22. Then first I rede thee, | that free of guilt Toward kinsmen ever thou art; No vengeance have, | though they work thee harm, Reward after death thou shalt win.
23. Then second I rede thee, | to swear no oath If true thou knowest it not; Bitter the fate | of the breaker of troth, And poor is the wolf of his word.
24. Then third I rede thee, | that thou at the Thing Shalt fight not in words with fools; For the man unwise | a worser word Than he thinks doth utter oft.
25. Ill it is | if silent thou art, A coward born men call thee, And truth mayhap they tell; Seldom safe is fame, Unless wide renown be won; On the day thereafter | send him to death, Let him pay the price of his lies.
26. Then fourth I rede thee, | if thou shalt find A wily witch on thy road, It is better to go | than her guest to be, Though night enfold thee fast.
27. Eyes that see | need the sons of men Who fight in battle fierce; Oft witches evil | sit by the way, Who blade and courage blunt.
28. Then fifth I rede thee, | though maidens fair Thou seest on benches sitting, Let the silver of kinship | not rob thee of sleep, And the kissing of women beware.
29. Then sixth I rede thee, | if men shall wrangle, And ale-talk rise to wrath, No words with a drunken | warrior have, For wine steals many men’s wits.
30. Brawls and ale | full oft have been An ill to many a man, Death for some, | and sorrow for some; Full many the woes of men.
31. Then seventh I rede thee, | if battle thou seekest With a foe that is full of might; It is better to fight | than to burn alive In the hall of the hero rich.
32. Then eighth I rede thee, | that evil thou shun, And beware of lying words; Take not a maid, | nor the wife of a man, Nor lure them on to lust.
33. Then ninth I rede thee: | burial render If thou findest a fallen corpse, Of sickness dead, | or dead in the sea, Or dead of weapons’ wounds.
34. A bath shalt thou give them | who corpses be, And hands and head shalt wash; Wipe them and comb, | ere they go in the coffin, And pray that they sleep in peace.
35. Then tenth I rede thee, | that never thou trust The word of the race of wolves, (If his brother thou broughtest to death, Or his father thou didst fell;) Often a wolf | in a son there is, Though gold he gladly takes.
36. Battle and hate | and harm, methinks, Full seldom fall asleep; Wits and weapons | the warrior needs If boldest of men he would be.
37. Then eleventh I rede thee, | that wrath thou shun, And treachery false with thy friends; Not long the leader’s | life shall be, For great are the foes he faces.
NOTES Prose. The introductory prose follows without break the prose concluding the Fafnismol, the point of division being arbitrary and not agreed upon by all editors. Hindarfjoll: cf. Fafnismol, 42 and note. Franks: this does not necessarily mean that Sigurth was on his way to the Gjukungs’ home, for Sigmund had a kingdom in the land of the Franks (cf. Fra Dautha Sinfjotla). Shields: the annotator probably drew the notion of the shield-tower from the reference in Helreith Brynhildar, 9. The flame-girt tower was not uncommon; cf. Mengloth’s hall in Svipdagsmol.
1. This stanza, and the two lines included in the prose after stanza 4, and possibly stanza 5 as well, evidently come from a different poem from stanzas 2–4. Lines 3–4 in the original are obscure, though the general meaning is clear.
Prose (after stanza 1). In the manuscript stanza 4 stands before this prose note and stanzas 2–3. The best arrangement of the stanzas seems to be the one here given, following Müllenhoff’s suggestion, but the prose note is out of place anywhere. The first sentence of it ought to follow stanza 4 and immediately precede the next prose note; the second sentence ought to precede stanza 5.
2. Sons of day: the spirits of light. The daughter of night (Not), according to Snorri, was Jorth (Earth).
Prose (after stanza 4). Sigrdrifa: on the error whereby this epithet, “victory-bringer,” became a proper name cf. Fafnismol, 44 and note. Hjalmgunnar: in Helreith Brynhildar (stanza 8) he is called a king of the Goths, which means little; of him and his adversary, Agnar, we know nothing beyond what is told here. The two lines quoted apparently come from the same poem as stanza 1; the two first lines of the stanza have been reconstructed from the prose thus: “Hjalmgunnar was one, | the hoary king, / And triumph to him | had Heerfather promised.” A few editions insert in this prose passage stanzas 7–10 of Helreith Brynhildar, which may or may not have belonged originally to this poem.
