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CORNELL UNIVEHSITV UEinARY 
 
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CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 
 
 ENGLISH COLLECTION 
 
 THE GIFT OF 
 
 JAMES MORGAN HART 
 
 PROFESSOR OF EN(;LISH 
 
FOLSUNGA SAGA. 
 
 THE STORY 
 
 VOLSUNGS & NIBLUNGS 
 
 WITH CERTAIN SONGS 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 ELDER EDDA. 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE ICELANDIC 
 
 EIRIKR MAGNUSSON, 
 
 TRANSLATOR OF ' LEGENDS OF ICELAND ; ' 
 
 WILLIAM MORRIS, 
 
 AUTHOR OF 'the EARTHLY PARADISE.' 
 
 LONDON: 
 F. S. ELLIS, KING STREET, COVENT GARDEN. 
 
 MDCCCLXX. 
 
 E Y. 
 
^''' 
 
 
 ;/Jl. 
 
 
 It- 
 
 l\, f^. ^ H- ^ I 
 
 jy. \y..kdsix.i 
 
THE STORT OF THE FOLSUNGS. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 In offering to the reader this translation of the 
 most complete and dramatic form of the great 
 Epic of the North, we lay no claim to special 
 critical insight, nor do we care to deal at all with 
 vexed questions, but are content to abide by 
 existing authorities, doing our utmost to make 
 our rendering close and accurate, and, if it might 
 be so, at the same time, not over prosaic : it is to 
 the lover of poetry and nature, rather than to 
 I the student, that we appeal to enjoy and wonder 
 at this great work, now for the first time, strange 
 to say, translated into English : this must be our 
 excuse for speaking here, as briefly as may be, of 
 things that will seem to the student over well 
 known to be woith mentioning, but which may 
 [give some ease to the general reader who comes 
 across our book. 
 
vi PREFACE. 
 
 The prose of the Volsunga Saga was composed 
 probably some time in the twelfth century, from 
 floating traditions no doubt; from songs which, 
 now lost, were then known, at least in fragments, 
 to the Sagaman ; and finally from songs, which, 
 written down about his time, are still existing : 
 the greater part of these last the reader will find 
 in this book ; some inserted amongst the prose 
 text by the original story-teller, and some by the 
 present translators, and the remainder in the latter 
 part of the book, put together as nearly as may be 
 in the order of the story, and forming a metrical 
 version of the greater portion of it. 
 
 These Songs from the Elder Edda we will 
 now briefly compare with the prose of the Volsung 
 Story, premising that these are the only metrical 
 sources existing of those from which the Sagaman 
 told his tale. 
 
 Except for the short snatch on p. 24 of our 
 translation, nothing is now left of these till we 
 come to the episode of Helgi Hundings-bane, 
 Sigurd's half-brother ; there are two songs left 
 relating to this, from which the prose is put to- 
 gether; to a certain extent they cover the same 
 ground ; but the latter half of the second is, wisely 
 
PREFACE. vii 
 
 as we think, left untouched by the Sagaman, as 
 its interest is of itself too great not to encumber 
 the progress of the main story; for the sake of 
 its wonderful beauty however, we could not refrain 
 from rendering it, and it will be found first among 
 the metrical translations that form the second 
 part of this book. 
 
 Of the next part of the Saga, the deaths of 
 Sinfjotli and Sigmund, and the journey of Queen 
 
 ' Hjordis to the court of King Alf, there is no trace 
 left of any metrical origin ; but we meet the Edda 
 once more where Regin tells the tale of his kin to 
 
 1 Sigurd, and where Sigurd defeats and slays the 
 sons of Hunding : this lay is known as the Lay of 
 Regin. 
 
 The short chap. xvi. is abbreviated from a 
 long poem called the Prophecy of Gripir (the 
 Grifir of the Saga), where the whole story to come 
 is told with some detail, and which certainly, if 
 drawn out at length into the prose, would have 
 forestalled the interest of the tale. 
 
 In the slaying of the Dragon the Saga adheres 
 very closely to the Lay of Fafnir ; for the in- 
 sertion of the song of the birds to Sigurd the 
 present translators are responsible. 
 
viii PREFACE. 
 
 Then comes the waking of Biynhild, and her 
 wise redes to Sigurd, taken from the Lay of 
 Sigrdrifa, the greater part of which, in its metrical 
 form, is inserted by the Sagaman into his prose ' 
 but the stanzas relating Brynhild's awaking we 
 have inserted into the text ; the latter part, omitted 
 in the prose, we have translated for the second 
 part of our book. 
 
 Of Sigurd at Hlymdale, of Gudrun's dream, 
 the magic potion of Grimhild, the wedding of 
 Sigurd consequent on that potion ; of the wooing 
 of Brynhild for Gunnar, her marriage to him, of 
 the quarrel of the Queens, the brooding grief and 
 wrath of Brynhild, and the interview of Sigurd 
 with her — of all this, the most dramatic and best- 
 considered part of the tale, there is now no more 
 left that retains its metrical form than the few 
 snatches preserved by the Sagaman, though many 
 of the incidents are alluded to in other poems. 
 
 Chap. XXX. is met by the poem called the 
 Short Lay of Sigurd, which, fragmentary appa- 
 rently at the beginning, gives us something of 
 Brynhild's awakening wrath and jealousy, the 
 slaying of Sigurd, and the death of Brynhild 
 herself; this poem we have translated entire. 
 
PREFACE. ix 
 
 The Fragments of the Lay of Brynhild are 
 what is left of a poem partly covering the same 
 ground as this last, but giving a different account 
 of Sigurd's slaying ; it is very incomplete, though 
 the Sagaman has drawn some incidents from it ; 
 the reader* will find it translated in our second 
 part. 
 
 But before the death of the heroine we have 
 inserted entire into the text as chap. xxxi. the 
 First Lay of Gudrun, the most lyrical, the most 
 
 . complete, and the most beautiful of all the Eddaic 
 poems; a poem that any age or language might 
 
 • count among its most precious possessions. 
 
 From this point to the end of the Saga it keeps 
 
 I closely to the Songs of Edda; in chap, xxxii. 
 
 ■ the Sagaman has rendered into prose the Ancient 
 Lay of Gudrun, except for the beginning, which 
 
 I gives again another account of the death of 
 Sigurd : this lay also we have translated. 
 
 The grand poem, called the Hell-ride of Bryn- 
 hild, is not represented directly by anything in the 
 prose, except that the Sagaman has supplied from 
 
 I it a link or two wanting in the Lay of Sigrdrifa ; 
 
 , it will be found translated in our second part. 
 
 The betrayal and slaughter of the Giukings or 
 
X PREFACE. 
 
 Niblungs, and the fearful end of Atli and his 
 sons, and court, are recounted in two lays, called 
 the Lays of Atli ; the longest of these, the 
 Greenland Lay of Atli, is followed closely by 
 the Sagaman; the shorter one we have trans- 
 lated. 
 
 The end of Gudrun, of her daughter by Sigurd, 
 and of her sons by her last husband Jonakr, 
 treated of in the last four chapters of the Saga, 
 are very grandly and poetically given in the songs 
 called the Whetting of Gudrun, and the- Lay of 
 Hamdir, which are also among our translations. 
 
 These are all the songs of the Edda which the 
 Sagaman has dealt with ; but one other, the 
 Lament of Oddrun, we have translated on account 
 of its intrinsic merit. 
 
 As to the literary quality of this work we 
 might say much, but we think we may welf trust 
 the reader of poetic insight to break through what- 
 ever entanglement of strange manners or unused 
 element may at first trouble him, and to meet the 
 nature and beauty with which it is filled : we 
 cannot doubt that such a reader will be intensely 
 touched by finding, amidst all its wildness and 
 remoteness, such startling realism, such subtilty, 
 
n conclusion, we must again say how strange 
 ;ems to us, that this Volsung Tale, which 
 
 fact an unversified poem, should never before 
 ; been translated into English. For this is 
 Great Story of the North, which should be to 
 )ur race what the Tale of Troy was to the 
 :ks — to all our race first, and afterwards, when 
 ;hange of the world has made our race nothing 
 I than a name of what has been — a story too — 
 
 should it be to those that come after us no 
 than the Tale of Troy has been to us. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Preface . . . . ■ . v 
 
 Names, fi-'c. ... . ix 
 
 A Prologue in Verse . . . . xi 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 I. Of Sigi, the Son of Odin . . . i 
 
 II. Of the Birth of Volsung, the Son of Rerir, 
 
 who was the Son of Sigi . . .3 
 
 III. Of the Sword that Sigmtind, Volsung's 
 
 Son, drew from the Brans took . . 6 
 
 IV. How King Siggeir wedded Signy, and 
 
 bade King Volsung and his Son to 
 Gothland . . . . -9 
 
 V. Of the Slaying of King Volsung . ,11 
 
 VI. Of how Signy sent the Children of her and 
 
 Siggeir to Sigmzaid . . -15 
 
 VII. Of the Birth of Sinfjotli the Son of Sig- 
 
 mund . . . . -17 
 
 VIII. The Death of King Siggeir and of Signy . 20 
 
 IX. How Helgi, the Son of Sigmund, won King 
 Hodbrod and his Realm, and Wedded 
 Sigrun . , . . .27 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. PAGE 
 
 X. The Ending of Sinfjotli, Sigimmd's Son . 32 
 
 XI. Of King Sigmund's last Battle, and of how 
 
 he mtist yield up his Sword again . 35 
 
 XII. Of the Shards of the Sword Gram, and 
 
 how Hjordis went to King Alf . . 38 
 
 XIII. Of the Birth and Waxiiig of Sigurd Faf- 
 
 nir's-bane . . . . .42 
 
 XIV. Regin's tale of his Brothers, and of the 
 
 Gold called Andvari's Hoard 
 
 
 XV. Of the Welding together of the Shards of 
 
 the Sword Gram . . . -So 
 
 XVI. The Prophecy of Grifir . . -52 
 
 XVII. Of Sigurd's Avenging of Sigmicnd his 
 
 Father . . . . • 53 
 
 XVIII. Of the Slaying of the Worm Fafnir . 59 
 
 XIX. Of the Slaying of Regin, Son of Hreidmar 64 
 
 XX. Of Signrd's Meeting with Brynhild on the 
 
 Mou7itain . . . . -69 
 
 XXI. More Wise Words of Brynhild . . 76 
 
 XXII. Of the Semblance and Array of Sigurd 
 
 Fafnir's-bane . . . -78 
 
 XXIII. Sigurd comes to Hlymdale . . .80 
 
 XXIV. Sigurd sees Brynhild at Hlymdale . 82 
 
 XXV. Of the Dream of Gudrtin,Giuki's Daughter 86 
 
 XXVI. Sigurd comes to the Giukings and is 
 
 wedded to Gicdriin . . -91 
 
 XXVII. The Wooi?tg of Brynhild . . -95 
 
 XXVIII. How the Queens held angry converse to- 
 gether at the Bathing . . . 100 
 
CONTENTS. XV 
 
 CHAP. PAGE 
 
 XXIX. Of Brynhild's Grief and Mourning . 105 
 
 XXX. Of the Slaying of Sigurd Fafnir's-bane . H2 
 
 XXXI. Of the Lamentation of Gudrun over Si- 
 gurd dead, as it is told in the ancient 
 Songs . . . . -117 
 
 XXXII. Of the Ending of Brynhild . . 125 
 
 XXXIII. Gudrun wedded to Atli . . . 129 
 
 'XXX\N . Atli bids the Giukings to him . -134 
 
 XXXV. The Dreams of the Wives of the Giukings 138 
 
 XXXVI. Of the Journey of the Giickings to King 
 
 Atli ..... 140 
 
 XXXYll. The Battle in the Burg of King Atli . 143 
 
 K.XXVUI. Of the Slaying of the Giukings . . 146 
 
 XXXIX. The End of Atli and his Ki?i and Folk . 150 
 
 XL. How Gudrun cast herself into the Sea, but 
 
 was brought ashore again . -155 
 
 XLI. Of the Wedding and Slaying of Swa?ihild 156 
 
 XLII. Gudrun sends her Sons to avenge Swan- 
 
 hild . . . . . -159 
 
 XLI II. The Latter End of all the Kin of the 
 
 Giukings . . . . . i5i 
 
 SONGS FROM THE ELDER EDDA. 
 Part of the Second Lay of Helgi Hundin^s- 
 
 . 167 
 
 Part of the Lay of Sigrdrifa . . . 177 
 
 The Lay called the Short Lay of Sigurd . 182 
 
C0N2ENTS. 
 
 The Hell-Ride of Brynhild 
 
 Fragments of the Lay of Brynhild 
 
 The Second or Ancient Lay of Gicdrun 
 
 The Song of Atli. 
 
 The Whetting of Gicdricn 
 
 The Lay of Hamdir 
 
 The Lament of Oddrun 
 
 Notes ... 
 
 Index 
 
 PAGE 
 
 208 
 215 
 229 
 
 25C> 
 
 260 
 
 27f 
 
 I 
 
THE NAMES OF THOSE WHO ARE MOST 
 NOTEWORTHY IN THIS STORY. 
 
 VOLSUNGS. 
 
 S/gi, son of Odin. 
 
 Rerir, son of Sigi, king of Hunland. 
 
 Volsipig, son of Rerir. 
 
 Si,s'mund, son I r tt , 
 
 c A 1* ^ofVolsung. 
 
 Sigity-i daughter) 
 
 Sinfjotli, son of Sigmund and Signy. 
 Helgi, son of Sigmund by Borgny. 
 
 SIGURD FAFNIR'S-BANE, posthumous son of Sig- 
 mund by Hjordis. 
 Swanhild, liis daughter, by Gudrun, Giuki's daughter. 
 
 People who deal with the Volsungs before 
 Sigurd meets Brynhild. 
 
 Siggeir, king of Gothland, husband of Signy. 
 
 Borgny, first wife of Sigmund. 
 
 Hjordis, his second wife. 
 
 King Eylimi, her father. 
 
 Hjalprek, king of Denmark. 
 
 Alf, liis son, second husband of Hjordis. 
 
 Regin, the king's smith. 
 
 Fafnir, his brother, turned into a dragon. 
 
 Otter, his brother, slain by Loki. 
 
 Hreid?nar, the father of these brothers. 
 
 Andvdri, a dwarf, first owner of the hoard of the Nib- 
 lungs, on which he laid a curse when it was taken 
 from him by Loki. 
 
 b 
 
xviii NAMES, ETC. 
 
 GlUKINGS OR NiBLUNGS. 
 
 King Giuki. 
 
 Griinkild, his wife. 
 
 Gtmnar, i 
 
 Hogni, I sons of Giuki. 
 
 Guttorm, J 
 
 GuDRUN, daughter of Giuki, wife of Sigurd Fafnir's- 
 
 BANE. 
 
 BUDLUNGS. 
 
 King Btidli. 
 
 Atli, his son, second husband of Gudrun. 
 
 Brynhild, daughter of BudH, first betrothed and love of 
 
 Sigurd Fafnir's-bane, wife of Gunnar, son of 
 
 Giuki. 
 Bekkhild, daughter of Budli, wife of Heimir of Hlymdale. 
 
 Others who deal with Sigurd and the Giukings. 
 
 Heimir of Hlytndalc, foster-father of Brynhild. 
 Glaumvor, second wife of Gunnar. 
 Kostbera, wife of Hogni. 
 Vi77gi, an evil counsellor of King Atli. 
 Niblimg, the son of Hogni, who helps Gudrun in the 
 
 slaying of Atli. 
 Jormuftrek, king of the Goths, husband of Swanhild. 
 Randver, his son. 
 Bikki, his evil counsellor. 
 fonakr, Gudrun's third husband. 
 Sorli, JIamdir, and Erp, the sons of Jonakrand Gudrun. 
 
A PROLOGUE IN VERSE. 
 
 O, hearken, ye who speak the English Tongue, 
 How in a waste land ages long ago. 
 
 The very heart of tlie North bloomed into song 
 After long brooding o'er this tale of woe ! 
 Hearken, and marvel how it might be so. 
 
 That such a sweetness so well crowned could be 
 
 Betwixt the ice-hills and the cold grey sea. 
 
 Or rather marvel not, that those should cling 
 Unto the thought of great lives passed away. 
 
 Whom God has stripped so bare of everything. 
 Save the one longing to wear through then- day. 
 In fearless wise ; the hope the Gods to stay, 
 
 When at that last tide gathered wrong and hate 
 
 Shall meet blind yearning on the Fields of Fate. 
 
 Yea, in the first grey dawning of our race, 
 
 This ruth-crowned tangle to sad hearts was dear. 
 
 Then rose a seeming sun, the lift gave place 
 Unto a seeming heaven, far off, but clear ; 
 But that passed too, and afternoon is here ; 
 
 Nor was the mom so fruitful or so long 
 
 But we may hearken when ghosts moan of wrong. 
 
X A PROLOGUE IN VERSE. 
 
 For as amid the clatter of the town 
 
 \Vhen eve comes on with unabated noise, 
 
 The soaring wind will sometimes drop adown 
 And bear unto our chamber the sweet voice 
 Of bells that 'mid the swallows do rejoice, 
 
 Half-heard, to make us sad, so we awhile 
 
 With echoed grief life's dull pain may beguile. 
 
 Naught vague, naught base our tale, that seems to say, — 
 ' Be wide-eyed, kind ; curse not the hand that smites ; 
 
 Curse not the kindness of a past good day, 
 Or hope of love ; cast by all earth's delights. 
 For very love : through weary days and nights, 
 
 Abide thou, striving, howsoe'er in vain, 
 
 The inmost love of one more heart to gain ! ' 
 
 So draw ye round and hearken, English Folk, 
 Unto the best tale pity ever wrought ! 
 
 Of how from dark to dark bright Sigurd broke, 
 Of Brynhild's glorious soul with love distraught. 
 Of Gudrun's weary wandering unto naught, 
 
 Of utter love defeated utterly. 
 
 Of Grief too strong to give Love time to die ! 
 
 William Morris. 
 
THE STORY OF 
 THE VOLSUNGS AND NIBLUNGS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 Of Sigi, the So?i of Odin. 
 
 HERE begins the tale, and tells of a man who was 
 named Sigi, and called of men the son of Odin ; 
 another man withal is told of in the tale, hight Skadi, a 
 great man and mighty of his hands ; yet was Sigi the 
 mightier and the higher of kin, according to the speech 
 of men of that time. Now Skadi had a thrall with 
 whom the story must deal somewhat, Bredi by name, 
 who was called after that work which he had to do ; in 
 prowess and might of hand he was equal to men who 
 were held more worthy, yea, and better than some 
 thereof. 
 
 Now it is to be told that, on a time Sigi fared to the 
 hunting of the deer, and the thrall with him ; and they 
 hunted deer day-long till the evening; and when they 
 gathered together their prey in the evening, lo, greater 
 and more by far was that which Bredi had slain than 
 Sigi's prey; and this thing he much misliked, and he 
 said that great wonder it was that a very thrall should 
 out-do hun in the hunting of deer : so he fell on him 
 
2 THE STORY OF THE 
 
 and slew him, and buried the body of him thereafter in 
 a snow-drift. 
 
 Then he went home at evening tide and says that 
 Bredi had ridden away from him into the wild-wood. 
 " Soon was he out of my sight,'' he says, " and naught 
 more I wot of him.'' 
 
 Skadi misdoubted the tale of Sigi, and deemed that 
 this was a guile of his, and that he would have slain 
 Bredi. So he sent men to seek for him, and to such an 
 end came their seeking, that they found him in a certain 
 snow-drift ; then said Skadi, that men should call that 
 snow-drift Bredi's Drift from henceforth; and thereafter 
 have folk followed, so that in such wise they call every 
 drift that is right great. 
 
 Thus it is well seen that Sigi has slain the thrall 
 and murdered him ; so he is given forth to be a wolf in 
 holy places, and may no more abide in the land with 
 his father ; therewith Odin bare him fellowship from the 
 land, so long a way, that right long it was, and made no 
 stay till he brought him to certain war-ships. So Sigi 
 falls to lying out a-warring with the strength that his 
 father gave him or ever they parted ; and happy was he 
 in his warring, and ever prevailed, till he brought it so 
 about that he won by his wars land and lordship at the 
 last ; and thereupon he took to him a noble wife, and 
 became a great and mighty king, and ruled over the 
 land of the Huns, and was the greatest of warriors. He 
 had a son by his wife, who was called Rerir, who grew 
 up in his father's house, and soon became great of 
 growth, and shapely. 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NIBLUNGS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 Of the Birth of Volsimg, the Son of Rerir, who was the 
 Son of Sigi. 
 
 NOW Sigi grew old, and had many to envy him, so 
 that at last those turned against him whom he 
 trusted most ; yea, even the brothers of his wife ; for 
 these fell on him at his unwariest, when there were few 
 with him to withstand them, and brought so many against 
 him, that they prevailed against him, and there fell Sigi 
 and all his folk with him. But Rerir, his son, was not 
 in this trouble, and he brought together so mighty a 
 strength of his friends and the great men of the land, 
 that he got to himself both the lands and kingdom of 
 Sigi his father ; and so now, when he deems that the 
 feet under him stand firm in his rule, then he calls to 
 mind that which he had against his mother's brothers, 
 who had slain his father. So the king gathers together 
 a mighty army, and therewith falls on his kinsmen, 
 deeming that if he made their kinship of small account, 
 yet "none the less they had first wrought evil against 
 him. So he wrought his will herein, in that he departed 
 not from strife before he had slain all his father's 
 banesmen, though dreadful the deed seemed in every 
 wise. So now he gets land, lordship, and fee, and is 
 become a mightier man than his father before him. 
 
4 THE STORY OF THE 
 
 Much wealth won in war gat Rerir to himself, and 
 wedded a wife withal, such as he deemed meet for him, 
 and long they lived together, but had no child to take 
 the heritage after them ; and ill content they both were 
 with that, and prayed the Gods with heart and soul that 
 they might get them a child. And so it is said that 
 Odin hears their prayer, and Freyia no less hearkens 
 wherewith they prayed unto her : so she, never lacking 
 for all good counsel, calls to her her casket-bearing 
 may, the daughter of Hrimnir the giant, and sets an 
 apple in her hand, and bids her bring it to the king. 
 She took the apple, and did on her the gear of a crow, 
 and went flying till she came whereas the king sat on a 
 mound, and there she let the apple fall into the lap of 
 the king ; but he took the apple, and deemed he knew 
 whereto it would avail ; so he goes home from the 
 mound to his own folk, and came to the queen, and 
 some deal of that apple she ate. 
 
 So, as the tale tells, the queen soon knew that she 
 was big with child, but a long time wore or ever she 
 might give birth to the child : so it befell that the king 
 must needs go to the wars, after the custom of kings, 
 that he may keep his own land, in peace : and in this 
 journey it came to pass that Rerir fell sick and got his 
 death, being minded to go home to Odin, a thing much 
 desired of many folk in those days. 
 
 Now no otherwise it goes with the queen's sickness 
 than heretofore, nor may she be the lighter of her child, 
 and six winters wore away with the sickness still heavy 
 on her J so that at the last she feels that she may not 
 live long ; wherefore now she bade cut the child from 
 out of her ; and it was done even as she bade ; a man- 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NIB LUNGS. 5 
 
 child was it, and great of growth from his birth, as might 
 well be ; and they say that the youngling kissed his mother 
 or ever she died ; but to him is a name given, and he is 
 called Volsung ; and he was king over Hunland in the 
 room of his father. From his early years he was big and 
 strong, and full of daring in all manly deeds and trials, 
 and he became the greatest of warriors, and of good hap 
 in all the battles of his warfaring. 
 
 Now when he was fully come to man's estate, 
 Hrimnir the giant sends to himLjod his daughter; she of 
 whom the tale told, that she brought the apple to Rerir, 
 Volsung's father. So Volsung weds her withal ; and 
 long they abode together with good hap and great love. 
 They had ten sons and one daughter, and their eldest 
 son was hight Sigmund, and their daughter Signy ; and 
 these two were twins, and in all wise the foremost and 
 the fairest of the children of Volsung the king, and 
 mighty, as all his seed was ; even as has been long told 
 from ancient days, and in tales of long ago, with the 
 greatest fame of all men, how that the Volsungs have 
 been great men and high-minded and far above the most 
 of men both in cunning and in prowess and all things 
 high and mighty. 
 
 So says the story that king Volsung let build a 
 noble hall in such a wise, that a big oak-tree stood 
 therein, and that the limbs of the tree blossomed fair 
 out over the roof of the hall, while below stood the 
 trunk within it, and the said trunk did men call Bran- 
 stock. 
 
THE STORY OF THE 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 Of the Sword thai Sigmund, Volsiing's son, drew from the 
 Branstock. 
 
 THERE was a king called Siggeir, who ruled over 
 Gothland, a mighty king and of many folk ; he 
 went to meet Volsung, the king, and prayed him for 
 Signy his daughter to wife ; and the king took his talk 
 well, and his sons withal, but she was loth thereto, yet 
 she bade her father rule in this as in all other things that 
 concerned her ; so the king took such rede that he gave 
 her to him, and she was betrothed to King Siggeir ; and 
 for the fulfilling of the feast and the wedding, was King 
 Siggeir to come to the house of King Volsung. The 
 king got ready the feast according to his best might, and 
 when all things were ready, came the king's guests and 
 King Siggeir withal at the day appointed, and many a 
 man of great account had Siggeir with him. 
 
 The tale tells that great fires were made endlong the 
 hall, and the great tree aforesaid stood midmost thereof; 
 withal folk say that, whenas men sat by the fires in the 
 evening, a certain man came into the hall unknown of 
 aspect to all men; and suchlike array he had, that over 
 him was a spotted cloak, and he was bare-foot, and had 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NIB LUNGS. 7 
 
 linen-breeches knit tight even unto the bone, and he had 
 a sword in his hand as he went up to the Branstock, and 
 a slouched hat upon his head : huge he was, and seeming- 
 ancient, and one-eyed. So he drew his sword and 
 smote it into the tree-trunk so that it sank in up to the 
 hilts ; and all held back from greeting the man. Then 
 he took up the word, and said — 
 
 " Whoso draweth this sword from this stock, shall 
 have the same as a gift from me, and shall find in good 
 sooth that never bare he better sword in hand than is 
 this." 
 
 Therewith out went the old man from the hall, and 
 none knew who he was or whither he went. 
 
 Now men stand up, and none would fain be the last 
 to lay hand to the sword, for they deemed that he would 
 have the best of it who might first touch it ; so all the 
 noblest went thereto first, and then the others, one after 
 other; but none who came thereto might avail to pull it 
 out, for in nowise would it come away howsoever they 
 tugged at it ; but now up comes Sigmund, King Vol- 
 sung's son, and sets hand to the sword, and pulls it from 
 the stock, even as if it lay loose before him ; so good 
 that weapon seemed to all, that none thought he had 
 seen such a sword before, and Siggeir would fain buy 
 it of him at thrice its weight of gold, but Sigmund 
 said — 
 
 " Thou mightest have taken the sword no less than 
 I from there whereas it stood, if it had been thy lot to 
 bear it ; but now, since it has first of all fallen into my 
 hand, never shalt thou have it, though thou biddest 
 therefor all the gold thou hast." 
 
8 THE SIORY OF THE 
 
 King Siggeir grew wroth at those words, and deemed 
 Sigmund had answered him scornfully, but whereas he 
 was a wary man and a double-dealing, he made as if he 
 heeded this matter in nowise, yet that same evening 
 he thought how he might reward it, as was well seen 
 afterwards. 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NIB LUNGS. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 How King Siggeir wedded Signy, and bade King Volsung 
 and his son to Gothland. 
 
 NOW it is to be told that Siggeir goes to bed by 
 Signy that night, and the next morning the 
 weather was fair; then says King Siggeir that he will 
 not bide, lest the wind should wax, or the sea grow im- 
 passable ; nor is it said that Volsung or his sons letted 
 him herein, and that the less, because they saw that he 
 was fain to get him gone from the feast. But now says 
 Signy to her father — 
 
 " I have no will to go away with Siggeir, neither does 
 my heart smile upon him ; and I wot, by my fore-know- 
 ledge, and from the fetch of our kin, that from this 
 counsel will great evil fall on us if this wedding be not 
 speedily undone." 
 
 " Speak in no such wise, daughter !" said he ; " for 
 great shame will it be to him, yea, and to us also, to 
 break troth with him, he being sackless ; and in naught 
 may we trust him, and no friendship shall we have of 
 him, if these matters are broken off; but he will pay us 
 back in as evil wise as he may ; for that alone is seemly, 
 to hold truly to troth given." 
 
 So King Siggeir got ready for home, and before he 
 went from the feast he bade King Volsung, his father-in- 
 
10 THE STORY OF THE 
 
 law, come see him in Gothland, and all his sons with 
 him, whenas three months should be overpast, and to 
 bring such following with him, as he would have, and as 
 he deemed meet for his honour ; and thereby will Siggeir 
 the king pay back for the shortcomings of the wedding- 
 feast, in that he would abide thereat but one night only, 
 a thing not according to the wont of men. So King Vol- 
 sung gave his word to come on the day named, and the 
 kinsmen-in-law parted, and Siggeir went home with his 
 wife. 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NIB LUNGS. 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 Of the Slaying of King Volsung. 
 
 NOW tells the tale of King Volsung and his sons 
 that they go at the time appointed to Gothland at 
 the bidding of King Siggeir, and put off from the land in 
 three ships, all well manned, and have a fair voyage, and 
 make Gothland late of an evening tide. 
 
 But that same night came Signy and called her 
 father and brothers to a privy talk, and told them what 
 she deemed King Siggeir was minded to do, and how 
 that he had drawn together an army no man may meet. 
 " And," says she, " he is minded to do guilefully by you ; 
 wherefore T bid you get ye gone back again to your own 
 land, and gather together the mightiest power ye may, 
 and then come back hither and avenge you ; neither go 
 ye now to your undoing, for ye shall surely fail not to 
 fall by his wiles if ye turn not on him even as I bid 
 you." 
 
 Then spake Volsung the king, " All people and 
 nations shall tell of the word I spake, yet being unborn, 
 wherein I vowed a vow that I would flee in fear from 
 neither fire nor the sword; even so have I done hitherto, 
 and shall I depart therefrom now I am old ? Yea withal 
 never shall the maidens mock these my sons at the 
 
12 THE STORY OF THE 
 
 games, and cry out at them that they fear death ; once 
 alone must all men needs die, and from that season shall 
 none escape ; so my rede it is that we flee nowhither, 
 but do the work of our hands in as manly Avise as we 
 may ; a hundred fights have I fought, and whiles I had 
 more, and whiles I had less, and yet ever had I the 
 victory, nor shall it ever be heard tell of me that I fled 
 away or prayed for peace.'' 
 
 Then Signy wept right sore, and prayed that she 
 might not go back to King Siggeir, but King Volsung 
 answered — 
 
 " Thou shalt surely go back to thine husband, and 
 abide with him, howsoever it fares with us." 
 
 So Signy went home, and they abode there that 
 night ; but in the morning, as soon as it was day, Vol- 
 sung bade his men arise and go aland and make them 
 ready for battle ; so they went aland, all of them all- 
 armed, and had not long to wait before Siggeir fell on 
 them with all his army, and the fiercest fight there was 
 betwixt them ; and Siggeir cried on his men to the onset 
 all he might ; and so the tale tells that King Volsung and 
 his sons went eight times right through Siggeir's folk 
 that day, smiting and hewing on either hand, but when 
 they would do so even once again. King Volsung fell 
 amidst his folk and all his men withal, saving his ten 
 sons, for mightier was the power against them than they 
 might withstand. 
 
 But now are all his sons taken, and laid in bonds and 
 led away ; and Signy was ware withal that her father was 
 slain, and her brothers taken and doomed to death ; 
 then she called King Siggeir apart to talk with her, and 
 said — 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NIB LUNGS. 13 
 
 " This will I pray of thee, that thou let not slay my 
 brothers hastily, but let them be set awhile in the stocks, 
 for home to me comes the saw that says, Sweet to eye 
 ■while seen : but longer life I pray not for them, because 
 I wot well that my prayer will not avail me.'' 
 
 Then answered Siggeir — 
 
 " Surely thou art mad and witless, praying thus for 
 more bale for thy brothers than their present slaying ; 
 yet this will I grant thee, for the better it likes me the 
 more they must bear, and the longer their pain is or 
 ever death come to them." 
 
 Now he let it be done even as she prayed, and a 
 mighty beam was brought and set on the feet of those 
 ten brethren in a certain place of the wild-wood, and 
 there they sit day-long until night ; but at midnight, as 
 they sat in the stocks, there came on them a she-wolf 
 from out the wood ; old she was, and both great and evil 
 of aspect ; and the first thing she did was to bite one of 
 those brethren till he died, and then she ate him up 
 withal, and went on her way. 
 
 But the next morning Signy sent a man to the 
 brethren, even one whom she most trusted, to wot of 
 the tidings ; and when he came back he told her that 
 one of them was dead, and great and grievous she 
 deemed it, if they should all fare in like wise, and yet 
 naught might she avail them. 
 
 Soon is the tale told thereof : nine nights together 
 came the she-wolf at midnight, and each night slew and 
 ate up one of the brethren, until all were dead, save 
 Sigmund only ; so now, before the tenth night came, 
 Signy sent that trusty man to Sigmund, her brother, and 
 gave honey into his hand, bidding him do it over Sig- 
 
-14 THE STORY OF THE 
 
 mund's face, and set a little deal of it in his mouth ; so 
 he went to Sigmund and did as he was bidden, and then 
 came home again ; and so the next night came the she- 
 wolf according to her wont, and would slay him and eat 
 him even as his brothers ; but now she sniffs the breeze 
 from him, whereas he was anointed with the honey, and 
 licks his face all over with her tongue, and then thrusts 
 her tongue into the mouth of him. No fear he had 
 thereof, but caught the she-wolf's tongue betwixt his 
 teeth, and so hard she started back thereat, and pulled 
 herself away so mightily, setting her feet against the 
 stocks, that all was riven asunder ; but he ever held so 
 fast that the tongue came away by the roots, and thereof 
 she had her bane. 
 
 But some men say that this same she-wolf was the 
 mother of King Siggeir, who had turned herself into this 
 likeness by troll's lore and witchcraft. 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NIB LUNGS. 15 
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 
 Of how Signy sent the Children of her and Siggeir to 
 Sigmund. 
 
 NOW whenas Sigmund is loosed and the stocks are 
 broken, he dwells in the woods and holds himself 
 there ; but Signy sends yet again to wot of the tidings, 
 whether Sigmund were alive or no ; but when those who 
 were sent came to him, he told them all as it had betid, 
 and how things had gone betwixt him and the wolf; so 
 they went home and tell Signy the tidings ; but she goes 
 and finds her brother, and they take counsel in such 
 wise as to make a house underground in the wild-wood ; 
 and so things go on a while, Signy hiding him there, 
 and sending him such things as he needed ; but King 
 Siggeir deemed that all the Volsungs were dead. 
 
 Now Siggeir had two sons by his wife, whereof it is 
 told that when the eldest was ten winters old, Signy 
 sends him to Sigmund, so that he might give him help, 
 if he would in any wise strive to avenge his father ; so 
 the youngling goes to the wood and comes late in 
 evening tide to Sigmund's earth-house ; and Sigmund 
 welcomed him in seemly fashion, and said that he should 
 make ready their bread ; " but I," said he, " will go seek 
 firewood." 
 
 Therewith he gives the meal- bag into his hands 
 
1 6 THE STORY OF THE 
 
 while he himself went to fetch firing ; but when he came 
 back the youngling had done naught at the bread-mak- 
 ing. Then asks Sigmund if the bread be ready — 
 
 Says the youngling, " I durst not set hand to the 
 meal-sack, because somewhat quick lay in the meal." 
 
 Now Sigmund deemed he wotted that the lad was of 
 no such heart as that he should be fain to have him for 
 his fellow ; and when he met his sister, Sigmund said 
 that he had come no nigher to the aid of a man though 
 the youngling were with him. 
 
 Then said Signy, " Take him and kill him then ; for 
 why should such an one live longer ? " and even so he 
 did. 
 
 So this winter wears, and the next winter Signy sent 
 her next son to Sigmund \ and there is no need to make 
 a long tale thereof, for in like wise went all things, and 
 he slew the child by the counsel of Signy. 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NIB LUNGS. 17 
 
 CHAP. VII. 
 
 Of the Birth of Sinfjotli the Son of Sigmtmd. 
 
 SO on a tide it befell as Signy sat in her bower, that 
 there came to her a witch-wife exceeding cunning, 
 and Signy talked with her in such wise, " Fain am I," 
 says she, " that we should change semblances together." 
 
 She says, " Even as thou wilt then." 
 
 And so by her wiles she brought it about that they 
 changed semblances, and now the witch-wife sits in 
 Signy's place according to her rede, and goes to bed by 
 the king that night, and he knows not that he has other 
 than Signy beside him. 
 
 But the tale tells of Signy, that she fared to the earth- 
 house of her brother, and prayed him give her harbouring 
 for the night ; " For I have gone astray abroad in the 
 woods, and know not whither I am going.'' 
 
 So he said she might abide, and that he would not 
 refuse harbour to one lone woman, deeming that she 
 would scarce pay back his good cheer by tale-bearing : 
 so she came into the house, and they sat down to meat, 
 and his eyes were often on her, and a goodly and fair 
 woman she seemed to him ; but when they are full, then 
 he says to her, that he is right fain that they should have 
 
 c 
 
1 8 THE STORY OF THE 
 
 but one bed that night ; she nowise turned away there- 
 from, and so for three nights together he laid her in bed 
 by him. 
 
 Thereafter she fared home, and found the witch-wife, 
 and bade her change semblances again, and she did 
 so. 
 
 Now as time wears, Signy brings forth a man-child, 
 who was named Sinfjotli, and when he grew up he was 
 both big and strong, and fair of face, and much like 
 unto the kin of the Volsungs, and he was hardly yet ten 
 winters old when she sent him to Sigmund's earth-house; 
 but this trial she had made of her other sons or ever she 
 had sent them to Sigmund, that she had sewed gloves on 
 to their hands through flesh and skin, and they had 
 borne it ill and cried out thereat ; and this she now did 
 to Sinfjotli, and he changed countenance in nowise 
 thereat. Then she flayed off the kirde so that the skin 
 came off with the sleeves, and said that this would be 
 torment enough for him ; but he said — 
 
 "Full little would Volsung have felt such a smart 
 as this." 
 
 So the lad came to Sigmund, and Sigmund bade him 
 knead their meal up, while he goes to fetch firing ; so 
 he gave him the meal-sack, and then went after the 
 wood, and by then he came back had Sinfjotli made an 
 end of his baking. Then asked Sigmund if he had 
 found nothing in the meal. 
 
 " I misdoubted me that there was something quick 
 in the meal when I first fell to kneading of it, but I 
 have kneaded it all up together, both the meal and that 
 which was therein, whatsoever it was." 
 
 Then Sigmund laughed out, and said — 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NIB LUNGS. 19 
 
 " Naught wilt thou eat of this bread to-night, for the 
 most deadly of worms hast thou kneaded up therewith." 
 
 Now Sigmund was so mighty a man that he might 
 eat venom and have no hurt therefrom ; but Sinijotli 
 might abide whatso venom came on the outside of him, 
 but might neither eat nor drink thereof. 
 
