst greedily bite, | and thy teeth were busy.
79. “Of thy sons now thou knowest; | few suffer more sorrow;
My guilt have I told, | fame it never shall give me.”
Atli spake:
80. “Grim wast thou, Guthrun, | in so grievous a deed,
My draught with the blood | of thy boys to mingle;
Thou hast slain thine own kin, | most ill it beseemed thee,
And little for me | twixt my sorrows thou leavest.”
Guthrun spake:
81. “Still more would I seek | to slay thee thyself,
Enough ill comes seldom | to such as thou art;
Thou didst folly of old, | such that no one shall find
In the whole world of men | a match for such madness.
Now this that of late | we learned hast thou added,
Great evil hast grasped, | and thine own death-feast made.”
Atli spake:
82. “With fire shall they burn thee, | and first shall they
stone thee,
So then hast thou earned | what thou ever hast sought for.”
Guthrun spake:
“Such woes for thyself | shalt thou say in the morning,
From a finer death I | to another light fare.”
83. Together they sat | and full grim were their thoughts,
Unfriendly their words, | and no joy either found;
In Hniflung grew hatred, | great plans did he have,
To Guthrun his anger | against Atli was told.
84. To her heart came ever | the fate of Hogni,
She told him ’twere well | if he vengeance should win;
So was Atli slain,— | ’twas not slow to await,—
Hogni’s son slew him, | and Guthrun herself.
85. Then the warrior spake, | as from slumber he wakened,
Soon he knew for his wounds | would the bandage do nought:
“Now the truth shalt thou say: | who has slain Buthli’s son?
Full sore am I smitten, | nor hope can I see.”
Guthrun spake:
86. “Ne’er her deed from thee hides | the daughter of Grimhild,
I own to the guilt | that is ending thy life,
And the son of Hogni; | ’tis so thy wounds bleed.”
Atli spake:
“To murder hast thou fared, | though foul it must seem;
Ill thy friend to betray | who trusted thee well.
87. “Not glad went I hence | thy hand to seek, Guthrun,
In thy widowhood famed, | but haughty men found thee;
My belief did not lie, | as now we have learned;
I brought thee home hither, | and a host of men with us.
88. “Most noble was all | when of old we journeyed,
Great honor did we have | of heroes full worthy;
Of cattle had we plenty, |and greatly we prospered,
Mighty was our wealth, | and many received it.
89. “To the famed one as bride-gift | I gave jewels fair,
I gave thirty slaves, | and handmaidens seven;
There was honor in such gifts, | yet the silver was greater.
90. “But all to thee was | as if nought it were worth,
While the land lay before thee | that Buthli had left me;
Thou in secret didst work | so the treasure I won not;
My mother full oft | to sit weeping didst make,
No wedded joy found I | in fullness of heart.”
Guthrun spake:
91. “Thou liest now, Atli, | though little I heed it;
If I seldom was kindly, | full cruel wast thou;
Ye brothers fought young, | quarrels brought you to battle,
And half went to hell | of the sons of thy house,
And all was destroyed | that should e’er have done good.
92. “My two brothers and I | were bold in our thoughts,
From the land we went forth, | with Sigurth we fared;
Full swiftly we sailed, | each one steering his ship,
So our fate sought we e’er | till we came to the East.
93. “First the king did we slay, | and the land we seized,
The princes did us service, | for such was their fear;
From the forest we called | them we fain would have guiltless,
And rich made we many | who of all were bereft.
94. “Slain was the Hun-king, | soon happiness vanished,
In her grief the widow | so young sat weeping;
Yet worse seemed the sorrow | to seek Atli’s house,
A hero was my husband, | and hard was his loss.
95. “From the Thing thou camst never, | for thus have we heard,
Having won in thy quarrels, | or warriors smitten;
Full yielding thou wast, | never firm was thy will,
In silence didst suffer, | . . . . . . . .”
Atli spake:
96. “Thou liest now, Guthrun, | but little of good
Will it bring to either, | for all have we lost;
But, Guthrun, yet once | be thou kindly of will,
For the honor of both, | when forth I am borne.”
Guthrun spake:
97. “A ship will I buy, | and a bright-hued coffin,
I will wax well the shroud | to wind round thy body,
For all will I care | as if dear were we ever.”
98. Then did Atli die, | and his heirs’ grief doubled;
The high-born one did | as to him she had promised;
Then sought Guthrun the wise | to go to her death,
But for days did she wait, | and ’twas long ere she died.