5. This stanza is perhaps, but by no means surely, from the same poem as stanza 1. Tree of battle: warrior. Runes: the earliest runes were not letters, but simply signs supposed to possess magic power; out of them developed the “runic alphabet.”
6. Stanzas 6–12 give a list of runes which probably had no original connection with the Brynhild-Sigurth story. Tyr: the sword-god (cf. Hymiskvitha, 4 and note); “tyr” is also the name of a rune which became “T.”
7. Regius gives only lines 1–6; lines 7–8 are added from Volsungasaga. Lies, etc.: a guest on his arrival received a draught of ale from the hands of his host’s wife, and it was to prevent this draught from bewitching him that the runes were recommended. Need: the word “nauth,” meaning “need,” is also the name of the rune which became “N.” Leek: leeks were long supposed to have the power of counteracting poison or witchcraft.
10. Branch-runes: runes cut in the bark of trees. Such runes were believed to transfer sickness from the invalid to the tree. Some editors, however, have changed “limrunar” (“branch-runes”) to “lifrunar” (“life-runes”).
11. Lines 3–6 look like an accidental addition, replacing two lines now lost. They mean, apparently, that the man who interweaves his speech with “speech-runes” when he pleads his case at the “Thing,” or popular tribunal, will not unduly enrage his adversary in the argument of the case.
12. Here the list of runes breaks off, though the manuscript indicates no gap, and three short passages of a different type, though all dealing with runes, follow.
13. Stanzas 13–14 appear to have come from a passage regarding Othin’s getting of the runes similar to Hovamol, 139–146. Editors have tried various combinations of the lines in stanzas 12–14. Hropt: Othin; cf. Voluspo, 62. The draught, etc.: apparently the reference is to the head of Mim, from which Othin derived his wisdom in magic (cf. Voluspo, 47 and note); Heithdraupnir (“Light-Dropper”) and Hoddrofnir (“Treasure-Opener”) seem to be names for Mim.
14. This stanza is clearly in bad shape; perhaps, as the manuscript indicates, a new stanza, of which most has been lost, should begin with line 3. Brimir: a giant (cf. Voluspo, 9 and 37); why Othin should have his sword is unknown.
15. Stanzas 15–17 constitute a wholly distinct rune-chant. Line 1 is unusually long in the original, as here. Shield: the shield Svalin (“Cooling”) that stands in front of the sun; cf. Grimnismol, 38. Arvak (“Early Walter”) and Alsvith (“All-Swift”): the horses that draw the sun’s car; cf. Grimnismol, 37. Hrungnir: the slayer of the giant Hrungnir was Thor (cf. Harbarthsljoth, 14 and note), but the line is in bad shape; the name may not be Hrungnir, and “killer” is a conjectural addition. Sleipnir: Othin’s eight-legged horse; cf. Grimnismol, 44 and note. Sledge: perhaps the one mentioned in Grimnismol, 49.
16. Bragi: the god of poetry; cf. Grimnismol, 44 and note.
17. Charms: the wearing of amulets was very common. Gungnir: Othin’s spear, made by the dwarfs, which he occasionally lent to heroes to whom he granted victory. Grani: Sigurth’s horse; the Volsungasaga has “giantesses’.”
18. Stanzas 18–19, which editors have freely rearranged, apparently come from another source than any of the rest. Shaved off: the runes were shaved off by Othin from the wood on which they were carved, and the shavings bearing them were put into the magic mead. Wanes: cf. Voluspo, 21, note.
19. Lines 3, 6, and 7 look like spurious additions, but the whole stanza is chaotic. Beech-runes: runes carved on beech-trees.
20. Stanzas 20–21 are all that remains of the dialogue between Brynhild and Sigurth from the poem to which stanzas 2–4 belong; cf. Introductory Note. In the intervening lost stanzas Brynhild has evidently warned Sigurth of the perils that will follow if he swears loyalty to her; hence the choice to which she here refers. Tree, etc.: warrior. The manuscript does not indicate the speaker of either this or the following stanza; the Volsungasaga names Sigurth before stanza 21.
21. It is quite possible that the original poem concluded with two stanzas after this, paraphrased thus in the Volsungasaga: “Sigurth said: ‘Nowhere is to be found any one wiser than thou, and this I swear, that I shall have thee for mine, and that thou art after my heart’s desire.’ She answered: ‘I would rather have thee though I might choose among all men.’ And this they bound between them with oaths.” Stanzas 22–37, which the Volsungasaga paraphrases, may have been introduced at a relatively early time, but can hardly have formed part of the original poem.