THE STORY OF THE 
 
 CHAP. VIII. 
 
 The Death of King Siggeir and of Signy. 
 
 THE tale tells that Sigmund thought Sinfjotli over 
 young to help him to his revenge, and will first 
 of all harden him with manly deeds ; so in summer-tide 
 they fare wide through the woods and slay men for their 
 wealth ; Sigmund deems him to take much after the kin 
 of the Volsungs, though he thinks that he is Siggeir's 
 son, and deems him to have the evil heart of his father, 
 with the might and daring of the Volsungs ; withal he 
 must needs think him in nowise a kinsome man, for full 
 oft would he bring Sigmund's 'wrongs to his memory, and 
 prick him on to slay King Siggeir. 
 
 Now on a time as they fare abroad in the woods for 
 the getting of wealth, they find a certain house, and two 
 men with great gold rings asleep therein : now these 
 twain were spell-bound skin-changers, and wolf-skins 
 were hanging up over them in the house ; and every 
 tenth day might they come out of those skins ; and they 
 were kings' sons : so Sigmund and Sinfjotli do the wolf- 
 skins on them, and then might they nowise come out of 
 them, though forsooth the same nature went with them 
 as heretofore ; they howled as wolves howl, but both 
 knew the meaning of that howling ; they lay out in the 
 
VOLS UNGS AND NIBL UNGS. 2 1 
 
 t 
 
 wild-wood, and each went his way; and a word they 
 made betwixt them, that they should risk the onset of 
 seven men, but no more, and that he who was first to be 
 set on should howl in wolfish wise : " Let us not depart 
 firom this," says Sigmund, " for thou art young and over- 
 bold, and men will deem the quarry good, when they 
 take thee." 
 
 Now each goes his way, and when they were parted, 
 Sigmund nieets certain men, and gives forth a wolf's 
 howl ; and when Sinfjotli heard it, he vi'cnt straightway 
 thereto, and slew them all, and once more they parted. 
 But ere Sinfjotli has fared long through the woods, 
 eleven men meet him, and he wrought in such wise that 
 he slew them all, and was awearied therewith, and 
 crawls under an oak, and there takes his rest. Then 
 came Sigmund thither, and said — 
 
 " Why didst thou not call on me ? " 
 
 Sinfjotli said, " I was loth to call for thy help for the 
 slaying of eleven men." 
 
 Then Sigmund rushed at him so hard that he stag- 
 gered and fell, and Sigmund bit him in the throat. 
 Now that day they might not come out of their wolf- 
 skins : but Sigmund lays the other on his back, and 
 bears him home to the house, and cursed the wolf-gears 
 and gave them to the trolls. Now on a day he saw 
 where two weasels went, and how that one bit the other 
 in the throat, and then ran straightway into the thicket, 
 and took up a leaf and laid it on the wound, and 
 thereon his fellow sprang up quite and clean whole ; so 
 Sigmund went out and saw a raven flying with a blade 
 of that same herb to him ; so he took it and drew it 
 over Sinfjotli's hurt, and he straightway sprang up as 
 
2 2 THE STORY OF THE 
 
 whole as though he had never been hurt. Thereafter 
 they went home to their earth-house, and abode there 
 till the time came for them to put off the wolf-shapes ; 
 then they burnt them up with fire, and prayed that no 
 more hurt might come to any one from them ; but in 
 that uncouth guise they wrought many famous deeds in 
 the kingdom and lordship of King Siggeir. 
 
 Now when Sinfjotli was come to man's estate, Sig- 
 mund deemed he had tried him fully, and or ever a 
 long time has gone by he turns his mind to the avenging 
 of his father, if so it may be brought about; so on a 
 certain day the twain get them gone from their earth- 
 house, and come to the abode of King Siggeir late in the 
 evening, and go into the porch before the hall, wherein 
 were tuns of ale, and there they lie hid r now the queen 
 is ware of them, where they are, and is fain to meet 
 them ; and when they met they took counsel, and were 
 of one mind that Volsung should be revenged that same 
 night. 
 
 Now Signy and the king had two children of tender 
 age, who played with a golden toy on the floor, and 
 bowled it along the pavement of the hall, running along 
 with it ; but therewith a golden ring from off it trundles 
 away into the place where Sigmund and Sinfjotli lay, 
 and off runs the little one to search for the same, and 
 beholds withal where two men are sitting, big and grimly 
 to look on, with overhanging helms and bright white 
 byrnies ; so he runs up the hall to his father, and tells 
 him of the sight he has seen, and thereat the king mis- 
 doubts of some guile abiding him ; but Signy heard 
 their speech, and arose and took both the children, and 
 went out into the porch to them and said — 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NIB LUNGS. 23 
 
 " Lo ye ! these younglings have bewrayed you ; come 
 now therefore and slay them ! " 
 
 Sigmund says, " Never will I slay thy children for 
 telling of where I lay hid." 
 
 But Sinfjotli made little enow of it, but drew his 
 sword and slew them both, and cast them into the hall 
 at King Siggeir's feet. 
 
 Then up stood the king and cried on his men to 
 take those who had lain privily in the porch through 
 the night. So they ran thither and would lay hands on 
 them, but they stood on their defence well and manly, 
 and long he remembered it who was the nighest to 
 them ; but in the end they were borne down by many 
 men and taken, and bonds were set upon them, and they 
 were cast into fetters wherein they sit night long. 
 
 Then the king ponders what longest and worst of 
 deaths he shall mete out to them; and when morning 
 came he let make a great barrow of stones and turf ; and 
 when it was done, let set a great flat stone midmost 
 inside thereof, so that one edge was aloft, the other 
 alow ; and so great it was that it went from wall to wall, 
 so that none might pass it. 
 
 Now he bids folk take Sigmund and Sinfjotli and 
 set them in the barrow, on either side of the stone, for 
 the worse for them he deemed it, that they might hear 
 each the other's speech, and yet that neither might pass 
 one to the other. But now, while they were covering 
 in the barrow with the turf-slips, thither came Signy, 
 bearing straw with her, and cast it down to Sinfjotli, and 
 bade the thralls hide this thing from the king ; they said 
 yea thereto, and therewithal was the barrow closed in. 
 
 But when night fell, Sinfjotli said to Sigmund, " Be- 
 
24 THE STORY OF THE 
 
 like we shall scarce need meat for a while, for here has 
 the queen cast swine's flesh into the barrow, and wrapped 
 it round about on the outer side with straw." 
 
 Therewith he handles the flesh and finds that therein 
 was thrust Sigmund's sword ; and he knew it by the 
 hilts, as mirk as it might be in the barrow, and tells Sig- 
 mund thereof, and of that were they both fain enow. 
 
 Now Sinfjotli drave the point of the sword up into 
 the big stone, and drew it hard along, and the sword bit 
 on the stone. With that Sigmund caught the sword by 
 the point, and in this wise they sawed the stone between 
 them, and let not or all the sawing was done that need 
 be done, even as the song sings : 
 
 " Sinfjotli sawed 
 And Sigmund sawed, 
 Atwain with main 
 The stone was done.'' 
 
 Now are they both together loose in the barrow, and 
 soon they cut both through stone and through iron, and 
 bring themselves out thereof. Then they go home to 
 the hall, whenas all men slept there, and bear wood to 
 the hall, and lay fire therein ; and withal the folk therein 
 are waked by the smoke, and by the. hall burning over 
 their heads. 
 
 Then the king cries out, " \Vho kindled this fire, I 
 burn withal?" 
 
 " Here am I," says Sigmund, " with Sinfjotli, my 
 sister's son ; and we are minded that thou shalt wot well 
 that all the Volsungs are not yet dead." 
 
 Then he bade his sister come out, and take all good 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NIBLUNGS. 25 
 
 things at his hands, and great honour, and fair atone- 
 ment in that wise, for all her griefs. 
 
 But she answered, " Take heed now, and consider, if 
 I have kept King Siggeir in memory, and his slaying of 
 Volsung the king ! I let slay both my children, whom I 
 deemed worthless for the revenging of our father, and I 
 went into the wood to thee in a witch-wife's shape ; and 
 now behold, SinfjotH is the son of thee and of me both ! 
 and therefore has he this so great hardihood and fierce- 
 ness, in that he is the son both of Volsung's son and 
 Volsung's daughter ; and for this, and for naught else, 
 have I so wrought, that King Siggeir might get his bane 
 at last ; and all these things have I done that vengeance 
 might fall on him, and that I too might not live long ; 
 and merrily now will I die with King Siggeir, though I 
 was naught merry to wed him." 
 
 Therewith she kissed Sigmund her brother, and Sinf- 
 jotli, and went back again into the fire, and there she 
 died with King Siggeir and all his good men. 
 
 But the two kinsmen gathered together folk and 
 ships, and Sigmund went back to his father's land, and 
 drave away thence the king, who had set himself down 
 there in the room of king Volsung. 
 
 So Sigmund became a mighty king and far-famed, 
 wise and high-minded : he had to wife one named 
 Borghild, and two sons they had between them, one 
 named Helgi and the other Hamund ; and when Helgi 
 was bom, Noms came to him, and spake over him, and 
 said that he should be in time to come the most re- 
 nowned of all kings. Even therewith was Sigmund 
 come home from the wars, and so therewith he gives 
 him the name of Helgi, and these matters as tokens 
 
26 THE STORY OF THE 
 
 thereof, Land of Rings, Sun-litten Hill, and Sharp-shearing 
 Sword, and withal prayed that he might grow of great 
 fame, and like unto the kin of the Volsungs. 
 
 And so it was that he grew up high-minded, and 
 well-beloved, and above all other men in all prowess ; 
 and the story tells that he went to the wars when he was 
 fifteen winters old. Helgi was lord and ruler over the 
 army, but Sinfjotli was gotten to be his fellow herein; 
 and so the twain bare sway thereover. 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NIB LUNGS. 27 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 How Hdgi, the son of Sigmtmd, won King Hodbrod and 
 his Realm, and wedded Signm. 
 
 NOW the tale tells that Helgi in his warring met a 
 king hight Hunding, a mighty king, and lord of 
 many men and many lands ; they fell to battle together, 
 and Helgi went forth mightily, and such was the end of 
 that fight that Helgi had the victory, but King Hunding 
 fell and many of his men with him ; but Helgi is deemed 
 to have grown greatly in fame because he had slain so 
 mighty a king. 
 
 Then the sons of Hunding draw together a great 
 army to avenge their father. Hard was the fight betwixt 
 them ; but Helgi goes through the folk of those brothers 
 unto their banner, and there slays these sons of Hund- 
 ing, Alf and Eyolf, Herward and Hagbard, and wins 
 there a great victory. 
 
 Now as Helgi fared from the fight, he met a many 
 women right fair and worthy to look on, who rode in 
 exceeding noble array ; but one far excelled them all ; 
 then Helgi asked them the name of that their lady and 
 queen, and she named herself Sigrun, and said she was 
 daughter of King Hogni. 
 
 Then said Helgi, " Fare home with us : good welcome 
 shall ye have ! " 
 
2.8 THE STORY OF THE 
 
 Then said that king's daughter, " Other work lies 
 before us than to drink with thee." 
 
 " Yea, and what work, king's daughter? " said Helgi. 
 
 She answers, " King Hogni has promised me to Hod- 
 brod, the son of King Granmar, but I have vowed a 
 vow that I will have him to my husband no more than if 
 he were a crow's son and not a king's ; and yet will the 
 thing come to pass, but and if thou standest in the way 
 thereof, and goest against him with an army, and takest 
 me away withal ; for verily with no king would I rather 
 bide on bolster than with thee." 
 
 "Be of good cheer, king's daughter," says he, "for 
 certes he and I shall try the matter, or ever thou be 
 given to him ; yea, we shall behold which may prevail 
 against the other ; and hereto I pledge my life." 
 
 Thereafter, Helgi sent men with money in their 
 hands to summon his folk to him, and all his power is 
 called together to Red-Berg : and there Helgi abode 
 till such time as a great company came to him from 
 Hedinsey ; and therewithal came mighty power from 
 Norvi Sound aboard great and fair ships. Then King 
 Helgi called to him the captain of his ships, who was 
 hight Leif, and asked him if he had told over the tale 
 of his army. 
 
 "A thing not easy to tell, lord," says he, "on the 
 ships that came out of Norvi Sound are twelve thousand 
 men, and otherwhere are half as many again." 
 
 Then bade King Helgi turn into the firth, called Va- 
 rin's-firth, and they did so : but now there fell on them 
 so fierce a storm and so huge a sea, that the beat of the 
 waves on board and bow was to hearken to like as the 
 clashing together of high hills broken. 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NIBLUNGS. 29 
 
 But Helgi bade men fear naught, nor take in any 
 sail, but rather hoist every rag higher than heretofore ; 
 but Httle did they miss of foundering or ever they made 
 land ; then came Sigrun, daughter of King Hogiii, down 
 on to the beach with a great army, and turned them away 
 thence to a good haven called Gnipalund ; but the lands- 
 men see what has befallen and come down to the sea- 
 shore. The brother of King Hodbrod, lord of a land 
 called Swarin's Cairn, cried out to them, and asked them 
 who was captain over that mighty army. Then up 
 stands Sinfjotli, with a helm on his head, bright shining 
 as glass, and a bymy as white as snow ; a spear in his 
 hand, and thereon a banner of renown, and a gold- 
 rimmed shield hanging before him ; and well he knew 
 with what words to speak to kings — 
 
 " Go thou and say, when thou hast made an end of 
 feeding thy swine and thy dogs, and when thou beholdest 
 thy wife again, that here are come the Volsungs, and in 
 this company may King Helgi be found, if Hodbrod be 
 fain of finding him, for his game and his joy it is to fight 
 and win fame, while thou art kissing the handmaids by 
 the fire-side." 
 
 Then answered Granmar, " In nowise knowest thou 
 how to speak seemly things, and to tell of matters re- 
 membered from of old, whereas thou layest lies on chiefs 
 and lords ; most like it is that thou must have long been, 
 nourished with wolf-meat abroad in the wild-woods, and 
 hast slain thy brethren ; and a marvel it is to behold 
 that thou darest to join thyself to the company of good 
 men and true, thou, who hast sucked the blood of many 
 a cold corpse." 
 
 Sinfjotli answered, " Dim belike is grown thy memory 
 
30 THE STORY OF THE 
 
 now, of how thou wert a witch-wife on Varinsey, and 
 wouldst fain have a man to thee, and chose me to that 
 same office of all the world ; and how thereafter thou 
 wert a Valkyria in Asgarth, and it well-nigh came to 
 this, that for thy sweet sake should all men fight ; and 
 nine wolf-whelps I begat on thy body in Lowness, and 
 was the father to them all." 
 
 Granmar answers, " Great skill of lying hast thou ; 
 yet belike the father of naught at all mayst thou be, 
 since thou wert gelded by the giant's daughters of Thras- 
 ness ; and lo thou art the stepson of King Siggeir, and 
 wert wont to lie abroad in wilds and woods with the kin 
 of wolves ; and unlucky was the hand wherewith thou 
 slewest thy brethren, making for thyself an exceeding 
 evil name." 
 
 Said Sinfjotli, " Mindest thou not then, when thou 
 wert stallion Grani's mare, and how I rode thee an 
 amble on BravoU, and that afterwards thou wert giant 
 Golnir's goat-herd ? " 
 
 Granmar says, " Rather would I feed fowls with 
 the flesh of thee than wrangle any longer with thee." 
 
 Then spake King Helgi. " Better were it for ye, and 
 a more manly deed, to fight, rather than to speak such 
 things as it is a shame even to hearken to ; Granmar's 
 sons are no friends of me and of mine, yet are they 
 hardy men none the less." 
 
 So Granmar rode away to meet King Hodbrod, at a 
 stead called Sunfells, and the horses of the twain were 
 named Sveipud and Sveggjud. The brothers met in the 
 castle-porch, and Granmar told Hodbrod of the war- 
 news. King Hodbrod was clad in a byrny, and had his 
 helm on his head ; he asked — 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NIBLUNGS. 31 
 
 " What men are anigh, why look ye so wrathful ? " 
 
 Granmar says, " Here are come the Volsungs, and 
 twelve thousand men of them are afloat off the coast, 
 and seven thousand are at the island called Sole, but at 
 the stead called Grindur is the greatest company of all, 
 and now I deem withal that Helgi and his fellowship 
 have good will to give battle." 
 
 Then said the king, " Let us Send a message through 
 all our realm, and go against them, neither let any who 
 is fain of fight sit idle at home ; let us send word to the 
 sons of Ring, and to King Hogni, and to Alf the Old, 
 for they are mighty warriors." 
 
 So the hosts met at Wolfstone, and fierce fight befell 
 there ; Helgi rushed forth through the host of his foes, 
 and many a man fell there ; at last folk saw a great 
 company of shield-maidens, like burning flames to look 
 on, and there was come Sigrun, the king's daughter. 
 Then King Helgi fell on King Hodbrod, and smote him, 
 and slew him even under his very banner ; and Sigrun 
 cried out — 
 
 " Have thou thanks for thy so manly deed ! now 
 shall we share the land between us, and a day of great 
 good hap this is to me, and for this deed shalt thou 
 get honour and renown, in that thou hast felled to earth 
 so mighty a king." 
 
 So Helgi took to him that realm and dwelt there 
 long, when he had wedded Sigrun, and became a king of 
 great honour and renown, though he has naught more 
 to do with this story. 
 
32 J HE STORY OF THE 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 The Ending of Smfjotli, Sigtmmd's Son. 
 
 NOW the Volsungs fare back home, and have 
 gained great renowTi by these deeds. But Smf- 
 jotli betook himself to warfare anew ; and therewith he 
 had sight of an exceeding fair woman, and yearned 
 above all things for her ; but that same woman was 
 wooed also of the brother of Borghild, the king's wife : 
 and this matter they fought out betwixt them, and Sinf- 
 jotli slew that king ; and thereafter he harried far and 
 wide, and had many a battle and ever gained the day ; 
 and he became hereby honoured and reno-wned above 
 all men ; but in autumn tide he came home with many 
 ships and abundant wealth. 
 
 Then he told his tidings to the king his father, and 
 he again to the queen, and she for her part bids him 
 get him gone from the realm, and made as if she would 
 in nowise see him. But Sigmund said he would not 
 drive him away, and offered her atonement of gold and 
 great wealth for her brother's life, albeit, he said he 
 had never erst given weregild to any for the slaying of a 
 man, but no fame it was to uphold wrong against a 
 woman. 
 
 So seeing she might not get her own way herein, she 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NIBLUNGS. 33 
 
 said, " Have thy will in this matter, O my lord, for it is 
 seemly so to be." 
 
 And now she holds the funeral feast for her brother 
 by the aid and counsel of the king, and makes ready all 
 things therefor in the best of wise, and bade thither 
 many great men. 
 
 At that feast, Borghild the queen bare the drink to 
 folk, and she came over against Sinfjotli vdth a great 
 horn, and said — 
 
 " Fall to now and drink, fair stepson ! " '^fj^ 
 
 Then he took the horn to him, and looked therein, 
 and said — 
 
 " Nay, for the drink is charmed drink." 
 
 Then said Sigmund, "Give it unto me then;" and 
 therewith he took the horn and drank it off. 
 
 But the queen said to Sinfjoth, "Why must other 
 men needs drink thine ale for thee ? " And she came 
 again the second time with the horn, and said, " Come 
 now and drink ! " and goaded him with many words. 
 
 And he took the horn, and said — 
 
 " Guile is in the drink." 
 
 And thereon, Sigmund cried out — 
 
 " Give it then unto me ! " 
 
 Again, the third time, she came to him, and bade 
 him drink off his drink, if he had the heart of a Volsung, 
 then he laid hand on the horn, but said — 
 
 "Venom is therein." 
 
 " Nay, let the lip strain it out then, O son," quoth 
 Sigmund ; and by then was he exceeding drunk with 
 drink, and therefore spake he in that wise. 
 
 So Sinfjotli drank, and straightway fell down dead 
 to the ground. 
 
 D 
 
34 THE STOR V OF THE 
 
 Sigmund rose up, and sorrowed nigh to death over 
 him ; then he took the corpse in his arms and farea 
 away to the wood, and went till he came to a certain 
 firth ; and there he saw a man in a little boat ; and that 
 man asked if he would be wafted by him over the firth, 
 and he said yea thereto ; but so little was the boat, that 
 they might not all go in it at once, so the corpse was 
 first laid therein, while Sigmund went by the firth-side. 
 But therewith the boat and the man therein vanished 
 away from before Sigmund's eyes. 
 
 So thereafter Sigmund turned back home, and drave 
 away the queen, and a little after she died. But Sig- 
 mund the king yet ruled his realm, and is deemed ever 
 the greatest champion and king of the old law. 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NIBLUNGS. 35 
 
 CHAP. XI. 
 
 Of King Sigmund's last Battle, and of how he must yield 
 up his Sword again. 
 
 THERE was a king called Eylimi, mighty and of 
 great fame, and his daughter was called Hjordis, 
 the fairest and wisest of womankind ; and Sigmund 
 hears it told of her that she was meet to be his wife, yea 
 if none else were. So he goes to the house of King 
 Eylimi, who would make a great feast for him, if so be 
 he comes not thither in the guise of a foe. So messages 
 were sent from one to the other that this present journey 
 was a peaceful one, and not for war ; so the feast was 
 held in the best of wise and with many a man thereat ; 
 fairs were in every place established for King Sigmund, 
 and all things else were done to the aid and comfort of 
 his journey : so he came to the feast, and both kings 
 hold their state in one hall ; thither also was come King 
 Lyngi, son of King Hunding, and he also is a-wooing 
 the daughter of King Eylimi. 
 
 Now the king deemed he knew that the twain had 
 come thither but for one errand, and thought withal that 
 war and trouble might be looked for from the hands of 
 him who brought not his end about ; so he spake to his 
 daughter, and said — 
 
 " Thou art a wise woman, and I have spoken it. 
 
36 THE STORY OF THE 
 
 that thou alone shalt choose a husband for thyself; 
 choose therefore between these two kings, and my rede 
 shall be even as thine.'' 
 
 " A hard and troublous matter," says she ; " yet will 
 I choose him who is of greatest fame, King Sigmund to 
 wit, albeit he is well stricken in years." 
 
 So to him was she betrothed, and King Lyngi gat 
 him gone. Then was Sigmund wedded to Hjordis, and 
 now each day was the feast better and more glorious 
 than on the day before it. But thereafter Sigmund went 
 back home to Hunland, and King Eylimi, his father-in- 
 law, with him, and King Sigmund betakes himself to the 
 due ruling of his realm. 
 
 But King Lyngi and his brethren gather an army 
 together to fall on Sigmund, for as in all matters they 
 were wont to have the worser lot, so did this bite the 
 sorest of all ; and they would fain prevail over the might 
 and pride of the Volsungs. So they came to Hunland, 
 and sent King Sigmund word how that they would not 
 steal upon him, and that they deemed he would scarce 
 slink away from them. So Sigmund said he would come 
 and meet them in battle, and drew his power together ; 
 but Hjordis was borne into the wood with a certain 
 bondmaid, and mighty wealth went with them ; and 
 there she abode the while they fought. 
 
 Now the vikings rushed from their ships in numbers 
 not to be borne up against, but Sigmund the King, and 
 Eylimi, set up their banners, and the horns blew up to 
 battle ; but King Sigmund let blow the horn his father 
 erst had had, and cheered on his men to the fight, but 
 his army was far the fewest. 
 
 Now was that battle fierce and fell, and though Sig- 
 
VOLS UNGS AND NIBL UNGS. 3 7 
 
 mund were old, yet most hardily he fought, and was ever 
 the foremost of his men ; no shield or byrny might hold 
 against him, and he went ever through the ranks of his 
 foemen on that day, and no man might see how things 
 would fare between them ; many an arrow and many a 
 spear was aloft in air that day, and so his spae-wrights 
 wrought for him that he got no wound, and none can 
 tell over the tale of those who fell before him, and both 
 his arms were red with blood, even to the shoulders. 
 
 But now whenas the battle had dured a while, there 
 came a man into the fight clad in a blue cloak, and with 
 a slouched hat on his head, one-eyed he was, and bare 
 a bill in his hand ; and he came against Sigmund the 
 King, and have up his bill against him, and as Sigmund 
 smote fiercely with the sword it fell upon the bill and 
 burst asunder in the midst : thenceforth the slaughter 
 and dismay turned to his side, for the good-hap of King 
 Sigmund had departed from him, and his men fell fast 
 about him ; naught did the king spare himself, but the 
 rather cheered on his men ; but even as the saw says, 
 No might Against many, so was it now proven ; and in 
 this fight fell Sigmund the King, and King Eylimi, his 
 father-in-law, in the fore-front of their battle, and there- 
 with the more part of their folk. 
 
38 THE STORY OF THE 
 
 CHAP. XII. 
 
 Of the Shards of the Sword Gram, and how Hjordis went 
 to King Alf. 
 
 NOW King Lyngi made for the king's abode, and 
 was minded to take the king's daughter there, 
 but failed herein, for there he found neither wife nor 
 wealth : so he fared through all the realm, and gave his 
 men rule thereover, and now deemed that he had slain 
 all the kin of the Volsungs, and that he need dread them 
 no more from henceforth. 
 
 Now Hjordis went amidst the slain that night of the 
 battle, and came whereas lay king Sigmund, and asked 
 if he might be healed ; but he answered — 
 
 " Many a man lives after hope has grown little ; but 
 ray good-hap has departed from me, nor will I suffer 
 myself to be healed, nor wills Odin that I should ever 
 draw sword again, since this my sword and his is broken; 
 lo now, I have waged war while it was his will." 
 
 " Naught ill would I deem matters," said she, " if 
 thou mightest be healed and avenge my father." 
 
 The king said, " That is fated for another man ; 
 behold now, thou art great with a man-child; nourish 
 him well and with good heed, and the child shall be the 
 noblest and most famed of all our kin : and keep well 
 withal the shards of the sword : thereof shall a goodly 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NIB LUNGS. 39 
 
 sword be made, and it shall be called Gram, and our son 
 shall bear it, and shall work many a great work there- 
 with, even such as eld shall never minisli ; for his name 
 shall abide and flourish as long as the world shall 
 endure : and let this be enow for thee. But now I grow 
 weary with my wounds and I will go see our kin that 
 have gone before me.'' 
 
 So Hjordis sat over him till he died at the day- 
 dawning ; and then she looked, and behold, there came 
 many ships sailing to the land : then she spake to the 
 handmaid — 
 
 " Let us now change raiment, and be thou called by 
 my name, and say that thou art the king's daughter." 
 
 And thus they did ; but now the vikings behold the 
 great slaughter of men there, and see where two women 
 fare away thence into the wood ; and they deem that 
 some great tidings must have befallen, and they leaped 
 ashore from out their ships. Now the captain of these 
 folks was Alf, son of Hjalprek, king of Denmark, who 
 was sailing with his power along the land. So they 
 came into the field among the slain, and saw how many 
 men lay dead there ; then the king bade go seek for the 
 women and bring them thither, and they did so. He 
 asked them what women they were ; and, little as the 
 thing seems like to be, the bondmaid answered for the 
 twain, telling of the fall of King Sigmund and King 
 Eylimi, and many another great man, and who they were 
 withal who had wrought the deed. Then the king asks 
 if they wotted where the wealth of the king was be- 
 stowed ; and then says the bondmaid — 
 
 " It may well be deemed that we know full surely 
 thereof." 
 
40 THE STORY OF THE 
 
 And therewith she guides them to the place where the 
 treasure lay; and there they found exceeding great 
 wealth ; so that men deem they have never seen so 
 many things of price heaped up together in one place. 
 All this they bore to the ships of King Alf, and Hjor- 
 dis and the bondmaid went with them. Therewith 
 these sail away to their own realm, and talk how that 
 surely on that field had fallen the most renowned of 
 kings. 
 
 So the king sits by the tiller, but the women abide 
 in the forecastle ; but talk he had Avith the women and 
 held their counsels of much account. 
 
 In such mse the king came home to his realm with 
 great wealth, and he himself was a man exceeding 
 goodly to look on. But when he had been but a little 
 while at home, the queen, his mother, asked him why 
 the fairest of the two women had the fewer rings and the 
 less worthy attire. 
 
 " I deem," she said, " that she whom ye have held 
 of least account is the noblest of the twain." 
 
 He answered : " I too have misdoubted me, that she 
 is little like a bondwoman, and when we first met, in 
 seemly wise she gi'eeted noble men. Lo now, we will 
 make a trial of the thing." 
 
 So on a time as men sat at the drink, the king sat 
 down to talk with the women, and said — ■ 
 
 " In what wise do ye note the wearing of the hours, 
 whenas night grows old, if ye may not see the lights of 
 heaven ? " 
 
 Then says the bondwoman, " This sign have I, that 
 whereas in my youth I was wont to drink much in the 
 dawn, so now when I no longer use that manner, I am 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NIBLUNGS. 41 
 
 yet wont to wake up at that very same tide, and by that 
 token do I know thereof." 
 
 Then the king laughed and said, " 111 manners for a 
 king's daughter!" And therewith he turned to Hjordis, 
 and asked her even the same question ; but she an- 
 swered — 
 
 " My father erst gave me a little gold ring of such 
 nature, that it groweth cold on my finger in the day- 
 dawning ; and that is the sign that I have to know 
 thereof." 
 
 The king answered : " Enow of gold there, where a 
 very bondmaid bore it ! but come now, thou hast been 
 long enow hid from me ; yet if thou hadst told me all 
 from the beginning, I would have done to thee as though 
 we had both been one king's children : but better than 
 thy deeds will I deal with thee, for thou shalt be my 
 wife, and due jointure will I pay thee whenas thou hast 
 borne me a child." 
 
 She spake therewith and told out the whole truth 
 about herself: so there was she held in great honour, 
 and deemed the worthiest of women. 
 
42 THE STORY OF THE 
 
 CHAP. XIII. 
 
 Of the Birth and Waxing of Sigurd Fafiir' s-hanc. 
 
 THE tale tells that Hjordis brought forth a man-child, 
 who was straightly borne before King Hjalprek, 
 and then was the king glad thereof, when he saw the 
 keen eyes in the head of him, and he said that few men 
 would be equal to him or like unto him in any wise. So 
 he was sprinkled with water, and had to name Sigurd, 
 of whom all men speak with one speech and say that 
 none was ever his like for growth and goodliness. He 
 was brought up in the house of King Hjalprek in great 
 love and honour; and so it is, that whenso all the 
 noblest men and greatest kings are named in the olden 
 tales, Sigurd is ever put before them all, for might and 
 prowess, for high mind and stout heart, wherewith he was 
 far more abundantly gifted than any man of the northern 
 parts of the wide world. 
 
 So Sigurd waxed in King Hjalprek's house, and 
 there was no child but loved him; through him was 
 Hjordis betrothed to King Alf, and jointure meted to 
 her. 
 
 Now Sigurd's foster-father was hight Regin, the son 
 of Hreidmar ; he taught him all manner of arts, the 
 chess play, and the lore of runes, and the talking of 
 many tongues, even as the wont was with kings' sons in 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NIBLUNGS. 43 
 
 those days. But on a day when they were together, 
 Regin asked Sigurd, if he knew how much wealth his 
 father had owned, and who had the ward thereof; Sigurd 
 answered, and said that the kings kept the ward thereof. 
 
 Said Regin, " Dost thou trust them all utterly?" 
 
 Sigurd said, " It is seemly that they keep it till I 
 may do somewhat therewith, for better they wot how to 
 guard it than I do." 
 
 Another time came Regin to talk to Sigurd, and 
 said — 
 
 " A marvellous thing truly that thou must needs be 
 a horse-boy to the kings, and go about like a running 
 knave." 
 
 "Nay," said Sigurd, "it is not so, for in all things 
 I have my will, and whatso thing I desire is granted me 
 with good will." 
 
 " Well, then," said Regin, " ask for a horse of 
 them." 
 
 " Yea," quoth Sigurd, " and that shall I have, whenso 
 I have need thereof" 
 
 Thereafter Sigurd went to the king, and the king 
 said — 
 
 " What wilt thou have of us ?" 
 
 Then said Sigurd, " I would even a horse of thee for 
 my disport." 
 
 Then said the king, " Choose for thyself a horse, 
 and whatso thing else thou desirest among my matters." 
 
 So the next day went Sigurd to the wood, and met 
 on the way an old man, long-bearded, that he knew not, 
 who asked him whither away. 
 
 Sigurd said, " I am minded to choose me a horse ; 
 come thou, and counsel me thereon." 
 
44 THE STORY OF THE 
 
 " Well, then," said he, " go we and drive them to the 
 river which is called Busil-tarn." 
 
 They did so and drave the horses down into the 
 deeps of the river, and all swam back to land but one 
 horse j and that horse Sigurd chose for himself; grey he 
 was of hue, and young of years, great of growth, and 
 fair to look on, nor had any man yet crossed his 
 back. 
 
 Then spake the grey-beard, " From Sleipnir's kin is 
 this horse come, and he must be nourished heedfully, 
 for it Avill be the best of all horses ; " and therewithal he 
 vanished away. 
 
 So Sigurd called the horse Grani, the best of all the 
 horses of the world ; nor was the man he met other than 
 Odin himself 
 
 Now yet again spake Regin to Sigurd, and said — 
 
 " Not enough is thy wealth, and I grieve right sore 
 that thou must needs run here and there like a churl's 
 son ; but I can tell thee where there is much wealth for 
 the winning, and great name and honour to be won in 
 the getting of it." 
 
 Sigurd asked where that might be, and who had 
 watch and ward over it. 
 
 Regin answered, '■Fafnir is his name, and but a 
 little way hence he lies, on the waste of Gnita-heath ; and 
 when thou comest there thou mayst well say that thou 
 hast never seen more gold heaped together in one place, 
 and that none might desire more treasure, though he 
 were the most ancient and famed of all kings." 
 
 " Young am I," says Sigurd, "yet know I the fashion 
 of this worm, and how that none durst go against him, 
 so huge and evil is he." 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NIB LUNGS. 45 
 
 Regin said, " Nay it is not so, the fashion and the 
 growth of him is even as of other Hngworms, and an over 
 great tale men make of it ; and even so would thy fore- 
 fathers have deemed ; but thou, though thou be of the 
 kin of the Volsungs, shalt scarce have the heart and 
 mind of those, who are told of as the first in all deeds of 
 fame.'' 
 
 Sigurd said, " Yea, belike I have little of their hardi- 
 hood and prowess, but thou hast naught to do, to lay 
 a coward's name upon me, when I am scarce out of my 
 childish years. Why dost thou egg me on hereto so 
 busily?" 
 
 Regin said, " Therein lies a tale which I must needs 
 tell thee." 
 
 " Let me hear the same,'' said Sigurd. 
 
46 THE STORY OF THE 
 
 CHAP. XIV. 
 
 Regiiis talc of Ms Brothers, and of the Gold called 
 Andvari's Hoard. 
 
 THUS the tale begins,'' said Regin, " Hreidmar was 
 my father's name, a mighty man and a wealthy : 
 and his first son was named Fafnir, his second Otter, 
 and I was the third, and the least of them all both for 
 prowess and good conditions, but I was cunning to 
 work in iron, and silver, and gold, whereof I could make 
 matters that availed somewhat. Other skill my brother 
 Otter followed, and had another nature withal, for he 
 was a great fisher, and above other men herein ; in that 
 he had the likeness of an otter by day, and dwelt ever 
 in the river, and bare fish to bank in his mouth, and his 
 prey would he ever bring to our father, and that availed 
 him much : for the most part he kept him in his otter- 
 gear, and then he would come home, and eat alone, 
 and slumbering, for on the dry land he might see 
 naught. But Fafnir was by far the greatest and grim- 
 mest, and would have all things about called his. 
 
 " Now,'' says Regin, " there was a dwarf called 
 Andvari, who ever abode in that force, which was called 
 Andvari's force, in the likeness of a pike, and got meat 
 for himself, for many fish there were in the force ; now 
 Otter, my brother, was ever wont to enter into the force, 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NIBLUNGS. 47 
 
 and bring fish aland, and lay them one by one on the 
 bank. And so it befell that Odin, Loki, and Hoenir, as 
 they went their ways, came to Andvari's force, and Otter 
 had taken a salmon, and ate it slumbering upon the 
 river bank ; then Loki took a stone and cast it at Otter, 
 so that he gat his death thereby ; the gods were well 
 content with their prey, and fell to flaying off the otter's 
 skin ; and in the evening they came to Hreidmar's 
 house, and showed him what they had taken : thereon 
 he laid hands on them, and doomed them to such ran- 
 som, as that they should fill the otter skin with gold, and 
 cover it over without with red gold ; so they sent Loki 
 to gather gold together for them ; he came to Ran, and 
 got her net, and went therewith to Andvari's force, and 
 cast the net before the pike, and the pike ran into the 
 net and was taken. Then said Loki — 
 
 'What fish of all fishes. 
 
 Swims strong in the flood, 
 But hath learnt little wit to beware ? 
 
 Thine head must thou buy. 
 
 From abiding in hell. 
 And find me the wan waters flame.' 
 
 He answered - 
 
 " Andvari folk call me. 
 
 Call Oinn my father. 
 Over many a force have I fared ; 
 
 For a Norn of ill-luck. 
 
 This life on me lay 
 Through wet ways ever to wade. 
 
48 THE STORY OF THE 
 
 " So Loki beheld the gold of Andvari, and when he 
 had given iijj the gold, he had but one ring left, and that 
 also Loki took from him ; then the dwarf went into a 
 hollow of the I'ocks, and cried out, that that gold-ring, 
 yea and all the gold withal, should be the bane of every 
 man who should own it thereafter. 
 
 " Now the gods rode with the treasure to Hreidmar, 
 and fulfilled the otter-skin, and set it on its feet, and 
 they must cover it over utterly with gold : but when this 
 was done then Hreidmar came forth, and beheld yet one 
 of the muzzle hairs, and bade them cover that withal ; 
 then Odin drew the ring, Andvari's loom, from his hand, 
 and covered up the hair therewith ; then sang Loki — 
 
 " Gold enow, good enow, 
 
 A great weregild, thou hast. 
 That my head in good hap I may hold. 
 
 But thou and thy son 
 
 Are naught fated to thrive, 
 The bane shall it be of you both. 
 
 " Thereafter," says Regin, " Fafnir slew his father and 
 murdered him, nor got I aught of the treasure, and so 
 evil he grew, that he fell to lying abroad, and begrudged 
 any share in the wealth to any man, and so became the 
 worst of all worms, and ever now lies brooding upon 
 that treasure : but for me, I went to the king and be- 
 came his master-smith ; and thus is the tale told of how 
 I lost the heritage of my father, and the weregild for my 
 brother.'' 
 
 So spake Regin ; but since that time gold is called 
 Otter-gild, and for no other cause than this. 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NIB LUNGS. 49 
 
 But Sigurd answered, " Much hast thou lost, and 
 exceeding evil have thy kinsmen been ! but now, make 
 a sword by thy craft, such a sword as that none can 
 be made like unto it ; so that I may do great deeds 
 therewith, if my heart avail thereto, and thou wouldst 
 have me slay this mighty dragon." 
 
