The general character of the Fafnismol, and its probable relation to the Reginsmol and the Sigrdrifumol, have been discussed in the introductory note to the Reginsmol. While it is far more nearly a unit than the Reginsmol, it shows many of the same characteristics. It has the same mixture of stanza forms, although in this case only nine stanzas (32–33, 35–36 and 40–44) vary from the normal Ljothahattr measure. It shows, though to a much less marked extent, the same tendency to introduce passages from extraneous sources, such as the question-and-answer passage in stanzas 11–15. At the same time, in this instance it is quite clear that one distinct poem, including probably stanzas 1–10, 16–23, 25–31, and 34–39, underlay the compilation which we here have. This may, perhaps, have been a long poem (not, however, the “Long” Sigurth Lay; see introductory note to Brot af Sigurtharkvithu) dealing with the Regin-Fafnir-Sigurth-Brynhild story, and including, besides most of the Fafnismol, stanzas 1–4 and 6–11 of the Reginsmol and part of the so-called Sigrdrifumol, together with much that has been lost. The original poem may, on the other hand, have confined itself to the Fafnir episode.
In any case, and while the extant Fafnismol can be spoken of as a distinct poem far more justly than the Reginsmol, there is still no indication that the compiler regarded it as a poem by itself. His prose notes run on without a break, and the verses simply cover a dramatic episode in Sigurth’s early life. The fact that the work of compilation has been done more intelligently than in the case of the Reginsmol seems to have resulted chiefly from the compiler’s having been familiar with longer consecutive verse passages dealing with the Fafnir episode. The Reginsmol is little more than a clumsy mosaic, but in the Fafnismol it is possible to distinguish between the main substance of the poem and the interpolations.
Here, as in the Reginsmol, there is very little that bespeaks the German origin of the Sigurth story. Sigurth’s winning of the treasure is in itself undoubtedly a part of the earlier southern legend, but the manner in which he does it is thoroughly Norse. Moreover, the concluding section, which points toward the finding of the sleeping Brynhild, relates entirely to the northern Valkyrie, the warrior-maiden punished by Othin, and not at all to the southern Brynhild the daughter of Buthli. The Fafnismol is, however, sharply distinguished from the Reginsmol by showing no clear traces of the Helgi tradition, although a part of the bird song (stanzas 40–44, in Fornyrthislag form, as distinct from the body of the poem) sounds suspiciously like the bird passage in the beginning of the Helgakvitha Hjorvarthssonar. Regarding the general relations of the various sets of traditions in shaping the story of Sigurth, see the introductory note to Gripisspo.
The Fafnismol, together with a part of the Sigrdrifumol, has indirectly become the best known of all the Eddic poems, for the reason that Wagner used it, with remarkably little change of outline, as the basis for his “Siegfried.”
Sigurth and Regin went up to the Gnitaheith, and found there the track that Fafnir made when he crawled to water. Then Sigurth made a great trench across the path, and took his place therein. When Fafnir crawled from his gold, he blew out venom, and it ran down from above on Sigurth’s head. But when Fafnir crawled over the trench, then Sigurth thrust his sword into his body to the heart. Fafnir writhed and struck out with his head and tail. Sigurth leaped from the trench, and each looked at the other. Fafnir said: 1. “Youth, oh, youth! | of whom then, youth, art thou born? Say whose son thou art, Who in Fafnir’s blood | thy bright blade reddened, And struck thy sword to my heart.”
Sigurth concealed his name because it was believed in olden times that the word of a dying man might have great power if he cursed his foe by his name. He said: 2. “The Noble Hart | my name, and I go A motherless man abroad; Father I had not, | as others have, And lonely ever I live.”
Fafnir spake: 3. “If father thou hadst not, | as others have, By what wonder wast thou born? (Though thy name on the day | of my death thou hidest, Thou knowest now thou dost lie.)”
Sigurth spake: 4. “My race, methinks, | is unknown to thee, And so am I myself; Sigurth my name, | and Sigmund’s son, Who smote thee thus with the sword.”
Fafnir spake: 5. “Who drove thee on? | why wert thou driven My life to make me lose? A father brave | had the bright-eyed youth, For bold in boyhood thou art.”
Sigurth spake: 6. “My heart did drive me, | my hand fulfilled, And my shining sword so sharp; Few are keen | when old age comes, Who timid in boyhood be.”