99. Full happy shall he be | who such offspring has,
Or children so gallant, | as Gjuki begot;
Forever shall live, | and in lands far and wide,
Their valor heroic | wherever men hear it.
NOTES
1. Men: Atli and his advisers, with whom he planned the death of the
sons of Gjuki, Gunnar and Hogni. The poet’s reference to the story as
well known explains the abruptness of his introduction, without the
mention of Atli’s name, and his reference to Guthrun in stanza 3 simply
as “the woman” (“husfreyja,” goddess of the house).
2. Princes: Atli, Gunnar, and Hogni. Bulwark: Atli’s slaying of his
wife’s brothers, who were ready to support and defend him in his
greatness, was the cause of his own death.
3. The woman: Guthrun, concerning whose marriage to Atli cf.
Guthrunarkvitha II. The sea: a late and essentially Greenland variation
of the geography of the Atli story. Even the Atlakvitha, perhaps half a
century earlier, separates Atli’s land from that of the Gjukungs only
by a forest.
4. Runes: on the two versions of Guthrun’s warning, and also on the
name of the messenger (here Vingi), cf. Drap Niflunga and note.
Limafjord: probably the Limfjord of northern Jutland, an important
point in the wars of the eleventh century. The name was derived from
“Eylimafjǫrþ,” i.e., Eylimi’s fjord. The poet may really have thought
that the kingdom of the Burgundians was in Jutland, or he may simply
have taken a well-known name for the sake of vividness.
5. Some editors assume a gap after this stanza.
6. Some editions place this stanza between stanzas 7 and 8. Kostbera
(“The Giver of Food”) and Glaumvor (“The Merry”): presumably creations
of the poet. Both: Atli’s two emissaries, Vingi and the one here
unnamed (Knefröth?).
7. It is altogether probable that a stanza has been lost between
stanzas 6 and 7, in which Gunnar is first invited, and replies
doubtfully. Made promise: many editions emend the text to read
“promised the journey.” The text of line 4 is obscure; the manuscript
reads “nitti” (“refused”), which many editors have changed to “hlitti,”
which means exactly the opposite.
8. No gap is indicated in the manuscript; Bugge adds (line 3): “Then
the warriors rose, | and to slumber made ready.” The manuscript
indicates line 4 as beginning a new stanza, and some editions make a
separate stanza out of lines 1–2. Others suggest the loss of a line
after line 4.
9. The manuscript does not indicate line 1 as the beginning of a
stanza; cf. note on stanza 8.
10. Some editions combine this stanza with lines 1–2 of stanza 11. The
manuscript indicates no gap. Grundtvig adds (line 2): “But sleep to the
woman | so wise came little.”
11. Some editions make a separate stanza out of lines 1–2, or combine
them with stanza 10, and combine lines 3–4 with stanza 12 (either lines
1–4 or 1–2). The manuscript marks line 3 as beginning a new stanza.
12. Line 5 may be spurious, or else all that is left of a lost stanza.
The manuscript marks it as the beginning of a new stanza, which, as the
text stands, is clearly impossible.
13. The manuscript, followed by some editions, has “Hogni spake” in the
middle of line 1. Ill: the manuscript and many editions have “this.”
The king: Atli.
14. The manuscript does not indicate the speakers in this dialogue
between Kostbera and Hogni (stanzas 14–19). Two lines may possibly have
been lost after line 2, filling out stanza 14 and making stanza 15
(then consisting of lines 3–4 of stanza 14 and lines 1–2 of stanza 15)
the account of Kostbera’s first dream. The manuscript marks line 3 as
beginning a new stanza. In any case, the lost lines cannot materially
have altered the meaning.
15. Saw I: the manuscript here, as also in stanzas 16, 18, 21, 22, and
24, has “methought,” which involves a metrical error. Some editors
regard lines 3–4 as the remains of a four-line stanza. Regarding
Kostbera’s warning dreams, and Hogni’s matter-of-fact interpretations
of them, cf. Guthrunarkvitha II, 39–44.
16. The meaning of the first half of line 3 in the original is obscure.
17. Two lines may have been lost after line 2, but the Volsungasaga
paraphrase gives no clue. Ice-bear: polar bears, common in Greenland,
are very rarely found in Iceland, and never in Norway, a fact which
substantiates the manuscript’s reference to Greenland as the home of
the poem.
18. The manuscript indicates no gap, but most editors assume the loss
of a line after line 1 or 2; Grundtvig adds, after line 1: “Black were
his feathers, | with blood was he covered.” Atli’s spirit: the
poet’s folk-lore seems here a bit weak. Presumably he means such a
female following-spirit (“fylgja”) as appears in Helgakvitha
Hjorvarthssonar, prose following stanza 34 (cf. note thereon), but the
word he uses, “hamr” (masculine) means “skin,” “shape.” He may,
however, imply that Atli had assumed the shape of an eagle for this
occasion.