22. With this stanza begins the list of numbered counsels, closely resembling the Loddfafnismol (Hovamol, 111–138), here attributed to Brynhild. That the section originally had anything to do with Brynhild is more than improbable.
23. Wolf of his word: oath-destroyer, oath-breaker.
25. This chaotic and obscure jumble of lines has been unsuccessfully “improved” by various editors. It is clearly an interpolation, meaning, in substance: “It is dangerous to keep silent too long, as men may think you a coward; but if any one taunts you falsely because of your silence, do not argue with him, but the next morning kill him as proof that he is a liar.”
27. Probably another interpolation.
28. Silver of kinship: the passage is doubtful, but apparently it means the “marriage-price” for which a bride was “bought.”
29. Line 1 comes at the end of the thirty-second leaf of Regius, and whatever further was contained in that manuscript has vanished with the lost eight-leaf folio (cf. Introductory Note). The rest of stanza 29, and stanzas 30–37, are added from later paper manuscripts, which were undoubtedly copied from an old parchment, though probably not from the complete Regius. The Volsungasaga paraphrases these additional stanzas.
30. Probably an interpolation.
31. The meaning is that it is better to go forth to battle than to stay at home and be burned to death. Many a Norse warrior met his death in this latter way; the burning of the house in the Njalssaga is the most famous instance.
34. Probably an interpolation.
35. Lines 3–4 are probably interpolated. Race of wolves: family of a slain foe.
36. Probably an interpolation.
37. Lines 3–4 may well have come from the old Sigurth-Brynhild poem, like stanzas 2–4 and 20–21, being inserted here, where they do not fit particularly well, in place of the two lines with which the eleventh counsel originally ended. Perhaps they formed part of the stanza of warning which evidently preceded Brynhild’s speech in stanza 20. In the Volsungasaga they are paraphrased at the end of Brynhild’s long speech of advice (stanzas 20–37), and are immediately followed by the prose passage given in the note on stanza 21. It seems likely, therefore, that the paper manuscripts have preserved all of the so-called Sigrdrifumol which was contained in the lost section of Regius, with the possible exception of these two concluding stanzas, and these may very well have been given only in the form of a prose note, though it is practically certain that at one time they existed in verse form.
BROT AF SIGURTHARKVITHU FRAGMENT OF A SIGURTH LAY INTRODUCTORY NOTE The gap of eight leaves in the Codex Regius (cf. introductory note to the Sigrdrifumol) is followed by a passage of twenty stanzas which is evidently the end of a longer poem, the greater part of it having been contained in the lost section of the manuscript. There is here little question of such a compilation as made up the so-called Reginsmol, Fafnismol, and Sigrdrifumol; the extant fragment shows every sign of being part of a poem which, as it stood in the manuscript, was a complete and definite unit. The end is clearly marked; the following poem, Guthrunarkvitha I, carries a specific heading in the manuscript, so that there is no uncertainty as to where the fragment closes.
It seems altogether likely that the twenty stanzas thus remaining are the end of a poem entitled Sigurtharkvitha (Lay of Sigurth), and, more specifically, the “Long” Lay of Sigurth. The extant and complete Sigurth lay, a relatively late work, is referred to by the annotator as the “Short” Lay of Sigurth, which, of course, presupposes the existence of a longer poem with the same title. As the “short” lay is one of the longest poems in the whole collection (seventy stanzas), it follows that the other one must have been considerably more extensive in order to have been thus distinguished by its length. It may be guessed, then, that not less than eighty or a hundred stanzas, and possibly more, of the “Long” Lay of Sigurth have been lost with the missing pages of Regius.
The narrative, from the point at which the so-called Sigrdrifumol breaks off to that at which the Brot takes it up, is given with considerable detail in the Volsungasaga. In this prose narrative four stanzas are quoted, and one of them is specifically introduced with the phrase: “as is told in the Lay of Sigurth.” It is possible, but most unlikely, that the entire passage paraphrases this poem alone; such an assumption would give the Lay of Sigurth not less than two hundred and fifty stanzas (allowing about fifteen stanzas to each of the missing pages), and moreover there are inconsistencies in the Volsungasaga narrative suggesting that different and more or less conflicting poems were used as sources. The chances are that the “Long” Lay of Sigurth filled approximately the latter half of the lost section of the manuscript, the first half including poems of which the only trace is to be found in the Volsungasaga prose paraphrase and in two of the stanzas therein quoted.