Fafnir spake: 7. “If thou mightest grow | thy friends among, One might see thee fiercely fight; But bound thou art, | and in battle taken, And to fear are prisoners prone.”
Sigurth spake: 8. “Thou blamest me, Fafnir, | that I see from afar The wealth that my father’s was; Not bound am I, | though in battle taken, Thou hast found that free I live.”
Fafnir spake: 9. “In all I say | dost thou hatred see, Yet truth alone do I tell; The sounding gold, | the glow-red wealth, And the rings thy bane shall be.”
Sigurth spake: 10. “Some one the hoard | shall ever hold, Till the destined day shall come; For a time there is | when every man Shall journey hence to hell.”
Fafnir spake: 11. “The fate of the Norns | before the headland Thou findest, and doom of a fool; In the water shalt drown | if thou row ’gainst the wind, All danger is near to death.”
Sigurth spake: 12. “Tell me then, Fafnir, | for wise thou art famed, And much thou knowest now: Who are the Norns | who are helpful in need, And the babe from the mother bring?”
Fafnir spake: 13. “Of many births | the Norns must be, Nor one in race they were; Some to gods, others | to elves are kin, And Dvalin’s daughters some.”
Sigurth spake: 14. “Tell me then, Fafnir, | for wise thou art famed, And much thou knowest now: How call they the isle | where all the gods And Surt shall sword-sweat mingle?”
Fafnir spake: 15. “Oskopnir is it, | where all the gods Shall seek the play of swords; Bilrost breaks | when they cross the bridge, And the steeds shall swim in the flood.
16. “The fear-helm I wore | to afright mankind, While guarding my gold I lay; Mightier seemed I | than any man, For a fiercer never I found.”
Sigurth spake: 17. “The fear-helm surely | no man shields When he faces a valiant foe; Oft one finds, | when the foe he meets, That he is not the bravest of all.”
Fafnir spake: 18. “Venom I breathed | when bright I lay By the hoard my father had; (There was none so mighty | as dared to meet me, And weapons nor wiles I feared.)”
Sigurth spake: 19. “Glittering worm, | thy hissing was great, And hard didst show thy heart; But hatred more | have the sons of men For him who owns the helm.”
Fafnir spake: 20. “I counsel thee, Sigurth, | heed my speech, And ride thou homeward hence; The sounding gold, | the glow-red wealth, And the rings thy bane shall be.”
Sigurth spake: 21. “Thy counsel is given, | but go I shall To the gold in the heather hidden; And, Fafnir, thou | with death dost fight, Lying where Hel shall have thee.”
Fafnir spake: 22. “Regin betrayed me, | and thee will betray, Us both to death will he bring; His life, methinks, | must Fafnir lose, For the mightier man wast thou.”
Regin had gone to a distance while Sigurth fought Fafnir, and came back while Sigurth was wiping the blood from his sword. Regin said: 23. “Hail to thee, Sigurth! | Thou victory hast, And Fafnir in fight hast slain; Of all the men | who tread the earth, Most fearless art thou, methinks.”
Sigurth spake: 24. “Unknown it is, | when all are together, (The sons of the glorious gods,) Who bravest born shall seem; Some are valiant | who redden no sword In the blood of a foeman’s breast.”
Regin spake: 25. “Glad art thou, Sigurth, | of battle gained, As Gram with grass thou cleansest; My brother fierce | in fight hast slain, And somewhat I did myself.”
Sigurth spake: 26. “Afar didst thou go | while Fafnir reddened With his blood my blade so keen; With the might of the dragon | my strength I matched, While thou in the heather didst hide.”
Regin spake: 27. “Longer wouldst thou | in the heather have let Yon hoary giant hide, Had the weapon availed not | that once I forged, The keen-edged blade thou didst bear.”
Sigurth spake: 28. “Better is heart | than a mighty blade For him who shall fiercely fight; The brave man well | shall fight and win, Though dull his blade may be.
29. “Brave men better | than cowards be, When the clash of battle comes; And better the glad | than the gloomy man Shall face what before him lies.
30. “Thy rede it was | that I should ride Hither o’er mountains high; The glittering worm | would have wealth and life If thou hadst not mocked at my might.”