 Regin says, " Trust me well herein ; and with that 
 same sword shalt thou slay Fafnir " 
 
so THE STORY OF THE 
 
 CHAP. XV. 
 
 Of the Welding together of the Shards of the Sword Gram. 
 
 SO Regin makes a sword, and gives it into Sigurd's 
 hands. He took the sword, and said — 
 
 " Behold thy smithying, Regin ! " and therewith 
 smote it into the anvil, and the sword brake ; so he cast 
 down the brand, and bade him forge a better. 
 
 Then Regin forged another sword, and brought it to 
 Sigurd, who looked thereon. 
 
 Then said Regin, " Belike thou art well content 
 therewith, hard master though thou be in smithying." 
 
 So Sigurd proved the sword, and brake it even as 
 the first ; then he said to Regin — 
 
 " Ah, art thou, mayhappen, a traitor and a liar like 
 to those former kin of thine ? " 
 
 Therewith he went to his mother, and she welcomed 
 him in seemly wise, and they talked and drank together. 
 
 Then spake Sigurd, " Have I heard aright, that 
 King Sigmund gave thee the good sword Gram in two 
 pieces?" 
 
 " True enough," she said. 
 
 So Sigurd said, " Deliver them into my hands, for I 
 would have them." 
 
 She said he looked like to win great fame, and gave 
 him the sword. Therewith went Sigurd to Regin, and 
 
VOLS UNGS AND NIBL UNGS. 5 1 
 
 bade him make a good sword thereof as he best might ; 
 Regin grew wroth thereat, but went into the smithy 
 with the pieces of the sword, thinking well meanwhile 
 that Sigurd pushed his head far enow into the matter of 
 smithying. So he made a sword, and as he bore it 
 forth from the forge, it seemed to the smiths as though 
 fire burned along the edges thereof. Now he bade 
 Sigurd take the sword, and said he knew not how to 
 make a sword if this one failed. Then Sigurd smote it 
 into the anvil, and cleft it down to the stock thereof, 
 and neither burst the sword nor brake it. Then he 
 praised the sword much, and thereafter went to the river 
 with a lock of wool, and threw it up against the stream, 
 and it fell asunder when it met the sword. Then was 
 Sigurd glad, and went home. 
 
 But Regin said, " Now whereas I have made the 
 sword for thee, belike thou wilt hold to thy troth given, 
 and wilt go meet Fafnir." 
 
 " Surely will I hold thereto," said Sigurd, " yet first 
 must I avenge my father." 
 
 Now Sigurd the older he grew, the more he grew 
 in the love of all men, so that every child loved him 
 well. 
 
52 THE STORY OF THE 
 
 CHAP. XVI. 
 The Prophecy of Grifir. 
 
 THERE was a man hight Grifir, who was Sigurd's 
 mother's brother, and a little after the forging of 
 the sword Sigurd went to Grifir, because he was a man 
 who knew things to come, and what was fated to men : 
 of him Sigurd asked diligently how his life should go ; 
 but Grifir was long or he spake, yet at the last, by reason 
 of Sigurd's exceeding great prayers, he told him all his 
 life and the fate thereof, even as afterwards came to pass. 
 So when Grifir had told him all even as he would, he 
 went back home ; and a little after he and Regin met. 
 
 Then said Regin, " Go thou and slay Fafnir, even as 
 thou hast given thy word." 
 
 Sigurd said, " That work shall be wrought ; but 
 another is first to be done, the avenging of Sigmund the 
 king and the other of my kinsmen who fell in that their 
 last fight." 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NIBLUNGS. 53. 
 
 CHAP. XVII. 
 Of Sigurd's Avenging of Sigmwid his Fatha'. 
 
 NOW Sigurd went to the kings, and spake thus — 
 " Here have I abode a space with you, and I 
 owe you thanks and reward, for great love and many 
 gifts and all due honour ; but now will I away from the 
 land and go meet the sons of Hunding, and do them to 
 wit that the Volsungs are not all dead : and your might 
 would I have to strengthen me therein." 
 
 So the kings said that they would give him all things 
 soever that he desired, and therewith was a great army 
 got ready, and all things wrought in the most heedful 
 wise, ships and all war-gear, so that his journey might 
 be of the stateliest : but Sigurd himself steered the 
 dragon-keel which was the greatest and noblest ; richly 
 wrought were their sails, and glorious to look on. 
 
 So they sail and have wind at will ; but when a few 
 days were overpast, there arose a great storm on the sea, 
 and the waves were to behold even as the foam of men's 
 blood ; but Sigurd bade take in no sail, howsoever they 
 might be riven, but rather to lay on higher than here- 
 
54 THE STORY OF THE 
 
 tofore. But as they sailed past the rocks of a ness, a 
 certain man hailed the ships, and asked who was captain 
 over that navy, then was it told him that the chief and 
 lord was Sigurd, the son of Sigmund, the most famed of 
 all the young men who now are. 
 
 Then said the man, " Naught but one thing, certes, 
 do all say of him, that none among the sons of kings 
 may be likened unto him ; now fain were I that ye 
 would shorten sail on some of the ships, and take me 
 aboard." 
 
 Then they asked him of his name, and he sang — 
 
 Hnikar I hight, 
 
 When I gladdened Huginn, 
 
 And went to battle. 
 
 Bright son of Volsung ; 
 
 Now may ye call 
 
 The carl on the cliff top, 
 
 Feng or Fjolnir : 
 
 Fain would I with you. 
 
 They made for land therewith, and took that man 
 aboard. 
 
 Then quoth Sigurd, as the song says — 
 
 Tell me this, O Hnikar, 
 
 Since full well thou knowest 
 Fate of Gods, good and ill of mankind. 
 
 What best our hap foresheweth, 
 
 Wlien amid the battle 
 About us sweeps the sword edge. 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NIB LUNGS. 55 
 
 Quoth Hnikar — 
 
 Good are many tokens 
 
 If thereof men wotted 
 When the swords are sweeping : 
 
 Fair fellow deem I 
 
 The dark-winged raven, 
 In war, to weapon-wielder. 
 
 The second good thing : 
 
 When abroad thou goest 
 For the long road well arrayed. 
 
 Good if thou seest 
 
 Two men standing. 
 Fain of fame within the forecourt 
 
 A third thing : 
 
 Good hearing, 
 
 The wolf a howhng, 
 Abroad under ash boughs ; 
 
 Good hap shalt thou have 
 
 Dealing with helm-staves, 
 If thou seest these fare before thee. 
 
 No man in fight 
 
 His face shall turn 
 
 Against the moon's sister 
 
 Low, late-shining 
 
 For he winneth battle, 
 
 Who best beholdeth 
 
 Through the midmost sword-play. 
 
 And the sloping ranks best shapeth. 
 
S6 THE STORY OF THE 
 
 Great is the trouble 
 
 Of foot ill-tripping, 
 When arrayed for fight thou farest, 
 
 For on both sides about 
 
 Are the Disir by thee, 
 Guileful, wishful of thy wounding. 
 
 Fair-combed, well washen 
 
 Let each warrior be 
 Nor lack meat in the morning. 
 
 For who can rule. 
 
 The eve's returning. 
 And base to fall before fate grovelling. 
 
 Then the storm abated, and on they fared till they 
 came aland in the realm of Hunding's sons, and then 
 Fjolnir vanished away. 
 
 Then they let loose fire and sword, and slew men 
 and burnt their abodes, and did waste all before them : 
 a great company of folk fled before the face of them to 
 Lyngi the King, and tell him that men of war are in the 
 land, and are faring with such rage and fury that the 
 like has never been heard of; and that the sons of 
 King Hunding had no great forecast in that they said 
 they would never fear the Volsungs more, for here was 
 come Sigurd, the son of Sigmund, as captain over this 
 army. 
 
 So King Lyngi let send the war-message all throughout 
 his realm, and has no will to flee, but summons to him 
 all such as would give him aid. So he came against 
 Sigurd with a great army, he and his brothers with him, 
 and an exceeding fierce fight befell ; many a spear and 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NIB LUNGS. 57 
 
 many an arrow might men see there raised aloft, axes 
 hard driven, shields cleft and byrnies torn, helmets were 
 shivered, skulls split atwain, and many a man felled to 
 the cold earth. 
 
 And now when the fight has long dured in such 
 wise, Sigurd goes forth before the banners, and has the 
 good sword Gram in his hand, and sm.ites down both 
 men and horses, and goes through the thickest of the 
 throng with both arms red with blood to the shoulder ; 
 and folk shrank aback before him wheresoever he went, 
 nor would either helm or bymy hold before him, and 
 no man deemed he had ever seen his like. So a long 
 while the battle lasted, and many a man was slain, and 
 furious was the onset; till at last it befell, even as 
 seldom comes to hand, when a land anny falls on, that, 
 do whatso they might, naught was brought about ; but 
 so many men fell of the sons of Hunding that the tale 
 of them may not be told ; and now whenas Sigurd was 
 among the foremost, came the sons of Hunding against 
 him, and Sigurd smote therewith at Lyngi the king, and 
 clave him down, both helm and head, and mail-clad 
 body, and thereafter he smote Hjorward his brother 
 atvvain, and then slew all the other sons of Hunding 
 who were yet alive, and the more part of their folk 
 withal. 
 
 Now home goes Sigurd with fair victory won, and 
 plenteous wealth and great honour, which he had gotten 
 to him in this journey, and feasts were made for him 
 against he came back to the realm. 
 
 But when Sigurd had been at home but a little, came 
 Regin to talk with him, and said — ■ 
 
 " Belike thou wilt now have good will to bow down. 
 
58 THE STORY OF THE 
 
 Fafnir's crest according to thy word plighted, since 
 thou hast thus revenged thy father and the others of 
 thy kin." 
 
 Sigurd answered, "That will we hold to, even as 
 we have promised, nor did it ever fall from our me- 
 mory." 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NIB LUNGS. 59 
 
 CHAP. XVIII. 
 
 Of the Slaying of the Worm Fafnir. 
 
 NOW Sigurd and Regin ride up the heath along that 
 same way wherein Fafnir was wont to creep 
 when he fared to the water ; and folk say that thirty 
 fathoms was the height of that cliff along which he lay 
 when he drank of the water below. Then Sigurd spake : 
 
 " How sayedst thou, Regin, that this drake was no 
 greater than other lingwonns ; methinks the track of him 
 is marvellous great ? " 
 
 Then said Regin, " Make thee a hole, and sit down 
 therein, and whenas the worm comes to the water, smite 
 him into the heart, and so do him to death, and win for 
 thee great fame thereby." 
 
 But Sigurd said, " What will betide me if I be before 
 the blood of the wonn ? " 
 
 Says Regin, " Of what avail to counsel thee if thou 
 art still afeard of everything? Little art thou like thy 
 kin in stoutness of heart." 
 
 Then Sigurd rides right over the heath ; but Regin 
 gets him gone, sore afeard. 
 
 But Sigurd fell to digging him a pit, and whiles he 
 was at that work, there came to him an old man with a 
 long beard, and asked what he wrought there, and he 
 told him. 
 
6o THE STORY OF THE 
 
 Then answered the old man and said, " Thou doest 
 after sorry counsel: rather dig thee many pits, and let 
 the blood run therein ; but sit thee down in one thereof, 
 and so thrust the worm's heart through." 
 
 And therewithal he vanished away ; but Sigurd made 
 the pits even as it was shown to him. 
 
 Now crept the worm down to his place of watering, 
 and the earth shook all about him, and he snorted forth 
 venom on all the way before him as he went ; but Sigurd 
 neither trembled nor was adrad at the roaring of him. 
 So whenas the worm crept over the pits, Sigurd thrust 
 his sword under his left shoulder, so that it sank in up to 
 the hilts ; then up leapt Sigurd from the pit and drew 
 the sword back again unto him, and therewith was his 
 arm all bloody, up to the very shoulder. 
 
 Now when that mighty worm was ware that he had 
 his death-wound, then he lashed out head and tail, so 
 that all things soever that were before him were broken 
 to pieces. 
 
 So whenas Fafnir had his death-wound, he asked 
 "Who art thou? and who is thy father? and what thy 
 kin, that thou wert so hardy as to bear weapons against 
 me?" 
 
 Sigurd answered, " Unknown to men is my kin. I 
 am called a noble beast : neither father have I nor 
 mother, and all alone have I fared hither." 
 
 Said Fafnir, " Whereas thou hast neither father nor 
 mother, of what wonder wert thou born then ? But now, 
 though thou tellest me not thy name on this my death- 
 day, yet thou knowest verily that thou liest unto me." 
 
 He answered, " Sigurd am I called, and my father 
 was Sigmund." 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NIB LUNGS. 6i 
 
 Says Fafnir, " Who egged thee on to this deed, and 
 why wouldst thou be driven to it? Hadst thou never 
 heard how that all folk were adrad of me, and of the awe 
 of my countenance ? But an eager father thou hadst, O 
 bright-eyed swain ! " 
 
 Sigurd answered, " A hardy heart urged me on 
 hereto ; and a strong hand and this sharp sword, which 
 well thou knowest now, stood me in stead in the doing 
 of the deed; Seldom hath hardy eld a faint-heart youth!' 
 
 Fafnir said, " Well, I wot that hadst thou waxed 
 amid thy kin, thou mightest have good skill to slay folk 
 in thine anger ; but more of a marvel is it, that thou, a 
 bondsman taken in war, shouldst have the heart to set 
 on rat, for few among bondmen have heart for the fight!" 
 
 Said Sigurd, " Wilt thou then cast it in my teeth that 
 I am far away from my kin ? Albeit I was a bondsman, 
 yet was I never shackled. God wot thou hast found me 
 free enow.'' 
 
 Fafnir answered, " In angry wise dost thou take my 
 speech ; but hearken, for that same gold which I have 
 owned shall be thy bane too.'' 
 
 Quoth Sigurd, " Fain would we keep all our wealth 
 till that day of days ; yet shall each man die once for 
 all." 
 
 Said Fafnir, " Few things wilt thou do after my 
 counsel ; but take heed that thou shalt be drowned if 
 thou farest unwarily over the sea ; so bide thou rather on 
 the dry land, for the coming of the calm tide." 
 
 Then said Sigurd, " Speak, Fafnir, and say if thou art 
 so exceeding wise, who are the Noms who rule the lot of 
 all mothers' sons." 
 
 Fafnir answers, " Many they be and wide apart ; 
 
62 THE STORY OF THE 
 
 for some are of the kin of the ^sir, and some are of 
 Elfin kin, and some there are who are daughters of 
 Dvahn." 
 
 Said Sigurd, " How namest thou the holm whereon Surt 
 and the ^sir mix and mingle the water of the sword ? " 
 
 " Unshapen is that holm hight," said Fafnir. 
 
 And yet again he said, " Regin, my brother, has 
 brought about my end, and it gladdens my heart that 
 thine too he bringeth about \ for thus will things be 
 according to his will." 
 
 And once again he spake, "A countenance of terror 
 I bore up before all folk, after that I brooded over the 
 heritage of my brother, and on every side did I spout 
 out poison, so that none durst come anigh me, and of 
 no weapon was I adrad, nor ever had I so many men 
 before me, as that I deemed not myself stronger than 
 all ; for all men were sore afeard of me." 
 
 Sigurd answered and said, " Few may have victory 
 by means of that same countenance of terror, for whoso 
 comes amongst many shall one day find that no one man 
 is by so far the mightiest of all." 
 
 Then says Fafnir, " Such counsel I give thee, that 
 thou take thy horse and ride away at thy speediest, for 
 ofttimes it falls out so, that he who gets a death-wound 
 avenges himself none the less." 
 
 Sigurd answered, " Such as thy redes are I will 
 nowise do after them ; nay, I will ride now to thy lair 
 and take to me that great treasure of thy kin." 
 
 " Ride there then," said Fafnir, " and thou shalt 
 find gold enow to suffice thee for all thy life-days ; yet 
 shall that gold be thy bane, and the bane of every one 
 soever who owns it." 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NIBLUNGS. 63 
 
 Then up stood Sigurd, and said, " Home would I 
 ride and lose all that wealth, if I deemed that by the 
 losing thereof I should never die ; but every brave and 
 true man will fain have his hand on wealth till that last 
 day ; but thou, Fafnir, wallow in the death-pain till Death 
 and Hell have thee." 
 
 And therewithal Fafnir died. 
 
64 2 HE STORY OF THE 
 
 CHAP. XIX. 
 Of the Slaying of Eegin, Son of Hrcidmar. 
 
 THEREAFTER came Regin to Sigurd, and said, 
 " Hail, lord and master, a noble victory hast 
 thou won in the slaying of Fafnir, whereas none durst 
 heretofore abide in the path of him ; and now shall this 
 deed of fame be of renown while the world stands fast." 
 
 Then stood Regin staring on the earth a long while, 
 and presently thereafter spake from heavy mood : 
 " Mine own brother hast thou slain, and scarce may I 
 be called sackless of the deed." 
 
 Then Sigurd took his sword Gram and dried it on 
 the earth, and spake to Regin — 
 
 " Afar thou faredst when I wi'ought this deed and 
 tried this sharp sword with the hand and the might of 
 me ; with all the might and main of a dragon must I 
 strive, while thou wert laid alow in the heather-bush, 
 wotting not if it were earth or heaven." 
 
 Said Regin, " Long might this worm have lain in his 
 lair, if the sharp sword I forged with my hand had not 
 been good at need to thee ; had that not been, neither 
 thou nor any man would have prevailed against him as at 
 this time." 
 
 Sigurd answers, " Whenas men meet foes in fight 
 better is stout heart than sharp sword." 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NIBLUNGS. 65 
 
 Then said Regin, exceeding heavily, " Thou hast 
 slain my brother, and scarce may I be sackless of the 
 deed." 
 
 Therewith Sigurd cut out the heart of the worm with 
 the sword called Ridil ; but Regin drank of Fafnir's 
 blood, and spake, " Grant me a boon, and do a thing 
 little for thee to do. Bear the heart to the fire, and roast 
 it, and give me thereof to eat." 
 
 Then Sigurd went his ways and roasted it on a rod ; 
 and when the blood bubbled out he laid his finger 
 thereon to essay it, if it were fully done ; and then he 
 set his finger in his mouth, and lo, when the heart-blood 
 of the vvorm touched his tongue, straightway he knew 
 the voice of all fowls, and heard withal how the wood- 
 peckers chattered in the brake beside him • — 
 
 " There sittest thou, Sigurd, roasting Fafiiir's heart 
 for another, that thou shouldest eat thine ownself, and 
 then thou shouldest become the wisest of all men." 
 
 And another spake : " There lies Regin, minded to 
 beguile the man who trusts in him." 
 
 But yet again said the third, " Let him smite the 
 head from off him then, and be only lord of all that 
 gold." 
 
 And once more the fourth spake and said, " Ah, the 
 wiser were he if he followed after that good counsel, and 
 rode thereafter to Fafnir's lair, and took to him that 
 mighty treasure that lieth there, and then rode over 
 Hindfell, whereas sleeps Brynhild ; for there would he 
 get great wisdom. Ah, wise he were, if he did after 
 your redes, and bethought him of his own weal; for 
 where wolf's ears are, wolf's teeth are near." 
 
 Then cried the fifth : " Yea, yea, not so wise is he as 
 
 F 
 
66 THE STORY OF THE 
 
 I deem him, if he spareth him, whose brother he hath 
 slain already." 
 
 At last spake the sixth : " Handy and good rede to 
 slay him, and be lord of the treasure ! " 
 
 Then said Sigurd, " The time is unborn wherein 
 Regin shall be my bane ; nay, rather one road shall 
 both these brothers fare." 
 
 And therewith he drew his sword Gram and struck 
 off Regin's head.. 
 
 Then heard Sigurd the woodpeckers a-singing, even 
 as the song says. 
 
 For the first sang : 
 
 / ' . ; Bind thou, Sigurd, 
 
 The bright red rings ! 
 ' ' Not meet it is 
 
 Many things to fear. 
 A fair may know I, 
 Fair of all the fairest 
 Girt about with gold, 
 Good for thy getting. 
 
 And the second : 
 
 Green go the ways 
 Toward the hall of Giuki 
 That the fates show forth 
 To those who fare thither ; 
 There the rich king 
 Reareth a daughter ; 
 Thou shalt deal, Sigurd, 
 With gold for that sweetling. 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NIBLUNGS. 67 
 
 And the third : 
 
 A high hall is there, 
 Reared upon Hindfell, 
 Without all around it 
 Sweeps the red flame aloft ; 
 Wise men wrought 
 That wonder of halls 
 With the unhidden gleam 
 Of the glory of gold. 
 
 Then the fourth sang : 
 
 Soft on the fell 
 
 A shield-may sleepeth 
 
 The lime-trees' red plague 
 
 Playing about her : 
 
 The sleep-thorn set Odin 
 
 Into that maiden 
 
 For her choosing in war 
 
 The one he willed not. 
 
 Go, son, behold 
 That may under helm 
 Whom from battle 
 Vinskomir bore, ' 
 
 From her mayst thou turn 
 The torment of sleep. 
 Dear offspring of kings 
 In the dread Noms' despite. 
 
 Then Sigurd ate some deal of Fafnir's heart, and the 
 remnant he kept. Then he leapt on his horse and rode 
 
68 THE STORY OF THE 
 
 along the trail of the worm Fafnir, and so right unto his 
 abiding place ; and he found it open, and beheld all the 
 doors and the gear of them that they were wrought of 
 iron ; yea, and all the beams of the house ; and it was 
 dug down deep into the earth : there found Sigurd gold 
 exceeding plenteous, and the sword Rotti; and thence 
 he took the Helm of Awe, and the Gold Byrny and many 
 things fair and good. So much gold he found there, 
 that he thought verily that scarce might two horses, or 
 three belike, bear it thence. So he took all the gold, 
 and laid it in two great chests, and set them on the 
 horse Grani, and took the reins of him, but nowise will 
 he stir, neither will he abide smiting. Then Sigurd 
 knows the mind of the horse, and leaps on the back of 
 him, and smites the spurs into him, and off the horse 
 goes even as if he were unladen. 
 
VOLSVNGS AND NIBLUNGS. 69 
 
 CHAP. XX. 
 
 Of Sigurd's Meeting with Brynhild on the Mountain. 
 
 BY long roads rides Sigurd, till he comes at the last 
 up on to Hindfell, and wends his way south to the 
 land of the Franks ; and he sees before him on the fell 
 a great light, as of fire burning, and flaming up even 
 unto the heavens; and when he came thereto, lo, a 
 shield -hung castle before him, and a banner on the 
 topmost thereof: into the castle went Sigurd, and saw 
 one lying there asleep, and all-armed. Therewith he 
 takes the helm from off the head of him, and sees that 
 it is no man, but a woman ; and she was clad in a 
 byrny as closely set on her, as though it had grown to 
 her flesh : so he rent it from the collar downwards ; and 
 then the sleeves thereof, and ever the sword bit on it as 
 if it were cloth. Then said Sigurd that over-long had 
 she lain asleep ; but she asked — 
 
 "What thing of great might is it that has prevailed to 
 rend my byrny, and draw me from my sleep?" 
 
 Even as sings the song — 
 
 What bit on the byrny 
 Why breaks my sleep away 
 \Vho has turned from me 
 My wan tormenting ? 
 
70 THE STORY OF THE 
 
 "Ah, is it so, that here is come Sigiird Sigmundson, 
 bearing Fafnir's helm on his head and Fafnir's bane in 
 his hand?" 
 
 Then answered Sigurd — 
 
 " Sigmund's son 
 With Sigurd's sword 
 E'en now rent down 
 The raven's wall. 
 
 " Of the Volsungs' kin is he who has done the deed ; 
 but now I have heard that thou art daughter of a 
 mighty king, and folk have told us that thou wert 
 lovely and full of lore, and now will I try the same." 
 
 Then Brynhild sang — 
 
 " Long have I slept 
 
 And slumbered long. 
 Many and long are the woes of mankind, 
 
 By the might of Odin 
 
 Must I bide helpless 
 To shake from off me the spells of slumber. 
 
 Hail to the day come back ! 
 
 Hail, sons of the daylight ! 
 Hail to thee, dark night, and thy daughter ! 
 
 Look with kind eyes a-down. 
 
 On us sitting here lonely. 
 And give unto us the gain that we long for. 
 
 Hail to the ^sir, 
 And the sweet Asyniur ! 
 Hail to the fair earth fulfilled of plenty ! 
 
VOLS UN GS AND NIB LUNGS. 71 
 
 Fair words, wise hearts, 
 
 Would we win from you, 
 
 And healing hands while life we hold." 
 
 Then Brynhild speaks again and says, " Two kings 
 fought, one hight Helm Gunnar, an old man, and the 
 greatest of warriors, and Odin had promised the victory 
 unto him; but his foe was Agnar, or Audi's brother: 
 and so I smote down Helm Gunnar in the fight ; and 
 Odin, in vengeance for that deed, stuck the sleep-thorn 
 into me, and said that I should never again have the 
 victory, but should be given away in marriage; but 
 thereagainst I vowed a vow, that never would I wed one 
 who knew the name of fear.'' 
 
 Then said Sigurd, " Teach us the lore of mighty 
 matters ! " 
 
 She said, " Belike thou cannest more skill in all than 
 I ; yet will I teach thee ; yea, and with thanks, if there 
 be aught of my cunning that will in an3rwise pleasure 
 thee, either of runes or of other matters that are the root 
 of things ; but now let us drink together, and may the 
 Gods give to us twain a good day, that thou mayst win 
 good help and fame from my wisdom, and that thou 
 mayst hereafter mind thee of that which we twain 
 speak together." 
 
 Then Brynhild filled a beaker and bore it to Sigurd, 
 and gave him the drink of love, and spake — 
 
 " Beer bring I to thee, 
 Fair fruit of the bymies' clash, 
 Mixed is it mightily, 
 ^ Mingled with fame, 
 
 Brimming with bright lays 
 
72 THE STORY OF THE 
 
 And pitiful runes, 
 
 Wise words, sweet words. 
 
 Speech of great game. 
 
 Runes of war know thou, 
 
 If great thou wilt be ! 
 Cut them on hilt of hardened sword, 
 
 Some on the brand's back. 
 
 Some on its shining side. 
 Twice name Tyr therein. 
 
 Sea-runes good at need. 
 
 Learnt for ship's saving, 
 For the good health of the swimming horse ; 
 
 On the stem cut them. 
 
 Cut them on the rudder-blade 
 And set flame to shaven oar : 
 
 Howso big be the sea-hills, 
 Howso blue beneath. 
 Hail from the main then comest thou home. 
 
 Word-runes learn well 
 
 If thou wilt that no man 
 Pay back grief for the grief thou gavest ; 
 
 Wind thou these. 
 
 Weave thou these, 
 Cast thou these all about thee. 
 
 At the Thing, 
 
 Where folk throng, 
 Unto the full doom faring. 
 
 Of ale-runes know the wisdom 
 If thou wilt that another's wife 
 Should not bewray thine heart that trusteth ; 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NIBLUNGS. 73 
 
 Cut them on the mead-horn, 
 On the back of each hand, 
 And nick an N upon thy nail. 
 
 Ale have thou heed 
 
 To sign from all harm. 
 Leek lay thou in the liquor, 
 
 Then I know for sure 
 
 Never cometh to thee. 
 Mead with hurtful matters mingled. 
 
 Help-runes shalt thou gather 
 
 If skill thou wouldst gain 
 To loosen child from low-laid mother ; 
 
 Cut be they in hands hollow, 
 
 Wrapped the joints round about; 
 Call for the Good-folks' gainsome helping. 
 
 Learn the bough-runes wisdom 
 
 If leech-lore thou lovest ; 
 And wilt wot about wounds' searching 
 
 On the bark be they scored ; 
 
 On the buds of trees 
 Whose boughs look eastward ever. 
 
 Thought-runes shalt thou deal with 
 
 If thou wilt be of all men 
 Fairest-souled wight, and wisest 
 
 These areded 
 
 These first cut 
 These first took to heart high Hropt. 
 
74 THE STORY OF THE 
 
 On the shield were they scored 
 
 That stands before the shining God, 
 
 On Early-waking's ear, 
 
 On All-knowing's hoof, 
 
 On the wheel which runneth 
 
 Under Rognir's chariot ; 
 
 On Sleipnir's jaw-teeth, 
 
 On the sleigh's traces. 
 
 On the rough bear's paws, 
 And on Bragi's tongue, 
 On the wolf's claws. 
 And on eagle's bill. 
 On bloody wings. 
 And bridge's end ; 
 On loosing palms, 
 And pity's path : 
 
 On glass, and on gold. 
 
 And on goodly silver, 
 
 In wine and in wort. 
 
 And the seat of the witch-wife ; 
 
 On Gungnifs point. 
 
 And Grani's bosom ; 
 
 On the Norn's nail, 
 
 And the neb of the night-owl. 
 
 All these so cut. 
 Were shaven and sheared, 
 And mingled in with holy mead, 
 And sent upon wide ways enow ; 
 Some abide with the Elves, 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NIBLUNGS. 75 
 
 Some abide with the ^sir, 
 Or with the wise Vanir, 
 Some still hold the sons of mankind. 
 
 These be the book-ranes, 
 
 And the runes of good help, 
 And all the ale-runes, 
 And the runes of much might ; 
 
 To whomso they may avail, 
 
 Unbewildered unspoilt ; 
 They are wholesome to have : 
 Thrive thou -with these then. 
 When thou hast learnt their lore. 
 Till the Gods end thy life-days. 
 
 Now shalt thou choose thee 
 
 E'en as choice is bidden, 
 Sharp steel's root and stem, 
 
 Choose song or silence \ 
 
 See to each in thy heart. 
 All hurt has been heeded." 
 
 Then answered Sigurd — 
 
 " Ne'er shall I flee. 
 
 Though thou wottest me fey ; 
 Never was I born for blenching. 
 
 Thy loved rede will I 
 
 Hold aright in my heart 
 Even as long as I may live." 
 
76 THE STORY OF THE 
 
 CHAP. XXI. 
 
 More Wise Words of Brynhild. 
 
 SIGURD spake now, "Sure no wiser woman than 
 thou art one may be found in the wide world ; yea, 
 yea, teach me more yet of thy wisdom ! " 
 
 She answers, " Seemly is it that I do according to 
 thy will, and show thee forth more redes of great avail, 
 for thy prayer's sake and thy wisdom ; " and she spake 
 withal — 
 
 " Be kindly to friend and kin, and reward not their 
 trespasses against thee ; bear and forbear, and win for 
 thee thereby long enduring praise of men. 
 
 " Take good heed of evil things : a may's love, and a 
 man's wife ; full oft thereof doth ill befall ! 
 
 "Let not thy mind be overmuch crossed by unwise 
 men at thronged meetings of folk ; for oft these speak 
 worse than they wot of; lest thou be called a dastard, 
 and art minded to think that thou art even as is said ; 
 slay such an one on another day, and so reward his 
 ugly talk. 
 
 " If thou farest by the way whereas bide evil things, 
 be well ware of thyself; take not harbour near the high- 
 way, though thou be benighted, for oft abide there ill 
 wights for men's bewilderment. 
 
 " Let not fair women beguile thee, such as thou mayst 
 meet at the feast, so that the thought thereof stand thee 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NIB LUNGS. 77 
 
 in stead of sleep, and a quiet mind ; yea, draw them not 
 to thee with kisses or other sweet things of love. 
 
 " If thou hearest the fool's word of a drunken man, 
 strive not with him being drunk with drink and witless ; 
 many a grief, yea, and the very death, groweth from out 
 such things. 
 
 " Fight thy foes in the field, nor be burnt in thine 
 house. 
 
 "Never swear thou wrongsome oath; great and grim 
 is the reward for the breaking of plighted troth. 
 
 " Give kind heed to dead men, — sick-dead, sea-dead, 
 or sword-dead ; deal heedfully with their dead corpses. 
 
 "Trow never in him for whom thou hast slain 
 father, brother, or whatso near kin, yea, young though 
 he be ; for oft waxes wolf in youngling. 
 
 " Look thou with good heed to the wiles of thy 
 friends ; but little skill is given to me, that I should 
 foresee the ways of thy life ; yet good it were that hate 
 fell not on thee from those of thy wife's house.'' 
 
 Sigurd spake, " None among the sons of men can be 
 found wiser than thou ; and thereby swear I, that thee 
 will I have as mine own; for near to my heart thou liest." 
 
 She answers, " Thee would I fainest choose, though 
 I had all men's sons to choose from.'' 
 
 And thereto they phghted troth both of them. 
 
78 THE STORY OF THE 
 
 CHAP. XXII. 
 Of the Semblance and Array of Sigurd Fafnir' s-hane. 
 
 NOW Sigurd rides away; many-folded is his shield, 
 and blazing with red gold, and the image of a 
 dragon is drawn thereon ; and this same was dark 
 brown above, and bright red below ; and with even such- 
 like image was adorned helm, and saddle, and coat- 
 armour ; and he was clad in the golden bymy, and all 
 his weapons were gold-wrought. 
 
 Now for this cause was the drake drawn on all his 
 weapons, that when he was seen of men, all folk might 
 know who went there ; yea, all those who had heard of 
 his slaying of that great dragon, that the Veerings call 
 Fafnir ; and for that cause are his weapons gold-wrought, 
 and brown of hue, and that he was far above other men 
 in courtesy and goodly manners, and well-nigh in all 
 things else ; and whenas folk tell of all the mightiest 
 champions, and the noblest chiefs, then ever is he 
 named the foremost, and his name goes wide about on 
 all tongues north of the sea of the Greek-lands, and even 
 so shall it be while the world endures. 
 
 Now the hair of this Sigurd was golden-red of hue, 
 fair of fashion, and falling down in great locks ; thick 
 and short was his beard, and of no other colour ; high- 
 nosed he was, broad and high-boned of face ; so keen 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NIB LUNGS. 79 
 
 were his eyes, that few durst gaze up under the brows 
 of him; his shoulders were as broad to look on as 
 the shoulders of two ; most duly was his body fash- 
 ioned betwixt height and breadth, and in such wise as 
 was seemhest ; and this is the sign told of his height, 
 that when he was girt with his sword Gram, which same 
 was seven spans long, as he went through the full-grown 
 rye-fields, the dew-shoe of the said sword smote the ears 
 of the standing corn ; and, for all that, greater was his 
 strength than his growth : well could he wield sword, 
 and cast forth spear, shoot shaft, and hold shield, bend 
 bow, back horse, and do all the goodly deeds that he 
 learned in his youth's days. 
 
 Wise he was to know things yet undone ; and the 
 voice of all fowls he knew, wherefore few things fell on 
 him unawares. 
 
 Of many words he was, and so fair of speech withal, 
 that whensoever he made it his business to speak, he 
 never left speaking before that to all men it seemed full 
 sure, that no otherwise must the matter be than as he 
 said. 
 
 His sport and pleasure it was to give aid to his own 
 folk, and to prove himself in mighty matters, to take 
 wealth from his unfriends, and give the same to his 
 friends. 
 
 Never did he lose heart, and of naught was he adrad. 
 
8o THE STORY OF THE 
 
 CHAP XXIII. 
 
 Sigurd comes to Hlymdale. 
 
 FORTH Sigurd rides till he comes to a great and 
 goodly dwelling, the lord whereof was a mighty 
 chief called Heimir ; he had to wife a sister of Brynhild, 
 who was hight Bekkhild, because she had bidden at 
 home, and learned handicraft, whereas Br3mhild fared 
 with helm and byrny unto the wars, wherefore was she 
 called Brynhild. 
 
 Heimir and Bekkhild had a son called Alswid, the 
 most courteous of men. 
 
 Now at this stead were men disporting them abroad, 
 but when they see the man riding thereto, they leave 
 their play to wonder at him, for none such had they ever 
 seen erst ; so they went to meet him, and gave him 
 good welcome ; Alswid bade him abide and have such 
 things at his hands as he would ; and he takes his 
 bidding blithesomely ; due service withal was established 
 for him ; four men bore the treasure of gold from off the 
 horse, and the fifth took it to him to guard the same ; 
 therein were many things to be hold, things of great price, 
 and seldom seen; and great game and joy men had to 
 look on byrnies and helms, and mighty rings, and 
 wondrous great golden stoups, and all kinds of war 
 weapons. 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NIB LUNGS. 8i 
 
 So there dwelt Sigurd long in great honour holden ; 
 and tidings of that deed of fame, spread wide through all 
 lands, of how he had slain that hideous and fearful 
 dragon. So good joyance had they there together, and 
 each was leal to other ; and their sport was in the array- 
 ing of their weapons, and the shafting of their arrows, 
 and the flying of their falcons. 
 
82 THE STORY OT THE 
 
 CHAP. XXIV. 
 Sigurd sees Brynhild at Hlymdale. 
 
 IN those days came home to Heimir, Brynhild, his 
 foster-daughter, and she sat in her bower with her 
 maidens, and could more skill in handycraft than other 
 women ; she sat, overlaying cloth with gold, and sewing 
 therein the great deeds which Sigurd had wrought, the 
 slaying of the Wonn, and the taking of the wealth of 
 him, and the death of Regin withal. 
 
 Now tells the tale, that on a day Sigurd rode into 
 the wood with hawk, and hound, and men thronging; 
 and whenas he came home his hawk flew up to a high 
 tower, and sat him down on a certain window. Then 
 fared Sigurd after his hawk, and he saw where sat a fair 
 woman, and knew that it was Brynhild, and he deems 
 all things he sees there to be worthy together, both her 
 fairness, and the fair things she wrought : and therewith 
 he goes into the hall, but has no more joyance in the 
 games of the men folk. 
 
 Then spake Alswid, " Why art thou so bare of bliss ? 
 this manner of thine grieveth us thy friends ; why then 
 wilt thou not hold to thy gleesome ways ? Lo, thy hawks 
 pine now, and thy horse Grani drooj)s ; and long -will it 
 be ere we are booted thereof?" 
 
 Sigurd answered, " Good friend, hearken to what lies 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NIB LUNGS. 83 
 
 on my mind ; for my hawk flew up into a certain tower; 
 and when I came thereto and took him, lo there I saw a 
 fair woman, and she sat by a needlework of gold, and did 
 thereon my deeds that are passed, and my deeds that 
 are to come." 
 
 Then said Alswid, " Thou hast seen Brynhild, Budli's 
 daughter, the greatest of great women." 
 
 "Yea, verily," said Sigurd; "but how came she 
 hither?" 
 
 Alswid answered, " Short space there was betwixt 
 the coming hither of the twain of you.'' 
 
 Says Sigurd, " Yea, but a few days agone I knew her 
 for the best of the world's women." 
 
 Alswid said, " Give not all thine heed to one woman, 
 being such a man as thou art ; ill life to sit lamenting 
 for what we may not have." 
 
 " I shall go meet her," says Sigurd, " and get from 
 her love like my love, and give her a gold ring in token 
 thereof" 
 
 Alswid answered, " None has ever yet been known 
 whom she would let sit beside her, or to whom she 
 would give drink ; for ever will she hold to warfare and 
 to the winning of all kinds of fame." 
 
 Sigurd said, "We know not for sure whether she 
 will give us answer or not, or grant us a seat beside 
 her." 
 
 So the next day after, Sigurd went to the bower, but 
 Alswid stood outside the bower door, fitting shafts to 
 his arrows. 
 