The course of the Volsungasaga’s story from the Sigrdrifumol to the Brot is, briefly, as follows. After leaving the Valkyrie, Sigurth comes to the dwelling of Heimir, Brynhild’s brother-in-law, where he meets Brynhild and they swear oaths of fidelity anew (the Volsungasaga is no more lucid with regard to the Brynhild-Sigrdrifa confusion than was the annotator of the poems). Then the scene shifts to the home of the Gjukungs. Guthrun, Gjuki’s daughter, has a terrifying dream, and visits Brynhild to have it explained, which the latter does by foretelling pretty much everything that is going to happen; this episode was presumably the subject of a separate poem in the lost section of the manuscript. Guthrun returns home, and Sigurth soon arrives, to be made enthusiastically welcome. Grimhild, mother of Gunnar and Guthrun, gives him a magic draught which makes him forget all about Brynhild, and shortly thereafter he marries Guthrun.
Then follows the episode of the winning of Brynhild for Gunnar (cf. Gripisspo, 37 and note). This was certainly the subject of a poem, possibly of the first part of the “Long” Lay of Sigurth, although it seems more likely that the episode was dealt with in a separate poem. The Volsungasaga quotes two stanzas describing Sigurth’s triumphant passing through the flames after Gunnar has failed and the two have changed forms. They run thus: The fire raged, | the earth was rocked, The flames leaped high | to heaven itself; Few were the hardy | heroes would dare To ride or leap | the raging flames.
Sigurth urged Grani | then with his sword, The fire slackened | before the hero, The flames sank low | for the greedy of fame, The armor flashed | that Regin had fashioned.
After Sigurth has spent three nights with Brynhild, laying his sword between them (cf. Gripisspo, 41 and note), he and Gunnar return home, while Brynhild goes to the dwelling of her brother-in-law, Heimir, and makes ready for her marriage with Gunnar, directing Heimir to care for her daughter by Sigurth, Aslaug. The wedding takes place, to be followed soon after by the quarrel between Guthrun and Brynhild, in which the former betrays the fact that it was Sigurth, and not Gunnar, who rode through the flames. Brynhild speaks with contempt of Guthrun and her whole family, and the following stanza, which presumably belongs to the same Sigurth lay as the Brot, is quoted at this point: Sigurth the dragon | slew, and that Will men recall | while the world remains; But little boldness | thy brother had To ride or leap | the raging flames.
Gunnar and Sigurth alike try to appease the angry Brynhild, but in vain. After Sigurth has talked with her, his leaving her hall is described in the following stanza, introduced by the specific phrase: “as is said in the Lay of Sigurth”: Forth went Sigurth, | and speech he sought not, The friend of heroes, | his head bowed down; Such was his grief | that asunder burst His mail-coat all | of iron wrought.
Brynhild then tells Gunnar that she had given herself wholly to Sigurth before she had become Gunnar’s wife (the confusion between the two stories is commented on in the note to Gripisspo, 47), and Gunnar discusses plans of vengeance with his brother, Hogni. It is at this point that the action of the Brot begins.
Beginning with this poem, and thence to the end of the cycle, the German features of the narrative predominate (cf. introductory note to Gripisspo).
Hogni spake: 1. “(What evil deed | has Sigurth) done, That the hero’s life | thou fain wouldst have?”
Gunnar spake: 2. “Sigurth oaths | to me hath sworn, Oaths hath sworn, | and all hath broken; He betrayed me there | where truest all His oaths, methinks, | he ought to have kept.”
Hogni spake: 3. “Thy heart hath Brynhild | whetted to hate, Evil to work | and harm to win; She grudges the honor | that Guthrun has, And that joy of herself | thou still dost have.”
4. They cooked a wolf, | they cut up a snake, They gave to Gotthorm | the greedy one’s flesh, Before the men, | to murder minded, Laid their hands | on the hero bold.
5. Slain was Sigurth | south of the Rhine; From a limb a raven | called full loud: “Your blood shall redden | Atli’s blade, And your oaths shall bind | you both in chains.”