Then Regin went up to Fafnir and cut out his heart with his sword, that was named Rithil, and then he drank blood from the wounds. Regin said: 31. “Sit now, Sigurth, | for sleep will I, Hold Fafnir’s heart to the fire; For all his heart | shall eaten be, Since deep of blood I have drunk.”
Sigurth took Fafnir’s heart and cooked it on a spit. When he thought that it was fully cooked, and the blood foamed out of the heart, then he tried it with his finger to see whether it was fully cooked. He burned his finger, and put it in his mouth. But when Fafnir’s heart’s-blood came on his tongue, he understood the speech of birds. He heard nut-hatches chattering in the thickets. A nut-hatch said: 32. “There sits Sigurth, | sprinkled with blood, And Fafnir’s heart | with fire he cooks; Wise were the breaker | of rings, I ween, To eat the life-muscles | all so bright.”
A second spake: 33. “There Regin lies, | and plans he lays The youth to betray | who trusts him well; Lying words | with wiles will he speak, Till his brother the maker | of mischief avenges.”
A third spake: 34. “Less by a head | let the chatterer hoary Go from here to hell; Then all of the wealth | he alone can wield, The gold that Fafnir guarded.”
A fourth spake: 35. “Wise would he seem | if so he would heed The counsel good | we sisters give; Thought he would give, | and the ravens gladden, There is ever a wolf | where his ears I spy.”
A fifth spake: 36. “Less wise must be | the tree of battle Than to me would seem | the leader of men, If forth he lets | one brother fare, When he of the other | the slayer is.”
A sixth spake: 37. “Most foolish he seems | if he shall spare His foe, the bane of the folk; There Regin lies, | who hath wronged him so, Yet falsehood knows he not.”
A seventh spake: 38. “Let the head from the frost-cold | giant be hewed, And let him of rings be robbed; Then all the wealth | which Fafnir’s was Shall belong to thee alone.”
Sigurth spake: 39. “Not so rich a fate | shall Regin have As the tale of my death to tell; For soon the brothers | both shall die, And hence to hell shall go.”
Sigurth hewed off Regin’s head, and then he ate Fafnir’s heart, and drank the blood of both Regin and Fafnir. Then Sigurth heard what the nut-hatch said: 40. “Bind, Sigurth, the golden | rings together, Not kingly is it | aught to fear; I know a maid, | there is none so fair, Rich in gold, | if thou mightest get her.
41. “Green the paths | that to Gjuki lead, And his fate the way | to the wanderer shows; The doughty king | a daughter has, That thou as a bride | mayst, Sigurth, buy.”
Another spake: 42. “A hall stands high | on Hindarfjoll, All with flame | is it ringed without; Warriors wise | did make it once Out of the flaming | light of the flood.
43. “On the mountain sleeps | a battle-maid, And about her plays | the bane of the wood; Ygg with the thorn | hath smitten her thus, For she felled the fighter | he fain would save.
44. “There mayst thou behold | the maiden helmed, Who forth on Vingskornir | rode from the fight; The victory-bringer | her sleep shall break not, Thou heroes’ son, | so the Norns have set.”
Sigurth rode along Fafnir’s trail to his lair, and found it open. The gate-posts were of iron, and the gates; of iron, too, were all the beams in the house, which was dug down into the earth. There Sigurth found a mighty store of gold, and he filled two chests full thereof; he took the fear-helm and a golden mail-coat and the sword Hrotti, and many other precious things, and loaded Grani with them, but the horse would not go forward until Sigurth mounted on his back.
NOTES Prose. The prose follows the concluding prose passage of the Reginsmol without any interruption; the heading “Of Fafnir’s Death” is written in the manuscript very faintly just before stanza 1. Gnitaheith: cf. Gripisspo, 11 and note. Fafnir: Regin’s brother: cf. Reginsmol, prose after stanza 14. Venom: in the Volsungasaga it was the blood, and not the venom, that poured down on Sigurth’s head. Sigurth was much worried about this danger, and before he dug the trench asked Regin what would happen if the dragon’s blood overcame him. Regin thereupon taunted him with cowardice (Sigurth refers to this taunt in stanza 30, but the stanza embodying it has disappeared). After Sigurth had dug his trench, an old man (Othin, of course) appeared and advised him to dig other trenches to carry off the blood, which he did, thereby escaping harm.