19. The manuscript indicates line 4 as beginning a new stanza.
20. The manuscript indicates no gap, but none of the many attempted
emendations have made sense out of the words as they stand. The proper
location for the missing words is sheer guesswork. Two roads: probably
the meaning is that their way (i.e., their success) would be doubtful.
21. The manuscript does not indicate the speakers in this dialogue
(stanzas 21–26). No gap is indicated after line 2. Most editors assume
the loss of two lines or of a full stanza after stanza 21 giving
Gunnar’s interpretation of Glaumvor’s dream, but the Volsungasaga gives
no clue, as it does not mention this first dream at all. Grundtvig
suggests as Gunnar’s answer: “Banners are gleaming, | since of
gallows didst dream, / And wealth it must mean | that thou serpents
didst watch.” Gods’ doom: an odd, and apparently mistaken, use of the
phrase “ragna rök” (cf. Voluspo, introductory note).
23. Perhaps two lines have been lost after line 2. Possibly the
concluding phrase of line 2 should be “bloody spears,” as in the
Volsungasaga paraphrase.
24. Again Gunnar’s interpretation is missing, and most editors either
assume a gap or construct two Malahattr lines out of the Volsungasaga
prose paraphrase, which runs: “The grain shall flow, since thou hast
dreamed of rivers, and when we go to the fields, often the chaff rises
above our feet.”
25. The meaning of line 4 is uncertain, but apparently it refers to the
guardian spirits or lesser Norns (cf. Fafnismol, 12–13 and notes).
26. Possibly a line has been lost from this stanza.
27. Five: Gunnar, Hogni, and the three mentioned in stanza 28.
28. Perhaps a line has been lost before line 1; Grundtvig supplies:
“Gunnar and Hogni, | the heirs twain of Gjuki.” Snævar (the
manuscript here has “Snevar”), Solar and Orkning appear only in this
poem and in the prose narratives based on it. Lines 2–3 may have been
expanded out of one line, or possibly line 3 is spurious. The
manuscript indicates line 4 as beginning a new stanza, and many
editions make a separate stanza out of lines 4–5, many of them assuming
the loss of two lines. Shield-tree: warrior (Orkning), here identified
as Kostbera’s brother. Fair-decked ones: women, i.e., Glaumvor and
Kostbera. Fjord: perhaps specifically the Limafjord mentioned in stanza
4.
30. The manuscript indicates no gap. Grundtvig inserts (line 2): “The
evil was clear | when his words he uttered.”
31. Bera: Kostbera; the first element in compound feminine proper names
was not infrequently omitted; cf. Hild for Brynhild (Helreith
Brynhildar, 6). The manuscript indicates no gap; Grundtvig inserts
(line 2): “And clear was her cry | to her kinsmen dear.”
32. Hogni’s method of cheering his wife and sister-in-law is somewhat
unusual, for the meaning of lines 3–4 is that good wishes and blessings
are of little use in warding off danger.
33. Perhaps two lines have been lost after line 2; Grundtvig supplies:
“Then weeping did Glaumvor | go to her rest-bed, / And sadly did
Bera | her spinning wheel seek.”
34. Keel, etc.: in the Nibelungenlied, and presumably in the older
German tradition, Hagene breaks his oar steering the Burgundians across
the Danube (stanza 1564), and, after all have landed, splinters the
boat (stanza 1581) in order that there may be no retreating. The poet
here seems to have confused the story, connecting the breaking of the
ship’s keel with the violence of the rowing, but echoing the older
legend in the last line, wherein the ship is allowed to drift away
after the travellers have landed. Oar-loops: the thongs by which the
oars in a Norse boat were made fast to the thole-pins, the combination
taking the place of the modern oarlock.
35. The manuscript indicates line 4 as beginning a new stanza, and many
editions combine it with stanza 36, some of them assuming the loss of a
line from stanza 35. In the Volsungasaga paraphrase the second half of
line 4 is made a part of Vingi’s speech: “Better had ye left this
undone.”
36. Cf. note on preceding stanza; the manuscript does not indicate line
1 as beginning a stanza. Line 3 may be spurious.
37. In the Volsungasaga paraphrase the second half of line 1 and the
first half of line 2 are included in Hogni’s speech.