 Now Sigurd spake, " Abide, fair and hale lady, — how 
 farest thou ? " 
 
 She answered, " Well it fares ; my kin and my friends 
 
84 THE STOR Y OF THE 
 
 live yet : but who shall say what goodhap folk may 
 bear to their life's end ? " 
 
 He sat him down by her, and there came in four 
 damsels with great golden beakers, and the best of wine 
 therein ; and these stood before the twain. 
 
 Then said Brynhild, " This seat is for few, but and if 
 my father come." 
 
 He answered, " Yet is it granted to one that likes 
 me well." 
 
 Now that chamber was hung with the best and fairest 
 of hangings, and the floor thereof was all covered with 
 cloth. 
 
 Sigurd spake, " Now has it come to pass even as 
 thou didst promise." 
 
 " O be thou welcome here ! " said she, and arose 
 therewith, and the four damsels with her, and bore the 
 golden beaker to him, and bade him drink ; he stretched 
 out his hand to the beaker, and took it, and her hand 
 withal, and drew her down beside him ; and cast his 
 arms round about her neck and kissed her, and said — 
 
 " Thou art the fairest that was ever born ! " 
 
 But Brynhild said, " Ah, wiser is it not to cast faith 
 and troth into a woman's power, for ever shall they break 
 that they have promised." 
 
 He said, " That day would dawn the best of days 
 over our heads whereon each of each should be made 
 happy." 
 
 Brynhild answered, "It is not fated that we should 
 abide together, I am a shield-may, and wear helm on 
 head even as the kings of war, and them full oft I help, 
 neither is the battle become loathsome to me." 
 
 Sisfurd answered, " What fruit shall be of our life, if 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NIB LUNGS. 85 
 
 we live not together : harder to bear this pain that lies 
 hereunder, than the stroke of sharp sword." 
 
 Brynhild answers, " I shall gaze on the hosts of the 
 war-kings, but thou shalt wed Gudrun, the daughter of 
 Giuki." 
 
 Sigurd answered, "What king's daughter lives to 
 beguile me ? neither am I double-hearted herein ; and 
 now I swear by the Gods that thee shall I have for mine 
 own, or no woman else.'' 
 
 And even in suchlike wise spake she. 
 
 Sigurd thanked her for her speech, and gave her a 
 gold ring, and now they swore oath anew, and so he went 
 his ways to his men, and is with them awhile in great bliss. 
 
86 THE STORY OF THE 
 
 CHAP. XXV. 
 Of the Dream of Giidrun, Giuki's daughter. 
 
 THERE was a king hight Giuki, who ruled a realm 
 south of the Rhine ; three sons he had, thus 
 named : Gunnar, Hogni, and Guttorm, and Gudrun was 
 the name of his daughter, the fairest of maidens ; and 
 all these children were far before all other king's children 
 in all prowess, and in goodliness and growth withal ; 
 ever were his sons at the wars and wrought many a 
 deed of fame. But Giuki had wedded Grimhild the 
 Wise-wife. 
 
 Now Budli was the name of a king mightier than 
 Giuki, mighty though they both were : and Atli was the 
 brother of Brynhild : Atli was a fierce man and a grim, 
 great and black to look on, yet noble of mien withal, 
 and the greatest of warriors. Grimhild was a fierce- 
 hearted woman. 
 
 Now the days of the Giukings bloomed fair, and 
 chiefly because of those children, so far before the sons 
 of men. 
 
 On a day Gudrun says to her mays that she may 
 have no joy of heart ; then a certain woman asked her 
 wherefore her joy was departed. 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NIB LUNGS. 87 
 
 She answered, " Grief came to me in my dreams, 
 therefore is there sorrow in my heart, since thou must 
 needs ask thereof." 
 
 " Tell it me, then, thy dream," said the woman, 
 " for dreams oft forecast but the weather.'' 
 
 Gudrun answers, " Nay, nay, no weather is this ; I 
 dreamed that I had a fair hawk on my wrist, feathered 
 with feathers of gold." 
 
 Says the woman, " Many have heard tell of thy 
 beauty, thy wisdom, and thy courtesy ; some king's son 
 abides thee then." 
 
 Gudrun answers, " I dreamed that naught was so 
 dear to me as this hawk, and all my wealth had I cast 
 aside rather than him." 
 
 The woman said, " Well then the man thou shalt 
 have will be of the goodliest, and well shalt thou love 
 him." 
 
 Gudrun answered, " It grieves me that I know not 
 who he shall be ; let us go seek Brynhild, for she belike 
 will wot thereof" 
 
 So they arrayed them in gold and many a fair thing, 
 and she went with her damsels till they came to the hall 
 of Brynhild, and that hall was dight with gold, and stood 
 on a high hill ; and whenas their goings were seen, it 
 was told Brynhild, that a company of women drove 
 toward the burg in gilded waggons. 
 
 " That shall be Gudrun, Giuki's daughter," says she : 
 " I dreamed of her last night ; let us go meet her ; no 
 fairer woman may come to our house." 
 
 So they went abroad to meet them, and gave them 
 good greeting, and they went into the goodly hall to- 
 
88 THE STOR Y OF THE 
 
 gether; fairly painted it was within, and well adorned 
 with silver vessel ; cloths were spread under the feet of 
 them, and all folk served them, and in many wise they 
 sported. 
 
 But Gudrun was somewhat silent. 
 
 Then said Brynhild, " 111 to abash folk of their 
 mirth ; prithee do not so ; let us talk together for our 
 disport of mighty kings and their great deeds." 
 
 "Good talk," says Gudrun; "let us do even so; 
 what kings deemest thou to have been the first of all 
 men ? " 
 
 Brynhild says, " The sons of Haki, and Hagbard 
 withal ; they brought to pass many a deed of fame in 
 their warfare." 
 
 Gudrun answers, " Great men certes, and of noble 
 fame ! Yet Sigar took their one sister, and burned the 
 other, house and all ; and they may be called slow to 
 revenge the deed; why didst thou not name my bre- 
 thren, who are held to be the first of men as at this 
 time ? " 
 
 Brynhild says, " Men of good hope are they surely, 
 though but little proven hitherto ; but one I know far 
 before them, Sigurd, the son of Sigmund the king ; a 
 youngling was he in the days when he slew the sons of 
 Hunding, and revenged his father, and Eylimi, his 
 mother's father.'' 
 
 Said Gudnm, " By what token tellest thou that?" 
 
 Brynhild answered, " His mother went amid the 
 dead, and found Sigmund the king sore wounded, and 
 would bind up his hurts ; but he said he grew over old 
 for war, and bade her lay this comfort to her heart, that 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NIBLUNGS. 89 
 
 she should bear- the most famed of sons ; and wise was 
 the wise man's word therein : for after the death of 
 King Sigmund, she went to King Alf, and there was 
 Sigurd nourished in great honour, and day by day he 
 wrought some deed of fame, and is the man most 
 renowned of all the wide world." 
 
 Gudrun says, " From love hast thou gained these 
 tidings of him ; but for this cause came I here, to tell 
 thee dreams of mine which have brought me great 
 grief" 
 
 Says Brynhild, " Let not such matters sadden thee ; 
 abide with thy friends who wish thee blithesome, all of 
 them ! " 
 
 " This I dreamed," said Gudrun, " that we went, a 
 many of us in company, from the bower, and we saw an 
 exceeding great hart, that far excelled all other deer 
 ever seen, and the hair of him was golden; and this 
 deer we were all fain to take, but I alone got him ; and> 
 he seemed to me better than all things else ; but 
 sithence thou, Brynhild, didst shoot and slay my deer even 
 at my very knees, and such grief was that to me that 
 scarce might I bear it ; and then afterwards thou gavest 
 me a wolf-cub, which besprinkled me with the blood of 
 my brethren." 
 
 Brynhild answers, " I will arede thy dream, even as 
 things shall come to pass hereafter ; for Sigurd shall 
 come to thee, even he whom I have chosen for my 
 well-beloved; and Grimhild shall give him mead min- 
 gled with hurtful things, which shall cast us all into 
 mighty strife. Him shalt thou have, and him shalt 
 thou quickly miss ; and Atli the king shalt thou wed ; 
 
90 THE STOR Y OF THE 
 
 and thy brethren shalt thou lose, and slay Atli withal in 
 the end." 
 
 Gudrun answers, " Grief and woe to know that such 
 things shall be ! " 
 
 And therewith she and hers get them gone home to 
 King Giuki. 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NIB LUNGS. 91 
 
 CHAP. XXVI. 
 
 Sigurd comes to the Giukings and is wedded to Giidnin. 
 
 NOW Sigurd goes his ways with all that great trea- 
 sure, and in friendly wise he departs from them ; 
 and on Grani he rides with all his war-gear and the 
 burden withal ; and thus he rides until he comes to the 
 hall of King Giuki ; there he rides into the burg, and 
 that sees one of the king's men, and he spake withal — 
 
 " Sure it may be deemed that here is come one of 
 the Gods, for his array is all done with gold, and his 
 horse is far mightier than other horses, and the manner 
 of his weapons is most exceeding goodly, and most of all 
 the man himself far excels all other men ever seen." 
 
 So the king goes out with his court and greets the 
 man, and asks — 
 
 " Who art thou who thus ridest into my burg, as none 
 has durst hitherto without the leave of my sons ? " 
 
 He answered, " I am called Sigurd, son of King 
 Sigmund." 
 
 Then said King Giuki, " Be thou welcome here 
 then, and take at our hands whatso thou wiliest." 
 
 So he went into the king's hall, and all men seemed 
 little beside him, and all men served him, and there he 
 abode in great joyance. 
 
 Now oft they all ride abroad together, Sigurd and 
 
92 THE STORY OF THE 
 
 Gunnar and Hogni, and ever is Sigurd far the foremost 
 of them, mighty men of their hands though they were. 
 
 But Grimhild finds how heartily Sigurd loved Bryn- 
 hild, and how oft he talks of her ; and she falls to 
 thinking how well it were, if he might abide there and 
 wed the daughter of King Giuki, for she saw that none 
 might come anigh to his goodliness, and what faith and 
 goodhelp there was in him, and how that he had more 
 wealth withal than folk might tell of any man ; and the 
 king did to him even as unto his own sons, and they 
 for their parts held him of more worth than themselves. 
 
 So on a night as they sat at the drink, the queen 
 arose, and went before Sigurd, and said — 
 
 " Great joy we have in thine abiding here, and all 
 good things will we put before thee to take of us ; lo 
 now, take this horn and drink thereof." 
 
 So he took it and drank, and therewithal she said, 
 " Thy father shall be Giuki the king, and I shall be 
 thy mother, and Gunnar and Hogni shall be thy bre- 
 thren, and all this shall be sworn with oaths each to 
 each ; and then surely shall the like of you never be 
 found on earth." 
 
 Sigurd took her speech well, for with the drinking of 
 that drinlc all memory of Brynhild departed from him. 
 So there he abode awhile. 
 
 And on a day went Grimhild to Giuki the king, and 
 cast her arms about his neck, and spake — 
 
 " Behold, there has now come to us the greatest of 
 great hearts that the world holds ; and needs must 
 he be trusty and of great avail ; give him thy daughter 
 then, with plenteous wealth, and as much of rule as he 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NIB LUNGS. 93 
 
 will ; perchance thereby he will be well content to abide 
 here ever.'' 
 
 The king answered, " Seldom does it befall that 
 kings offer their daughters to any ; yet in higher wise 
 will it be done to offer her to this man, than to take 
 lowly prayers for her from others." 
 
 On a night Gudrun pours out the drink, and Sigurd 
 beholds her how fair she is and how full of all courtesy. 
 
 Five seasons Sigurd abode there, and ever they 
 passed their days together in good honour and friend- 
 ship. 
 
 And so it befell that the kings held talk together, 
 and Giuki said — 
 
 " Great good thou givest us, Sigurd, and with exceed- 
 ing strength thou strengthenest our realm." 
 
 Then Gunnar said, " All things that may be will we 
 do for thee, so thou abidest here long ; both dominion 
 shall thou have, and our sister freely and unprayed for, 
 whom another man would not get for all his prayers." 
 
 Sigurd says, " Thanks have ye for this wherewith ye 
 honour me, and gladly will I take the same.'' 
 
 Therewith they swore brotherhood together, and to 
 be even as if they were children of one father and one 
 mother; and a noble feast was holden, and endured 
 many days, and Sigurd drank at the wedding of him 
 and Gudrun ; and there might men behold all manner 
 of game and glee, and each day the feast better and 
 better. 
 
 Now fare these folk wide over the world, and do 
 many great deeds, and slay many kings' sons, and no 
 man has ever done such works of prowess as did they ; 
 then home tliey come again with much wealth won in war. 
 
94 THE STORY OF THE 
 
 Sigurd gave of the serpent's heart to Gudrun, and 
 she ate thereof, and became greater-hearted, and wiser 
 than ere before : and the son of these twain was called 
 Sigmund. 
 
 Now on a time, went Grimhild to Gunnar her son, 
 and spake — 
 
 " Fair blooms the life and fortune of thee, but for 
 one thing only, and namely whereas thou art unwedded ; 
 go woo Brynliild ; good rede is this, and Sigurd will 
 ride with thee." 
 
 Gunnar answered, "Fair is she certes, and I am fain 
 enow to win her/' and there with he tells his father, and 
 his brethren, and Sigurd, and they all prick him on to that 
 wooing. 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NIBLUNGS. 95 
 
 CH'AP. XXVII. 
 The Wooing of Brynhild. 
 
 NOW they array them joyously for their joumey, 
 and ride over hill and dale to the house of King 
 Budli, and woo his daughter of him ; in a good wise 
 he took their speech, if so be that she herself would not 
 deny them ; but he said withal that so high-minded was 
 she, that that man only might wed her whom she 
 would. 
 
 Then they ride to Hlynidale, and there Heimir gave 
 them good welcome \ so Gunnar tells his errand ; Heimir 
 says, that she must needs wed but him whom she herself 
 chose freely ; and tells them how her abode was but a 
 little way thence, and that he deemed that him only 
 would she have who should ride through the flaming 
 fire that was drawn round about her hall ; so they depart 
 and come to the hall and the fire, and see there a castle 
 with a golden roof-ridge, and all round about a fire 
 roaring up. 
 
 Now Gunnar rode on Goti, but Hogni on Holkvi, 
 and Gunnar smote his horse to face the fire, but he 
 shrank aback. 
 
 Then said Sigurd, "Why givest thou back, Gun- 
 nar?" 
 
 He answered, " The horse will not tread this fire ; 
 but lend me thy horse Grani." 
 
96 THE STOR V OF THE 
 
 " Yea, with all my good will," says Sigiird. 
 
 Then Gunnar rides him at the fire, and yet nowise 
 will Grani stir, nor may Gunnar any the more ride 
 through that fire. So now they change semblance, 
 Gunnar and Sigurd, even as Grigihild had taught them ; 
 then Sigurd in the likeness of Gunnar mounts and rides. 
 Gram in his hand, and golden spurs on his heels ; then 
 leapt Grani into the fire when he felt the spurs ; and a 
 mighty roar arose as the fire burned ever madder, and 
 the earth trembled, and the flames went up even unto 
 the heavens, nor had any dared to ride as he rode, even 
 as it were through the deep mirk. 
 
 But now the fire sank withal, and he leapt from his 
 horse and went into the hall, even as the song says — 
 
 The flame flared at its maddest. 
 Earth's fields fell a-quaking 
 As the red flame aloft 
 Licked the lowest of heaven. 
 Few had been fain, 
 Of the rulers of folk, 
 To ride through that flame, 
 Or athwart it to tread. 
 
 Then Sigurd smote 
 Grani with sword, 
 And the flame was slaked 
 Before the king ; 
 Low lay the flames 
 Before the fain of fame ; 
 Bright gleamed the array 
 That Regin erst owned. 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NIBLUNGS. 97 
 
 Now when Sigurd had passed through the fire, he came 
 into a certain fair dwelHng, and therein sat Brynhild. 
 
 She asked, " What man is it ?" 
 
 Then he named himself Gunnar, son of Giuki, and 
 said — "Thou art awarded to me as my wife, by the good- 
 will and word of thy father and thy foster-father, and I 
 have ridden through the flames of thy fire, according to 
 thy word that thou hast set forth." 
 
 " I wot not clearly," said she, " how I shall answer 
 thee.'' 
 
 Now Sigurd stood upright on the hall floor, and 
 leaned on the hilt of his sword, and he spake to Bryn- 
 hild — 
 
 " In reward thereof, shall I pay thee a great dower 
 in gold and goodly things ? '^ 
 
 She answered in heavy mood from her seat, whereas 
 she sat like unto swan on billow, having a sword in her 
 hand, and a helm on her head, and being clad in a 
 byrny, " O Gunnar," she says, " speak not to me of 
 such things ; unless thou be the first and best of all 
 men ; for then shalt thou slay those my wooers, if thou 
 hast heart thereto ; I have been in battles with the king 
 of the Greeks, and our weapons were stained with red 
 blood, and for such things still I yearn." 
 
 He answered, "Yea, certes many great deeds hast 
 thou done ; but yet call thou to mind thine oath, con- 
 cerning the riding through of this fire, wherein thou didst 
 swear that thou wouldest go with the man who should 
 do this deed." 
 
 So she found that he spake but the sooth, and she 
 paid heed to his words, and arose, and gi'eeted him 
 
 H 
 
98 - THE STORY OF THE 
 
 meetly, and he abode there three nights, and they lay 
 in one bed together ; but he took the sword Gram and 
 laid it betwixt them : then she asked him why he laid 
 it there ; and he answered, that in that wise must he 
 needs wed his wife or else get his bane. 
 
 Then she took from off her the ring Andvari's-loom, 
 which he had given her aforetime, and gave it to him, 
 but he gave her another ring out of Fafnir's hoard. 
 
 Thereafter he rode away through that same fire unto 
 his fellows, and he and Gunnar changed semblances 
 again, and rode unto Hlymdale, and told how it had 
 gone with them. 
 
 That same day went Br3Tihild home to her foster- 
 father, and tells him as one whom she trusted, how that 
 there had come a king to her ; " And he rode through 
 my flaming fire, and said he was come to woo me, and 
 named himself Gunnar; but I said that such a deed 
 might Sigurd alone have done, with whom I plighted 
 troth on the mountain; and he is my first troth-plight, 
 and my well-beloved." 
 
 Heimir said that things must needs abide even as 
 now they had now come to pass. 
 
 Brynhild said, " Aslaug the daughter of me fed 
 Sigurd shall be nourished here with thee.'' 
 
 Now the kings fare home, but Brynhild goes to her 
 father; Grimhild welcomes the kings meetly, and thanks 
 Sigurd for his fellowship ; and withal is a great feast 
 made, and many were the guests thereat; and thither 
 came Budli the King with his daughter Brynhild, and 
 his son Atli, and for many days did the feast endure : 
 and at that feast was Gunnar wedded to Brynhild : but 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NIB LUNGS. 
 
 99 
 
 when it was brought to an end, once more has Sigurd 
 memory of all the oaths that he sware unto Brynhild, yet 
 withal he let all things abide in rest and peace. 
 
 Brynhild and Gunnar sat together in great game and 
 glee, and drank goodly wine. 
 
THE STORY OF THE 
 
 CHAP. XXVIII. 
 
 How the Queens held angry converse together at the 
 
 ON a day as the Queens went to the river to bathe 
 them, Brynhild waded the farthest out into the 
 river ; then asked Gudrun what that deed might signify. 
 
 Brynhild said, " Yea, and why then should I be 
 equal to thee in this matter more than in others? I 
 am minded to think that my father is mightier than 
 thine, and my true-love has wrought many wondrous 
 works of fame, and hath ridden the flaming fire withal, 
 while thy husband was but the thrall of King Hjalprek." 
 
 Gudrun answered full of wrath, " Thou wouldst be 
 wise if thou shouldst hold thy peace rather than revile 
 my husband : lo now, the talk of all men it is, that none 
 has ever abode in this world like unto him in all matters 
 soever ; and little it beseems thee of all folk to mock 
 him who was thy first beloved : and Fafnir he slew, 
 yea, and he rode thy flaming fire, whereas thou didst 
 deem that he was Gunnar the King, and by thy side 
 he lay, and took from thine hand the ring Andvari's- 
 loom ; — here mayst thou well behold it ! " 
 
 Then Brynhild saw the ring and knew it, and waxed 
 as wan as a dead woman, and she went home and spake 
 no word the evening long. 
 
VOLS UNGS AND NIBL UNGS. i o i 
 
 So when Sigurd came to bed to Gudnin she asked 
 him why Brynhild's joy was so departed. 
 
 He answered, " I know not, but sore I misdoubt me 
 that soon we shall know thereof overwell." 
 
 Gudrun said, " Why may she not love her life, 
 having wealth and bliss, and the praise of all men, and 
 the man withal that she would have ? " 
 
 " Ah, yea 1 " said Sigurd, " and where in all the 
 world was she then, when she said that she deemed 
 she had the noblest of all men, and the dearest to her 
 heart of all?" 
 
 Gudrun answers, " Tomom will I ask her concern- 
 ing this, who is the liefest to her of all men for a 
 husband." 
 
 Sigurd said, " Needs must I forbid thee this, and 
 full surely wilt thou rue the deed if thou doest it." 
 
 Now the next morning they sat in the bower, and 
 Brynhild was silent ; then spake Gudrun — 
 
 " Be merry, Brynhild ! Grievest thou because of 
 that speech of ours together, or what other tiling 
 slayeth thy bliss?" 
 
 Brynhild answers, " With naught but evil intent thou 
 sayest this, for a cruel heart thou hast." 
 
 " Say not so," said Gudrun ; "but rather tell me all 
 the tale." 
 
 Brynhild answers, " Ask such things only as are good 
 for thee to know — matters meet for mighty dames. 
 Good to love good things when all goes according to 
 thy heart's desire ! " 
 
 Gudrun says, " Early days for me to glory in that ; 
 but this word of thine looketh toward some foreseeing. 
 
102 THE STORY OF THE 
 
 What ill dost thou thrust at us ? I did naught to grieve 
 thee." 
 
 Brynhild answers, " For this shalt thou pay, in that 
 thou hast got Sigurd to thee, — nowise can I see thee 
 ■living in the bliss thereof, whereas thou hast him, and 
 the wealth and the might of him." 
 
 But Gudrun answered, "Naught knew I of your 
 words and vows together; and well might my father 
 look to the mating of me without dealing with thee first." 
 
 " No secret speech had we," quoth Brynhild, 
 "though we swore oath together; and full well didst 
 thou know that thou wentest about to beguile me ; 
 verily thou shalt have thy reward !" 
 
 Says Gudrun, "Thou art mated better than thou 
 art worthy of; but thy pride and rage shall be hard 
 to slake belike, and therefor shall many a man 
 pay." 
 
 " Ah, I should be well content," said Brynhild, " if 
 thou hadst not the nobler man ! " 
 
 Gudrun answers, "So noble a husband hast thou, 
 that who knows of a greater king or a lord of more 
 wealth and might ?" 
 
 Says Brynhild, "Sigurd slew Fafnir, and that only 
 deed is of more worth than all the might of King 
 Gunnar." 
 
 (Even as the song says) : 
 
 The worm Sigurd slew, 
 Nor ere shall that deed 
 Be worsened by age 
 While the world is alive : 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NIB LUNGS. 103 
 
 But thy brother the King 
 Never durst, never bore 
 The flame to ride down 
 Through the fire to fare. 
 
 Gudrun answers, "Grani would not abide the fire 
 under Gunnar the King, but Sigurd durst the deed, and 
 thy heart may well abide without mocking him." 
 
 Brynhild answers, " Nowise will I hide fi^om thee 
 that I deem no good of Grimhild." 
 
 Says Gudrun, " Nay, lay no ill words on her, for 
 in all things she is to thee as to her own daughter.'' 
 
 " Ah," says Brynhild, " she is the beginning of all 
 this bale that biteth so ; an evil drink she bare to 
 Sigurd, so that he had no more memory of my very 
 name." 
 
 " All wrong thou talkest ; a lie without measure is 
 this,'' quoth Gudrun. 
 
 Brynhild answered, " Have thou joy of Sigurd ac- 
 cording to the measure of the wiles wherewith ye have 
 beguiled me ! unworthily have ye conspired against me ; 
 may all things go with you as my heart hopes ! " 
 
 Gudrun says, " More joy shall I have of him than 
 thy wish would give unto me : but to no man's mind 
 it came, that he had aforetime his pleasure of me ; nay 
 not once.'' 
 
 " Evil speech thou speakest," says Brynhild; "when 
 thy wrath runs ofif thou wilt rue it ; but come now, let us 
 no more cast angry words one at the other !" 
 
 Says Gudrun, " Thou wert the first to cast such 
 words at me, and now thou makest as if thou wouldst 
 amend it, but a cruel and hard heart abides behind." 
 
104 THE STORY OF THE 
 
 " Let us lay aside vain babble," says Brynhild. 
 " Long did I hold my peace concerning my sorrow of 
 heart, and, lo now, thy brother alone do I love ; let us 
 fall to other talk." 
 
 Gudrun said, " Far beyond all this doth thine heart 
 look." 
 
 And so ugly ill befell from that going to the river, 
 and that knowing of the ring, wherefrom did all their 
 talk arise. 
 
VOLS UNGS AND NIBL UNGS. 1 05 
 
 CHAP. XXIX. 
 Of Brynhild's great Grief and Mourning. 
 
 AFTER this talk Brynhild lay a-bed, and tidings 
 were brought to King Gunnar that Brynhild was 
 sick; he goes to see her thereon, and asks what ails 
 her ; but she answered him naught, but lay there as one 
 dead : and when he was hard on her for an answer, she 
 said — 
 
 "What didst thou with that ring that I gave thee, 
 even the one which King Budli gave me at our last 
 parting, when thou and King Giuki came to him and 
 threatened fire and the sword, unless ye had me to 
 wife ? Yea, at that time he led me apart, and asked me 
 which I had chosen of those who were come ; but I 
 prayed him that I might abide to ward the land and be 
 chief over the third part of his men; then were there 
 two choices for me to deal betwixt, either that I should 
 be wedded to him whom he would, or lose all my weal 
 and friendship at his hands ; and he said withal that his 
 friendship would be better to me than his wrath : then I 
 bethought me whether I should yield to his will, or slay 
 many a man ; and therewithal I deemed that it would 
 avail little to strive with him, and so it fell out, that I 
 promised to wed whomsoever should ride the horse 
 Grani with Fafnir's Hoard, and ride through my flaming 
 fire, and slay those men whom I called on him to slay. 
 
io6 THE STORY OF THE 
 
 and now so it was, that none durst ride, save Sigurd only, 
 because he lacked no heart thereto ; yea, and the Worm 
 he slew, and Regin, and five kings beside ; but thou, 
 Gunnar, durst do naught ; as pale as a dead man didst 
 thou wax, and no king thou art, and no champion ; so 
 whereas I made a vow unto my father, that him alone 
 would I love who was the noblest man alive, and that 
 this is none save Sigurd, lo, now have I broken my 
 oath and brought it to naught, since he is none of 
 mine, and for this cause shall I compass thy death ; and 
 a great reward of evil things have I wherewith to reward 
 Grimhild ; — never, I wot, has woman lived eviler or of 
 lesser heart than she." 
 
 Gunnar answered in such wise that few might hear 
 him, " Many a vile word hast thou spoken, and an evil- 
 hearted woman art thou, whereas thou revilest a woman 
 far better than thou ; never would she curse her life as 
 thou dost ; nay, nor has she tormented dead folk, or 
 murdered any; but lives her life well praised of all." 
 
 Brynhild answered, " Never have I dealt with evil 
 things privily, or done loathsome deeds ; — yet most fain 
 I am to slay thee.'' 
 
 And therewith would she slay King Gunnar, but 
 Hogni laid her in fetters ; but then Gunnar spake 
 withal — 
 
 " Nay, I will not that she abide in fetters." 
 
 Then said she, " Heed it not ! for never again seest 
 thou me glad in thine hall, never drinking, never at the 
 chess-play, never speaking the words of kindness, never 
 overlaying the fair cloths with gold, never giving thei 
 good counsel ; — ah, my sorrow of heart that I might not 
 get Sigurd to me ! " 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NIB LUNGS. 107 
 
 Then she sat up and smote her needlework, and 
 rent it asunder, and bade set open her bower doors, 
 that far away might the wailings of her sorrow be heard ; 
 then great mourning and lamentation there was, so that 
 folk heard it far and wide through that abode. 
 
 Now Gudrun asked her bower-maidens why they sat 
 so joyless and downcast, "What has come to you, that 
 ye fare ye as witless women, or what unheard-of wonders 
 have befallen you?" 
 
 Then answered a waiting lady, hight Swaflod, " An 
 untimely, an evil day it is, and our hall is fulfilled of 
 lamentation." 
 
 Then spake Gudrun to one of her handmaids,''' Arise, 
 for we have slept long ; go, wake Brynhild, and let us fall 
 to our needlework and be merry." 
 
 " Nay, nay," she says, " nowise may I wake her, 
 or talk with her ; for many days has she drunk neither 
 mead nor -wine ; surely the wrath of the Gods has fallen 
 upon her." 
 
 Then spake Gudrun to Gunnar, " Go and see her," 
 she says, " and bid her know that I am grieved with 
 her grief." 
 
 " Nay," says Gunnar, " I am forbid to go see her or 
 to share her weal." 
 
 Nevertheless he went unto her, and strives in many 
 wise to have speech of her, but gets no answer whatso- 
 ever : therefore he gets him gone and finds Hogni, and 
 bids him go see her : he said he was loth thereto, but 
 went, and gat no more of her. 
 
 Then they go and find Sigurd, and pray him to visit 
 her ; he answered naught thereto, and so matters abode 
 for that night. 
 
io8 THE STORY OF THE 
 
 But the next day, when he came home from hunting, 
 Sigurd went to Gudrun, and spake — ■ 
 
 " In such wise do matters show to me, as though 
 great and evil things will betide from this trouble and 
 upheaving, and that Brynhild will surely die." 
 
 Gudrun answers, " O my lord, by great wonders is 
 she encompassed, seven days and seven nights has she 
 slept, and none has dared wake her." 
 
 "Nay, she sleeps not," said Sigurd, "her heart is 
 dealing rather with dreadful intent against me." 
 
 Then said Gudrun, weeping, " Woe worth the while 
 for thy death ! go and see her ; and wot if her fury may 
 not be abated j give her gold, and smother up her grief 
 and anger therewith !" 
 
 Then Sigurd went out, and found the door of Bryn- 
 hild's chamber open ; he deemed she slept, and drew 
 the clothes from off her, and said — • 
 
 " Awake, Brynhild ! the sun shineth now over all the 
 house, and thou hast slept enough; cast off grief from 
 thee, and take up gladness ! " 
 
 She said, "And how then hast thou dared to come 
 to me ? in this treason none was worse to me than thou." 
 
 Said Sigurd, "Why wilt thou not speak to folk? for 
 what cause sorrowest thou ?" 
 
 Brynhild answers, "Ah, to thee will I tell of my 
 wrath !" 
 
 Sigurd said, " As one under a spell art thou, if thou 
 deemest that there is aught cruel in my heart against 
 thee ; but thou hast him for husband whom thou didst 
 choose." 
 
 " Ah, nay," she said, " never did Gunnar ride through 
 the fire to me, nor did he give me to dower the host of 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NIB LUNGS. 109 
 
 the slain : I wondered at the man who came into mj 
 hall ; for I deemed indeed that I knew thine eyes ; but 
 I might not see clearly, or divide the good from the evil, 
 because of the veil that lay heavy on my fortune." 
 
 Says Sigurd, " No nobler men are there than the sons 
 of Giuki, they slew the king of the Danes, and that great 
 chief the brother of King Budli." 
 
 Brynhild answered, " Surely for many an ill deed 
 must I reward them ; mind me not of my griefs against 
 them ! But thou, Sigurd, slewest the Worm, and rodest 
 the fire through ; yea, and for my sake, and not one of 
 the sons of King Giuki." 
 
 Sigurd answers, " I am not thy husband, and thou 
 art not my wife ; yet did a farfamed king pay dower to 
 thee." 
 
 Says Brynhild, " Never looked I at Gunnar in such a 
 wise that .my heart smiled on him ; and hard and fell am 
 I to him, though I hide it from others.' ' 
 
 " A marvellous thing," says Sigurd, " not to love such 
 a king; what angers thee most ? for surely his love should 
 be better to thee than gold." 
 
 "This is the sorest sorrow to me," she says, "that 
 the bitter sword is not reddened in thy blood." 
 
 " Have no fear thereof! " says he, " no long while to 
 wait or the bitter sword stand deep in my heart ; and no 
 worse needest thou to pray for thyself, for thou wilt 'not 
 live when I am dead ; the days of our two lives shall be 
 few enough from henceforth." 
 
 Brynhild answers, " Enough and to spare of bale is 
 in thy speech, since thou bewrayedst me, and didst twin 
 me and all bliss ; — naught do I heed my life or death.'' 
 
 Sigurd answers, " Ah, live, and love King Gunnar 
 
no THE STORY OF THE 
 
 and me withal ! and all my wealth will I give thee if thou 
 die not." 
 
 Brynhild answers, " Thou knowest me not, nor the 
 heart that is in me ; for thou art the first and best of all 
 men, and I am become the most loathsome of all women 
 to thee." 
 
 " This is truer," says Sigurd, " that I loved thee better 
 than myself, though I fell into the wiles from whence 
 our lives may not escape ; for whenso my own heart and 
 mind availed me, then I sorrowed sore that thou wert 
 not my wife ; but as I might I put my trouble from me, 
 for in a king's dwelling was I ; and withal and in spite 
 of all I was well content that we were all together. 
 Well may it be, that that shall come to pass which is 
 foretold ; neither shall I fear the fulfilment thereof" 
 
 Brynhild answered, and said, " Too late thou tellest 
 me that my grief grieved thee : little pity shall I find now." 
 
 Sigurd said, " This my heart would, that thou and I 
 should go into one bed together ; even so wouldst thou 
 be my wife." 
 
 Said Brynhild, "Such words may nowise be spoken, 
 nor will I have two kings in one hall ; I will lay my life 
 down rather than beguile Gunnar the King." 
 
 And therewith she calls to mind how they met, they 
 two, on the mountain, and swore oath each to each. 
 
 " But now is all changed, and I will not live." 
 
 " I might not call to mind thy name," said Sigurd, 
 " or know thee again, before the time of thy wedding ; 
 the greatest of all griefs is that." 
 
 Then said Brynhild, " I swore an oath to wed the 
 man who should ride my flaming fire, and that oath will 
 I hold to, or die." 
 
VOLS UNGS AND NIBL UNGS. 1 1 1 
 
 " Rather than thou die, I will wed thee, and put 
 away Gudrun," said Sigurd. 
 
 But therewithal so swelled the heart betwixt the sides 
 of him, that the rings of his bymy burst asunder. 
 
 " I will not have thee," says Brynhild, " nay, nor any 
 other ! " 
 
 Then Sigurd got him gone. 
 
 So saith the song of Sigurd — 
 
 " Out then went Sigurd, 
 The great kings' well-loved. 
 From the speech and the sorrow, 
 Sore drooping, so grieving. 
 That the shirt round about him 
 Of iron rings woven. 
 From the sides brake asunder 
 Of the brave in the battle." 
 
 So when Sigurd came into the hall, Gunnar asked if he 
 had come to a knowledge of what great grief lay heavy 
 on her, or if she had power of speech : and Sigurd said 
 that she lacked it not. So now Gunnar goes to her 
 again, and asked her, what wrought her woe, or if there 
 were anything that might amend it. 
 
 " I will not live," says Brynhild, " for Sigurd has 
 bewrayed me, yea, and thee no less, whereas thou didst 
 suffer him to come into my bed : lo thou, two men in one 
 dwelling I will not have ; and this shall be Sigurd's death, 
 or thy death, or my death ; — for now has he told Gud- 
 run all, and she is mocking me even now ! " 
 
THE STOR y OF liiE 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 Of the Slaying of Sigurd Fafnir' s-bane. 
 
 THEREAFTER Brynhild went out, and sat under 
 her bower-wall, and had many words of wailing 
 to say, and still she cried that all things were loathsome 
 to her, both land and lordship alike, so she might not 
 have Sigurd. 
 
 , But therewith came Gunnar to her yet again, and 
 Brynhild spake, " Thou shalt lose both realm and wealth, 
 and thy life and me, for I shall. fare home to my kin, 
 and abide there in sorrow, unless thou slayest Sigurd and 
 his son ; never nourish thou a wolfcub." 
 
 Gunnar grew sick at heart thereat, and might no- 
 wdse see what fearful thing lay beneath it all ; he was 
 bound to Sigurd by oath, and this way and tliat way 
 swung the heart within him ; but at the last he be- 
 thought him of the measureless shame if his wife went 
 from him, and he said vrithin himself, " Brynhild is better 
 to me than all things else, and the fairest woman of all 
 women, and I will lay do-*vn my life rather than lose the 
 love of her." And therewith he called to him his 
 brother and spake, — 
 
 " Trouble is heavy on me,'' and he tells him that 
 he must needs slay Sigurd, for that he has failed him 
 
VOZS UNGS AND NIBL UNGS. 1 1 3 
 
 wherein he trusted him ; " so let us be lords of the gold 
 and the realm withal," 
 
 Hogni answers, " 111 it behoves us to break our 
 oaths with wrack and wrong, and withal great aid we 
 have in him ; no kings shall be as great as we, if so be 
 the King of the Hun-folk may live; such another brother- 
 in-law never may we get again ; bethink thee how good 
 it is to have such a brother-in-law, and such sons to our 
 sister ! But well I see how things stand, for this has 
 Br)Tihild stirred thee up to, and surely shall her counsel 
 drag us into huge shame and scathe." 
 
 Gunnar says, " Yet shall it be brought about : and 
 lo, a rede thereto ; — let us egg on our brother Guttorm to 
 the deed ; he is young, and of little knowledge, and is 
 clean out of all the oaths moreover." 
 
 " Ah, set about in ill wise," says Hogni, " and 
 though indeed it may well be compassed, a due reward 
 shall we gain for the bewrayal of such a man as is 
 Sigurd." 
 
 Gunnar says, " Sigurd shall die or I shall die." 
 
 And therewith he bids Brynhild arise and be glad 
 at heart : so she arose, and still ever she said that 
 Gunnar should come no more into her bed tiU the 
 deed was done. 
 
 So the brothers fall to talk, and Gunnar says that it 
 is a deed well worthy of death, that taking of Brynhild's 
 maidenhead ; " So come now, let us prick on Guttorm 
 to do the deed." 
 
 Therewith they call him to them, and offer him gold 
 and great dominion, as they well have might to do. 
 Yea, and they took a certain worm and somewhat of 
 
 I 
 
114 THE STORY OF THE 
 
 wolfs flesh and let seethe them together, and gave him 
 to eat of the same, even as the singer sings — 
 
 Fish of the wild-wood. 
 Worm smooth crawling. 
 With wolf-meat mingled. 
 They minced for Guttorm ; 
 Then in the beaker, 
 In the wine his mouth knew, 
 They set it, still doing 
 More deeds of wizards. 
 
 Wherefore with the eating of this meat he grew so 
 wild and eager, and with all things about him, and 
 with the heavy words of Grimhild, that he gave his 
 word to do the deed ; and mighty honour they promised 
 him in reward thereof. 
 