1. The first line in the original, as here, is unusually long, but dramatically very effective on that account.
3. The names of the speakers do not appear in the manuscript, though they seem originally to have been indicated in the margin for stanzas 3–30. The last two lines of stanza 3 are missing in the manuscript, with no gap indicated, but the Volsungasaga prose paraphrase indicates that something was omitted, and the lines here given are conjecturally reconstructed from this paraphrase.
4. The manuscript marks line 3 as the beginning of a stanza.
5. Line 4, utterly obscure in the manuscript, is guesswork.
7. Fafnir here refers to the fact that Hjordis, mother of the still unborn Sigurth, was captured by Alf after Sigmund’s death; cf. Fra Dautha Sinfjotla, note.
11. Stanzas 11–15 are probably interpolated, and come from a poem similar to Vafthruthnismol. The headland: Fafnir is apparently quoting proverbs; this one seems to mean that disaster (“the fate of the Norns”) awaits when one rounds the first headland (i.e., at the beginning of life’s voyage, in youth). The third line is a commentary on obstinate rashness. The Volsungasaga paraphrases stanzas 11–15 throughout.
12. Norns: cf. stanza 13 and note. Sigurth has no possible interest in knowing what Norns are helpful in childbirth, but interpolations were seldom logical.
13. Snorri quotes this stanza. There were minor Norns, or fates, in addition to the three great Norns, regarding whom cf. Voluspo, 20. Dvalin: chief of the dwarfs; cf. Voluspo, 14.
14. Surt: ruler of the fire world; the reference is to the last great battle. Sword-sweat: blood.
15. Oskopnir (“Not-Made”): apparently another name for Vigrith, which is named in Vafthruthnismol, 18, as the final battle-ground. Bilrost (or Bifrost): the rainbow bridge which breaks beneath Surt’s followers; cf. Grimnismol, 29 and note.
16. With this stanza Fafnir returns to the situation. Fear-helm: regarding the “ægis-hjalmr” cf. Reginsmol, prose after stanza 14 and note.
18. Lines 3–4 do not appear in the manuscript, and no gap is indicated; they are here conjecturally paraphrased from the prose passage in the Volsungasaga.
20. It has been suggested that this stanza is spurious, and that stanza 21 ought to follow stanza 22. Lines 3–4, abbreviated in the manuscript, are identical with lines 3–4 of stanza 9. The Volsungasaga paraphrase in place of these two lines makes Fafnir say: “For it often happens that he who gets a deadly wound yet avenges himself.” It is quite likely that two stanzas have been lost.
22. The Volsungasaga places its paraphrase of this stanza between those of stanzas 15 and 16.
24. Line 2 is probably spurious, but it is a phrase typical of such poems as Grimnismol or Vafthruthnismol.
25. Gram: Sigurth’s sword; cf. Reginsmol, prose after 14.
26. In the manuscript stanzas 26–29 stand after stanza 31, which fails to make clear sense; they are here rearranged in accordance with the Volsungasaga paraphrase.
28–29. Almost certainly interpolated from some such poem as the Hovamol. Even the faithful Volsungasaga fails to paraphrase stanza 29.
30. Something has evidently been lost before this stanza. Sigurth clearly refers to Regin’s reproach when he was digging the trench (cf. note on introductory prose), but the poem does not give such a passage.
Prose. Rithil (“Swift-Moving”): Snorri calls the sword Refil (“Serpent”).
32. That the birds’ stanzas come from more than one source is fairly apparent, but whether from two or from three or more is uncertain. It is also far from clear how many birds are speaking. The manuscript numbers II, III, and IV in the margin with numerals; the Volsungasaga makes a different bird speak each time. There are almost as many guesses as there are editions. I suspect that in the original poem there was one bird, speaking stanzas 34 and 37. Stanza 38 is little more than a repetition of stanza 34, and may well have been a later addition. As for the stanzas in Fornyrthislag (32–33 and 35–36), they apparently come from another poem, in which several birds speak (cf. “we sisters” in stanza 35). This may be the same poem from which stanzas 40–44 were taken, as well as some of the Fornyrthislag stanzas in the Sigrdrifumol.
34. Some editions turn this speech from the third person into the second, but the manuscript is clear enough.
35. Wolf, etc.: the phrase is nearly equivalent to “there must be fire where there is smoke.” The proverb appears elsewhere in Old Norse.