38. Possibly two lines have been lost after line 2.
39. It is probable that a considerable passage has been lost between
stanzas 39 and 40, for the Volsungasaga paraphrase includes a dialogue
at this point. The manuscript indicates no gap, and most editions
combine stanzas 39 and 40 as a single stanza. The prose passage,
indicating the substance of what, if anything, is lost, runs as
follows: “‘Be welcome among us, and give me that store of gold which is
ours by right, the gold that Sigurth had, and that now belongs to
Guthrun.’ Gunnar said: ‘Never shalt thou get that gold, and men of
might shalt thou find here, ere we give up our lives, if it is battle
thou dost offer us; in truth it seems that thou hast prepared this
feast in kingly fashion, and with little grudging toward eagle and
wolf.’” The demand for the treasure likewise appears in the
Nibelungenlied.
40. These two lines, which most editions combine with stanza 39, may be
the first or last two of a four-line stanza. The Volsungasaga gives
Atli’s speech very much as it appears here.
41. The manuscript does not indicate the speaker; Grundtvig adds as a
first line: “Then Hogni laughed loud | where the slain Vingi lay.”
Many editors assume the loss of a line somewhere in the stanza.
Unarmed: Hogni does not see Atli’s armed followers, who are on the
other side of the courtyard (stanza 39). One: Vingi.
42. Most editors assume the loss of one line, after either line 1 or
line 3.
43. The manuscript reading of lines 1–2, involving a metrical error,
is: “In the house came the word | of the warring without, / Loud in
front of the hall | they heard a thrall shouting.” Some editors
assume a gap of two lines after line 2, the missing passage giving the
words of the thrall. The manuscript marks line 3 as the beginning of a
stanza, and many editions make a separate stanza of lines 3–5, some of
them assuming the loss of a line after line 3. With the stanza as here
given, line 5 may well be spurious.
44. Niflungs: regarding the application of this term to the Burgundians
cf. Atlakvitha, 11, and Brot, 17, and notes. The manuscript here spells
the name with an initial N, as elsewhere, but in stanza 83 the son of
Hogni appears with the name “Hniflung.” In consequence, some editors
change the form in this stanza to “Hniflungs,” while others omit the
initial H in both cases. I have followed the manuscript, though
admittedly its spelling is illogical.
46. The warlike deeds of Guthrun represent an odd transformation of the
German tradition. Kriemhild, although she did no actual fighting in the
Nibelungenlied, was famed from early times for her cruelty and
fierceness of heart, and this seems to have inspired the poet of the
Atlamol to make his Guthrun into a warrior outdoing Brynhild herself.
Kriemhild’s ferocity, of course, was directed against Gunther and
especially Hagene, for whose slaying she rather than Etzel was
responsible; here, on the other hand, Guthrun’s is devoted to the
defense of her brothers.
47. Line 3 is very likely an interpolation. The manuscript marks line 4
as the beginning of a new stanza, and some editions make a separate
stanza of lines 4–5. Atli’s brother: doubtless a reminiscence of the
early tradition represented in the Nibelungenlied by the slaying of
Etzel’s brother, Blœdelin (the historical Bleda), by Dancwart.
48. Line 3 may well be spurious, for it implies that Gunnar and Hogni
were killed in battle, whereas they were taken prisoners. Some editors,
in an effort to smooth out the inconsistency, change “themselves” in
this line to “sound.” Line 5 has also been questioned as possibly
interpolated. Niflungs: on the spelling of this name in the manuscript
and the various editions cf. note on stanza 44.
49. Line 2 is probably an interpolation, and the original apparently
lacks a word. There is some obscurity as to the exact meaning of lines
4–5. The two sons of Bera: Snævar and Solar; her brother is Orkning;
cf. stanza 28.
50. The warrior: Atli. Thirty: perhaps an echo of the “thirty warriors”
of Thjothrek (cf. Guthrunarkvitha III, 5). Subtracting the eighteen
killed by Snævar, Solar and Orkning (stanza 49), and Vingi, killed by
the whole company (stanza 38), we have eleven left, as Atli says, but
this does not allow much for the exploits of Gunnar and Hogni, who, by
this reckoning, seem to have killed nobody. The explanation probably is
that lines 4–5 of stanza 49 are in bad shape.
51. Five brothers: the Volsungasaga speaks of four (not five) sons of
Buthli, but names only Atli. Regarding the death of the first two
brothers cf. stanza 91 and note. The manuscript marks line 3 as
beginning a stanza, and many editions combine lines 3–4 with stanza 52.
Some insert lines 2–3 of stanza 52 ahead of lines 3–4 of stanza 51.