 But of these evil wiles naught at all knew Sigurd, 
 for he might not deal with his shapen fate, nor the measure 
 of his life-days, neither deemed he that he was worthy 
 of such things at their hands. 
 
 So Guttorm went in to Sigurd the next morning as 
 he lay upon his bed, yet durst he not do aught against 
 him, but shrank back out again; yea, and even so he 
 fared a second time, for so bright and eager were the 
 eyes of Sigurd that few durst look upon him. But the 
 third time he went in, and there lay Sigurd asleep ; then 
 Guttorm drew his sword and thrust Sigurd through in 
 such wise that the sword-point smote into the bed 
 beneath him ; then Sigurd awoke with that wound, and 
 Guttorm gat him unto the door; but therewith Sigurd 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NIB LUNGS. 115 
 
 caught up the sword Gram, and cast it after him, and it 
 smote him on the back, and struck him asunder in the 
 midst, so that the feet of him fell one way, and the head 
 and hands back into the chamber. 
 
 Now Gudrun lay asleep on Sigurd's bosom, but she 
 woke up unto woe that may not be told of, all swimming 
 in the blood of him, and in such wise did she bewail her 
 with weeping and words of sorrow, that Sigurd rose up 
 on the bolster, and spake. 
 
 " Weep not," said he, " for thy brothers live for thy 
 delight ; but a young son have I, too young to be ware of 
 his foes ; — and an ill turn have these played against their 
 own fortune ; for never will they get a mightier brother-in- 
 law to ride abroad with them; nay, nor a better son to their 
 sister, than this one, if he may grow to man's estate. Lo, 
 now is that come to pass which was foretold me long ago, 
 but from mine eyes has it been hidden, for none may fight 
 against his fate and prevail. Behold this has Brynhild 
 brought to pass, even she who loves me before all men ; 
 but this may I swear, that never have I wrought ill to 
 Gunnar, but rather have ever held fast to my oath with 
 him, nor was I ever too much a friend to his wife. And 
 now if I had been forewarned, and had been afoot with 
 my weapons, then should many a man have lost his life 
 or ever I had fallen, and all those brethren should have 
 been slain, and a harder work would the slaying of me 
 have been than the slaying of the mightiest bull or the 
 mightiest boar of the wild-wood." 
 
 And even therewithal life left the King ; but Gudrun 
 moaned and drew a weary breath, and Brjmhild heard it, 
 and laughed when she heard her moaning. 
 
 Then said Gunnar, " Thou laughest not because thy 
 
1 1 6 THE STOR V OF THE 
 
 heart-roots are gladded, or else why doth thy visage wax 
 so wan ? Sure an evil creature thou art ; most like 
 thou art nigh to thy death ! Lo now, how meet would 
 it be for thee to behold thy brother Atli slain before 
 thine eyes, and that thou shouldst stand over him dead ; 
 whereas we must needs now stand over our brother-in- 
 law in such a case, — our brother-in-law and our brother's 
 bane.'' 
 
 She answered, " None need mock at the measure of 
 slaughter being unfulfilled ; yet heedeth not AtH your 
 wrath or your threats ; yea, he shall live longer than ye, 
 and be a mightier man." 
 
 Hogni spake and said, " Now hath come to pass the 
 soothsaying of Brynhild ; an ill work not to be atoned 
 for." 
 
 And Gudrun said, " My kinsmen have slain my 
 husband; — but ye, when ye next ride to the war and are 
 come into the battle, then shall ye look about and see 
 that Sigurd is neither on the right hand nor the left, and 
 ye shall know that he was your good-hap and your 
 strength ; and if he had lived and had sons, then should 
 ye have been strengthened by his offspring and his kin.'' 
 
VOLS UNGS AND NIBL UNGS. 1 1 7 
 
 CHAP. XXXI. 
 
 Of the Lamentation of Gudrun over Sigurd dead, as it is 
 told in the ancient Songs. 
 
 GUDRUN of old days 
 Drew near to dying 
 As she sat in sorrow 
 Over Sigurd ; 
 Yet she sighed not 
 Nor smote hand on hand, 
 Nor wailed she aught 
 As other women. 
 
 Then went earls to her, 
 Full of all -wdsdom, 
 Fain help to deal 
 To her dreadful heart: 
 Hushed was Gudrun 
 Of wail, or greeting, 
 But with heavy woe 
 Was her heart a-brealdng. 
 
 Bright and fair 
 
 Sat the great earls' brides, 
 
 Gold arrayed 
 
1 1 8 THE STOR Y OF THE 
 
 Before Gudnin ; 
 Each told the tale 
 Of her great trouble 
 The bitterest bale 
 She erst abode. 
 
 Then spake Giaflaug, 
 Giuki's sister : 
 " Lo upon earth 
 I live most loveless, 
 Who of five mates 
 Must see the ending, 
 Of daughters twain 
 And three sisters, 
 Of brethren eight, 
 And abide behind lonely." 
 
 Naught gat Gudrun 
 
 Of wail or greeting, 
 
 So heavy was she 
 
 For her dead husband 
 
 So dreadfiil-hearted 
 
 For the King laid dead there. 
 
 Then spake Herborg, 
 Queen of Hunland — 
 " Crueller tale 
 Have I to tell of, 
 Of my seven sons 
 Down in the Southlands, 
 And the eighth man, my mate. 
 Felled in the death-mead. 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NIB LUNGS. 119 
 
 " Father and mother, 
 And four brothers, 
 On the wide sea 
 
 The winds and death played with ; 
 , The billows beat 
 
 On the bulwark boards. 
 
 " Alone must I sing o'er them, 
 Alone must I array them, 
 Alone must my hands deal with 
 Their departing ; 
 And all this was 
 In one season's wearing. 
 And none was left 
 For love or solace. 
 
 " Then was I bound 
 A prey of the battle, 
 When that same season 
 Wore to its ending ; 
 As a tiring may 
 Must I bind the shoon 
 Of the duke's high dame. 
 Every day at dawning. 
 
 From her jealous hate 
 
 Gat I heavy mocking. 
 
 Cruel lashes 
 
 She laid upon me, 
 
 Never met I 
 
 Better master 
 
 Or mistress worser 
 
 In all the wide world." 
 
THE STORY OF THE 
 
 Naught gat Gudrun 
 
 Of wail or greeting, 
 
 So heavy was she 
 
 For her dead husband, 
 
 So dreadful-hearted 
 
 For the King laid dead there. 
 
 Then spake GuUrond, 
 Giuki's daughter — 
 " O foster-mother, 
 Wise as thou mayst be. 
 Naught canst thou better 
 The young wife's bale." 
 And she bade uncover 
 The dead King's corpse. 
 
 She swept the sheet 
 Away from Sigurd, 
 And tiumed his cheek 
 Toward his wife's knees — 
 "Look on thy loved one 
 Lay lips to his lips, 
 E'en as thou wert clinging 
 To thy king alive yet ! " 
 
 Once looked Gudrun — 
 One look only. 
 And saw her lord's locks 
 Lying all bloody, 
 The great man's eyes 
 Glazed and deadly. 
 And his heart's bulwark 
 Broken by sword-edge. 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NIB LUNGS. 
 
 Back then sank Gudrun, 
 Back on the bolster, 
 Loosed was her head array, 
 Red did her cheeks grow, 
 And the rain-drops ran 
 Down over her knees. 
 
 Then wept Gudrun, 
 
 Giuki's daughter. 
 
 So that the tears flowed 
 
 Through the pillow ; 
 
 As the geese withal 
 
 That were in the homefield, 
 
 The fair fowls the may owned, 
 
 Fell a-screaming. 
 
 Then spake GuUrond, 
 
 Giuki's daughter — 
 
 " Surely knew I 
 
 No love like your love 
 
 Among all men. 
 
 On the mould abiding ; 
 
 Naught wouldst thou joy in 
 
 Without or within doors, 
 
 O my sister. 
 
 Save beside Sigurd." 
 
 Then spake Gudrun, 
 Giuki's daughter — 
 " Such was my Sigurd 
 Among the sons of Giuki, 
 
THE STORY OF THE 
 
 As is the king leek 
 
 O'er the low grass waxing, 
 
 Or a bright stone 
 
 Strung on band, 
 
 Or a pearl of price 
 
 On a prince's brow. 
 
 " Once was I counted 
 By the king's warriors 
 Higher than any 
 Of Herjan's mays ; 
 Now am I as little 
 As the leaf may be. 
 Amid wind-swept wood 
 Now when dead he lieth. 
 
 " I miss from my seat, 
 I miss from my bed. 
 My darling of sweet speech. 
 Wrought the sons of Giuki, 
 Wrought the sons of Giuki, 
 This sore sorrow. 
 Yea, for their sister, 
 Most sore sorrow. 
 
 " So may your lands 
 Lie waste on all sides, 
 As ye have broken 
 Your bounden oaths ! 
 Ne'er shalt thou Gunnar 
 The gold have joy of. 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NIB LUNGS. 123 
 
 The dear-bought rings 
 Shall drag thee to death, 
 AVhereon thou swarest 
 Oath unto Sigurd. 
 
 " Ah, in the days by-gone 
 Great mirth in the homefield, 
 When my Sigurd 
 Set saddle on Grani, 
 And they went their ways 
 For the wooing of Brynhild ! 
 An ill day, an ill woman, 
 And most ill hap ! " 
 
 Then spake Brynhild, 
 Budli's daughter — 
 " May the woman lack 
 Both love and children, 
 Who gained greeting 
 For thee, O Gudrun ! 
 Who gave thee this morning 
 Many words !" 
 
 Then spake Gullrond, 
 
 Giuki's daughter — - 
 
 " Hold peace of such words 
 
 Thou hated of all folk ! 
 
 The bane of brave men 
 
 Hast thou been ever, 
 
 All waves of ill 
 
 Wash over thy mind. 
 
 To seven great kings 
 
 Hast thou been a sore sorrow. 
 
154 THE STORY OF THE 
 
 And the death of good will 
 To wives and women." 
 
 Then spake Brynhild, 
 Budli's daughter — ■ 
 " None but Atli 
 Brought bale upon us, 
 My very brother 
 Born of Budli. 
 
 " When we saw in the hall 
 Of the Hunnish people 
 The gold a-gleaming 
 On the kingly Giukings ; 
 I have paid for that faring 
 Oft and fully, 
 And for the sight 
 That then I saw." 
 
 By a pillar she stood 
 
 And strained its wood to her ; 
 
 From the eyes of Brynhild, 
 
 Budli's daughter. 
 
 Flashed out fire, 
 
 And she snorted forth venom, 
 
 As the sore wounds she gazed on 
 
 Of the dead-slain Sigurd. 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NIB LUNGS. 125 
 
 CHAP. XXXII. 
 
 Of the Ending of Brynhild. 
 
 AND now none might know for what cause Brynhild 
 must bewail with weeping for what she had 
 prayed for with laughter : but she spake — 
 
 " Such a dream I had, Gunnar, as that my bed was 
 acold, and that thou didst ride into the hands of thy foes : 
 lo now, ill shall it go with thee and all thy kin, O ye 
 breakers of oaths ; for on the day thou slayedst him, 
 dimly didst thou remember how thou didst blend thy 
 blood with the blood of Sigurd, and with an ill reward 
 hast thou rewarded him for all that he did well to thee ; 
 whereas he gave unto thee to be the mightiest of men ; 
 and well was it proven how fast he held to his oath 
 sworn, when he came to me and laid betwixt us the 
 sharp-edged sword that in venom had been made hard. 
 All too soon did ye fall to working wrong against him 
 and against me, whenas I abode at home with my 
 father, and had all that I would, and had no will that 
 any one of you should be any of mine, as ye rode into 
 our garth, ye three kings together ; but then Atli led me 
 apart privily, and asked me if I would not have him who 
 rode Grani; — yea, a man nowise likeunto you; but in those 
 days I plighted myself to the son of King Sigmund and 
 
126 THE STORY OF THE 
 
 no other; and lo now, no better shall ye fare for the 
 death of me." 
 
 Then rose up Gunnar, and laid his arms about her 
 neck, and besought her to live and have wealth from him ; 
 and all others in likewise letted her from dying ; but she 
 thrust them all from her, and said that it was not the part 
 of any to let her in that which was her will. 
 
 Then Gunnar called to Hogni, and prayed him for 
 counsel, and bade him go to her, and see if he might 
 perchance soften her dreadful heart, saying withal, that 
 now they had need enough on their hands in the slaking 
 of her grief, till time might get over. 
 
 But Hogni answered, " Nay, let no man hinder her 
 from dying; for no gain will she be to us, nor has she 
 been gainsome since she came hither ! " 
 
 Now she bade bring forth much gold, and bade all 
 those come thither who would have wealth : then she 
 caught up a sword, and thrust it under her armpit, and 
 sank aside upon the pillows, and said, " Come, take gold 
 whoso will !" 
 
 But all held their peace, and she said, " Take the 
 gold and be glad thereof ! " 
 
 And therewith she spake unto Gunnar, " Now for a 
 little while will I tell of that which shall come to pass 
 hereafter; for speedily shall ye be at one again with 
 Gudrun by the rede of Grimhild the Wise-wife ; and the 
 daughter of Gudrun and Sigurd shall be called Swan- 
 hild, the fairest of all women born. Gudrun shall be 
 given to Atli, yet not with her good -will. Thou shalt be 
 fain to get Oddrun, but that shall Atli forbid thee ; but 
 privily shall ye meet, and much shall she love thee. 
 Atli shall bewray thee, and cast thee into a worm-close. 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NIB LUNGS. 127 
 
 and thereafter shall Atli and his sons be slain, and 
 Gudrun shall be their slayer; and afterwards shall the 
 great waves bear her to the burg of King Jonakr, to 
 whom she shall bear sons of great fame : Swanhild shall 
 be sent from the land and given to King Jormunrek ; 
 and her shall bite the rede of Bikki, and therewithal is 
 the kin of you clean gone ; and more sorrows therewith 
 for Gudrun. 
 
 " And now I pray thee, Gunnar, one last boon. — Let 
 make a great bale on the plain meads for all of us ; 
 for me, and for Sigurd, and for those who were slain 
 with him, and let that be covered over with cloth dyed red 
 by the folk of the Gauls, and bum me thereon on one side 
 of the King of the Huns, and on the other those men of 
 mine, two at the head and two at the feet, and two 
 hawks withal ; and even so is all shared equally ; and 
 lay there betwixt us a dravm sword, as in the other days 
 when we twain stepped into one bed together ; and then 
 may we have the name of man and wife, nor shall the 
 door swing to at the heel of him as I go behind him. 
 Nor shall that be a niggard company if there follow him 
 those five bondwomen and eight bondmen, whom my 
 father gave me, and those bum there withal who were 
 slain with Sigurd. 
 
 " Now more yet would I say, but for my wounds, 
 but my life-breath flits ; the wounds open, — yet have I 
 said sooth." 
 
 Now is the dead corpse of Sigurd arrayed in olden 
 wise, and a mighty bale is raised, and when it was 
 somewhat kindled, there was laid thereon the dead 
 corpse of Sigurd Fafnir's-bane, and his son of three 
 
128 THE STORY OF THE 
 
 winters whom Brynhild had let slay, and Guttorm 
 withal; and when the bale was all ablaze, thereunto 
 was Brynhild borne out, when she had spoken with her 
 bower-maidens, and bid them take the gold that she 
 would give ; and then died Brynhild and was burned 
 there by the side of Sigurd, and thus their life-days ended. 
 
VOLS UNGS AND NIBL UNGS. 1 2 9 
 
 CHAP. XXXIII, 
 
 Gudrun wedded to Atli. 
 
 NOW so it is, that whoso heareth these tidings, 
 sayeth, that no such an one as was Sigurd was 
 left behind him in the world, nor ever was such a man 
 brought forth because of all the worth of him, nor may 
 his name ever minish by eld in the Dutch Tongue nor 
 in all the Northern Lands, while the world standeth fast. 
 
 The story tells that, on a day, as Gudrun sat in her 
 bower, she fell to saying, " Better was life in those days 
 when I had Sigurd ; he who was as far above other men 
 as gold is above iron, or the leek over other grass of the 
 field, or the hart over other wild things ; until my 
 brethren begrudged me such a man, the first and best of 
 all men ; and so they might not sleep or they had slain 
 him. Huge clamour made Grani when he saw his 
 master and lord sore wounded, and then I spoke to him 
 even as with a man, but he fell drooping down to earth, 
 for he knew that Sigurd was slain." 
 
 Thereafter Gudrun gat her gone into the wild woods, 
 and heard on all ways round about her the howling of 
 wolves, and deemed death a merrier thing than life. 
 Then she went till she came to the hall of King Alf, and 
 sat there in Denmark with Thora, the daughter of 
 Hakon, for seven seasons, and abode with good wel- 
 
^3° THE STORY OF THE 
 
 come. And she set forth her needlework before her, 
 and did thereinto many deeds and great, and fair plays 
 after the fashion of those days, swords and bymies, and 
 all the gear of kings, and the ship of King Sigmund 
 sailing along the land ; yea, and they wrought there, 
 how they fought, Sigar and Siggeir, south in Fion. Such 
 was their disport ; and now Gudrun was somewhat 
 solaced of her grief 
 
 So Grimhild comes to hear where Gudrun has taken 
 up her abode, and she calls her sons to talk with her, 
 and asks whether they will make atonement to Gudrun 
 for her son and her husband, and said that it was but 
 meet and right to do so. 
 
 Then Gunnar spake, and said that he would atone 
 for her sorrows with gold. 
 
 So they send for their friends, and array their horses, 
 their helms, and their shields, and their byrnies, and all 
 their war-gear; and their journey was furnished forth in 
 the noblest wise, and no champion who was of the great 
 men might abide at home ; and their horses were clad 
 in mail-coats, and every knight of them had his helm 
 done over with gold or with silver. 
 
 Grimhild was of their company, for she said that 
 their errand would never be brought fairly to pass if she 
 sat at home. 
 
 They were well five hundred men, and noble men 
 rode with them. There was Waldemar of Denmark, and 
 Eymod and Jarisleif withal. So they went into the 
 hall of King Alf, and there abode them the Long- 
 beards, and Franks, and Saxons : they fared with all 
 their war-gear, and had over them red fur-coats. Even 
 as the song says — 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NIBLUNGS. 131 
 
 Bymies short cut, 
 Strong helms hammered, 
 Girt with good swords, 
 Red hair gleaming. 
 
 They were fain to choose good gifts for their sister, 
 and spake softly to her, but in none of them would she 
 trow. Then Gunnar brought unto her a .drink mingled 
 with hurtful things, and this she must needs drink, and 
 with the drinking thereof she had no more memory of 
 their guilt against her. 
 
 But in that drink was blended the might of the earth 
 and the sea with the blood of her son ; ■ and in that 
 horn were all letters cut and reddened with blood, as is 
 said hereunder — 
 
 On the horn's face were there 
 
 All the kin of letters 
 
 Cut aright and reddened, 
 
 How should I rede them rightly? 
 
 The ling-fish long 
 
 Of the land of Hadding 
 
 Wheat-ears unshorn. 
 
 And wild things' inwards. 
 
 In that beer were mingled 
 
 Many ills together. 
 
 Blood of all the wood 
 
 And brown-burnt acorns. 
 
 The black dew of the hearth. 
 
 The God-doomed dead beast's inwards. 
 
 And the swine's liver sodden 
 
 Because all wrongs that deadens. 
 
132 THE STORY OF THE 
 
 And so now, when their hearts are brought anigh to 
 each other, great cheer they made : then came Grimhild 
 to Gudrun, and spake — 
 
 "All hail to thee, daughter! I give thee gold and 
 all kinds of good things to take to thee after thy father, 
 dear-bought rings and bed-gear of the maids of the 
 Huns, the most courteous and well dight of all women ; 
 and thus is thy husband atoned for ; and thereafter shalt 
 thou be given to Atli, the mighty king, and be mistress 
 of all his might. Cast not all thy friends aside for one 
 man's sake, but do according to our bidding." 
 
 Gudrun answers, " Never will I wed Atli the King : 
 unseemly it is for us to get offspring betwixt us.'' 
 
 Grimhild says, " Nourish not thy wrath; it shall be 
 to thee as if Sigurd and Sigmund were alive when thou 
 hast borne sons." 
 
 Gudrun says, " I cannot take my heart from thoughts 
 of him, for he was the first of all men.'' 
 
 Grimhild says, " So is it shapen that thou must have 
 this king and none else." 
 
 Says Gudrun, " Give not this man to me, for an evil 
 thing shall come upon thy kin from him, and to his own 
 sons shall he deal evil, and be rewarded with a grim 
 revenge thereafter." 
 
 Then waxed Grimhild fell at those words, and spake, 
 " Do even as we bid thee, and take therefore great 
 honour, and our friendship, and the steads withal called 
 Vinbjorg and Valbjorg." 
 
 And such might was in the words of her, that even 
 so must it come to pass. 
 
 Then Gudrun spake, " Thus then must it needs 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NJBLUNGS. 133 
 
 befall, howsoever against the will of me, and for little joy 
 shall it be and for great grief." 
 
 Then men leaped on their horses, and their women 
 were set in wains. So they fared four days a-riding and 
 other four a shipboard, and yet four more again by land 
 and road, tUl at the last they came to a certain high- 
 built hall ; then came to meet Gudrun many folk 
 thronging ; and an exceeding goodly feast was there 
 made, even as the word had gone between either kin, 
 and it passed forth in most proud and stately wise. And 
 at that feast drinks Atli his bridal with Gudrun; but 
 never did her heart laugh on him, and Httle sweet and 
 kind was their life together. 
 
134 THE STORY OF THE 
 
 CHAP. XXXIV. 
 Atli bids ike Giukings to him. 
 
 NOW tells the tale that on a night King Atli woke 
 from sleep and spake to Gudrun — 
 
 " Medreamed," said he, "that thou didst thrust me 
 through with a sword." 
 
 Then Gudrun areded the dream, and said that it 
 betokened fire, whenas folk dreamed of iron. " It befalls 
 of thy pride belike, in that thou deemest thyself the first 
 of men." 
 
 Atli said, " Moreover I dreamed that here waxed 
 two sorb-tree saplings, and fain I was that they should 
 have no scathe of me ; then these were riven up by the 
 roots and reddened with blood, and borne to the bench, 
 and I was bidden eat thereof. 
 
 " Yea, yet again I dreamed that two hawks flew from 
 my hand hungry and unfed, and fared to hell, and 
 meseemed their hearts were mingled with honey, and 
 that I ate thereof. 
 
 " And then again I dreamed that two fair whelps lay 
 before me yelling aloud, and that the flesh of them I ate, 
 though my will went not with the eating." 
 
 Gudrun says, " Nowise good are these dreams, yet 
 shall they come to pass ; surely thy sons are nigh to 
 death, and many heavy things shall fall upon us." 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NIB LUNGS. 135 
 
 "Yet again, I dreamed," said he, "and methouglit 
 I lay in a bath, and folk took counsel to slay me." 
 
 Now these things wear away with time, but in nowise 
 was their life together fond. 
 
 Now falls AtH to thinking, of where may be gotten 
 that plenteous gold which Sigurd had owned, but King 
 Gunnar and his brethren were lords thereof now. 
 
 Atli was a great king and mighty, wise and a lord 
 of many men ; and now he falls to counsel with his folk 
 as to the ways of them. He wotted well that Gunnar 
 and his brethren had more wealth than any others might 
 have ; and so he falls to the rede of sending men to 
 them, and bidding them to a great feast, and honouring 
 them in diverse wise, and the chief of those messengers 
 was hight Vingi. 
 
 Now the queen wots of their conspiring, and mis- 
 doubts her that this would mean some beguiling of her 
 brethren : so she cut runes, and took a gold ring and 
 knit therein a wolf's hair, and gave it into the hands of 
 the king's messengers. 
 
 Thereafter they go their ways according to the king's 
 bidding ; and or ever they came aland Vingi beheld the 
 runes, and turned them about in such a wise, as if 
 Gudrun prayed her brethren in her runes to go meet 
 King Ath. 
 
 Thereafter they came to the hall of King Gunnar, 
 and had good welcome at his hands, and great fires 
 were made for them, and in great joyance they drank of 
 the best of drink. 
 
 Then spake Vingi, " King Atli sends me hither, and 
 is fain that ye go to his house and home in all gloiy, 
 and take of him exceeding honours, helms and shields. 
 
136 THE STORY OF THE 
 
 swords and b)Tnies, gold and goodly raiment, horses, 
 hosts of war, and great and wide lands, for, saith he, he 
 is fainest of all things to bestow his realm and lordship 
 upon you." 
 
 Then Gunnar turned his head aside, and spoke to 
 Hogni — 
 
 " In what wise shall we take this bidding ? might and 
 wealth he bids us take ; but no kings know I who have 
 so much gold as we have, whereas we have all the hoard 
 which lay once on Gnitaheath ; and great are,, our 
 chambers, and full of gold, and weapons for smiting, and 
 all kinds of raiment of war, and well I wot that amidst 
 all men my horse is the best, and my sword the sharpest, 
 and my gold the most glorious." 
 
 Hogni answers, " A marvel is it to me of his bid- 
 ding, for seldom hath he done in such a wise, and ill- 
 counselled will it be to wend to him; lo now, when I 
 saw those dear-bought things the king sends us I won- 
 dered to behold a wolf's hair knit to a certain gold ring ; 
 belike Gudrun deems him to be minded as a wolf 
 towards us, and will have naught of our faring." 
 
 But withal Vingi shows him the runes which he said 
 Gudrun had sent. 
 
 Now the most of folk go lo bed, but these drank on 
 still with certain others ; and Kostbera, the wife of 
 Hogni, the fairest of women, came to them, and looked 
 on the runes. 
 
 But the wife of Gunnar was Glaumvor, a great- 
 hearted wife. 
 
 So these twain poured out, and the kings drank, 
 and were exceeding drunken, and Vingi notes it, and 
 says — ■ 
 
VOLS UNGS AND NIBL UNGS. 1 3 7 
 
 "Naught may I hide that King AtU is heavy of 
 foot and over-old for the warding of his realm ; but his 
 sons are young and of no account : now will he give you 
 rule over his realms while they are yet thus young, and 
 most fain will he be that ye have the joy thereof before 
 all others." 
 
 Now so it befell both that Gunnar was drunk, and that 
 great dominion was held out to him, nor might he work 
 against the fate shapen for him ; so he gave his word to 
 go, and tells Hogni his brother thereof. 
 
 But he answered, " Thy word given must even stand 
 now, nor will I fail to follow thee, but most loth am I 
 to this journey." 
 
THE STORY OF THE 
 
 CHAP. XXXV. 
 
 The Dreams of the Wives of the Giukings. 
 
 SO when men had drunk their fill, they fared to 
 sleep ; then falls Kostbera to beholding the runes, 
 and spelling over the letters, and sees that beneath were 
 other things cut, and that the runes are guileful ; yet 
 because of her wisdom she had skill to read them aright. 
 So then she goes to bed by her husband ; but when they 
 awoke, she spake unto Hogni — 
 
 " Thou art minded to wend away from home — ill- 
 counselled is that ; abide till another time ! Scarce a 
 keen reader of runes art thou, if thou deemest thou hast 
 beheld in them the bidding of thy sister to this journey : 
 lo, I read the runes, and had marvel of so wise a woman 
 as Gudrun is, that she should have miscut them ; but 
 that which lieth underneath beareth your bane with it, — 
 yea, either she lacked a letter, or others have dealt 
 guilefully with the runes. 
 
 " And now hearken to my dream ; for therein me- 
 th ought there fell in upon us here a river exceeding 
 strong, and brake up the timbers of the hall." 
 
 He answered, " Full oft are ye evil of mind, ye 
 women, but for me, I was not made in such wise as to 
 meet men with evil who deserve no evil ; belike he 
 will give us good welcome." 
 
VOLS UNGS AND NIBL UNGS. 1 3 9 
 
 She answered, " Well, the thing must ye yourselves 
 prove, but no friendship follows this bidding : — ^but yet 
 again I dreamed that another river fell in here with a 
 great and grimly rush, and tore up the dais of the hall, 
 and brake the legs of both you brethren; surely that 
 betokeneth somewhat.'' 
 
 He answers, " Meadows along our way, whereas 
 thou didst dream of the river ; for when we go through 
 the meadows, plentifully doth the seeds of the hay hang 
 about our legs." 
 
 " Again I dreamed," she says, " that thy cloak was 
 afire, and that the flame blazed up above the hall." 
 
 Says he, " Well, I wot what that shall betoken, here 
 lieth my fair-dyed raiment, and it shall bum and blaze, 
 whereas thou dreamedst of the cloak." 
 
 " Methought a bear came in," she says, " and brake 
 up the king's high-seat, and shook his paws in such a 
 wise that we were all adrad thereat, and he gat us all 
 together into the mouth of him, so that we might avail 
 us naught, and thereof fell great horror on us.'' 
 
 He answered, " Some great storm will befall, whereas 
 thou hadst a white bear in thy mind." 
 
 " An erne methought came in," she says, " and swept 
 adown the hall, and drenched me and all of us with 
 blood, and ill shall that betoken, for methought it was 
 the double of King Atli." 
 
 He answered, " Full oft do we slaughter beasts 
 freely, and smite down great neat for our cheer, and the 
 dream of the erne has but to do with oxen ; yea, Atli is 
 heart-whole toward us.'' 
 
 And therewithal they cease this talk. 
 
I40 THE STORY OF THE 
 
 CHAP. XXXVI. 
 Of the Journey of the Giukings to King Atli. 
 
 NOW tells the tale of Gunnar, that in the same wise 
 it fared with him ; for when they awoke, Glaum- 
 vor his wife told him many dreams which seemed to 
 her like to betoken guile coming ; but Gunnar areded 
 them all in other wise. 
 
 " This was one of them," said she ; " methought a 
 bloody sword was borne into the hall here, wherewith 
 thou wert thrust through, and at either end of that sword 
 wolves howled." 
 
 The king answered, " Cur dogs shall bite me belike, 
 blood-stained weapons oft betoken dogs' snappings." 
 
 She said, " Yet again I dreamed — that women came 
 in, heavy and drooping, and chose thee for their mate ; 
 mayhappen these would be thy fateful women.'' 
 
 He answered, " Hard to arede is this, and none 
 may set aside the fated measure of his days, nor is it 
 unlike that my time is short." 
 
 So in the morning they arose, and were minded for 
 the journey, but some letted them herein. 
 
 Then cried Gunnar to the man who is called 
 Fjornir — 
 
 " Arise and give us to drink goodly wine from great 
 tuns, because mayhappen this shall be very last of all 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NIBLUNGS. 141 
 
 our feasts ; for belike if we die the old wolf shall come 
 by the gold, and that bear shall nowise spare the bite of 
 his war-tusks." 
 
 Then all the folk of his household brought them on 
 their way weeping. 
 
 The son of Hogni said — 
 
 " Fare ye well with merry tide." 
 
 The more part of their folk were left behind ; Solar 
 and Gnoevar, the sons of Hogni, fared with them, and a 
 certain great champion, named Orkning, who was the 
 brother of Kostbera. 
 
 So folk followed them down to the ships, and all 
 letted them of their journey, but attained to naught 
 therein. 
 
 Then spake Glaumvor, and said — 
 
 " O Vingi, most like that great ill hap will come of 
 thy coming, and mighty and evil things shall betide in 
 thy travelling." 
 
 He answers, " Hearken to my answer ; that I lie 
 not aught : and may the high gallows and all things of 
 grame have me, if I lie one word ! " 
 
 Then cried Kostbera, " Fare ye well with merry 
 days." 
 
 And Hogni answered, " Be glad of heart, howsoever 
 it may fare with us !" 
 
 And therewith they parted, each to their own fate. 
 Then away they rowed, so hard and fast, that well-nigh the 
 half of the keel slipped away from the ship, and so hard 
 they laid on to the oars that tliole and gunwale brake. 
 
 But when they came aland they made their ship fast, 
 and then they rode awhile on their noble steeds through 
 the murk wild-wood. 
 
142 THE STORY OF THE 
 
 And now they behold the king's army, and huge 
 uproar, and the clatter of weapons they hear from thence ; 
 and they see there a mighty host of men, and the mani- 
 fold array of them, even as they wrought there : and all 
 the gates of the burg were full of men. 
 
 So they rode up to the burg, and the gates thereof 
 were shut ; then Hogni brake open the gates, and there- 
 with they ride into the burg. 
 
 Then spake Vingi, "Well might ye have left this 
 deed undone ; go to now, bide ye here while I go seek 
 your gallows-tree ! Softly and sweetly I bade you hither, 
 but an evil thing abode thereunder ; short while to bide 
 ere ye are tied up to that same tree !" 
 
 Hogni answered, " None the more shall we waver 
 for that cause ; for little methinks have we shrunk aback 
 whenas men fell to fight ; and naught shall it avail thee 
 to make us afeard, — and for an ill fate hast thou vnrought." 
 
 And therewith they cast him down to earth, and 
 smote him with their axe-hammers till he died. 
 
VOLS UNGS AND NIBL UNGS. 1 43 
 
 CHAP. XXXVII. 
 
 The Battle in the Burg of King Atli. 
 
 THEN they rode unto the king's hall, and King Atli 
 arrayed his host for battle, and the ranks were 
 so set forth that a certain wall there was betwixt them 
 and the brethren. 
 
 " Welcome hither," said he. " Deliver unto me that 
 plenteous gold which is mine of right ; even the wealth 
 which Sigurd once owned and which is now Gudrun's of 
 right." 
 
 Gunnar answered, " Never gettest thou that wealth ; 
 and men of might must thou meet here, or ever we lay 
 by life if thou wilt deal with us in battle : ah, belike thou 
 settest forth this feast like a great man, and wouldst not 
 hold thine hand from erne and wolf !" 
 
 " Long ago I had it in my mind," said Atli, "to take 
 the lives of you, and be lord of the gold, and reward you 
 for that deed of shame, wherein ye beguiled the best of 
 all your affinity ; but now shall I revenge him." 
 
 Hogni answered, " Little will it avail to lie long 
 brooding over that rede, leaving the work undone." 
 
 And therewith they fell to hard fighting, at the first 
 brunt with shot. 
 
 But therewithal came the tidings to Gudrun, and 
 when she heard thereof she grew exceeding ^vroth, and 
 
144 THE STORY OF THE 
 
 cast her mantle from her, and ran out and greeted those 
 new-comers, and kissed her brethren, and showed them 
 all love, — and the last of all greetings was that betwixt 
 them. 
 
 Then said she, " I thought I had set forth counsels 
 whereby ye should not come hither, but none may deal 
 with his shapen fate." And withal she said, " Will it 
 avail aught to seek for peace ?" 
 
 But stoutly and grimly they said nay thereto. So 
 she sees that the game goeth sorely against her brethren, 
 and she gathers to her great stoutness of heart, and does 
 on her a mail-coat and takes to her a sword, and fights 
 by her brethren, and goes as far forward as the bravest 
 of man-folk : and all spake in one wise that never saw 
 any fairer defence than in her. 
 
 Now the men fell thick, and far before all others 
 was the fighting of those brethren, and the battle endured 
 a long while unto midday ; Gunnar and Hogni went 
 right through the folk of Atli, and so tells the tale that 
 all the mead ran red with blood ; the sons of Hogni 
 withal set on stoutly. 
 
 Then spake Atli the king, " A fair host and a great 
 have we, and mighty champions withal, and yet have 
 many of us fallen, and but evil am I apaid in that 
 nineteen of my champions are slain, and but six left 
 alive." 
 
 And therewithal was there a lull in the battle. 
 
 Then spake Atli the king, " Four brethren were we, 
 and now am I left alone ; great affinity I gat to me, 
 and deemed my fortune well sped thereby ; a wife I had, 
 fair and wise, high of mind, and great of heart ; but no 
 joyance may I have of her wisdom, for little peace is 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NIBLUNGS. 145 
 
 betwixt us, but ye — ye have slain many of my kin, and 
 beguiled me of realm and riches, and for the greatest of 
 all woes have slain my sister withal." 
 
 Quoth Hogni, " Why babblest thou thus ? thou wert 
 the first to break the peace. Thou didst take my kins- 
 woman and pine her to death by hunger, and didst 
 murder her, and take her wealth ; an ugly deed for a 
 king ! — meet for mocking and laughter I deem it, that 
 thou must needs make long tale of thy woes ; rather will 
 I give thanks to the Gods that thou fallest into ill." 
 
146 IHE STORY OF THE 
 
 CHAP. XXXVIII. 
 
 Of the Slaying of the Giukings. 
 
 NOW King Atli eggs on his folk to set on fiercely, 
 and eagerly they fight, but the Giukings fell on 
 so hard that King Atli gave back into the hall, and 
 within doors was the fight, and fierce beyond all fights. 
 
 That battle was the death of many a man, but such 
 was the ending thereof, that there fell all the folk of 
 those brethren, and they twain alone stood up on their 
 feet, and yet many more must fare to hell first before 
 their weapons. 
 
 And now they fell on Gunnar the king, and because 
 of the host of men that set on him was hand laid on 
 him, and he was cast into fetters ; afterwards fought 
 Hogni, with the stoutest heart and the greatest manli- 
 hood ; and he felled to earth twenty of the stoutest of 
 the champions of King Atli, and many he thrust into 
 the fire that burnt amidst the hall, and all were of 
 one accord that such a man might scarce be seen ; yet in 
 the end was he borne down by many and taken. 
 
 Then said King Atli, " A marvellous thing how many 
 men have gone their ways before him ! Cut the heart 
 from out of him, and let that be his bane !" 
 
 Hogni said, " Do according to thy will ; merrily will 
 I abide whatso thou wilt do against me ; and thou shalt 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NIB LUNGS. 147 
 
 see that my heart is not adrad, for hard matters have I 
 made trial of ere now, and all things that may try a man 
 was I fain to bear, whiles yet I was unhurt ; but now 
 sorely am I hurt, and thou alone henceforth wilt bear 
 mastery in our dealings together." 
 
 Then spake a counsellor of King Atli, " Better rede 
 I see thereto ; take we the thrall Hjalli, and give respite 
 to Hogni j for this tlirall is made to die, since the 
 longer he lives the less worth shall he be." 
 
 The thrall hearkened, and cried out aloft, and fled 
 away anywhither where he might hope for shelter, 
 crying out that a hard portion was his because of their 
 strife and wild doings, and an ill day for him whereon 
 he must be dragged to death from his sweet life and his 
 s-wine-keeping. But they caught him, and turned a 
 knife against him, and he yelled and screamed or ever 
 he felt the point thereof 
 
 Then> in such wise spake Hogni as a man seldom 
 speaketh who is fallen into hard need, for he prayed for 
 the thrall's life, and said that these shrieks he could not 
 away 'with, and that it were a lesser matter to him to 
 play out the play to the end ; and therewithal the thrall 
 gat his life as for that time : but Gunnar and Hogni are 
 both laid in fetters. 
 
 Then spake King Atli with Gunnar the king, and 
 bade him tell out concerning the gold, and where it was, if 
 he would have his life. 
 
 But he answered, " Nay, first will I behold the bloody 
 heart of Hogni, my brother." 
 