36. Tree of battle: warrior.
37. Here, as in stanza 34, some editions turn the speech from the third person into the second.
38. Giant: Regin was certainly not a frost-giant, and the whole stanza looks like some copyist’s blundering reproduction of stanza 34.
40. Neither the manuscript nor any of the editions suggest the existence of more than one bird in stanzas 40–44. It seems to me, however, that there are not only two birds, but two distinct stories. Stanzas 40–41 apply solely to Guthrun, and suggest that Sigurth will go straight to Gunnar’s hall. Stanzas 42–44, on the other hand, apply solely to Brynhild, and indicate that Sigurth will find her before he visits the Gjukungs. The confusion which existed between these two versions of the story, and which involved a fundamental difference in the final working out of Brynhild’s revenge, is commented on in the note on Gripisspo, 13. In the present passage it is possible that two birds are speaking, each reflecting one version of the story; it seems even more likely that one speech or the other (40–41 or 42–44) reflects the original form of the narrative, the other having been added, either later or from another poem. In the Volsungasaga the whole passage is condensed into a few words by one bird: “Wiser were it if he should then ride up on Hindarfjoll, where Brynhild sleeps, and there would he get much wisdom.” The Guthrun-bird does not appear at all.
41. Gjuki: father of Gunnar and Guthrun: cf. Gripisspo, 13 and note.
42. Hindarfjoll: “Mountain of the Hind.” Light of the flood: gold; cf. Reginsmol, 1 and note.
43. Battle-maid: Brynhild, here clearly defined as a Valkyrie. Bane of the wood: fire. Ygg: Othin; cf. Grimnismol, 53. The thorn: a prose note in Sigrdrifumol calls it “sleep-thorn.” The fighter: the story of the reason for Brynhild’s punishment is told in the prose following stanza 4 of Sigrdrifumol.
44. Vingskornir: Brynhild’s horse, not elsewhere mentioned. Victory-bringer: the word thus translated is in the original “sigrdrifa.” The compiler of the collection, not being familiar with this word, assumed that it was a proper name, and in the prose following stanza 4 of the Sigrdrifumol he specifically states that this was the Valkyrie’s name. Editors, until recently, have followed him in this error, failing to recognize that “sigrdrifa” was simply an epithet for Brynhild. It is from this blunder that the so-called Sigrdrifumol takes its name. Brynhild’s dual personality as a Valkyrie and as the daughter of Buthli has made plenty of trouble, but the addition of a second Valkyrie in the person of the supposed “Sigrdrifa” has made still more.
Prose. There is no break in the manuscript between the end of this prose passage and the beginning of the one introducing the Sigrdrifumol: some editors include the entire prose passage with one poem or the other. Hrotti; “Thruster.”
SIGRDRIFUMOL THE BALLAD OF THE VICTORY-BRINGER INTRODUCTORY NOTE The so-called Sigrdrifumol, which immediately follows the Fafnismol in the Codex Regius without any indication of a break, and without separate title, is unquestionably the most chaotic of all the poems in the Eddic collection. The end of it has been entirely lost, for the fifth folio of eight sheets is missing from Regius, the gap coming after the first line of stanza 29 of this poem. That stanza has been completed, and eight more have been added, from much later paper manuscripts, but even so the conclusion of the poem is in obscurity.
Properly speaking, however, the strange conglomeration of stanzas which the compiler of the collection has left for us, and which, in much the same general form, seems to have lain before the authors of the Volsungasaga, in which eighteen of its stanzas are quoted, is not a poem at all. Even its customary title is an absurd error. The mistake made by the annotator in thinking that the epithet “sigrdrifa,” rightly applied to Brynhild as a “bringer of victory,” was a proper name has already been explained and commented on (note on Fafnismol, 44). Even if the collection of stanzas were in any real sense a poem, which it emphatically is not, it is certainly not the “Ballad of Sigrdrifa” which it is commonly called. “Ballad of Brynhild” would be a sufficiently suitable title, and I have here brought the established name “Sigrdrifumol” into accord with this by translating the epithet instead of treating it as a proper name.