52. Possibly a line has been lost from this stanza. The manuscript
marks line 3 as beginning a new stanza, which is impossible unless
something has been lost. Gold: the meaning of this half line is
somewhat doubtful, but apparently Atli refers to Sigurth’s treasure,
which should have been his as Brynhild’s brother. Sister: Brynhild;
regarding Guthrun’s indirect responsibility for Brynhild’s death cf.
Gripisspo, 45 and note.
53. The manuscript does not name the speaker. The Volsungasaga gives
the speech, in somewhat altered form, to Hogni: “Why speakest thou so?
Thou wast the first to break peace; thou didst take my kinswoman and
starved her in a prison, and murdered her and took her wealth; that was
not kinglike; and laughable does it seem to me that thou talkest of thy
sorrow, and good shall I find it that all goes ill with thee.” This
presumably represents the correct form of the stanza, for nowhere else
is it intimated that Atli killed Guthrun’s mother, Grimhild, nor is the
niece elsewhere mentioned. Some editions make a separate stanza of
lines 4–5, Grundtvig adding a line after line 3 and two more after line
5. Other editors are doubtful about the authenticity of either line 3
or line 5.
54. The manuscript does not indicate the speaker.
56. The text of the first half of line 3 is somewhat uncertain, but the
general meaning of it is clear enough.
57. Beiti: not elsewhere mentioned. The Atlakvitha version of this
episode (stanzas 23–25) does not mention Beiti, and in the Volsungasaga
the advice to cut out Hjalli’s heart instead of Hogni’s is given by an
unnamed “counsellor of Atli.” In the Atlakvitha Hjalli is actually
killed; the Volsungasaga combines the two versions by having Hjalli
first let off at Hogni’s intercession and then seized a second time and
killed, thus introducing the Atlakvitha episode of the quaking heart
(stanza 24). The text of the first half of line 3 is obscure, and there
are many and widely varying suggestions as to the word here rendered
“sluggard.”
58. Some editions mark line 5 as probably interpolated.
59. Cook: the original word is doubtful. The Volsungasaga does not
paraphrase lines 3–5; the passage may be a later addition, and line 5
is almost certainly so.
61. It is probable that a stanza describing the casting of Gunnar into
the serpents’ den has been lost after this stanza. Sons of day: the
phrase means no more than “men.”
62. Regarding Gunnar’s harp-playing, and his death, cf. Oddrunargratr,
27–30 and notes, and Atlakvitha, 34. Toes (literally “sole-twigs”): the
Volsungasaga explains that Gunnar’s hands were bound. Rafters: thus
literally, and probably correctly; Gering has an ingenious but unlikely
theory that the word means “harp.”
63. There is some doubt as to the exact meaning of line 2. After this
line two lines may have been lost; Grundtvig adds: “Few braver shall
ever | be found on the earth, / Or loftier men | in the world
ever live.”
64. Wise one: Guthrun. The manuscript marks line 3 as beginning a new
stanza.
65. The manuscript does not indicate the speaker.
66. The manuscript does not name the speaker. The negative in the first
half of line 1 is uncertain, and most editions make the clause read “Of
this guilt I can free myself.” The fairest, etc.: i.e., I have often
failed to do the wise thing.
67. The manuscript does not indicate the speaker. Requital, etc.: it is
not clear just to what Guthrun refers; perhaps she is thinking of
Sigurth’s death, or possibly the poet had in mind his reference to the
slaying of her mother in stanza 53.
68. Line 5 is very probably a later addition, though some editors
question line 3 instead.
69. Guthrun suddenly changes her tone in order to make Atli believe
that she is submissive to his will, and thus to gain time for her
vengeance. Line 2 in the original is thoroughly obscure; it runs
literally: “On the knee goes the fist | if the twigs are taken
off.” Perhaps the word meaning “fist” may also have meant “tree-top,”
as Gering suggests, or perhaps the line is an illogical blending of the
ideas contained in lines 1 and 3.
70. The manuscript indicates line 3 as the beginning of a new stanza.
Two shields, etc.: i.e., Guthrun concealed her hostility (symbolized by
a red shield, cf. Helgakvitha Hundingsbana I, 34) by a show of
friendliness (a white shield).
71. Many editions make a separate stanza of lines 1–2, some of them
suggesting the loss of two lines, and combine lines 3–4 with lines 1–2
of stanza 72. The manuscript marks both lines 1 and 3 as beginning
stanzas.