 So now they caught hold of the thrall again, and cut 
 the heart from out of him, and bore it unto King Gun- 
 nar, but he said — 
 
148 THE STORY OF THE 
 
 " The faint heart of Hjalli may ye here behold, little 
 like the proud heart of Hogni, for as much as it trem- 
 bleth now, more by the half it trembled whenas it lay in 
 the breast of him." 
 
 So now they fell on Hogni even as Atli urged them, 
 and cut the heart from out of him, but such was the 
 might of his manhood, that he laughed while he abode 
 that torment, and all wondered at his worth, and in per- 
 petual memory is it held sithence. 
 
 Then they showed it to Gunnar, and he said — 
 
 " The mighty heart of Hogni, little like the faint 
 heart of Hjalli, for little as it trembleth now, less it 
 trembled whenas in his breast it lay ! But now, O Atli, 
 even as we die so shalt thou die ; and lo, I alone wot 
 where the gold is, nor shall Hogni be to tell thereof 
 '^ now ; to and fro played the matter in my mind whiles 
 we both lived, but now have I myself determined for 
 myself, and the Rhine river shall rule over -the gold, 
 ' rather than that the Huns shall bear it on the hands of 
 
 them." 
 
 Then said King Atli, " Have away the bondsman ; " 
 and so they did. 
 
 But Gudnin called to her men, and came to Atli, 
 and said — 
 
 " May it fare ill with thee now and from henceforth, 
 even as thou hast ill held to thy word with me ! " 
 
 So Gunnar was cast into a worm-close, and many 
 worais abode him there, and his hands were fast bound; 
 but Gudrun sent him a harp, and in such wise did he 
 set forth his craft, that wisely he smote the harp, smiting 
 it with his toes, and so excellently well he played, that 
 few deemed they had heard such playing, even when the 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NIBLUNGS. 149 
 
 hand had done it. And with such might and power he 
 played, that all the worms fell asleep in the end, save 
 one adder only, great and evil of aspect, that crept unto 
 him and thrust its sting into him until it smote his heart ; 
 and in such wise with great hardihood he ended his life 
 days. 
 
150 THE STORY OF THE 
 
 CHAP. XXXIX. 
 
 The End of Atli and his Kin and Folk. 
 
 NOW thought Atli the King that he had gained a 
 mighty victory, and spake to Gudrun even as 
 mocking her greatly, or as making himself great before 
 her. " Gudrun," saith he, " thus hast thou lost thy 
 brethren, and thy very self hast brought it about." 
 
 She answers, " In good liking livest thou, whereas 
 thou thrustest these slayings before me, but mayhappen 
 thou wilt rue it, when thou hast tried what is to come 
 hereafter ; and of all I have, the longest-lived matter 
 shall be the memory of thy cruel heart, nor shall it go 
 well with thee whiles I live." 
 
 He answered and said, " Let there be peace betwixt 
 us ; I will atone for thy brethren with gold and dear- 
 bought things, even as thy heart may wish." 
 
 She answers, " Hard for a long while have I been in 
 our dealings together, and now I say, that while Hogni 
 was yet aUve thou mightest have brought it to pass ; but 
 now mayest thou never atone for my brethren in my 
 heart ; yet oft must we women be overborne by the 
 might of you men ; and now are all my kindred dead 
 and gone, and thou alone art left to rule over me : where- 
 fore now this is my counsel that we make a great feast. 
 
VOLS UNGS AND NIBL UNGS. i s i 
 
 wherein I will hold the funeral of my brother and of 
 thy kindred withal." 
 
 In such wise did she make herself soft and kind 
 in words, though far other things forsooth lay there- 
 under, but he hearkened to her gladly, and trusted in 
 her words, whereas she made herself sweet of speech. 
 
 So Gudrun held the funeral feast for her brethren, 
 and King Atli for his men, and exceeding proud and 
 great was this feast. 
 
 But Gudrun forgat not her woe, but brooded over it, 
 how she might work some mighty shame against the 
 King ; and at nightfall she took to her the sons of King 
 Atli and her as they played about the floor ; the young- 
 lings waxed heavy of cheer, and asked what she would 
 with them. 
 
 " Ask me not," she said ; " ye shall die, the twain of 
 you !" 
 
 Then they answered, "Thou mayest do with thy 
 children even as thou wilt, nor shall any hinder thee, but 
 shame there is to thee in the doing of this deed." 
 
 Yet for all that she cut the throats of them. 
 
 Then the king asked where his sons were, and 
 Gudrun answered, " I will tell thee, and gladden thine 
 heart by the telling ; lo now, thou didst make a great 
 woe spring up for me in the slaying of my brethren ; 
 now hearken and hear my rede and my deed ; thou 
 hast lost thy sons, and their heads are become beakers 
 on the board here, and thou thyself hast drunken the 
 blood of them blended with wine ; and their hearts I 
 took and roasted them on a spit, and thou hast eaten 
 thereof" 
 
 King Atli answered, " Grim art thou in that thou 
 
152 THE STORY OF THE 
 
 hast murdered thy sons, and given me their flesh to eat, 
 and Httle space passes betwixt ill deed of thine and ill 
 deed." 
 
 Gudmn said, " My heart is set on the doing to thee 
 of as great shame as may be ; never shall the measure ot 
 ill be full to such a king as thou art." 
 
 The king said, " Worser deeds hast thou done than 
 men have to tell of, and great unwisdom is there in such 
 fearful redes ; most meet art thou to be burned on bale 
 when thou hast first been smitten to death with stones, 
 for in such wise wouldst thou have what thou hast gone a 
 weary way to seek." 
 
 She answered, " Thine own death thou foretellest, 
 but another death is fated for me." 
 
 And many other words they spake in their wrath. 
 
 Now Hogni had a son left alive, hight Niblung, and 
 great wrath of heart he bare against King Atli; and he 
 did Gudmn to wit that he would avenge his father. 
 And she took his words well, and they fell to counsel 
 together thereover, and she said it would be great good- 
 hap if it might be brought about. 
 
 So on a night, when the king had drunken, he gat 
 him to bed, and when he was laid asleep, thither to him 
 came Gudmn and the son of Hogni. 
 
 Gudmn took a sword and thrust it through the breast 
 of King Atli, and they both of them set their hands to 
 the deed, both she and the son of Hogni. 
 
 Then Atli the king awoke with the wound, and cried 
 out, " No need of binding or salving here ! — who art 
 thou who hast done the deed?" 
 
 Gudmn says, " Somewhat have I, Gudrun, wrought 
 therein, and somewhat withal the son of Hogni." 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NIB LUNGS. 153 
 
 Atli said, " 111 it beseemed to thee to do this, though 
 somewhat of wrong was between us ; for thou wert 
 wedded to me by the rede of thy kin, and dower paid 
 I for thee; yea, thirty goodly knights, and seemly 
 maidens, and many men besides; and yet wert thou not 
 content, but if thou shouldest rule over the lands King 
 Budli owned : and thy mother-in-law full oft thou lettest 
 sit a-weeping." 
 
 Gudrun said, " Many false words hast thou spoken, 
 and of naught I account them ; oft, indeed, was I fell of 
 mood, but much didst thou add thereto. Full oft in 
 this thy house did frays befall, and kin fought kin, and 
 friend fought friend, and made themselves big one 
 against the other; better days had I whenas I abode 
 with Sigurd, when we slew kings, and took their wealtli 
 to us, but gave peace to whom so would, and the great 
 men laid themselves under our hands, and might we 
 gave to him of them who would have it ; then I lost 
 him, and a little thing was it that I should bear a 
 widow's name, but the greatest of griefs that I should 
 come to thee — I who had aforetime the noblest of all 
 kings, while for thee, thou never barest out of the battle 
 aught but the worser lot." 
 
 King Atli answered, " Naught true are thy words, 
 nor will this our speech better the lot of either of us, 
 for all is fallen now to naught; but now do to me in 
 seemly wise, and array my dead corpse in noble 
 fashion." 
 
 " Yea, that will I," she says, "and let make for thee 
 a goodly grave, and build for thee a worthy abiding 
 place of stone, and wrap thee in fair linen, and care for 
 all that needful is." 
 
154 THE STORY OF THE 
 
 So therewithal he died, and she did according to 
 her word : and then they cast fire into the hall. 
 
 And when the folk and men of estate awoke amid 
 that dread and trouble, naught would they abide the 
 fire, but smote each the other down and died in such 
 wise; so there Atli the king, and all his folk, ended 
 their life-days. But Gudrun had no will to live longer 
 after this deed so wrought, but nevertheless her ending 
 day was not yet come upon her. 
 
 Now the Volsungs and the Giukings, as folk tell in 
 tale, have been the greatest-hearted and the mightiest 
 of all men, as ye may well behold written in the songs of 
 old time. 
 
 But now with the tidings just told were these troubles 
 stayed. 
 
VOLS UNGS AND NIBL UNGS. 1 5 5 
 
 CHAP. XL. 
 
 How Gudrun cast herself into the Sea, but was brought 
 ashore again. 
 
 GUDRUN had a daughter by Sigurd hight Swan- 
 hild; she was the fairest of all women, eager- 
 eyed as her father, so that few durst look under the 
 brows of her ; and as far did she excel other woman-kind 
 as the sun excels the other lights of heaven. 
 
 But on a day went Gudrun down to the sea, and 
 caught up stones in her arms, and went out into the 
 sea, for she had will to end her life. But mighty billows 
 drave her forth along the sea, and by means of their 
 upholding was she borne along till she came at the last 
 to the burg of King Jonakr, a mighty king, and lord of 
 many folk. And he took Gudrun to wife, and their 
 children were Hamdir, and Sorli and Erp ; and there 
 was Swanhild nourished withal. 
 
iS6 J HE STORY OF 7 HE 
 
 CHAP. XLI. 
 
 Of the Wedding and Slaying of Swanhild. 
 
 JORMUNREK was the name of a mighty king of 
 those days, and his son was called Randver. Now 
 this king called his son to talk with him, and said, 
 " Thou shalt fare on an errand of mine to King Jonakr, 
 with my counsellor Bikki, for with King Jonakr is 
 nourished Swanhild, the daughter of Sigurd Fafnir's-bane; 
 and I know for sure that she is the fairest may dwelling 
 under the sun of this world ; her above all others would 
 I have to my wife, and thou shalt go woo her for me." 
 
 Randver answered, " Meet and right, fair lord, that 
 I should go on thine errands." 
 
 So the king set forth this journey in seemly wise, 
 and they fare till they come to King Jonakr's abode, 
 and ■ behold Swanliild, and have many thoughts con- 
 cerning the treasure of her goodliness. 
 
 But on a day Randver called the king to talk with 
 him, and said, " Jormunrek the King would fain be thy 
 brother-in-law, for he has heard tell of Swanhild, and his 
 desire it is to have her to wife, nor may it be shown that 
 she may be given to any mightier man than he is one." 
 
 The King says, " This is an alliance of great honour 
 for a man of fame he is." 
 
VOLS UNGS AND NIBL UNGS. i s 7 
 
 Gudrun says, "A wavering trust, the trust in luck 
 that it change not!" 
 
 Yet because of the king's furthering, and all the 
 matters that went herewith, is the wooing accomplished ; 
 and Swanhild went to the ship with a goodly company, 
 and sat in the stern beside the king's son. 
 
 Then spake Bikki to Randver, "How good and 
 right it were if thou thyself had to wife so lovely a 
 woman rather than the old man there." 
 
 Good seemed that word to the heart of the king's 
 son, and he spake to her with sweet words, and she to 
 him in like wise. 
 
 So they came aland and go unto the king, and 
 Bikki said unto him, " Meet and right it is, lord, that 
 thou shouldst know what is befallen, though hard it be 
 to tell of, for the tale must be concerning thy beguiling, 
 whereas thy son has gotten to him the full love of Swan- 
 hild, nor is she other than his harlot ; but thou, let not 
 the deed be unavenged." 
 
 Now many an ill rede had he given the king or this, 
 but of all his ill redes did this sting home the most ; and 
 still would the king hearken to all his evil redes ; where- 
 fore he, who might nowise still the wrath within him, 
 cried out that Randver should be taken and tied up to 
 the gallows-tree. 
 
 And as he was led to the gallows he took his hawk 
 and plucked the feathers from off it, and bade show it 
 to his father ; and when the king saw it, then he said, 
 " Now may folk behold that he deemetli my honour 
 to be gone away from me, even as the feathers of this 
 hawk ;" and therewith he bade deliver him from the 
 gallows. 
 
158 THE STORY OF THE 
 
 But in that while had Bikki wrought his will, and 
 Randver was dead-slain. 
 
 And, moreover, Bikki spake, " Against none hast 
 thou more wrongs to avenge thee of, than against Swan- 
 hild ; let her die a shameful death." 
 
 "Yea," said the king, " we will do after thy counsel." 
 
 So she was bound in the gate of the burg, and 
 horses were driven at her to tread her down ; but when 
 she opened her eyes wide, then the horses durst not 
 trample her ; so when Bikki beheld that, he bade draw 
 a bag over the head of her ; and they did so, and there- 
 after she lost her life. 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NIB LUNGS. 159 
 
 CHAP. XLII. 
 
 Gudrun sends her Sons to avenge Swanhild. 
 
 NOW Gudrun heard of the slaying of Swanhild, and 
 spake to her sons, " Why sit ye here in peace 
 amid merry words, whereas Jormunrek hath slain your 
 sister, and trodden her under foot of horses in shameful 
 wise ? No heart ye have in you like to Gunnar or 
 Hogni ; verily they would have avenged their kins- 
 woman ? " 
 
 Hamdir answered, " Little didst thou praise Gunnar 
 and Hogni, whereas they slew Sigurd, and thou wert 
 reddened in the blood of him, and iH were thy brethren 
 avenged by the slapng of thine own sons : yet not so 
 ill a deed were it for us to slay King Jormunrek, and 
 so hard thou pushest us on to this that we may naught 
 abide thy hard words." 
 
 Gudrun went about laughing now, and gave them to 
 drink from mighty beakers, and thereafter she got for 
 them great bymies and good, and all other weed of 
 war. 
 
 Then spake Hamdir, " Lo now, this is our last 
 parting, for thou shalt hear tidings of us, and drink one 
 grave-ale over us and over Swanhild." 
 
 So therewith they went their ways. 
 
i6o THE STORY OF THE 
 
 But Gudmn went unto her bower, with heart swollen 
 with sorrow, and spake, 
 
 " To three men was I wedded, and first to Sigurd 
 Fafnir's-bane, and he was bewrayed and slain, and of 
 all griefs was that the greatest grief. Then was I given 
 to King AtU, and so fell was my heart toward him 
 that I slew in the fury of my grief his children and 
 mine. Then gave I myself to the sea, but the billows 
 thereof cast me out aland, and to this king then was I 
 given ; then gave I Swanhild away out of the land with 
 mighty wealth ; and lo my next greatest sorrow after 
 Sigurd, for under horses' feet was she trodden and slain ; 
 but the grimmest and ugliest of woes was the casting 
 of Gunnar into the Worm-close, and the hardest was 
 the cutting of Hogni's heart from him. 
 
 " Ah, better would it be if Sigurd came to meet me, 
 and I went my ways with him, for here bideth now 
 behind with me neither son nor daughter to comfort 
 me. Oh, mindest thou not, Sigurd, the words we spoke 
 when we went into one bed together, that thou wouldst 
 come and look on me ; yea, even from thine abiding- 
 place among the dead." 
 
 And thus had the words of her sorrow an end. 
 
VOLS UNGS AND NIBL UNGS. 1 6 1 
 
 CHAP. XLIII. 
 Tlie Latter End of all the Kin of the Giukings. 
 
 NOW telleth the tale concerning the sons of Gudmn, 
 that she had arrayed their war-raiment in such 
 wise, that no steel would bite thereon ; and she bade 
 them play not with stones or other heavy matters, for 
 that it would be to their scathe if they did so. 
 
 And now, as they went on their way, they met 
 Erp, their brother, and asked him in what wise he 
 would help them. 
 
 He answered, " Even as hand helps, hand or foot 
 helps foot." 
 
 But that they deemed naught at all, and slew him 
 there and then. Then they went their ways, nor was it 
 long or ever Hamdir stumbled, and thrust down his 
 hand to steady himself, and spake therewith — 
 
 " Naught but a true thing spake Erp, for now should 
 I have fallen, had not hand been to steady me." 
 
 A little after Sorli stumbled, but turned about on his 
 feet, and so stood, and spake — 
 
 " Yea now had I fallen, but that I steadied myself 
 with both feet.'' 
 
i62 THE STORY OF THE 
 
 And they said they had done evilly with Erp their 
 brother. 
 
 But on they fare till they come to the abode of King 
 Jormunrek, and they went up to him and set on him 
 forthwith, and Hamdir cut both hands from him and 
 Sorli both feet. Then spake Hamdir — 
 
 " Off were the head if Erp were alive ; our brother, 
 whom we slew on the way, and found out our deed too 
 late.'' Even as the Song says, — 
 
 Off were the head 
 If Erp were alive yet. 
 Our brother the bold. 
 Whom we slew by the way, 
 The well-famed in warfare. 
 
 Now in this must they turn away from the words of 
 their mother, whereas they had to deal with stones. For 
 now men fell on them, and they defended themselves in 
 good and manly wise, and were the scathe of many a 
 man, nor would iron bite on them. 
 
 But there came thereto a certain man, old of aspect 
 and one-eyed, and he spake — 
 
 " No wise men are ye, whereas ye cannot bring these 
 men to their end." 
 
 Then the king said, " Give us rede thereto, if thou 
 canst." 
 
 He said, " Smite them to the death with stones." 
 
 In such wise was it done, for the stones flew thick 
 and fast from every side, and that was the end of their 
 life-days. 
 
VOLSUNGS AND NI^ LUNGS. 163 
 
 And now has come to an end the whole root and 
 stem of the Giukings. 
 
 Now MAY ALL EARLS 
 
 Be bettered in mind, 
 
 May the grief of all maidens 
 
 Ever be minished, 
 
 For this tale of trouble 
 
 so told to its ending. 
 
CERTAIN SONGS 
 
 FROM 
 
 THE ELDER EDDA, 
 
 WHICH DEAL WITH THE STORY OF THE VOLSUNGS. 
 
PART OF THE SECOND LAY OF 
 HELGI HUNDING'S-BANE.* 
 
 HELGI wedded Sigrun, and they begat sons to- 
 gether, but Helgi lived not to be old ; for Dag,t 
 the son of Hogni, sacrificed to Odin, prapng that he 
 might avenge his father. So Odin lent Dag his spear, 
 and Dag met Helgi, his brother-in-law, at a place called 
 Fetter-grove, and thrust him through with that spear, and 
 there fell Helgi dead ; but Dag rode to Sevafell, and 
 told Sigrun of the news. 
 
 Loth am I, sister, 
 
 Of sorrow to tell thee. 
 
 For by hard need driven 
 
 Have I drawn on thee greeting ; 
 
 This morning fell 
 
 In Fetter-grove 
 
 The king well deemed 
 
 The best in the wide world. 
 
 Yea, he who stood 
 
 On the necks of the strong. 
 
 * Only that part of the song 
 is given which completes the 
 episode of Helgi Hunding's- 
 bane ; the earlier part of the 
 song differs little from the Saga. 
 
 t Hogni, the father of Dag 
 and Sigrun, had been slain by 
 Helgi in battle, and Helgi had 
 given peace to, and taken oaths 
 of Dag. 
 
i68 SOJVGS FROM THE EDDA. 
 
 Sigrun, 
 
 All oaths once sworn 
 Shall bite thee sore, 
 The oaths that to Helgi 
 Once thou swarest 
 At the bright white 
 Water of Lightening,* 
 And at the cold rock 
 That the sea runneth over. 
 
 May the ship sweep not on 
 That should sweep at its swiftest, 
 Though the wind desired 
 Behind thee driveth ! 
 May the horse never run 
 That should run at his most might 
 When from thy foe's face 
 Thou hast most need to flee ! 
 
 May the sword never bite 
 That thou drawest from scabbard. 
 But and if round thine head 
 In wrath it singeth ! 
 
 Then should meet price be paid 
 For Helgi's slaying 
 When a wolf thou wert 
 Out in the wild-wood, 
 
 One of the rivers of the under-world. 
 
THE LA Y OF HELGI. 169 
 
 Empty of good things, 
 Empty of gladness, 
 With no meat for thy mouth 
 But dead men's corpses ! 
 
 Dag. 
 
 With mad words thou ravest 
 Thy wits are gone from thee 
 When thou for thy brother 
 Such ill fate biddest ; 
 Odin alone 
 
 Let all this bale loose, 
 Casting the strife-runes 
 ■ 'Twixt friends and kindred. 
 
 Rings of red gold 
 Will thy brother give thee. 
 And the stead of Vandil 
 And the lands of Vigdale ; 
 Have half of the land 
 For thy sorrow's healing, 
 ring-arrayed sweetling 
 For thee and thy sons ! 
 
 Sigrun. 
 
 No more sit I happy 
 At Sevafell ; 
 At day-dawn, at night 
 Naught love I my life 
 Till broad o'er the people 
 
1 70 SOJVGS FROM THE EDDA. 
 
 My lord's light breaketh ; 
 Till his war-horse runneth 
 Beneath him hither, 
 Well wont to the gold bit — 
 Till my king I welcome. 
 
 In such wise did Helgi 
 Deal fear around 
 To all his foes 
 And all their friends 
 As when the goat runneth 
 Before the wolfs rage 
 Filled with mad fear 
 Down from the fell. , 
 
 As high above all lords 
 
 Did Helgi bear him 
 
 As the ash-tree's glory 
 
 From the thorn ariseth, 
 
 Or as the fawn 
 
 With the dew-fall sprinkled 
 
 Is far above 
 
 All other wild things, 
 
 As his horns go gleaming 
 
 'Gainst the very heavens. 
 
 A barrow was raised above Helgi, but when he 
 came to Valhall, then Odin bade him be lord of all 
 things there, even as he; so Helgi sang — 
 
 Now shalt thou, Hunding, 
 For the help of each man 
 
THE LA V OF HEL GL 1 7 r 
 
 Get ready the foot-bath, 
 And kindle the fire ; 
 The hounds shalt thou bind 
 And give heed to the horsesj 
 Give wash to the swine 
 Ere to sleep thou goest. 
 
 A bondmaid of Sigrun went in the evening-tide by 
 Helgi's mound, and there she saw how Helgi rode 
 toward it with a great company ; then she sang — 
 
 It is vain things' beguiling 
 That methinks I behold, 
 Or the ending of all things. 
 As ye ride, O ye dead men, 
 Smiting with spurs 
 Your horses' sides ? 
 Or may dead warriors 
 Wend their ways homeward ? 
 
 The Dead. 
 
 No vain things' beguiling 
 
 Is that thou beholdest, 
 
 Nor the ruin of all things ; 
 
 Though thou lookest upon us, 
 
 Though we smite with spurs 
 
 Our horses' sides ; 
 
 Rather dead warriors 
 
 May wend their ways homeward. 
 
172 SOJVGS FROM THE EDDA. 
 
 Then went the bondmaid home, and told Sigrun, 
 and sang — * 
 
 Go out, Sigrun 
 
 From Sevafell, 
 
 If thou listest to look on 
 
 The lord of thy people ! 
 
 For the mound is uncovered 
 
 Thither is Helgi come, 
 
 And his wounds are bleeding, 
 
 But the king thee biddeth 
 
 To come and stay 
 
 That stream of sorrow. 
 
 So Sigrun went into the mound to Helgi, and 
 
 sang — 
 
 Now am I as fain 
 
 Of this fair meeting. 
 
 As are the hungry 
 
 Hawks of Odin, 
 
 When they wot of the slaying 
 
 Of the yet warm quarry, 
 
 Or bright with dew 
 
 See the day a-dawning. 
 
 Ah, I will kiss 
 My king laid lifeless. 
 Ere thou castest by 
 Thy blood-stained bymy. 
 
THE LA Y OF HELGI. 173 
 
 O Helgi, thy hau- 
 ls thick with death's rime, 
 With the dew of the dead 
 Is my love all dripping; 
 Dead-cold are the hands 
 Of the son of Hogni ! 
 How for thee, my king, 
 May I win healing ? 
 
 Helgi. 
 
 Thou alone, Sigrun 
 OfSevafell, 
 
 Hast so done that Helgi 
 With griefs dew drippeth ; 
 O clad in gold 
 Cruel tears thou weepest. 
 Bright May of the Southlands, 
 Or ever thou sleepest : 
 Each tear in blood falleth 
 On the breast of thy lord. 
 Cold-wet and bitter sharp. 
 Swollen with sorrow. 
 
 Ah, we shall drink 
 Dear draughts and lovely. 
 Though we have lost 
 Both life and lands ; 
 Neither shall any 
 Sing song of sorrow, 
 Though in my breast 
 Be wounds wide to behold : 
 
174 SOJVGS FROM THE EDDA. 
 
 For now are brides 
 In the mound abiding ; 
 Kings' daughters sit 
 By us departed. 
 
 Now Signin arrayed a bed in the mound, and sang : 
 
 Here, Helgi, for thee 
 A bed have I dight, 
 Kind without woe, 
 O kin of the Ylfings ! 
 To thy bosom, O king, 
 Will I come and sleep soft. 
 As I was wont 
 When my lord was living. 
 
 Helff.. 
 
 Now will I call 
 
 Naught not to be hoped for 
 
 Early or late 
 
 At Sevafell, 
 
 When thou in the arms 
 
 Of a dead man art laid. 
 
 White maiden of Hogni, 
 
 Here in the mound : 
 
 And thou yet quick, 
 
 O King's daughter ! 
 
 Now needs must I ride 
 On the reddening waj^s ; 
 
THE LA Y OF HELGI. 175 
 
 My pale horse must tread 
 The highway aloft : 
 West must I go 
 To Windhelm's bridge 
 Ere the warwinning crowd 
 *Hall-crower waketh. 
 
 So Helgi rode his ways : and the others gat them 
 gone home to the house. But the next night Sigrun 
 bade the bondwoman have heed of the mound. So at 
 nightfall, whenas Sigrun came to the mound, she sang : 
 
 Here now would be come, 
 
 If to come he were minded ; 
 
 Sigmund's offspring 
 
 From the halls of Odin. 
 
 me the hope waneth 
 
 Of Helgi's coming ; 
 
 For high on the ash-boughs 
 
 Are the ernes abiding, 
 
 And all folk drift 
 
 Toward the Thing of the dreamland. 
 
 TJie Bondmaid. 
 
 Be not foolish of heart, 
 And fare all alone 
 To the house of the dead, 
 O Heroe's daughter ! 
 
 Hall-crower, ' Salgofnir :' lit. Hall-gaper, the coclt of Valhall. 
 
176 SONGS FROM THE EDDA. 
 
 For more strong and dreadful 
 In the night season 
 Are all dead warriors 
 Than in the daylight. 
 
 But a little while lived Sigrun, because of her sorrow 
 and trouble. But in old time folk trowed that men 
 should be bom again, though their troth be now deemed 
 but an old wife's doting. And so, as folk say, Helgi 
 and Sigrun were born again, and at that tide was he 
 called Helgi the Scathe of Hadding, and she Kara the 
 daughter of Halfdan ; and she was a Valkyria, even as 
 is said in the Lay of Kara. 
 
177 
 
 PART OF THE LAY OF SIGRDRIFA. 
 
 Now this is my first counsel, 
 That thou with thy kin 
 
 Be guiltless, guileless ever, 
 Nor hasty of wrath. 
 Despite of wrong done — 
 
 Unto the dead good that doeth. 
 
 Lo the second counsel. 
 
 That oath thou swearest never. 
 But trusty oath and true : 
 
 Grim tormenting 
 
 Gripes troth-breakers ; 
 Cursed wretch is the wolf of vows. 
 
 This is my third rede, 
 
 That thou at the Thing 
 Deal not with the fools of folk ; 
 
 For unwise man 
 
 From mouth lets fall 
 Worser word than well he wotteth. 
 
 * This continues the first part of the lay given in Chap, xx of the 
 Saga ; and is, in fact, the original verse of Chap. xxi. 
 
 N 
 
178 SONGS FROM THE EDDA. 
 
 Yet hard it is 
 That holding of peace 
 When men shall deem thee dastard, 
 Or deem the lie said soothly ; 
 But woeful is home-witness, 
 Unless right good thou gettest it. 
 Ah, on another day 
 Drive the life from out him, 
 And pay the liar back for his lying. 
 
 Now behold the fourth rede : 
 
 If ill witch thee bideth. 
 Woe-begetting by the way. 
 
 Good going further 
 
 Rather than guesting, 
 Though thick night be on thee. 
 
 Far-seeing eyes 
 
 Need all sons of men 
 Who wend in wrath to war ; 
 
 For baleful women 
 
 Bide oft by the highway, 
 Swords and hearts to soften. 
 
 And now the fifth rede : 
 
 As fair as thou seest 
 Brides on the bench abiding, 
 
 Let not love's silver 
 
 Rule over thy sleeping ; 
 Draw no woman to kind kissing ! 
 
THE LA V OF SIGRDRIFA. 179 
 
 For the sixth thing, I rede 
 
 When men sit a-drinking 
 Amid ale-words and ill words, 
 
 Deal thou naught 
 
 With the drunken fight-staves. 
 For wine stealeth wit from many. 
 
 Brawling and drink 
 
 Have brought unto men 
 Sorrow sore oft enow ; 
 
 Yea, bane unto some. 
 
 And to some weary bale ; 
 Many are the griefs of mankind. 
 
 For the seventh, I rede thee, 
 
 If strife thou raisest 
 With a man right high of heart, 
 
 Better fight a-field 
 
 Than burn in the fire 
 Within thine hall fair to behold. 
 
 The eighth rede that I give thee : 
 
 Unto all ill look thou. 
 And hold thine heart from all beguiling ; 
 
 Draw to thee no maiden, 
 
 No man's wife bewray thou, 
 Urge them not unto unmeet pleasure. 
 
 This is the ninth counsel : 
 
 That thou have heed of dead folk 
 
i8o S02VGS FROM THE EDDA. 
 
 Whereso thou findest them a-field ; 
 
 Be they sick-dead, 
 
 Be they sea-dead, 
 Or come to ending by war-weapons. 
 
 Let bath be made 
 
 For such men foredone, 
 
 Wash thou hands and feet thereof, 
 Comb their hair and dry them 
 Ere the coffin has them ; 
 
 Then bid them sleep full sweetly. 
 
 This for the tenth counsel : 
 That thou give trust never 
 Unto oaths of foeman's kin, 
 Be'st thou bane of his brother, 
 Or hast thou felled his father ; 
 Wolf in young son waxes. 
 Though he with gold be gladdened. 
 
 For wrong and hatred 
 Shall rest them never, 
 
 Nay, nor sore sorrow. 
 Both wit and weapons 
 Well must the king have 
 
 Who is fain to be the foremost. 
 
 The last rede and eleventh : 
 Unto all ill look thou, 
 
THE LA V OF SIGRDRIFA. 
 
 And watch thy friends' ways ever. 
 Scarce durst I look 
 For long life for thee, king : 
 
 Strong trouble ariseth now already. 
 
THE LAY CALLED THE SHORT 
 LAY OF SIGURD. 
 
 Sigurd of yore, 
 
 Sought the dwelling of Giuki, 
 
 As he fared, the young Volsung, 
 
 After fight won; 
 
 Troth he took 
 
 From the two brethren; 
 
 Oath swore they betwixt them, 
 
 Those bold ones of deed. 
 
 A may they gave to him 
 And wealth manifold, 
 Gudrun the young, 
 Giuki's daughter: 
 They drank and gave doom 
 Many days together, 
 Sigurd the young, 
 And the sons of Giuki. 
 
 Until they wended 
 For Brynhild's wooing, 
 Sigurd a-riding 
 Amidst their rout; 
 
THE LA Y OF SIG URD. 1 83 
 
 The wise young Volsung 
 Who knew of all ways — 
 Ah ! he had wed her, 
 Had fate so willed it 
 
 Southlander Sigurd 
 
 A naked sword, 
 
 Bright, well grinded, 
 
 Laid betwixt them; 
 
 No kiss he won 
 
 From the fair woman. 
 
 Nor in arms of his 
 
 Did the Hun King hold her, 
 
 Since he gat the young maid 
 
 For the son of Giuki. 
 
 No lack in her life 
 She wotted of now. 
 And at her death-day 
 No dreadful thing 
 For a shame indeed 
 Or a shame in seeming; 
 But about and betwixt 
 Went balefiil fate. 
 
 Alone, abroad. 
 She sat of an evening. 
 Of fiiU many things 
 Slie fell a-talking: 
 
t84 sojvgs from the edda. 
 
 "O for my Sigurd! 
 I shall have death, 
 Or my fair, my lovely. 
 Laid in mine arms. 
 
 " For the word once spoken, 
 
 I sorrow sorely — 
 
 His queen is Gudrun, 
 
 I am wed to Gunnar; 
 
 The dread Noms wrought for us 
 
 A long while of woe." 
 
 Oft with heart deep 
 In dreadful thoughts, 
 O'er ice-fields and ice-hills 
 She fared a-night time, 
 When he and Gudrun 
 Were gone to their fair bed, 
 And Sigurd wrapped 
 The bed-gear round her. 
 
 " Ah ! now the Hun King 
 His queen in arms holdeth. 
 While love I go lacking. 
 And all things longed for 
 With no dehght 
 But in dreadful thought." 
 
 These dreadful things 
 Thrust her toward murder ; 
 
THE LA Y OF SIG URD. 185 
 
 — "Listen, Gunnar, 
 
 For thou shalt lose 
 
 My wide lands, 
 
 Yea, me myself ! 
 
 — Never love I my life. 
 
 With thee for my lord — 
 
 " I will fare back thither 
 From whence I came. 
 To my nighest kin 
 And those that know me : 
 There shall I sit 
 Sleeping my life away, 
 Unless thou slayest 
 Sigurd the Hun King, 
 Making thy might more 
 E'en than his might was ! 
 
 " Yea, let the son fare 
 After the father, 
 And no young wolf 
 A long while nourish ! 
 For on each man lieth 
 Vengeance lighter, 
 And peace shall be surer 
 If the son live not." 
 
 Adrad was Gunnar, 
 Heavy-hearted was he, 
 And in doubtful mood 
 Day-long he sat. 
 
1 86 SOJVGS FROM THE EDDA. 
 
 For naught he wotted, 
 Nor might see clearly 
 What was the seemliest 
 Of deeds to set hand to ; 
 What of all deeds 
 Was best to be done : 
 For he minded the vows 
 Sworn to the Volsung, 
 And the sore wrong 
 To be wrought against Sigurd. 
 
 Wavered his mind 
 
 A weary while, 
 
 No wont it was 
 
 Of those days worn by, 
 
 That queens should flee 
 
 From the realms of their kings. 
 
 " Brynhild to me 
 ■ Is better than all, 
 The child of Budli 
 Is the best of women. 
 Yea, and my life 
 Will I lay down. 
 Ere I am twinned 
 From that woman's treasure." 
 
 He bade call Hogni 
 To the place where he bided ; 
 With all the trust that might be, 
 Trowed he in him. 
 
THE LA V OF SIG URD. 187 
 
 " Wilt thou bewray Sigurd 
 For his wealth's sake ? 
 Good it is to rule 
 O'er the Rhine's metal ; 
 And well content 
 Great wealth to wield, 
 Biding in peace 
 And blissful days." 
 
 One thing alone Hogni 
 Had for an answer; 
 " Such doings for us 
 Are naught seemly to do; 
 To rend with sword 
 Oaths once sworn. 
 Oaths once sworn, 
 And troth once plighted. 
 
 " Nor know we on mould. 
 Men of happier days. 
 The while we four 
 Rule over the folk; 
 While the bold in battle, 
 The Hun King, bides living. 
 
 " And no nobler kin 
 Shall be known afield, 
 If our five sons 
 We long may foster; 
 Yea, a goodly stem 
 Shall surely wax. 
 
SOJVGS FROM THE EDDA. 
 
 — But I clearly see 
 In what wise it standeth, 
 Brynhild's sore urging 
 O'ermuch on thee beareth." 
 
 " Guttorm shall we 
 Get for the slaying, 
 Our younger brother 
 Bare of wisdom ; 
 For he was out of 
 All the oaths sworn, 
 All the oaths sworn. 
 And the plighted troth." 
 
 Easy to rouse him 
 Who of naught recketh ' 
 — Deep stood tlie sword 
 In the heart of Sigurd. 
 
 There, in the hall, 
 
 Gat the high-hearted vengeance ; 
 
 For he cast his sword 
 
 At the reckless slayer : 
 
 Out at Guttorm 
 
 Flew Gram the mighty, 
 
 The gleaming steel 
 
 From Sigurd's hand. 
 
 Down fell the slayer 
 Smitten asunder; 
 The heavy head 
 
THE LA V OF SIG URD. 189 
 
 And the hands fell one way, 
 But the feet and such like 
 Aback where they stood. 
 
 Gudmn was sleeping 
 Soft in the bed, 
 Empty of sorrow 
 By the side of Sigurd : 
 When she awoke 
 With all pleasure gone. 
 Swimming in blood 
 Of Fre/s beloved. 
 
 So sore her hands 
 
 She smote together, 
 
 That the great-hearted 
 
 Gat raised in bed ; 
 
 — " O Gudnm, weep not 
 
 So woefully. 
 
 Sweet lovely bride, 
 
 For thy brethren live for thee ! 
 
 " A young child have I 
 
 For heritor ; 
 
 Too young to win forth 
 
 From the house of his foes. — 
 
 Black deeds and ill 
 
 Have they been a-doing, 
 
 Evil rede 
 
 Have they wrought at last. 
 
190 SONGS FROM THE EDDA. 
 
 " Late, late, rideth with them 
 Unto the Thing, 
 Such sister's son. 
 Though seven thou bear, — 
 — But well I wot 
 Which way all goeth; 
 Alone wrought Brynhild 
 This bale against us. 
 
 " That maiden loved me 
 Far before all men, 
 Yet wrong to Gunnar 
 I never wrought ; 
 Brotherhood I heeded 
 And all bounden oaths. 
 That none should deem me 
 His queen's darling.'' 
 
 Weary sighed Gudrun, 
 As the king gat ending, 
 And so sore her hands 
 She smote together, 
 That the cups arow 
 Rang out therewith. 
 And the geese cried on high 
 That were in the homefield. 
 
 Then laughed Brynhild, 
 Budli's daughter, 
 Once, once only. 
 From out her heart ; 
 
THE LA Y OF SIG URD. 1 9 1 
 
 When to her bed 
 Was borne the sound 
 Of the sore greeting 
 Of Giuki's daughter. 
 
 Then, quoth Gunnar, 
 The king, the hawkbearer, 
 " Whereas, thou laughest, 
 O hateful woman. 
 Glad on thy bed. 
 No good it betokeneth : 
 Why lackest thou else 
 Thy lovely hue ? 
 Feeder of foul deeds. 
 Fey do I deem thee, 
 
 " Well worthy art thou 
 
 Before all women, 
 
 That thine eyes should see 
 
 Atli slain of us ; 
 
 That thy brother's wounds 
 
 Thou shouldst see a-bleeding, 
 
 That his bloody hurts 
 
 Thine hands should bind." 
 