6. Without stood Guthrun, | Gjuki’s daughter, Hear now the speech | that first she spake: “Where is Sigurth now, | the noble king, That my kinsmen riding | before him come?”
7. Only this | did Hogni answer: “Sigurth we | with our swords have slain; The gray horse mourns | by his master dead.”
8. Then Brynhild spake, | the daughter of Buthli: “Well shall ye joy | in weapons and lands; Sigurth alone | of all had been lord, If a little longer | his life had been.
9. “Right were it not | that so he should rule O’er Gjuki’s wealth | and the race of the Goths; Five are the sons | for ruling the folk, And greedy of fight, | that he hath fathered.”
10. Then Brynhild laughed— | and the building echoed— Only once, | with all her heart; “Long shall ye joy | in lands and men, Now ye have slain | the hero noble.”
11. Then Guthrun spake, | the daughter of Gjuki: “Much thou speakest | in evil speech; Accursed be Gunnar, | Sigurth’s killer, Vengeance shall come | for his cruel heart.”
12. Early came evening, | and ale was drunk, And among them long | and loud they talked; They slumbered all | when their beds they sought, But Gunnar alone | was long awake.
13. His feet were tossing, | he talked to himself, And the slayer of hosts | began to heed What the twain from the tree | had told him then, The raven and eagle, | as home they rode.
14. Brynhild awoke, | the daughter of Buthli, The warrior’s daughter, | ere dawn of day: “Love me or hate me, | the harm is done, And my grief cries out, | or else I die.”
15. Silent were all | who heard her speak, And nought of the heart | of the queen they knew, Who wept such tears | the thing to tell That laughing once | of the men she had won.
Brynhild spake: 16. “Gunnar, I dreamed | a dream full grim: In the hall were corpses; | cold was my bed; And, ruler, thou | didst joyless ride, With fetters bound | in the foemen’s throng.
17. “...|...|...Utterly now | your Niflung race All shall die; | your oaths ye have broken.
18. “Thou hast, Gunnar, | the deed forgot, When blood in your footprints | both ye mingled; All to him | hast repaid with ill Who fain had made thee | the foremost of kings.
19. “Well did he prove, | when proud he rode To win me then | thy wife to be, How true the host-slayer | ever had held The oaths he had made | with the monarch young.
20. “The wound-staff then, | all wound with gold, The hero let | between us lie; With fire the edge | was forged full keen, And with drops of venom | the blade was damp.”
Here it is told in this poem about the death of Sigurth, and the story goes here that they slew him out of doors, but some say that they slew him in the house, on his bed while he was sleeping. But German men say that they killed him out of doors in the forest; and so it is told in the old Guthrun lay, that Sigurth and Gjuki’s sons had ridden to the council-place, and that he was slain there. But in this they are all agreed, that they deceived him in his trust of them, and fell upon him when he was lying down and unprepared.
NOTES 1. The fragment begins with the last words of line 1 (probably line 3 of the stanza). A few editors ascribe this speech to Gunnar and the next to Brynhild; one reconstruction of lines 1–2 on this probably false assumption runs: “Why art thou, Brynhild, | daughter of Buthli, / Scheming ill | with evil counsel?” Hogni (German Hagene): brother of Gunnar and Guthrun.
2. A few editors ascribe this speech to Brynhild. Gunnar, if the stanza is his, has believed Brynhild’s statement regarding Sigurth’s disloyalty to his blood-brother.
4. The Volsungasaga quotes a somewhat different version of this stanza, in which the snake is called “wood-fish” and the third line adds “beer and many things.” Eating snakes and the flesh of beasts of prey was commonly supposed to induce ferocity. Gotthorm: Grimhild’s son, half-brother to Gunnar. He it is who, not having sworn brotherhood with Sigurth, does the killing.
5. In the manuscript this stanza stands between stanzas 11 and 12; most editions have made the change here indicated. South of the Rhine: the definite localization of the action shows how clearly all this part of the story was recognized in the North as of German origin. Atli (Attila; cf. introductory note to Gripisspo): the Northern version of the story makes him Brynhild’s brother. His marriage with Guthrun, and his slaying of her brothers, are told in the Atli poems. Regarding the manner of Sigurth’s death cf. concluding prose passage and note. Stanza 13 indicates that after stanza 5 a stanza containing the words of an eagle has been lost.