72. The manuscript marks line 3 as beginning a new stanza; some
editions make a separate stanza of lines 3–5, while others combine them
with lines 1–2 of stanza 73. Line 2 in the original is clearly
defective, the verb being omitted. The meaning of line 3 is uncertain;
the Volsungasaga paraphrase has: “At evening she took the sons of King
Atli (Erp and Eitil) where they were playing with a block of wood.”
Probably the text of the line as we have it is faulty. Lines 4–5 may
possibly have been expanded out of a single line, or line 5 may be
spurious.
73. The manuscript does not name the speakers. It indicates line 3 as
beginning a new stanza, in which it is followed by many editions. The
Volsungasaga paraphrases line 4 thus: “But it is shameful for thee to
do this.” Either the text of the line has been changed or the
Volsungasaga compilers misunderstood it. The angry one: Atli.
74. The manuscript indicates line 3 as beginning a new stanza.
75. The manuscript does not name the speaker.
76. Morning: Guthrun refers to Atli’s taunt in stanza 64.
77. The manuscript indicates no gap (lines 1–2), and most editions make
a single line, despite the defective meter: “Thy sons hast thou lost
| as thou never shouldst lose them.” The second part of line 2 is in
the original identical with the second half of line 3 of stanza 80, and
may perhaps have been inserted here by mistake. Skulls: it is possible
that line 3 was borrowed from a poem belonging to the Völund tradition
(cf. Völundarkvitha, 25 and 37), and the idea doubtless came from some
such source, but probably the poet inserted it in a line of his own
composition to give an added touch of horror. The Volsungasaga follows
the Atlamol in including this incident.
78. Some editions add lines 3–4 to stanza 79; Finnur Jonsson marks them
as probably spurious.
79. Perhaps these two lines should form part of stanza 78, or perhaps
they, rather than lines 3–4 of stanza 78, are a later addition. A gap
of two lines after line 1 has also been conjectured.
80. The manuscript does not indicate the speaker.
81. The manuscript does not indicate the speaker. Lines 1–2 may be the
remains of a separate stanza; Grundtvig adds: “Thou wast foolish, Atli,
| when wise thou didst feel, / Ever the whole | of thy race did I
hate.” The Volsungasaga paraphrase, however, indicates no gap. Many
editions make a separate stanza of lines 3–6, which, in the
Volsungasaga, are paraphrased as a speech of Atli’s. Lines 5–6 may be
spurious.
82. The manuscript does not indicate the speakers. Many editions make
two separate stanzas of the four lines. Another light: a fairly clear
indication of the influence of Christianity; cf. Introductory Note.
83. The manuscript marks line 3 as the beginning of a new stanza.
Hniflung: the Volsungasaga says that “Hogni had a son who was called
Hniflung,” but the name appears to be nothing more than the familiar
“Niflung” applied in general to the sons of Gjuki and their people. On
the spelling cf. note on stanza 44. This son of Hogni appears in later
versions of the story. In the Thithrekssaga he is called Aldrian, and
is begotten by Hogni the night before his death. Aldrian grows up and
finally shuts Attila in a cave where he starves to death. The poet here
has incorporated the idea, which finds no parallel in the Atlakvitha,
without troubling himself to straighten out the chronology.
84. Line 4 may be in Fornyrthislag, and from another poem.
85. The manuscript marks line 3 as beginning a new stanza. The
Volsungasaga makes line 2 part of Atli’s speech.
86. The manuscript does not name the speakers. It marks line 4 as the
beginning of a new stanza, and many editions follow this arrangement,
in most cases making a stanza of lines 4–5 and line 1 of stanza 87.
However, line 1 may well have been interpolated here from stanza 75.
Grundtvig adds after line 3: “His father he avenged, | and his
kinsmen fully.” Some editors assume the loss of one or two lines after
line 5.
87. The manuscript marks line 2 as beginning a new stanza, and some
editions make a stanza out of lines 2–4 and line 1 of stanza 88.
88. The manuscript marks line 2 as the beginning of a stanza, and many
editions make a stanza out of lines 2–4, or combine them with stanza
89. Some question the genuineness of line 4.
89. Many editions assume a gap of one line after line 3; Grundtvig
adds: “Bit-champing horses | and wheel-wagons bright.” Line 4 may
be spurious. Greater: i.e., the silver which Atli gave Guthrun was of
greater value even than the honor of receiving such royal gifts.