 " No man blameth thee, Gunnar, 
 Thou hast fulfilled death's measure, 
 But naught Atli feareth 
 All thine ill will ; 
 Life shall he lay down 
 
192 SONGS FROM THE EDDA. 
 
 Later than ye, 
 
 And still bear more might 
 
 Aloft than thy might. 
 
 " I shall tell thee, Gunnar, 
 
 Though well the tale thou knowest 
 
 In what early days 
 
 Ye dealt abroad your wrong : 
 
 Young was I then, 
 
 Worn with no woe. 
 
 Good wealth I had 
 
 In the house of my brother ! 
 
 " No mind had I 
 That a man should have me. 
 Or ever ye Giukings, 
 Rode into our garth ; 
 There ye sat on your steeds 
 Three kings of the people — 
 — All ! that that faring 
 Had never befallen ! 
 
 " Then spake Atli 
 
 To me apart. 
 
 And said that no wealth 
 
 He would give unto me, 
 
 Neither gold nor lands 
 
 If I would not be wedded ; 
 
 Nay, and no part 
 
 Of the wealth apportioned, 
 
 Wliich in my first days 
 
THE LA Y OF SIG URD. 1 93 
 
 He gave me duly ; 
 Which in my first days 
 He counted down. 
 
 " Wavered the mind 
 
 Within me then, 
 
 If to fight I should fall 
 
 And the felling of folk, 
 
 Bold in b3Tmy 
 
 Because of my brother ; 
 
 A deed of fame 
 
 Had that been to all folk, 
 
 But to many a man 
 
 Sorrow of mind. 
 
 " So I let all sink 
 Into peace at the last : 
 More grew I minded 
 For the mighty treasure. 
 The red-shining rings 
 Of Sigmund's son ; 
 For no man's wealth else 
 Would I take unto me. 
 
 " For myself had I given 
 To that great king 
 Who sat amid gold 
 On the back of Grani ; 
 Nought were his eyen 
 Like to your eyen. 
 Nor in any wise 
 
194 SOJVGS FROM THE EDDA. 
 
 Went his visage with yours ; 
 Though ye might deem you 
 Due kings of men. 
 
 " One I loved, 
 One, and none other. 
 The gold-decked may 
 Had no doubtful mind ; 
 Thereof shall Ath 
 Wot full surely. 
 When he getteth to know 
 I am gone to the dead. 
 
 " Far be it from me 
 Feeble and wavering. 
 Ever to love 
 Another's love — 
 — Yet shall my woe 
 Be well avenged." 
 
 Up rose Gunnar, 
 The great men's leader. 
 And cast his arras 
 About the queen's neck ; 
 And all went nigh 
 One after other, 
 With their whole hearts 
 Her heart to turn. 
 
 But then all these 
 
 From her neck she thrust, 
 
THE LA Y OF SIG URD. 1 95 
 
 Of her long journey- 
 No man should let her. 
 
 Then called he Hogni 
 
 To have talk with him ; 
 
 " Let all folk go 
 
 Forth into the hall, 
 
 Thine with mine — 
 
 — need sore and mighty ! — 
 
 To wot if we yet 
 
 My wife's parting may stay. 
 
 Till with time's wearing 
 
 Some hindrance wax." 
 
 One answer Hogni 
 
 Had for all ; 
 
 " Nay, let hard need 
 
 Have rule thereover. 
 
 And no man let her 
 
 Of her long journey ! 
 
 Never bom again. 
 
 May she come back thence ! 
 
 " Luckless she came 
 
 To the lap of her mother, 
 
 Bom into the world 
 
 For utter woe, 
 
 To many a man 
 
 For heart-whole mourning." 
 
SOJVGS FROM THE ED DA. 
 
 Unpraised he turned 
 From the talk and the trouble, 
 To where the gem-field 
 Dealt out goodly treasure ; 
 As she looked and beheld 
 All the wealth that she had, 
 And the hungry bondmaids. 
 And maids of the hall. 
 
 With no good in her heart 
 She donned her gold byrny. 
 Ere she trust the sword-point 
 Through the midst of her body : 
 On the bolster's far side 
 Sank she adown, 
 And, smitten with sword, 
 Still bethought her of redes. 
 
 " Let all come forth 
 
 Who are fain the red gold, 
 
 Or things less worthy 
 
 To win from my hands : 
 
 To each one I give 
 
 A necklace gilt over. 
 
 Wrought hangings and bed-gear. 
 
 And bright woven weed." 
 
 All they kept silence. 
 And thought what to speak. 
 Then all at once 
 Answer gave : 
 
THE LA Y OF SIGURD. 197 
 
 " Full enow are death-doomed, 
 Fain are we to live yet, 
 Maids of the hall 
 All meet work winning." 
 
 From her wise heart at last 
 The linen-clad damsel, 
 The one of few years 
 Gave forth the word ; 
 ■" I will that none driven 
 By hand or by word. 
 For our salce should lose 
 WeU-loved life. 
 
 " Though on the bones -of you 
 
 Surely shall bum, 
 
 Less dear treasure 
 
 At your departing 
 
 Nor with Menia's Meal * 
 
 Shall ye come to see me. 
 
 "Sit thee down, Gunnar, 
 A word must I say to thee 
 Of the life's ruin 
 Of thy lightsome bride — 
 ■ — Nor shall thy ship 
 Swim soft and sweetly 
 For all that I 
 Lay life adown. 
 
 'Menia's Meal,' periphrasis for gold. 
 
1 98 SONGS FROM THE EDDA. 
 
 " Sooner than ye might deem 
 Shall ye make peace with Gudrun, 
 For the wise woman 
 Shall lull in the young wife 
 The hard memory 
 Of her dead husband. 
 
 " There is a may born 
 Reared by her mother, 
 Whiter and brighter 
 Than is the bright day ; 
 She shall be Swanhild, 
 She shall be Sunbeam. 
 
 " Thou shalt give Gudrun 
 
 Unto a great one, 
 
 Noble, well praised 
 
 Of the world's folk ; 
 
 Not with her goodwill. 
 
 Or love shalt thou give her ; 
 
 Yet will Atli 
 
 Come to win her. 
 
 My very brother 
 
 Bom of Budli. 
 
 — " Ah ! many a memory 
 Of how ye dealt with me. 
 How sorely, how evilly 
 Ye ever beguiled me, 
 How all pleasure left me 
 The while my life lasted ! — 
 
THE LA Y OF SIG URD. 1 99 
 
 " Fain wilt thou be 
 Oddrun to win, 
 But thy good Hking 
 Shall Atli let ; 
 But in secret wise 
 Shall ye win together, 
 And she shall love thee 
 As I had loved thee, 
 If in such wise 
 Fate had willed it. 
 
 " But with all ill 
 Shall Atli sting thee 
 Into the strait worm-close 
 Shall he cast thee. 
 
 " But no long space 
 
 Shall slip away 
 
 Ere Atli too 
 
 All life shall lose. 
 
 Yea, all his weal 
 
 With the life of his sons. 
 
 For a dreadful bed 
 
 Dights Gudrun for him, 
 
 From a heart sore laden, 
 
 With the sword's sharp edge. 
 
 " More seemly for Gudrun 
 Your very sister, 
 In death to wend after 
 Her love first wed ; 
 
SOJVGS FROM THE ED DA. 
 
 Had but good rede 
 
 To her been given, 
 
 Or if her heart 
 
 Had been like to my heart. 
 
 — " Faint my speech groweth— 
 But for our sake 
 Ne'er shall she lose 
 Her life beloved ; 
 The sea shall have her, 
 High billows bear her 
 Forth unto Jonakr's 
 Fair land of his fathers. 
 
 " There shall she bear sons, 
 Stays of a heritage, 
 Stays of a heritage, 
 Jonakr's sons ; 
 And Swanhild shall she 
 Send from the land, 
 That may born of her, 
 The may born of Sigurd. 
 
 " Her shall bite 
 The rede of Bikki, 
 Whereas for no good 
 Wins Jormunrek life ; 
 And so is clean perished 
 All the kin of Sigurd, 
 Yea, and more greeting. 
 And more for Gudrun. 
 
THE LA Y OF SIG URD. 
 
 " And now one prayer 
 Yet pray I of thee — 
 The last word of mine 
 Here in the world — 
 So broad on the field 
 Be the burg of the dead 
 That fair space may be left 
 For us aU to lie down, 
 All those that died 
 At Sigurd's death ! 
 
 " Hang round that burg 
 Fair hangings and shields, 
 Web by Gauls woven, 
 And folk of the Gauls : 
 There burn the Hun King 
 Lying beside me. 
 
 " But on the other side 
 Burn by the Hun King 
 Those who served me 
 Strewn with treasure ; 
 Two at the head, 
 And two at the feet. 
 Two hounds therewith. 
 And two hawks moreover : 
 Then is all dealt 
 With even dealing. 
 
 " Lay there amidst us 
 The ring-dight metal. 
 
SOJVGS FROM THE EDDA. 
 
 The sharp-edged steel, 
 
 That so lay erst ; 
 
 When we both together 
 
 Into one bed went, 
 
 And were called by the name 
 
 Of man and wife. 
 
 " Never, then belike 
 Shall clash behind him 
 Valhall's bright door 
 With rings bedight : 
 And if my fellowship 
 FoUoweth after. 
 In no wretched wise 
 Then shall we wend. 
 
 " For him shall follow 
 My five bondmaids, 
 My eight bondsmen. 
 No borel folk : 
 Yea, and my fosterer, 
 And my father's dower 
 That Budli of old days 
 Gave to his dear child. 
 
 " Much have I spoken. 
 
 More would I speak, 
 
 If the sword would give me 
 
 Space for speech ; 
 
 But my words are waning. 
 
 My wounds are swelling — 
 
 Naught but truth have I told- 
 
 — And now make I ending." 
 
THE HELL-RIDE OF 
 BRYNHILD. 
 
 AFTER the death of Biynhild were made two bales, 
 one for Sigurd, and that was first burned; but 
 Brynhild was burned on the other, and she was in a 
 chariot hung about with goodly hangings. 
 
 And so folk say that Brynhild drave in her chariot 
 down along the way to Hell, and passed by an abode 
 where dwelt a certain giantess, and the giantess spake : — 
 
 " Nay, with my goodwill 
 Never goest thou 
 Through this stone-pillared 
 Stead of mine ! 
 More seemly for thee 
 To sit sewing the cloth. 
 Than to go look on 
 The love of another. 
 
 " What dost thou, going 
 From the land of the Gauls, 
 
204 SOJVGS FROM THE EDDA. 
 
 O restless head, 
 To this mine house ? 
 Golden girl, hast thou not. 
 If thou listest to hearken, 
 In sweet wise from thy hands 
 The blood of men washen ? " 
 
 Brynhild. 
 
 " Nay, blame me naught, 
 Bride of the rock-hall. 
 Though I roved a warring 
 In the days that were ; 
 The higher of us twain 
 Shall I ever be holden 
 When of our kind 
 Men make account." 
 
 The Giant-woman. 
 
 " Thou, O Brynhild, 
 Budli's daughter, 
 Wert the worst ever born 
 Into the world : 
 For Giuki's children 
 Death hast thou gotten. 
 And turned to destruction 
 Their goodly dwelling." 
 
 Brynhild. 
 
 " I shall tell thee 
 
 True tale from my chariot. 
 
THE HELL-RIDE OF BRYNHILD. 205 
 
 O thou who naught wottest, 
 
 If thou listest to wot ; 
 
 How for me they have gotten 
 
 Those heirs of Giuki, 
 
 A loveless life, 
 
 A life of lies. 
 
 " Hild under helm, 
 The Hlymdale people. 
 E'en those who knew me, 
 Ever would call me. 
 
 " The changeful shapes 
 
 Of us eight sisters, 
 
 The wise king bade 
 
 Under oak-tree to bear : 
 
 Of twelve winters was I, 
 
 If thou listest to wot, 
 
 When I sware to the young lord 
 
 Oaths of love. 
 
 " Thereafter gat I 
 Mid the folk of the Goths, 
 For Helmgunnar the old, 
 STOft journey to Hell, 
 And gave to Aud's brother 
 The young, gain and glory ; 
 Whereof overwrath 
 Waxed Odin with me. 
 
 " So he shut me in shield-wall 
 In Skata grove. 
 
2o6 SOJVGS FROM THE EDDA. 
 
 Red shields and white 
 Close set around me ; 
 And bade him alone 
 My slmnber to break 
 Who in no land 
 Knew how to fear. 
 
 " He set round my hall, 
 Toward the south quarter, 
 The Bane of all trees 
 Burning aloft ; 
 And ruled that he only 
 Thereover should ride 
 Who should bring me the gold 
 O'er which Fafnir brooded. 
 
 " Then upon Grani rode 
 The goodly gold-strewer 
 To where my fosterer 
 Ruled his fair dwelling. 
 He who alone there 
 Was deemed best of all, 
 The War-lord of the Danes, 
 Well worthy of men. 
 
 " In peace did we sleep 
 
 Soft in one bed, 
 
 As though he had been 
 
 Naught but my brother : 
 
 There as we lay 
 
 Through eight nights wearing, 
 
THE HELL-RIDE OF BRYNHILD. 207 
 
 No hand in love 
 
 On each other we laid. 
 
 " Yet thence blamed me Gudrun, 
 
 Giuki's daughter, 
 
 That I had slept 
 
 In the arms of Sigurd ; 
 
 And then I wotted 
 
 As I fain had not wotted, 
 
 That they had bewrayed me 
 
 In my betrothals. 
 
 " Ah ! for unrest 
 
 All too long 
 
 Are men and women 
 
 Made alive ! 
 
 Yet we twain together 
 
 Shall wear through the ages, 
 
 Sigurd and I. — 
 
 — Sink adown, O giant-wife ! " 
 
FRAGMENTS OF THE LAY OF 
 BRYNHILD. 
 
 Hogni said. 
 
 What hath wrought Sigurd 
 Of any wrong-doing 
 That the Hfe of the famed one 
 Thou art fain of taking ? 
 
 Gutmar said. 
 
 To me has Sigurd 
 Sworn many oaths, 
 Sworn many oaths, 
 And sworn them lying, 
 And he bewrayed me 
 When it behoved him 
 Of all folk to his troth 
 To be the most trusty. 
 
THE LA Y OF BR YNHILD. 209 
 
 Hogni said. 
 
 Thee hath Brynhild 
 Unto all bale, 
 And all hate whetted, 
 And a work of sorrow ; 
 For she grudges to Gudrun 
 All goodly life ; 
 And to thee the bKss 
 Of her very body. 
 
 Some the wolf roasted, 
 Some minced the worm. 
 Some unto Guttorm 
 Gave the wolf-meat. 
 Or ever they might 
 In their lust for murder 
 On the high king 
 Lay deadly hand. 
 
 Sigurd lay slain 
 On the south of the Rhine, 
 High from the fair tree 
 Croaked forth the raven, 
 "Ah, yet shall Ath 
 On you redden edges, 
 The old oaths shall weigh 
 On your souls, O warriors.'' 
 
SOJVGS FROM THE EDDA. 
 
 Without stood GudruH, 
 
 Giuki's daughter, 
 
 And the first word she said 
 
 Was even this word: 
 
 "Where then is Sigurd, 
 
 Lord of the Warfolk, 
 
 Since my kin 
 
 Come riding the foremost?" 
 
 One word Hogni 
 
 Had for an answer : 
 
 " Our swords have smitten 
 
 Sigurd asunder, 
 
 And the grey horse hangs drooping 
 
 O'er his lord lying dead." 
 
 Then quoth Brynhild, 
 Budli's daughter; 
 " Good weal shall ye have 
 Of weapons and lands, 
 That Sigurd alone 
 Would surely have ruled 
 If he had lived 
 But a little longer. 
 
 " Ah, nothing seemly 
 For Sigurd to rule 
 Giuki's house 
 And the folk of the Goths, 
 When of him five sons 
 For the slaying of men. 
 
THE LA Y OF BR YNHILD. 
 
 Eager for battle 
 
 Should have been begotten !" 
 
 Then laughed Biynhild — 
 Loud rang the whole house — 
 One laugh only 
 From out her heart : 
 " Long shall your bliss be 
 Of lands and people, 
 Whereas the famed lord 
 Ye have felled to the earth !" 
 
 Then spake Gudrun, 
 Giuki's daughter ; 
 " Much thou speakest, 
 Many things fearful, 
 All grame be on Gunnar 
 The bane of Sigurd ! 
 From a heart full of hate 
 Shall come heavy vengeance.'' 
 
 Forth sped the even 
 Enow there was drunken, 
 Full enow was there 
 Of all soft speech ; 
 And all men got sleep 
 When to bed they were gotten ; 
 Gunnar only lay waking 
 Long after all men. 
 
 His feet fell he to moving, 
 Fell to speak to himself 
 
SOJVGS FROM THE EDDA. 
 
 The waster of men 
 
 Still turned in his mind, 
 
 What on the bough 
 
 Those twain would be sapng, 
 
 The raven and erne, 
 
 As they rode their ways homeward. 
 
 But Brynhild awoke, 
 
 Budli's daughter, 
 
 May of the shield-folk, 
 
 A little ere morning : 
 
 " Thrust ye on, hold ye back, 
 
 — Now all harm is wrought, — 
 
 To tell of my sorrow, 
 
 Or to let all slip by me?" 
 
 All kept silence 
 After her speaking, 
 None might know 
 That woman's mind. 
 Or why she must weep 
 To tell of the work 
 That laughing once 
 Of men she prayed, 
 
 Brynhild spake. 
 
 In dreams, O Gunnar, 
 Grim things fell on me ; 
 Dead-cold the hall was. 
 And my bed was a-cold. 
 
THE LA V OF BR YNHILD. 2 13 
 
 And thou, lord, wert riding 
 
 Reft of all bliss. 
 
 Laden with fetters 
 
 'Mid the host of thy foemen. 
 
 So now all ye, 
 O House of the Niblungs, 
 Shall be brought to naught, 
 ye oath-breakers 1 
 
 Think'st thou not, Gunnar, 
 How that betid, 
 When ye let the blood run 
 Both in one footstep ? 
 With ill reward 
 Hast thou rewarded 
 His heart so fain 
 To be the foremost ! 
 
 As well was seen 
 When he rode his ways, 
 That king of all worth, 
 Unto my wooing; 
 How the host-destroyer 
 Held to the vows 
 Sworn aforetime. 
 Sworn to the young king. 
 
 For his wounding-wand 
 All wrought with gold, 
 The king beloved 
 Laid between us j 
 
214 SONGS FROM THE EDDA. 
 
 Without were its edges 
 Wrought with fire, 
 But with venom-drops 
 Deep dyed within. 
 
 Thus this song telleth of the death of Sigurd, and 
 setteth forth how that they slew him without doors ; but 
 some say that they slew him within doors, sleeping in 
 his bed. But the Dutch Folk say that they slew him 
 out in the wood : and so sayeth the ancient song of 
 Gudrun, that Sigurd and the sons of Giuki were riding 
 to the Thing whenas he was slain. But all with one 
 accord say that they bewrayed him in their troth with 
 him, and fell on him as he lay unarrayed and unawares. 
 
215 
 
 THE SECOND OR ANCIENT LAY 
 OF GUDRUN. 
 
 THIODREK the King was in Atli's house, and had 
 lost there the more part of his men : so there 
 Thiodrek and Gudrun bewailed their troubles one to 
 the other, and she spake and said : 
 
 A may of all mays 
 My mother reared me 
 Bright in bower ; 
 Well loved I my brethren. 
 Until that Giuki 
 With gold arrayed me. 
 With gold arrayed me, 
 And gave me to Sigurd. 
 
 Such was my Sigurd 
 Among the sons of Giuki 
 As is the green leek 
 O'er the low grass waxen. 
 
2i6 SOJVGS FROM THE EDDA. 
 
 Or a hart liigh-limbed 
 Over hurrying deer, 
 Or gleed-red gold 
 Over grey silver. 
 
 Till me they begrudged, 
 Those my brethren, 
 The fate to have him. 
 Who was first of all men ; 
 Nor might they sleep 
 Nor sit a-dooming 
 Ere they let slay 
 My well-loved Sigurd. 
 
 Grani ran to the Thing, 
 There was clatter to hear, 
 But never came Sigurd 
 Himself thereunto ; 
 All the saddle-girt beasts 
 With blood were besprinkled, 
 As faint with the way 
 Neath the slayers they went. 
 
 Then greeting I went 
 
 With Grani to talk, 
 
 And with tear-furrowed cheeks 
 
 I bade him tell all ; 
 
 But drooping laid Grani, 
 
 His head in the grass. 
 
 For the steed well wotted 
 
 Of his master's slaying. 
 
ANCIENT LAY OF G UDR UN. 217 
 
 A long while I wandered, 
 Long my mind wavered, 
 Ere the kings I might ask 
 Concerning my king. 
 
 Then Gunnar hung head, 
 But Hogni told 
 Of the cruel slaying 
 Of my Sigurd : 
 " On the water's far side 
 Lies, smitten to death, 
 The bane of Guttorm 
 To the wolves given over. 
 
 " Go, look on Sigurd, 
 
 On the ways that go southward, 
 
 There shalt thou hear 
 
 The ernes high screaming 
 
 The ravens a-croaking 
 
 As their meat they crave for ; 
 
 Thou shalt hear the wolves howling 
 
 Over thine husband." 
 
 " How hast thou, Hogni, 
 
 The heart to tell me, 
 
 Me of joy made empty. 
 
 Of such misery ? 
 
 Thy wretched heart 
 
 May the ravens tear 
 
 Wide over the world. 
 
 With no men mayst thou wend ! " 
 
2i8 SONGS FROM THE ED DA. 
 
 One thing Hogni 
 
 Had for answer, 
 
 Fallen from his high heart, 
 
 Full of all trouble : 
 
 " More greeting yet, 
 
 Gudrun, for thee. 
 If my heart the ravens 
 Should rend asunder !" 
 
 Thence I turned 
 
 From the talk and the trouble 
 
 To go a leasing* 
 
 What the wolves had left me ; 
 
 No sigh I made 
 
 Nor smote hands together, 
 
 Nor did I wail 
 
 As other women 
 
 When I sat over 
 
 My Sigurd slain. 
 
 Night methought it, 
 And the moonless dark, 
 When I sat in sorrow 
 Over Sigurd : 
 Better than all things 
 
 1 deemed it would be 
 If they would let me 
 Cast my life by, 
 
 * The original has 'a viS lesa;' 'leasing' is the word still 
 used for gleaning in many country sides in England. 
 
ANCIENI LAY OF G UDR UN. 219 
 
 Or bum me up 
 
 As they bum the birch-wood. 
 
 From the fell I wandered 
 Five days together, 
 Until the high hall 
 Of Half lay before me ; 
 Seven seasons there 
 I sat with Thora, 
 The daughter of Hacon, 
 Up in Denmark. 
 
 My heart to gladden 
 With gold she wrought 
 Southland halls 
 And swans of the Dane-folk : 
 There had we painted 
 The chiefs a-playing ; 
 Fair our hands wrought 
 Folk of the kings. 
 
 Red shields we did, 
 
 Doughty knights of the Huns, 
 
 Hosts spear-dight, hosts helm-dight. 
 
 All a high king's fellows ; 
 
 And the ships of Sigmund 
 
 From the land swift sailing ; 
 
 Heads gilt over 
 
 And prows fair graven. • 
 
 On the cloth we broidered 
 That tide of their battling. 
 
SOJVGS FROM THE EDDA. 
 
 Siggeir and Siggar, 
 South in Fion. 
 
 Then heard Grimhild, 
 The Queen of Gothland, 
 How I was abiding, 
 Weighed down with woe ; 
 And she thrust the cloth from her 
 And called to her sons, 
 And oft and eagerly- 
 Asked them thereof, 
 Who for her son 
 Would their sister atone, 
 Who for her lord slain 
 Would lay down weregild. 
 
 Fain was Gunnar 
 
 Gold to lay down 
 
 All wrongs to atone for. 
 
 And Hogni in likewise ; 
 
 Then she asked who was fain 
 
 Of faring straightly, 
 
 The steed to saddle 
 
 To set forth the wain. 
 
 The horse to back. 
 
 And the hawk to fly, 
 
 To shoot forth the arrow 
 
 From out the yew-bow. 
 
 Valdarr the Dane-king 
 Came with Jarisleif 
 
ANCIENT LAY OF G UDR UN. 
 
 Eymod the third went 
 
 Then went Jarizskar ; 
 
 In kingly wise 
 
 In they wended, 
 
 The host of the Longbeards ; 
 
 Red cloaks had they, 
 
 Bymies short-cut 
 
 Helms strong hammered. 
 
 Girt with glaives, 
 
 And hair red-gleaming. 
 
 Each would give me 
 
 Gifts desired, 
 
 Gifts desired 
 
 Speech dear to my heart, 
 
 If they might yet 
 
 Despite my sorrow 
 
 Win back my trust, 
 
 But in them nought I trusted. 
 
 Then brought me Grimhild 
 
 A beaker to drink of. 
 
 Cold and bitter 
 
 Wrong's memory to quench ; 
 
 Made great was that drink 
 
 With the might of the eartli. 
 
 With the death-cold sea 
 
 And the blood that Son* holdeth. 
 
 * Son was the vessd into which was poured the blood of Quasir, 
 the God of poetry. 
 
SOJVGS FROM THE EDDA. 
 
 On that horn's face were there 
 
 All the kin of letters 
 
 Cut aright and reddened, 
 
 How should I rede them rightly ? 
 
 The ling-fish long 
 
 Of the land of Hadding 
 
 Wheat-ears unshorn, 
 
 And wild things' inwards. 
 
 In that mead were mingled 
 
 Many ills together. 
 
 Blood of all the wood, 
 
 And brown-burnt acorns ; 
 
 The black dew of the hearth,* 
 
 And god-doomed dead beasts' inwards, 
 
 And the swine's liver sodden, 
 
 For wrongs late done that deadens. 
 
 Then waned my memory 
 When that was within me, 
 Of my lord 'mid the hall 
 By the iron laid low. 
 Three kings came 
 Before my knees 
 Ere she herself 
 Fell to speech with me. 
 
 " I will give to thee, Gudrun, 
 Gold to be glad with, 
 
 * This means soot. 
 
ANCIENT LAY OF G UDR UN. 223 
 
 All the great wealth 
 
 Of thy father gone from us, 
 
 Rings of red gold 
 
 And the great hall of Lodver, 
 
 And all fair hangings left 
 
 By the king late fallen. 
 
 " Maids of tlie Huns 
 Woven pictures to make, 
 And work fair in gold 
 Till thou deem'st thyself glad, 
 Alone shalt thou rule 
 O'er the riches of Budli, 
 Shalt be made great with gold. 
 And be given to Atli." 
 
 " Never will I 
 Wend to a husband, 
 Or wed the brother 
 Of Queen Brynhild ; 
 Naught it beseems me 
 With the son of Budli 
 Kin to bring forth, 
 Or to live and be merry." 
 
 " Nay, the high chiefs 
 Reward not with hatred, 
 For take heed that I 
 Was the first in this tale ! 
 To thy heart shall it be 
 As if both these had life, 
 
2 24 SONGS FROM THE EDDA. 
 
 Sigurd and Sigmund, 
 
 When thou hast borne sons." 
 
 " Naught may I, Grimhild, 
 
 Seek after gladness, 
 
 Nor deem aught hopeful 
 
 Of any high warrior, 
 
 Since wolf and raven 
 
 Were friends together. 
 
 The greedy, the cruel 
 
 O'er great Sigurd's heart-blood." 
 
 " Of all men that can be 
 
 For the noblest of kin 
 
 This king have I found, 
 
 And the foremost of all ; 
 
 Him shalt thou have 
 
 Till with eld thou art heavy — 
 
 Be thou ever unwed. 
 
 If thou wilt naught of him ! " 
 
 " Nay, nay, bid me not 
 With thy words long abiding 
 To take unto me 
 That balefullest kin ; 
 This king shall bid Gunnar 
 Be stung to his bane, 
 And shall cut the heart 
 From out of Hogni. 
 
 " Nor shall I leave life 
 Ere the keen lord. 
 
ANCIENT LAY OF G UDR UN. 225 
 
 The eager in sword-play 
 My hand shall make end of." 
 
 Grimhild a-weeping 
 
 Took up the word then, 
 
 When the sore bale she wotted 
 
 Awaiting her sons, 
 
 And the bane hanging over 
 
 Her offspring beloved. 
 
 " I will give thee, moreover, 
 
 Great lands, many men, 
 
 Wineberg and Valberg, 
 
 If thou wilt but have them ; 
 
 Hold them lifelong, 
 
 And live happy, O daughter ! " 
 
 " Then him must I take 
 From among kingly men, 
 'Gainst my heart's desire. 
 From the hands of my kinsfolk ; 
 But no joy I look 
 To have from that lord : 
 Scarce may my brother's bane 
 Be a shield to my sons." 
 
 Soon was each warrior 
 Seen on his horse. 
 But the Gaulish women 
 Into wains were gotten; 
 Then seven days long 
 O'er a cold land we rode, 
 
2 26 SOJVGS FROM THE EDD... 
 
 And for seven other 
 Clove we the sea-waves. 
 But with the third seven 
 O'er dry land we wended. 
 
 There the gate-wardens 
 
 Of the burg high and wide, 
 
 Unlocked the barriers 
 
 Ere the burg-garth we rode to- 
 
 Atli woke me 
 
 When meseemed I was 
 
 Full evil of heart 
 
 For my kin dead slain. 
 
 " In such wise did the Noms 
 
 Wake me or now'' — 
 
 Fain was he to know 
 
 Of this ill foreshowing — 
 
 " That methought, O Gudrun, 
 
 Giuki's daughter, 
 
 That thou setst in my heart 
 
 A sword wrought for guile." 
 
 " For fires tokening I deem it 
 That dreaming of iron, 
 But for pride and for lust 
 The wrath of fair women. 
 Against some bale 
 Belike, I shall burn thee 
 
ANCIENT LAY OF G UDR UN. 227 
 
 For thy solace and healing 
 Though hateful thou art." 
 
 " In the fair garth methought 
 Had saplings fallen 
 E'en such as I would 
 Should have waxen ever ; 
 Uprooted were these, 
 And reddened with blood, 
 And borne to the bench, 
 And folk bade me eat of them. 
 
 " Methought from my hand then 
 Went hawks a-flying 
 Lacking their meat 
 To the land of all ill; 
 Methought that their hearts 
 Mingled with honey. 
 Swollen with blood 
 I ate amid sorrow. 
 
 " Lo, next two whelps 
 From my hands I loosened, 
 Joyless were both, 
 And both a-howling ; 
 And now their flesh 
 Became naught but corpses. 
 Whereof must I eat 
 But sore against my will." 
 
 " O'er the prey of the fishers 
 Will folk give doom ; 
 
228 
 
 SONGS FROM THE EDDA. 
 
 From the bright white fish 
 
 The heads will they take ; 
 
 Within a few nights, 
 
 Fey as they are, 
 
 A little ere day 
 
 Of that draught will they eat." 
 
 Ne'er since lay I down-. 
 Ne'er since would I sleep. 
 Hard of heart, in my bed : — 
 That deed have I to do.* 
 
 * The whole of this latter 
 part is fragmentai-y and obscure ; 
 there seems wanting to two of 
 the dreams some trivial interpre- 
 tation by Gudrun, like those 
 given by Hogni to Kostbera 
 in the Saga, of which nature, 
 of course, the interpretation con- 
 
 tained in the last stanza but 
 one is, as we have rendered it : 
 another rendering, from the diffe- 
 rent reading of the earlier edi- 
 tion of Edda (Copenhagen, 1818) 
 would make this refer much more 
 directly to the slaying of her sons 
 by Gudrun. 
 
229 
 
 THE SONG OF ATLI. 
 
 GUDRUN, Giuki's daughter, avenged her brethren, 
 as is told far and wide : first she slew the 
 sons of Atli, and then Alii himself j and she burned the 
 hall thereafter, and all the household with it : and about 
 these matters in this song made : — 
 
 In days long gone 
 Sent Atli to Gunnar 
 A crafty one riding, 
 Knefrud men called him ; 
 To Giuki's garth came he, 
 To the hall of Gunnar, 
 To the benches gay-dight, 
 And the gladsome drinking. 
 
 There drank the great folk 
 'Mid the guileful one's silence, 
 Drank wine in their fair hall : 
 The Huns' wrath they feared, 
 When Knefrud cried 
 In his cold voice, 
 
230 SONGS FROM THE EDDA. 
 
 As he sat on the high seat, 
 That man of the Southland : 
 
 " Atli has sent me 
 
 Riding swift on his errands 
 
 On the bit-griping steed 
 
 Through dark woodways unbeaten, 
 
 To bid thee King Gunnar 
 
 Come to his fair bench 
 
 With helm well-adorned, 
 
 To the home of King Atli. 
 
 " Shields shall ye have there 
 And spears ashen-shafted, 
 Helms ruddy with gold, 
 And hosts of the Huns ; 
 Saddle-gear silver-gilt, 
 Shirts red as blood, 
 The hedge of the wanvife, 
 And horses bit-griping. 
 
 " And he saith he will give you 
 Gnitaheath wide-spread. 
 And whistling spears 
 And prows well-gilded, 
 Mighty wealth 
 With the stead of Danpi, 
 And tliat noble wood 
 Men name the Murkwood." 
 
 Then Gunnar turned head 
 And spake unto Hogni : 
 
SONG OF ATLI. 231 
 
 " Wliat rede from thee, high one, 
 Since such things we hear? 
 No gold know I 
 On Gnitaheath, 
 That we for our parts 
 Have not portion as great. 
 
 " Seven halls we have 
 Fulfilled of swords, 
 And hilts of gold 
 Each sword there has ; 
 My horse is the best, 
 My blade is the keenest ; 
 Fair my bow o'er the bench is, 
 Gleams my byrny with gold ; 
 Brightest helm, brightest shield. 
 From Kiar's dwelling ere brought — 
 Better all things I have 
 Than all things of the Huns." 
 
 Hogni said. 
 
 " Wlrat mind has our sister 
 That a ring she hath sent us 
 In weed of wolves clad? 
 Bids she not to be wary ? 
 For a wolf's hair I found 
 The fair ring wreathed about ; 
 Wolf beset shall the way be 
 If we wend on this errand." 
 
 No sons whetted Gunnar, 
 Nor none of his kin. 
 
232 SONGS FROM THE EDDA. 
 
 Nor learned men nor wise men, 
 
 Nor such as were mighty. 
 
 Then spake Gunnar 
 
 E'en as a king shoujd speak, 
 
 Glorious in mead-hall 
 
 From great heart and high : 
 
 " Rise up now Fiornir, 
 Forth down the benches 
 Let the gold-cups of great ones 
 Pass in hands of my good-men ! 
 Well shall we drink wine, 
 Draughts dear to our hearts, 
 Though the last of all feasts 
 In our fair house this be ! 
 
 " For the wolves shall rule 
 O'er the wealth of the Niblungs, 
 With the pine-woods' wardens 
 If Gunnar perish : . 
 And the black-felled bears 
 With fierce teeth shall bite 
 For the glee of the dog-kind, 
 If again comes not Gunnar." 
 
 Then good men never shamed, 
 
 Greeting aloud. 
 
 Led the great king of men 
 
 From the garth of his home; 
 
 And cried the fair son 
 
 Of Hogni the king : 
 
SONG OF ATLL 233 
 
 " Fare happy, O Lords, 
 Whereso your hearts lead you !" 
 
 Then the bold knights 
 Let their bit-griping steeds 
 Wend swift o'er the fells. 
 Tread the murk-wood unknown, 
 All the Hunwood was shaking 
 As the hardy ones fared there ; 
 O'er the green meads they urged 
 Their steeds shy of the goad. 
 
 Then Atli's land saw they; 
 
 Great towers and strong. 
 
 And the bold men of Bikki 
 
 Aloft on the burg : 
 
 The Southland folks' hall 
 
 Set with benches about, 
 
 Dight with bucklers well bounden. 
 
 And bright white shining shields. 
 
 There drank Atli, 
 The awful Hun king. 
 Wine in his fair hall ; 
 Without were the warders, 
 Gunnar's folk to have heed of. 
 Lest they had fared thither 
 With the whistling spear 
 War to wake •'gainst the king. 
 
 But first came their sister 
 As they came to the hall, 
 
234 SONGS FROM THE EDDA. 
 
 Both her brethren she met, 
 With beer httle gladdened : 
 " Bewrayed art thou, Gunnar ! 
 What dost thou great king 
 To deal war to the Huns ? 
 Go thou swift from the hall ! 
 
 " Better, brother, liadst thou 
 Fared here in thy byrny 
 Than with helm gaily dight 
 Looked on Atli's great house : 
 Thou hadst sat then in saddle 
 Through days bright with the sun 
 Fight to awaken 
 And fair fields to redden : 
 
 " O'er the folk fate makes pale 
 Should the Norn's tears have fallen, 
 The shield-mays of the Huns 
 Should have known of all sorrow ; 
 And King Atli himself 
 To worm-close should be brought ; 
 But now is the worm-close 
 Kept but for thee." 
 
 Then spake Gunnar 
 Great 'mid the people ; 
 " Over-late sister 
 The Niblungs to summon ; 
 A long way to seek 
 The helping of warriors, 
 
SONG OF ATLL 235 
 
 The high lords unshamed, 
 From the hills of the Rhine !" 
 
 T^t -flt ^ ^k ^ 
 
 ^ T(T ^ ^ Tfr 
 
 Seven Hogni beat down 
 
 With his sword sharp-grinded 
 
 And the eighth man he thrust 
 
 Amidst of the fire. 
 
 Ever so shall famed warrior 
 
 Fight with his foemen, 
 
 As Hogni fought 
 
 For the hand of Gunnar. 
 
 But on Gunnar they fell, 
 And set him in fetters, 
 And bound hard and fast 
 That friend of Burgundians ; 
 Then the warrior they asked 
 If he would buy life. 
 Buy life with gold 
 That king of the Goths. 
 
 Nobly spake Gunnar, 
 Great lord of the Niblungs ; 
 " Hogni's bleeding heart first 
 Shall lie in mine hand, 
 Cut from the breast 
 Of the bold-riding lord, 
 With bitter-sharp knife 
 From the son of the king." 
 
236 SONGS FROM THE EDDA. 
 
 With guile the great one 
 Would they beguile, 
 On the wailing thrall 
 Laid they hand unwares, 
 And cut the heart 
 From out of Hjalli, 
 Laid it bleeding on trencher, 
 And bare it to Gunnar. 
 
 " Here have I the heart 
 Of Hjalli the trembler, 
 Little like to the heart 
 Of Hogni the hardy : 
 As much as it trembleth 
 Laid on the trencher, 
 By the half more it trembled 
 In the breast of him hidden." 
 
 Then laughed Hogni 
 Wlien they cut the heart from him, 
 From the crest-smith yet quick. 
 Little thought he to quail. 
 The hard acorn of thought 
 From the high king they took. 
 Laid it bleeding on trencher 
 And bare it Gunnar. 
 
 " Here have I the heart 
 Of Hogni the hardy, 
 Little like to the heart 
 Of Hjalli the trembler. 
 
SONG OF ATLI. 237 
 
 Howso little it quaketh 
 Laid here on the dish, 
 Yet far less it quaked 
 In the breast of him laid. 
 