Even apart from the title, however, the Sigrdrifumol has little claim to be regarded as a distinct poem, nor is there any indication that the compiler did so regard it. Handicapped as we are by the loss of the concluding section, and of the material which followed it on those missing pages, we can yet see that the process which began with the prose Fra Dautha Sinfjotla, and which, interrupted by the insertion of the Gripisspo, went on through the Reginsmol and the Fafnismol, continued through as much of the Sigrdrifumol as is left to us. In other words, the compiler told the story of Sigurth in mixed prose and verse, using whatever verse he could find without much questioning as to its origin, and filling in the gaps with his own prose. Fra Dautha Sinfjotla, Reginsmol, Fafnismol, and Sigrdrifumol are essentially a coherent unit, but one of the compiler’s making only; they represent neither one poem nor three distinct poems, and the divisions and titles which have been almost universally adopted by editors are both arbitrary and misleading.
The Sigrdrifumol section as we now have it is an extraordinary piece of patchwork. It is most unlikely that the compiler himself brought all these fragments together for the first time; little by little, through a process of accretion and also, unluckily, through one of elimination, the material grew into its present shape. Certainly the basis of it is a poem dealing with the finding of Brynhild by Sigurth, but of this original poem only five stanzas (2–4 and 20–21) can be identified with any degree of confidence. To these five stanzas should probably, however, be added some, if not all, of the passage (stanzas 6–12) in which Brynhild teaches Sigurth the magic runes. These stanzas of rune-lore attracted sundry similar passages from other sources, including stanza 5, in which a magic draught is administered (not necessarily by Brynhild or to Sigurth), the curious rune-chant in stanzas 15–17, and stanzas 13–14 and 18–19. Beginning with stanza 22, and running to the end of the fragment (stanza 37), is a set of numbered counsels closely resembling the Loddfafnismol (Hovamol, stanzas 111–138), which manifestly has nothing whatever to do with Brynhild. Even in this passage there are probably interpolations (stanzas 25, 27, 30, 34, and 36). Finally, and bespeaking the existence at some earlier time of another Sigurth-Brynhild poem, is stanza 1, sharply distinguished by its metrical form from stanzas 2–4 and 20–21. Many critics argue that stanzas 6–10 of Helreith Brynildar belonged originally to the same poem as stanza 1 of the Sigrdrifumol.
The Sigrdrifumol, then, must be regarded simply as a collection of fragments, most of them originally having no relation to the main subject. All of the story, the dialogue and the characterization are embodied in stanzas 1–4 and 20–21 and in the prose notes accompanying the first four stanzas; all of the rest might equally well (or better) be transferred to the Hovamol, where its character entitles it to a place. Yet stanzas 2–4 are as fine as anything in Old Norse poetry, and it is out of the scanty material of these three stanzas that Wagner constructed much of the third act of “Siegfried.”
The Sigrdrifumol represents almost exclusively the contributions of the North to the Sigurth tradition (cf. introductory note to the Gripisspo). Brynhild, here disguised by the annotator as “Sigrdrifa,” appears simply as a battle-maid and supernatural dispenser of wisdom; there is no trace of the daughter of Buthli and the rival of Guthrun. There is, however, so little of the “poem” which can definitely be assigned to the Sigurth cycle that it is impossible to trace back any of the underlying narrative substance.
The nature and condition of the material have made editorial conjectures and emendations very numerous, and as most of the guesses are neither conclusive nor particularly important, only a few of them are mentioned in the notes.
Sigurth rode up on Hindarfjoll and turned southward toward the land of the Franks. On the mountain he saw a great light, as if fire were burning, and the glow reached up to heaven. And when he came thither, there stood a tower of shields, and above it was a banner. Sigurth went into the shield-tower, and saw that a man lay there sleeping with all his war-weapons. First he took the helm from his head, and then he saw that it was a woman. The mail-coat was as fast as if it had grown to the flesh. Then he cut the mail-coat from the head-opening downward, and out to both the arm-holes. Then he took the mail-coat from her, and she awoke, and sat up and saw Sigurth, and said: 1. “What bit through the byrnie? | how was broken my sleep? Who made me free | of the fetters pale?”
He answered: “Sigmund’s son, | with Sigurth’s sword, That late with flesh | hath fed the ravens.”
Sigurth sat beside her and asked her name. She took a horn full of mead and gave him a memory-draught.