90. Some editions mark line 3 as spurious or defective. The manuscript
marks line 4 as the beginning of a new stanza. The land, etc.: there is
much obscurity as to the significance of this line. Some editors omit
or question “me,” in which case Atli is apparently reproaching Guthrun
for having incited him to fight with his brothers to win for himself
the whole of Buthli’s land. In stanza 91 Guthrun denies that she was to
blame for Atli’s quarrels with his brothers. The Volsungasaga reading
supports this interpretation. The historical Attila did actually have
his brother, Bleda, killed in order to have the sole rule. The
treasure: Sigurth’s hoard, which Atli claimed as the brother of
Brynhild and husband of Guthrun, Sigurth’s widow, but which Gunnar and
Hogni kept for themselves, with, as Atli here charges, Guthrun’s
connivance. My mother: the only other reference to Atli’s mother is in
Oddrunargratr, 30, wherein she appears as the adder who stings Gunnar
to death, and in the prose passages based on that stanza.
91. The manuscript does not indicate the speaker. It marks both lines 4
and 5 as beginning new stanzas, but line 5 is presumably an
interpolation. The text of the second half of line 2 is obscure, and
many emendations have been suggested. Ye brothers: cf. note on stanza
90. Half: i.e., two of Atli’s brothers were killed, the other two dying
in the battle with Gunnar and Hogni; cf. stanza 51.
92. From the land: this maritime expedition of Guthrun and her two
brothers, Gunnar and Hogni (the poet seems to know nothing of her
half-brother, Gotthorm), with Sigurth seems to have been a pure
invention of the poet’s, inserted for the benefit of his Greenland
hearers. Nothing further is reported concerning it.
93. The forest: i.e., men who were outlawed in the conquered land were
restored to their rights—another purely Norse touch.
94. Hun-king: Sigurth, though most illogically so called; cf.
Sigurtharkvitha en skamma, 4 and note. The Volsungasaga paraphrase of
line 2 is so remote as to be puzzling: “It was little to bear the name
of widow.” Perhaps, however, the word “not” fell out between “was” and
“little.”
95. Thing, etc.: here the poet makes Atli into a typical Norse
land-owner, going to the “Thing,” or general law council, to settle his
disputes. Even the compilers of the Volsungasaga could not accept this,
and in their paraphrase changed “Thing” to “battle.” The text of the
second half of line 2 is uncertain. The manuscript leaves a blank to
indicate the gap in line 4; Grundtvig adds: “as beseems not a king.”
97. The manuscript does not indicate the speaker. Many editors assume a
gap either before or after line 1. A ship: the burial of Norse chiefs
in ships was of frequent occurrence, but the Greenland poet’s
application of the custom to Atli is somewhat grotesque.
98. Heirs, etc.: merely a stock phrase, here quite meaningless, as
Atli’s heirs had all been killed. Long: cf. Guthrunarhvot, introductory
prose.
GUTHRUNARHVOT
GUTHRUN’S INCITING
INTRODUCTORY NOTE
The two concluding poems in the Codex Regius, the Guthrunarhvot
(Guthrun’s Inciting) and the Hamthesmol (The Ballad of Hamther), belong
to a narrative cycle connected with those of Sigurth, the Burgundians,
and Atli (cf. Gripisspo, introductory note) by only the slenderest of
threads. Of the three early historical kings who gradually assumed a
dominant place in Germanic legend, Ermanarich, king of the East Goths
in the middle of the fourth century, was actually the least important,
even though Jordanes, the sixth century author of De Rebus Getecis,
compared him to Alexander the Great. Memories of his cruelty and of his
tragic death, however, persisted along with the real glories of
Theoderich, a century and a half later, and of the conquests of Attila,
whose lifetime approximately bridged the gap between Ermanarich’s death
and Theoderich’s birth.
Chief among the popular tales of Ermanarich’s cruelty was one
concerning the death of a certain Sunilda or Sanielh, whom, according
to Jordanes, he caused to be torn asunder by wild horses because of her
husband’s treachery. Her brothers, Sarus and Ammius, seeking to avenge
her, wounded but failed to kill Ermanarich. In this story is the root
of the two Norse poems included in the Codex Regius. Sunilda easily
became the wife as well as the victim of the tyrant, and, by the
process of legend-blending so frequently observed, the story was
connected with the more famous one of the Nibelungs by making her the
daughter of Sigurth and Guthrun. To account for her brothers, a third
husband had to be found for Guthrun; the Sarus and Ammius of Jordanes
are obviously the Sorli and Hamther, sons of Guthrun and Jonak, of the
Norse poems. The blending of the Sigurth and Ermanarich legends
probably, though not certainly, took place before the story reached the
North, in other words before the end of the eighth century.