 " So far mayst thou bide 
 From men's eyen, O Atli, 
 As from that treasure 
 Thou shalt abide ! 
 
 " Behold in my heart 
 Is hidden for ever 
 That hoard of the Niblungs, 
 Now Hogni is dead. 
 Doubt drew me two ways 
 While the twain of us lived, 
 But all that is gone 
 Now I live on alone. 
 
 " The great Rhine shall rule. 
 O'er the hate-raising treasure, 
 That gold of the Niblungs, 
 The seed of the gods : 
 In the weltering water 
 Shall that wealth lie a-gleaming, 
 Or it shine on the hands 
 Ofthe children of Huns!" 
 
 Then cried Atli, 
 
 King of the Hun-folk, 
 
 " Drive forth your wains now, 
 
 The slave is fast bounden." 
 
238 SONGS FROM THE EDDA. 
 
 And straightly thence 
 The bit-shaking steeds 
 Drew the hoard-warden, 
 The war-god to his death. 
 
 Atli the great king, 
 Rode upon Glaum, 
 With shields set round about. 
 And sharp thorns of battle : 
 Gudrun, bound by wedlock 
 To these, victory made gods of, 
 Held back her tears 
 As the hall she ran into. 
 
 " Let it fare with thee, Atli, 
 E'en after thine oaths sworn 
 To Gunnar full often ; 
 Yea, oaths sworn of old time, 
 By the sun sloping southward. 
 By the high burg of Sigty, 
 By the fair bed of rest. 
 By the red ring of Ull!" 
 
 Now a host of men 
 Cast the high king alive 
 Into a close 
 Crept o'er within 
 With most foul worms, 
 Fulfilled of all venom, 
 Ready grave to dig 
 In his doughty heart. 
 
SONG OF ATLI. 239 
 
 Wrathful-hearted he smote 
 The harp with his hand, 
 Gunnar laid there alone ; 
 And loud rang the strings. — : 
 In such wise ever 
 Should hardy ring-scatterer 
 Keep gold from all folk 
 In the garth of his foemen. 
 
 Then Atli would wend 
 About his wide land, 
 On his steed brazen-shod, 
 Back from the murder. 
 Din there was in the garth, 
 All thronged with the horses ; 
 High the weapon-song rose 
 From men come from the heath. 
 
 Out then went Gudrun, 
 'Gainst Atli returning, 
 With a cup gilded over, 
 To greet the land's ruler : 
 " Come, then, and take it. 
 King glad in thine hall. 
 From Gudrun's hands. 
 For the hell-farers groan not ! " 
 
 Clashed the beakers of Atli, 
 Wine-laden on bench. 
 As in hall there a-gathered, 
 The Huns fell a-talking. 
 
2 40 SONGS FROM THE ED DA. 
 
 And the long-bearded eager ones 
 Entered therein, 
 From a murk den new-come, 
 From the murder of Gunnar. 
 
 Then hastened the sweet-faced 
 DeKght of the shield-folk, 
 Bright in the fair hall. 
 Wine to bear to them : 
 The dreadful woman 
 Gave dainties withal 
 To the lords pale with fate. 
 Laid strange word upon Atli : 
 
 " The hearts of thy sons 
 Hast thou eaten, sword-dealer, 
 All bloody with death 
 And drenched with honey : 
 In most heavy mood 
 Brood o'er venison of men ! 
 Drink rich draughts therewith, 
 Down the high benches send it ! 
 
 " Never callest thou now 
 From henceforth to thy knee 
 Fair Erp or fair Eitil, 
 Bright-faced with the drink ; 
 Never seest thou them noAv 
 Amidmost the seat. 
 Scattering the gold. 
 Or shafting of spears ; 
 
SONG OF ATLI. 241 
 
 Manes trimming duly, 
 Or driving steeds forth !" 
 
 Din arose from the benches, 
 Dread song of men was there, 
 Noise 'mid the fair hangings, 
 As all Hun's children wept ; 
 All saving Gudrun, 
 Who never gat greeting, 
 For her brethren bear-hardy. 
 For her sweet sons and bright. 
 The young ones, the simple 
 Once gotten with Ath. 
 
 * * # 
 
 * * « 
 
 * * » 
 
 The seed of gold 
 
 Sowed the swan-bright woman. 
 
 Rings of red gold 
 
 She gave to the house-carls ; 
 
 Fate let she wax, 
 
 Let the bright gold flow forth. 
 
 In naught spared that woman 
 
 The store-houses' wealth. 
 
 Atli unware 
 
 Was a-weary with drink ; 
 
 No weapon had he, 
 
 No heeding of Gudrun — 
 
 Ah, the play would be better. 
 
 When in soft wise they twain 
 
 R 
 
242 SOJVGS FROM THE EDDA. 
 
 Would full often embrace 
 Before the great lords ! 
 
 To the bed with sword-point 
 Blood gave she to drink 
 With a hand fain of death, 
 And she let the dogs loose : 
 Then in from the hall-door — 
 — Up waked the house-carls — 
 Hot brands she cast, 
 Gat revenge for her brethren. 
 
 To the flame gave she all 
 Who therein might be found ; 
 Fell adown the old timbers, 
 Reeked all treasure-houses ; 
 There the shield-mays were burnt. 
 Their lives' span brought to naught ; 
 In the fierce fire sank down 
 All the stead of the Budlungs. 
 
 Wide told of is this — 
 Ne'er sithence in the world. 
 Thus fared bride clad in byrny 
 For her brothers' avenging ; 
 For behold, this fair woman 
 To three kings of the people, 
 Hath brought very death 
 Or ever she died ! 
 
243 
 
 THE WHETTING OF GUDRUN. 
 
 GUDRUN went down unto the sea whenas she had 
 slain AtH, and she cast herself therein, for she 
 was fain to end her life : but nowise might she drown. 
 She drave over the firths to the land of King Jonakr, 
 and he wedded her, and their sons were Sorli, and Erp, 
 and Hanidir, and there was Swanhild, Sigurd's daughter 
 nourished : and she was given to Jormunrek the Mighty. 
 Now Bikki was a man of his, and gave such counsel to 
 Randver, the king's son, as that he should take her ; and 
 with that counsel were the young folk well content. 
 
 Then Bikki told the king, and the king let hang 
 Randver, but bade Swanhild be trodden under horses' 
 feet. But when Gudrun heard thereof, she spake to her 
 sons — 
 
 Words of strife heard I, 
 
 Huger than any. 
 
 Woeful words spoken, 
 
 Sprung from all sorrow, 
 
 When Gudrun fierce-hearted 
 
 With the grimmest of words 
 
 .Whetted her sons 
 
 Unto the slaying. 
 
244 SOJVGS FROM THE EDDA. 
 
 " Why are ye sitting here ? 
 Why sleep ye Hfe away ? 
 Why doth it grieve you nought ? 
 Glad words to speak, 
 Now when your sister, — 
 Young of years was she — 
 Has Jormunrek trodden 
 With the treading of horses ? — 
 
 " Black horses and white 
 In the highway of warriors ; 
 Grey horses that know 
 The roads of the Goths. — 
 
 " Little like are ye grown 
 
 To that Gunnar of old days ! 
 
 Nought are your hearts 
 
 As the heart of Hogni ! 
 
 Well would ye seek 
 
 Vengeance to win 
 
 If your mood were in aught 
 
 As the mood of my brethren. 
 
 Or the hardy hearts 
 
 Of the Kings of the Huns !" 
 
 Then spake Hamdir, 
 The high-hearted — 
 " Little didst thou 
 Praise Hogni's doings, 
 When Sigurd woke 
 From out of sleep. 
 
THE WHETTING OF GUDRUN. 245 
 
 And the blue-white bed-gear 
 Upon thy bed 
 
 Grew red with man's blood, — 
 With the blood of thy mate ! 
 
 " Too baleful vengeance 
 
 Wroughtest thou for thy brethren, 
 
 Most sore and evil 
 
 When thy sons thou slewedst. 
 
 Else all we together 
 
 On Jormunrek, 
 
 Had wrought sore vengeance 
 
 For that our sister. 
 
 " Come bring forth quickly 
 The Hun kings' bright gear, 
 Since thou hast urged us 
 Unto the sword-Thing ! " 
 
 Laughing went Gudrun 
 To the bower of good gear, 
 Kings' crested helms 
 From chests she drew. 
 And wide-wrought bymies 
 Bore to her sons : 
 Then on their horses 
 Load laid the heroes. 
 
 Then spake Hamdir, 
 The high-hearted — 
 " Never Cometh again 
 
246 SOJVGS FROM THE EDDA. 
 
 His mother to see 
 The spear-god laid low 
 In the land of the Goths. 
 That one arvel mayst thou 
 For all of us drink, 
 For sister Swanhild, 
 And us thy sons." 
 
 Greeted Gudrun, 
 Giuki's daughter ; 
 Sorrowing she went 
 In the forecourt to sit, 
 That she might tell. 
 With cheeks tear-furrowed, 
 ■■ Her weary wail 
 In many a wise. 
 
 " Three fires I knew, 
 Three hearths I knew. 
 To three husbands' houses 
 Have I been carried ; 
 And better than all 
 Had been Sigurd alone, 
 He whom my brethren 
 Brought to his bane. 
 
 " Such sore grief as that 
 Methought never should be, 
 Yet more indeed 
 Was left for my tonnent 
 Then, when the great ones 
 Gave me to Atli. 
 
THE WHETTING OF GUDRUN. 247 
 
 " My fair bright boys 
 I bade unto speech, 
 Nor yet might I win 
 Weregild for my bale, 
 Ere I had hewn off 
 Those Niblungs' heads. 
 
 " To the sea-strand I went 
 With the norns sorely wroth 
 For I would thrust from me 
 The storm of their torment ; 
 But the high billows 
 Would not drown, but bore me 
 Forth, till I stepped a-land 
 Longer to live. 
 
 " Then I went a-bed — 
 — Ah, better in the old days, 
 This was the third time ! — 
 To a king of the people ; 
 Offspring I brought forth, 
 Props of a fair house, 
 Props of a fair house, 
 Jonakr's fair sons. 
 
 " But around Swanhild 
 Bond-maidens sat. 
 Her, that of all mine 
 Most to my heart was ; 
 Such was my Swanhild, 
 In my halFs midmost. 
 As is the sunbeam 
 Fair to behold. 
 
SONGS FROM THE EDDA. 
 
 " In gold I arrayed her, 
 
 And goodly raiment, 
 
 Or ever I gave her 
 
 To the folk of the Goths. 
 
 That was the hardest 
 
 Of my heavy woes. 
 
 When the bright hair, — 
 
 O the bright hair of Swanhild ! 
 
 In the mire was trodden 
 
 By the treading of horses. 
 
 " This was the sorest, 
 
 When my love, my Sigurd, 
 
 Reft of glory 
 
 In his bed gat ending : 
 
 But this the grimmest 
 
 When glittering worms 
 
 Tore their way 
 
 Through the heart of Gunnar. 
 
 " But this the keenest 
 When they cut to the quick 
 Of the hardy heart 
 Of the unfeared Hogni. 
 Of much of bale I mind me 
 Of many griefs I mind me ; 
 Why should I sit abiding 
 Yet more bale and more ? 
 
 " Thy coal-black horse, 
 O Sigurd bridle. 
 The swift on the highway ! 
 O let him speed hither ! 
 
THE WHETTING OF GUDRUN. 249 
 
 Here sitteth no longer 
 Son or daughter, 
 More good gifts 
 To give to Gudrun ! 
 
 " Mindst thou not, Sigurd, 
 Of the speech betwixt us. 
 When on one bed 
 We both sat together, 
 
 my great king — 
 
 That thou wouldst come to mt 
 E'en from the hall of Hell, 
 
 1 to thee from the fair earth ? 
 
 " Pile high, O earls, 
 The oaken pile, 
 Let it be the highest 
 That ever queen had ! 
 Let the fire burn swift. 
 My breast with woe laden. 
 And thaw all my heart. 
 Hard, heavy with sorrow ! " 
 
 Now may all earls 
 
 Be bettered in mind. 
 
 May the grief of all maidens 
 
 Ever be minished, 
 
 For this tale of sorrow 
 
 So told to its ending. 
 
25° 
 
 THE LAY OF HAMDIR. 
 
 Great deeds of bale 
 In the garth began, 
 At the sad dawning 
 The tide of Elves' sorrow 
 When day is a-waxing 
 And man's grief awaketh, 
 And the sorrow of each one 
 The early day quickeneth. 
 
 Not now, not now. 
 
 Nor yesterday, 
 
 But long ago 
 
 Has that day worn by. 
 
 That ancientest time 
 
 That first time to tell of. 
 
 Then, whenas Gudrun, 
 
 Born of Giuki, 
 
 Whetted her sons 
 
 To Swanhild's avenging. 
 
 " Your sister's name 
 Was naught but Swanhild, 
 
THE LA Y OF HAMDIR. 25 1 
 
 Whom Jormunrek 
 
 With horses has trodden ! — 
 
 White horses and black 
 
 On the war-beaten way, 
 
 Grey horses that go 
 
 On the roads of the Goths. 
 
 " All alone am I now 
 As in holt is the aspen ; 
 As the fir-tree of boughs, 
 So of kin am I bare ; 
 As bare of things longed for 
 As the willow of leaves 
 When the bough-breaking wind 
 The warm day endeth. 
 
 " Few, sad, are ye left, 
 O kings of my folk ! 
 Ye alone living 
 Last shreds of my kin ! 
 
 " Ah, naught are ye grown 
 As that Gunnar of old days ; 
 Naught are your hearts 
 As the heart of Hogni ! 
 Well would ye seek 
 Vengeance to win 
 If your hearts were in aught 
 As the hearts of my brethren !" 
 
 Then spake Hamdir 
 The high-hearted : 
 
252 SOJVGS FROM THE EDDA. 
 
 " Nought hadst thou to praise 
 The doings of Hogni, 
 When they woke up Sigurd 
 From out of slumber, 
 And in bed thou satt'st up 
 'Mid the banes-men's laughter. 
 
 " Then when thy bed-gear, 
 
 Blue-white, well-woven 
 
 By art of craftsmen 
 
 All swam with thy king's blood ; 
 
 Then Sigurd died. 
 
 O'er his dead corpse thou sattest 
 
 Not heeding aught gladsome, 
 
 Since Gunnar so willed it. 
 
 " Great grief for Atli 
 Gatst thou by Erp's murder. 
 And the end of thine Eitil^ 
 But worse grief for thyself. 
 Good to use sword 
 For the slaying of others 
 In such wise that its edge 
 Shall not turn on ourselves !" 
 
 Then well spake Sorli 
 From a heart full of wisdom : 
 " No words will I 
 Make with my mother. 
 Though both ye twain 
 Need words belike — 
 
THE LA Y OF HAMDIR. 253 
 
 What askest thou, Gudrun, 
 To let thee go greeting ? 
 
 " Weep for thy brethren, 
 Weep for thy sweet sons. 
 And thy nighest kinsfolk 
 Laid by the fight-side ! 
 Yea, and thou Gudrun, 
 May'st greet for us twain 
 Sitting fey on our steeds 
 Doomed in far lands to die." 
 
 From the garth forth they went 
 With hearts full of fury, 
 Sorli and Hamdir, 
 The sons of Gudrun, 
 And they met on the way 
 The wise in all wiles : 
 " And thou little Erp, 
 What helping from thee ? " 
 
 He of alien womb 
 Spake out in such wise : 
 " Good help for my kin. 
 Such as foot gives to foot. 
 Or flesh-covered hand 
 Gives unto hand ! " 
 
 " What helping for foot 
 The help that foot giveth. 
 
254 SOJVGS FROM THE EDDA. 
 
 Or for flesh-covered hand 
 The helping of hand?" 
 
 Then spake Erp 
 
 Yet once again, 
 
 Mock spake the prince 
 
 As he sat on his steed : 
 
 " Fool's deed to show 
 
 The way to a dastard !" 
 
 " Bold beyond measure," 
 
 Quoth they, " is the base-born !" 
 
 Out from the sheath 
 Drew they the sheath-steel. 
 And the glaives' edges played 
 For the pleasure of hell ; 
 By the third part they minished 
 The might that they had. 
 Their young kin they let lie 
 A-cold on the earth. 
 
 Then their fur-cloaks they shook 
 And bound fast their swords. 
 In webs goodly woven 
 Those great ones were clad ; 
 Young they went o'er the fells 
 Where the dew was new-fallen 
 Swift, on steeds of the Huns, 
 Heavy vengeance to wreak. 
 
 Forth stretched the ways, 
 And an ill way they found. 
 
THE LA Y OF HAMDIR. 255 
 
 Yea, their sister's son * 
 Hanging slain upon tree — 
 Wolf-trees by the wind made cold 
 At the town's westward 
 Loud with cranes' clatter — 
 111 abiding there long ! 
 
 Din in the king's hall 
 Of men merry with drink, 
 And none might hearken 
 The horses' tramping 
 Or ever the warders 
 Their great horn winded. 
 
 Then men went forth 
 
 To Jormunrek 
 
 To tell of the heeding 
 
 Of men under helm : 
 
 " Give ye good counsel ! 
 
 Great ones are come hither, 
 
 For the wrong of men mighty 
 
 Was the may to death trodden." 
 
 Loud Jormunrek laughed. 
 And laid hand tp his beard, 
 Nor bade bring his bymy, 
 But with the wine fighting. 
 Shook his red locks, 
 On his white shield sat staring, 
 
 * Randver, the son of their sister's husband. 
 
256 SOJ\rGS FROM THE EDDA. 
 
 And in his hand 
 
 Swung the gold cup on high. 
 
 " Sweet sight for me 
 
 Those twain to set eyes on, 
 
 Sorh and Hamdir, 
 
 Here in my hall ! 
 
 Then with bowstrings 
 
 Would I bind them, 
 
 And hang the good Giukings 
 
 Aloft on the gallows !" 
 
 * * * » » 
 
 * * » # # 
 » * » * * 
 
 Then spake Hrothglod 
 
 From off the high steps, 
 
 Spake the slim-fingered 
 
 Unto her son,— 
 
 — For a threat was cast forth 
 
 Of what ne'er should fall — 
 
 " Shall two men alone 
 
 Two hundred Gothfolk 
 
 Bind or bear down 
 
 In the midst of their burg?" 
 
 Strife and din in the hall, 
 
 Cups smitten asunder 
 
 Men lay low in blood 
 
 From the breasts of Goths flowing. 
 
THE LA y OF HAMDIR. 257 
 
 Then spake Hamdir, 
 The high-hearted : 
 " Thou cravedst, king, 
 For the coming of us, 
 The sons of one mother. 
 Amidmost thine hall — 
 Look on these hands of thine, 
 Look on these feet of thine, 
 Cast by us, Jormunrek, 
 On to the flame ! " 
 
 Then cried aloud 
 The high Gods' kinsman,* 
 Bold under byrny, — 
 Roared he as bears roar ; 
 " Stones to the stout ones 
 That the spears bite not. 
 Nor the edges of steel. 
 These sons of Jonakr !" 
 
 Quoth Sorli. 
 
 " Bale, brother, wroughtst thou 
 By that bag's \ opening. 
 Oft from that bag 
 Rede of bale cometh ! 
 Heart hast thou, Hamdir, 
 If thou hadst heart's wisdom 
 
 * Odin, namely. f "Bag," his mouth. 
 
 S 
 
258 SONGS FROM THE EDDA. 
 
 Great lack in a man 
 
 Who lacks wisdom and lore ! " 
 
 Hamdir said. 
 
 " Yea, off were the head 
 
 If Erp were alive yet, 
 
 Our brother the bold 
 
 Whom we slew by the way ; 
 
 The far-famed through the world. — 
 
 Ah, the fates drave me on. 
 
 And the man war made holy, 
 
 There must I slay !" 
 
 Sorlt said. 
 
 " Unmeet we should do 
 As the doings of wolves are. 
 
 Raising wrong each 'gainst other 
 As the dogs of the Norns, 
 The greedy ones nourished 
 
 In waste steads of the world. 
 
 In strong wise have we fought, 
 On Goths' corpses we stand, 
 Beat down by our edges. 
 E'en as ernes on the bough. 
 Great fame our might winneth. 
 Die we now, or to-morrow, — 
 No man lives till eve 
 Whom the fates doom at morning." 
 
THE LA Y OF HAMDIR. 259 
 
 At the hall's gable-end 
 Fell Sorli to earth, 
 But Hamdir lay low 
 At the back of the houses. 
 
 Now this is called the Ancient Lay of Hamdir. 
 
26o 
 
 THE LAMENT OF ODDRUN. 
 
 THERE was a king hight Heidrik, and his daughter 
 was called Borgny, and the name of her lover 
 was Vilmund. Now she might nowise be made lighter 
 of a child she travailed with, before Oddrun, Atli's sister, 
 came to her, — she who had been the love of Gunnar, 
 Giuki's son. But of their speech together has this 
 been sung : 
 
 I have heard tell 
 In ancient tales 
 How a may there came 
 To Moma-land, 
 Because no man 
 On mould abiding 
 For Heidrik's daughter 
 Might win healing. 
 
 All that heard Oddrun, 
 Atli's sister. 
 How that the damsel 
 Had heavy sickness. 
 
THE LAMENT OF ODDRUN. 261 
 
 So she led from stall 
 Her bridled steed, 
 And on the swart one 
 Laid the saddle. 
 
 She made her horse wend 
 O'er smooth ways of earth, 
 Until to a high-built 
 Hall she came ; 
 Then the saddle she had 
 From the hungry horse, 
 And her ways wended 
 In along the wide hall, 
 And this word first 
 Spake forth therewith : 
 
 " What is most famed, 
 Afield in Hunland, 
 Or what may be 
 BHthest in Hunland?" 
 
 Quoth the handmaid. 
 
 " Here lieth Borgny, 
 Borne down by trouble. 
 Thy sweet friend, O Oddrun, 
 See to her helping !" 
 
 Oddrun said. 
 
 "Who of the lords 
 Hath laid this grief on her, 
 Why is the anguish 
 Of Borgny so weary ?" 
 
262 SONGS FROM THE EDDA. 
 
 The handmaid said. 
 
 " He is hight Vilmund, 
 Friend of hawk-bearers, 
 He wrapped the damsel 
 In the warm bed-gear 
 Five winters long 
 Without her father's wotting." 
 
 No more than this 
 They spake methinks ; 
 Kind sat she down 
 By the damsel's knee ; 
 Mightily sang Oddrun, 
 Eagerly sang Oddrmi, 
 Sharp piercing songs 
 By Borgny's side : 
 
 Till a maid and a boy 
 
 Might tread on the world's ways, 
 
 Blithe babes and sweet 
 
 Of Hogni's bane : 
 
 Then the damsel forewearied 
 
 The word took up. 
 
 The first word of all 
 
 That had won from her : 
 
 " So may help thee 
 All helpful things, 
 Fey and Freyia, 
 And all the fair Gods 
 
THE LAMENT OF ODDRUN. 263 
 
 As thou hast thrust 
 This torment from me ! " 
 
 Oddrun said. 
 
 " Yet no heart had I 
 For thy helping, 
 Since never wert thou 
 Worthy of helping, 
 But my word I held tOj 
 That of old was spoken 
 When the high lords 
 Dealt out the heritage, 
 That every soul 
 I would ever help." 
 
 Borgny said. 
 
 " Right mad art thou, Oddrun 
 
 And reft of thy wits, 
 
 Whereas thou speakest 
 
 Hard words to me 
 
 Thy fellow ever 
 
 Upon the earth 
 
 As of brothers twain, 
 
 We had been bom." 
 
 Oddrun said. 
 
 " Well I mind me yet, 
 What thou saidst that evening, 
 Whenas I bore forth 
 Fair drink for Gunnar ; 
 
264 SON'GS FROM THE EDDA. 
 
 Such a thing, saidst thou 
 Should fall out never, 
 For any may 
 Save for me alone." 
 
 Mind had the damsel 
 Of the weary day 
 Whenas the high lords 
 Dealt out the heritage, 
 And she sat her down, 
 The sorrowful woman, 
 To tell of the bale, 
 And the heavy trouble. 
 
 " Nourished was I 
 
 In the hall of kings — 
 
 Most folk were glad — 
 
 'Mid the council of great ones : 
 
 In fair life lived I, 
 
 And the wealth of my father 
 
 For five winters only. 
 
 While yet he had life. 
 
 " Such were the last words 
 That ever he spake, 
 The king forewearied, 
 Ere his ways he went ; 
 For he bade folk give me 
 The gold red-gleaming, 
 And give me in Southlands 
 To the son of Grimhild. 
 
THE LAMENT OF ODDRUN. 265 
 
 " But Brynhild he bade 
 To the helm to betake her 
 And said that Death-chooser 
 She should become ; 
 And that no better 
 Might ever be bom 
 Into the world, 
 If fate would not spoil it. 
 
 " Brynhild in bower 
 Sewed at her broidery, 
 Folk she had 
 And fair lands about her ; 
 Earth lay a-sleeping. 
 Slept the heavens aloft 
 When Fafnir's-bane 
 The burg first saw. 
 
 " Then was war waged 
 With the Welsh-wrought sword 
 And the burg all broken 
 That Brynhild owned ; 
 Nor wore long space, 
 E'en as well might be. 
 Ere all those wiles 
 Full well she knew. 
 
 " Hard and dreadful 
 
 Was the vengeance she drew down. 
 
 So that all we 
 
 Have woe enow. 
 
266 SOJVGS FROM THE EDBA. 
 
 Through all lands of the world 
 Shall that story fare forth 
 How she did her to death 
 For the death of Sigurd. 
 
 " But therewithal Gunnar 
 The gold-scatterer 
 Did I fall to loving ■ 
 As she should have loved him. 
 Rings of red gold 
 Would they give to Atli, 
 Would give to my brother 
 Things goodly and great. 
 
 " Yea, fifteen steads 
 Would they give for me, 
 And the load of Grani 
 To have as a gift; 
 But then spake Atli, 
 That such was his will. 
 Never gift to take 
 From the sons of Giuki. 
 
 " But we in nowise 
 Might love withstand, 
 And mine head must I lay 
 On my love, the ring-breaker ; 
 And many there were 
 Among my kin. 
 Who said that they 
 Had seen us together. 
 
THE LAMENT OF ODDRUN. ■^e? 
 
 " Then Atli said 
 That I surely never 
 Would fall to crime 
 Or shameful folly : 
 But now let no one 
 For any other, 
 That shame deny 
 Where love has dealing. 
 
 " For Atli sent 
 
 His serving-folk 
 
 Wide through the murkwood 
 
 Proof to win of me, 
 
 And thither they came 
 
 Where they ne'er should have come, 
 
 Where one bed we twain 
 
 Had dight betwixt us. 
 
 " To those men had we given 
 
 Rings of red gold, 
 
 Naught to tell 
 
 Thereof to Atli, 
 
 But straight they hastened 
 
 Home to the house, 
 
 And all the tale 
 
 To Atli told. 
 
 " Whereas from Gudrun 
 Well they hid it. 
 Though better by half 
 Had she have known it. 
 
268 SONGS FROM THE EDDA. 
 
 * * * * 
 
 " Din was there to hear 
 
 Of the hoofs gold-shod, 
 When into the garth 
 Rode the sons of Giuki. 
 
 " There from Hogni 
 
 The heart they cut, 
 
 But into the worm-close 
 
 Cast the other. 
 
 There the king, the wise-hearted, 
 
 Swept his harp-strings. 
 
 For the mighty king 
 
 Had ever mind 
 
 That I to his helping 
 
 Soon should come. 
 
 " But now was I gone 
 Yet once again 
 Unto Geirmund, 
 Good feast to make ; 
 Yet had I hearing, 
 E'en out from Hlesey, 
 How of sore trouble 
 The harp-strings sang. 
 
 " So I bade the bondmaids 
 Be ready swiftly. 
 For I listed to save 
 
THE LAMENT OF ODDRUN. 269 
 
 The life of the king, 
 And we let our ship 
 Swim over the sound, 
 Till AtK's dwelling 
 We saw all clearly. 
 
 Then came the wretch * 
 Crawling out, 
 E'en Atli's mother. 
 All sorrow upon her ! 
 A grave gat her sting 
 In the heart of Gunnar, 
 So that no helping 
 Was left for my hero. 
 
 " O gold-clad woman, 
 Full oft I wonder 
 How I my life 
 Still hold thereafter. 
 For methought I loved 
 That light in battle, 
 The swift with the sword. 
 As my very self 
 
 " Thou hast sat and hearkened 
 As I have told thee 
 Of many an ill-fate, 
 
 * Atli's mother took the form I killed to sleep by Gunnar's harp- 
 of the only adder that was not ' playing, and who slew him. 
 
270 SONGS FROM THE EDDA. 
 
 Mine and theirs — 
 Each man liveth 
 E'en as he may live — 
 Now hath gone forth 
 The greeting of Oddran." 
 
NOTES. 
 
 p. 2. — 'Wolf in Holy places,' a man put out of the pale of 
 society for his crimes, an outlaw. 
 
 P. 7- — ' One-eyed ;' the man is Odin, who is always so repre- 
 sented, because he gave his eye as a pledge for a draught from the 
 fountain of Mimir, the source of all wisdom. 
 
 P. 25. — ' Noms came to him.' Nornir are the fates of the north- 
 em mythology. They are three — Ui-^r, the past ; Ver^andi, the 
 present; and Skuld, the future. They sit beside the fountain of 
 Ur<5 ( Ui'^arbrunur), which is below one of the roots of Yggdrasil, 
 the world-tree, which tree their office it is to nourish by sprinkling 
 it with the waters of the fountain. 
 
 P. 30. — Valkyrja, ' Chooser of the elected.' The women were so 
 called whom Odin sent to choose those for death in battle who were 
 to join the Einherjar in the hall of the elected, ' Val-holl' 
 
 P. 34. — The man in the boat is Odin, doubtless, as in the next 
 chapter, 
 
 P. 37. — ' There came a man into the fight, &c.' Odin, coming 
 to change the o^vnership of the sword he had given to Sigmund. See 
 above, p. 7. 
 
 P. 47. — Ran is the goddess of the sea^'ife of Mgn. 
 
 P. 52. — ' Grifir,' called Gripir in the Edda. 
 
 P. 54. — ' Then, quoth Sigurd, ' &c. This and verses foUovring 
 are inserted from the Reginsmil by the present translators. 
 
 P. 56. — Disir, sing. Dis. These are the guardian beings who 
 follow a man from his birth to his death. The word originally 
 means sister, and is used throughout the Eddaic poems as a dignified 
 synonym for woman, lady. 
 
272 NOTES. 
 
 P. 60. — ' Unknown to men is my kin.' Sigurd refusing to tell 
 his name is to be referred to the superstition that a dying man could 
 throw a curse on his enemy. 
 
 P. 62. — Surt ; a fire-giant, who will destroy the world at the 
 Ragnarok, or destruction of all things. 
 
 The 'jEsir' are the gods of the Scandinavian mythology. 
 
 P. 66. — The Songs of the Birds is inserted from Regins-mal by 
 the translators. 
 
 P. 67. — ' Mayst thou,' misprinted for ' may not.' 
 
 P. 69,70, 71. — The stanzas here are inserted from Sigrdrifa-malby 
 the translators. 
 
 P. 70. — Asyniur are the goddesses of Scandinavian mythology. 
 
 P. 78. — This chapter is nearly literally the same as chapter 166 of 
 the Wilkina-Saga : Ed.: Perinskiold, Stockholm, 1715. 
 
 P. 117. — Chap. xxxi. is the Eddaic poem, called the first Lay of 
 Gudrun, and is inserted here by the translators. 
 
 P. 127 'Dyed red by folk of the Gauls.' The original has 
 
 ' rau^u manna blofil — red dyed in the blood of men; ' the Sagaman's 
 original error in dealing with the word ' Valaript,^ in the con'espond- 
 ing passage of the Short Lay of Sigurd. 
 
 P. 158. — In the prose Edda, the slaying of Swanhild is a spon- 
 taneous and sudden act on the part of the king. As he came back 
 from hunting one day, there sat Swanhild, washing her linen ; and 
 it came into the king's mind how that she was the cause of all his 
 woe ; so he and his men rode over her and slew her. 
 
 P. 161. — ' A certain man,' &c. Odin again ; he ends the tale as 
 he began it. 
 
 P. 163. — ' And now,' &c., inserted by translators from the prose 
 Edda. The stanza at the end is inserted by translators from the 
 Whetting of Gudrun. 
 
ALPHABETICAL LIST OF PERSONS, PLACES, 
 AND THINGS IN THE STORY. 
 
 ^sir, 62 {et passim) 
 Agnar, or Audi's brother, 71 
 Alf, the son of Hjalprek king 
 
 of Denmark, 39, 129 
 Alf, the son of Hunding, 27 
 Alf the Old, king, 31, 89 
 Alswid, son of Heimir, 80 
 Andvari, son of Oinn, a dwarf, 46 
 Andvari's force (a waterfall), 46 
 Andvari's gift (a ring), 48 
 Asgarth, abode of the ^sir, the 
 
 Gods, 30 
 Aslaug, daughter of Sigurd Faf- 
 
 nir's-bane, 98 
 Atli, Budli's son, brother of 
 
 Brynhild, 86 
 
 Bekkhild, daughter of Budli, 
 wife of Heimir, 80 
 
 Bikki, King Jormunrek's coun- 
 sellor, 156 
 
 Borghild, Queen of Sigmund 
 Volsungson, 25 
 
 BravoU (a field), 30 
 
 Bredi, thrall of Skadi, i 
 
 Brynhild, daughter of Budli, 
 65 {et passivi) 
 
 Budli, king, 86 
 
 Busil-tarn, a river, 44 
 
 Denmark, 129 
 Dragonkeel (a ship), 53 
 Dvalin, a dwarf, 62 
 
 Eip, son of Jonakr, 155 
 Eylimi, King, 35 
 
 Eymod, 130 
 
 Eyolf, son of Hunding, 27 
 
 Fafhir, son of Hreidmar, 44 
 
 Feng (Odin), 54 
 
 Fjolnir (Odin), 54 
 
 Fion, 130 
 
 Fjoniir, 140 
 
 Frankland, 69 
 
 Franks, 130 
 
 Freyia, 4 
 
 Giaflaug, iiS 
 
 Giuki, a king, 86 
 
 Glaumvor, second wife of Gunnar, 
 
 Giuki's son, 136 
 Gnoevar, son of Hogiii Giukisson, 
 
 141 
 Gnipalund, 29 
 Gnitaheath, 44 
 Golnir, a giant, 30 
 Gothland, 6 
 Goti, a horse, 95 
 Gram, the family sword of the 
 
 Volsungs, 39 
 Grani, 30 
 Grani, horse of Sigurd Fafnir's- 
 
 bane, 44 
 Granmar, 28 
 Greeks, 97 
 Grifir (Edda Gripir), son of 
 
 Eylimi, 52 
 Grimhild, Giuki's queen, Z^ 
 Grindur, 31 
 Gudrun, daughter of Giuki, 85 
 
 [et passini) 
 
274 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 GuUrond, a daughter of Giuki, 
 
 1 20 
 Gungnir, a sword, 74 
 Gunnar, son of Giuki, 86 (ct pas- 
 
 sim) 
 Guttorm, son of Giuki, 85 
 
 Hacon, father of Thora, 129 
 
 Hadding, 131 
 
 Hjenir, one of the ^sir, 152 
 
 Hagbard, 88 
 
 Hagbard, son of Hunding, 27 
 
 Halci's sons, 88 
 
 Hamdir, son of Jonakr, 155 
 
 Hamund, son of Sigmund, 25 
 
 Hedinsey, 28 
 
 Heimir, 80 
 
 Helgi, son of Sigmund, called 
 
 Hunding's-bane, 28 
 Helm Gunnar, a king, 27 
 Herborg, 118 
 
 Hervard, son of Hunding, 27 
 Hindfell, 65 
 Hjalli, a thrall, 147 
 Hjalprek, king of Denmark, 39 
 Hjordis, daughter of Eylimi, 35 
 Hlymdale, 98 
 Hnikar, 54 
 
 Hodbrod, son of Granmar, 28 
 Hogni, son of Giuki, 86 
 Hogni, king, Sigi"un's father, 27 
 Holkvir (not Holkvi), the horse 
 
 of Gunnar, 95 
 Hreidmar, 42 
 Hrimnir, a giant, 4 
 Hropt (Odin), 73 
 Huginn (Odin's raven), 54 
 Hunding, King, 27 
 Huns, 2 
 
 Jarisleif, 130 
 
 Jonakr, 155 
 
 Jormunrek (Ermanarik), 156 
 
 Kostbera, wife of Hogni Giukis- 
 son, 136 
 
 Leif, a ship-captain, 28 
 Ljod, daughter of thegiant Hrim- 
 nir, 4 
 Loki, one of the ^sir, 47 
 Longbeards, 130 
 Lowness, 30 
 Lyngi, king, son of Hunding, 35 
 
 Niblung, son of Hogni Giukis- 
 
 son, 152 
 Norfis-sound, 28 
 Norns (of threefold kin), 62 
 
 Oddrun, King Atli's sister, 126 
 
 Odin, I (et passim) 
 
 Oinn, 47 
 
 Orkning, brother of Kostbera, 
 
 141 
 Otter, son of Hreidmar, 46 
 
 Ran, the sea goddess, 47 
 Randver, son of Jormunrek, 
 
 156 
 Redberg, 28 
 
 Regin, son of Hreidmar, 42 
 Rerir, son of Sigi, 2 
 Rhine, 86 
 
 Ring, 31 
 
 Ridil, a sword, 65 
 Rognir (Odin), 74 
 Rotti, a sword, 130 
 
 Saxons, 13c 
 
 Sigar, 88 
 
 Siggeir, King of Gothland, 6 
 
 Sigi, son of Odin, i 
 
 Sigmund, son of Sigurd Fafnir's- 
 
 bane, 94 
 Sigmund, son of Volsung, 5 
 Signy, daughter of Volsung, 5 
 Sigrun, daughter of Hogni, 27 
 Sigurd, son of Sigmund, called 
 
 Fafnir's-bane, 72 (a passim) 
 Sinfjotii, son of Sigmund, 42 
 Skadi, I 
 
 Sleipnir, Odin's steed, 77 
 Sok, an island, 31 
 
INDEX. 
 
 275 
 
 Solar, son of Hogni Giukisson, 
 
 141 
 Sorli, son of Jonakr, 155 
 Sunfells (Sunlitten hills, 26), 30 
 Surt, a fire-giant, 62 
 Swanhild, daughter of Sigurd 
 
 Fafnir's-bane, 155 
 Swarin's-cairn, 29 
 Sveggjud, a horse, 30 
 Sveipud, a horse, 30 
 
 Thora, daughter of Hacon, 129 
 Thrasness, 30 
 
 Unshapen, a holm, 62 
 
 Valbiorg, 132 
 
 Vanir, 75 
 
 Varinsfirth, 28 
 
 Varinsey, 30 
 
 Vinbiorg, 132 
 
 Vingi, King Atli's messenger, 
 
 135 
 
 Vinskornir, a horse, 67 
 Volsmig, son of Rerir, 5 
 
 Waldemar of Denmark, 130 
 Wolfstone, a field of battle, 3 1 
 
 LONDON : 
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