2. “Hail, day! | Hail, sons of day! And night and her daughter now! Look on us here | with loving eyes, That waiting we victory win.
3. “Hail to the gods! | Ye goddesses, hail, And all the generous earth! Give to us wisdom | and goodly speech, And healing hands, life-long.
4. “Long did I sleep, | my slumber was long, And long are the griefs of life; Othin decreed | that I could not break The heavy spells of sleep.”
Her name was Sigrdrifa, and she was a Valkyrie. She said that two kings fought in battle; one was called Hjalmgunnar, an old man but a mighty warrior, and Othin had promised him the victory, and The other was Agnar, | brother of Autha, None he found | who fain would shield him.
Sigrdrifa slew Hjalmgunnar in the battle, and Othin pricked her with the sleep-thorn in punishment for this, and said that she should never thereafter win victory in battle, but that she should be wedded. “And I said to him that I had made a vow in my turn, that I would never marry a man who knew the meaning of fear.” Sigurth answered and asked her to teach him wisdom, if she knew of what took place in all the worlds. Sigrdrifa said: 5. “Beer I bring thee, | tree of battle, Mingled of strength | and mighty fame; Charms it holds | and healing signs, Spells full good, | and gladness-runes.”
* * * * * * 6. Winning-runes learn, | if thou longest to win, And the runes on thy sword-hilt write; Some on the furrow, | and some on the flat, And twice shalt thou call on Tyr.
7. Ale-runes learn, | that with lies the wife Of another betray not thy trust; On the horn thou shalt write, | and the backs of thy hands, And Need shalt mark on thy nails. Thou shalt bless the draught, | and danger escape, And cast a leek in the cup; (For so I know | thou never shalt see Thy mead with evil mixed.)
8. Birth-runes learn, | if help thou wilt lend, The babe from the mother to bring; On thy palms shalt write them, | and round thy joints, And ask the fates to aid.
9. Wave-runes learn, | if well thou wouldst shelter The sail-steeds out on the sea; On the stem shalt thou write, | and the steering-blade, And burn them into the oars; Though high be the breakers, | and black the waves, Thou shalt safe the harbor seek.
10. Branch-runes learn, | if a healer wouldst be, And cure for wounds wouldst work; On the bark shalt thou write, | and on trees that be With boughs to the eastward bent.
11. Speech-runes learn, | that none may seek To answer harm with hate; Well he winds | and weaves them all, And sets them side by side, At the judgment-place, | when justice there The folk shall fairly win.
12. Thought-runes learn, | if all shall think Thou art keenest minded of men.
* * * * * * 13. Them Hropt arranged, | and them he wrote, And them in thought he made, Out of the draught | that down had dropped From the head of Heithdraupnir, And the horn of Hoddrofnir.
14. On the mountain he stood | with Brimir’s sword, On his head the helm he bore; Then first the head | of Mim spoke forth, And words of truth it told.
* * * * * * 15. He bade write on the shield | before the shining goddess, On Arvak’s ear, | and on Alsvith’s hoof, On the wheel of the car | of Hrungnir’s killer, On Sleipnir’s teeth, | and the straps of the sledge.
16. On the paws of the bear, | and on Bragi’s tongue, On the wolf’s claws bared, | and the eagle’s beak, On bloody wings, | and bridge’s end, On freeing hands | and helping foot-prints.
17. On glass and on gold, | and on goodly charms, In wine and in beer, | and on well-loved seats, On Gungnir’s point, | and on Grani’s breast, On the nails of Norns, | and the night-owl’s beak.
* * * * * * 18. Shaved off were the runes | that of old were written, And mixed with the holy mead, And sent on ways so wide; So the gods had them, | so the elves got them, And some for the Wanes so wise, And some for mortal men.
19. Beech-runes are there, | birth-runes are there, And all the runes of ale, And the magic runes of might; Who knows them rightly | and reads them true, Has them himself to help; Ever they aid, Till the gods are gone.
* * * * * * Brynhild spake: 20. “Now shalt thou choose, | for the choice is given, Thou tree of the biting blade; Speech or silence, | ’tis thine to say, Our evil is destined all.”
Sigurth spake: 21. “I shall not flee, | though my fate be near, I was born not a coward to be; Thy loving word | for mine will I win, As long as I shall live.”
* * * * * *