Regarding the exact status of the Guthrunarhvot and the Hamthesmol
there has been a great deal of discussion. That they are closely
related is obvious; indeed the first parts of the two poems are nearly
identical in content and occasionally so in actual diction. The
annotator, in his concluding prose note, refers to the second poem as
the “old” ballad of Hamther, wherefore it has been assumed by some
critics that the composer of the Guthrunarhvot used the Hamthesmol,
approximately as it now stands, as the source of part of his material.
The extant Hamthesmol, however, is almost certainly a patchwork; part
of it is in Fornyrthislag (cf. Introduction), including most of the
stanzas paralleled in the Guthrunarhvot, and likewise the stanza
followed directly by the reference to the “old” ballad, while the rest
is in Malahattr. The most reasonable theory, therefore, is that there
existed an old ballad of Hamther, all in Fornyrthislag, from which the
composer of the Guthrunarhvot borrowed a few stanzas as the
introduction for his poem, and which the composer of the extant, or
“new,” Hamthesmol likewise used, though far more clumsily.
The title “Guthrunarhvot,” which appears in the Codex Regius, really
applies only to stanzas 1–8, all presumably borrowed from the “old”
ballad of Hamther. The rest of the poem is simply another Guthrun
lament, following the tradition exemplified by the first and second
Guthrun lays; it is possible, indeed, that it is made up of fragments
of two separate laments, one (stanzas 9–18) involving the story of
Svanhild’s death, and the other (stanzas 19–21) coming from an
otherwise lost version of the story in which Guthrun closely follows
Sigurth and Brynhild in death. In any event the present title is really
a misnomer; the poet, who presumably was an eleventh century Icelander,
used the episode of Guthrun’s inciting her sons to vengeance for the
slaying of Svanhild simply as an introduction to his main subject, the
last lament of the unhappy queen.
The text of the poem in Regius is by no means in good shape, and
editorial emendations have been many and varied, particularly in
interchanging lines between the Guthrunarhvot and the Hamthesmol. The
Volsungasaga paraphrases the poem with such fidelity as to prove that
it lay before the compilers of the saga approximately in its present
form.
Guthrun went forth to the sea after she had slain Atli. She went out
into the sea and fain would drown herself, but she could not sink. The
waves bore her across the fjord to the land of King Jonak; he took her
as wife; their sons were Sorli and Erp and Hamther. There was brought
up Svanhild, Sigurth’s daughter; she was married to the mighty
Jormunrek. With him was Bikki, who counselled that Randver, the king’s
son, should have her. This Bikki told to the king. The king had Randver
hanged, and Svanhild trodden to death under horses’ feet. And when
Guthrun learned this, she spake with her sons.
1. A word-strife I learned, | most woeful of all,
A speech from the fullness | of sorrow spoken,
When fierce of heart | her sons to the fight
Did Guthrun whet | with words full grim.
2. “Why sit ye idle, | why sleep out your lives,
Why grieve ye not | in gladness to speak?
Since Jormunrek | your sister young
Beneath the hoofs | of horses hath trodden,
(White and black | on the battle-way,
Gray, road-wonted, | the steeds of the Goths.)
3. “Not like are ye | to Gunnar of yore,
Nor have ye hearts | such as Hogni’s was;
Vengeance for her | ye soon would have
If brave ye were | as my brothers of old,
Or hard your hearts | as the Hunnish kings’.”
4. Then Hamther spake, | the high of heart:
“Little the deed | of Hogni didst love,
When Sigurth they wakened | from his sleep;
Thy bed-covers white | were red with blood
Of thy husband, drenched | with gore from his heart.
5. “Bloody revenge | didst have for thy brothers,
Evil and sore, | when thy sons didst slay;
Else yet might we all | on Jormunrek
Together our sister’s | slaying avenge.
6. “. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
The gear of the Hunnish | kings now give us!
Thou hast whetted us so | to the battle of swords.”
7. Laughing did Guthrun | go to her chamber,
The helms of the kings | from the cupboards she took,
And mail-coats broad, | to her sons she bore them;
On their horses’ backs | the heroes leaped.
8. Then Hamther spake, | the high of heart:
“Homeward no more | his mother to see
Comes the spear-god, fallen | mid Gothic folk;
One death-draught thou | for us all shalt drink,
For Svanhild then | and thy sons as well.”
9. Weeping Guthrun, | Gjuki’s daughter,
Went sadly before | the gate to sit,
And with tear-stained cheeks | to tell the tale
Of her mighty griefs, | so many in kind.
10. “Three home-fires knew I, | three hearths I knew,
Home was I brought | by husbands three;
But Sigurth only | of all was dear,
He whom my brothers | brought to his death.