7. One line of this stanza, but it is not clear which, seems to have been lost. The gray horse: Grani.
8. Some editions set stanzas 8 and 9 after stanza 11; Sijmons marks them as spurious. Buthli: cf. Gripisspo, 19, note.
9. Goths: a generic term for any German race; cf. Gripisspo, 35 and note. Five sons: according to the Volsungasaga Sigurth had only one son, named Sigmund, who was killed at Brynhild’s behest. Sigurtharkvitha en skamma and Guthrunarkvitha II likewise mention only one son. The daughter of Sigurth and Guthrun, Svanhild, marries Jormunrek (Ermanarich).
12. The manuscript marks line 4 as the beginning of a new stanza, and a few editions combine it with stanza 13.
13. Slayer of hosts: warrior (Gunnar). Raven and eagle: cf. note on stanza 5.
16. Mogk regards stanzas 16 and 17 as interpolated, but on not very satisfactory grounds. On the death of Gunnar cf. Drap Niflunga.
17. No gap is indicated in the manuscript, and some editions attach these two lines to stanza 16. Niflungs: this name (German Nibelungen), meaning “sons of the mist,” seems to have belonged originally to the race of supernatural beings to which the treasure belonged in the German version. It was subsequently extended to include the Gjukungs and their Burgundians. This question, of minor importance in the Norse poems, has evoked an enormous amount of learned discussion in connection with the Nibelungenlied.
18. Footprints: the actual mingling of blood in one another’s footprints was a part of the ceremony of swearing blood-brotherhood, the oath which Gunnar and Sigurth had taken. The fourth line refers to the fact that Sigurth had won many battles for Gunnar.
20. Regarding the sword episode cf. Gripisspo, 41 and note. Wound-staff: sword.
Prose. This prose passage has in the manuscript, written in red, the phrase “Of Sigurth’s Death” as a heading; there is no break between it and the prose introducing Guthrunarkvitha I, the heading for that poem coming just before stanza 1. This note is of special interest as an effort at real criticism. The annotator, troubled by the two versions of the story of Sigurth’s death, feels it incumbent on him not only to point the fact out, but to cite the authority of “German men” for the form which appears in this poem. The alternative version, wherein Sigurth is slain in bed, appears in Sigurtharkvitha en skamma, Guthrunarhvot, and Hamthesmol, and also in the Volsungasaga, which tells how Gotthorm tried twice to kill Sigurth but was terrified by the brightness of his eyes, and succeeded only after the hero had fallen asleep. That the annotator was correct in citing German authority for the slaying of Sigurth in the forest is shown by the Nibelungenlied and the Thithrekssaga. The “old” Guthrun lay is unquestionably Guthrunarkvitha II.
GUTHRUNARKVITHA I THE FIRST LAY OF GUTHRUN INTRODUCTORY NOTE The First Lay of Guthrun, entitled in the Codex Regius simply Guthrunarkvitha, immediately follows the remaining fragment of the “long” Sigurth lay in that manuscript. Unlike the poems dealing with the earlier part of the Sigurth cycle, the so-called Reginsmol, Fafnismol, and Sigrdrifumol, it is a clear and distinct unit, apparently complete and with few and minor interpolations. It is also one of the finest poems in the entire collection, with an extraordinary emotional intensity and dramatic force. None of its stanzas are quoted elsewhere, and it is altogether probable that the compilers of the Volsungasaga were unfamiliar with it, for they do not mention the sister and daughter of Gjuki who appear in this poem, or Herborg, “queen of the Huns” (stanza 6).
The lament of Guthrun (Kriemhild) is almost certainly among the oldest parts of the story. The lament was one of the earliest forms of poetry to develop among the Germanic peoples, and I suspect, though the matter is not susceptible of proof, that the lament of Sigurth’s wife had assumed lyric form as early as the seventh century, and reached the North in that shape rather than in prose tradition (cf. Guthrunarkvitha II, introductory note). We find traces of it in the seventeenth Aventiure of the Nibelungenlied, and in the poems of the Edda it dominates every appearance of Guthrun. The two first Guthrun lays (I and II) are both laments, one for Sigurth’s death and the other including both that and the lament over the slaying of her brothers; the lament theme is apparent in the third Guthrun lay and in the Guthrunarhvot.
In their present forms the second Guthrun lay is undoubtedly older than the first; in the prose following the Brot the annotator refers to the “old” Guthrun lay in terms which can apply only to the second one in the collection. The shorter and “first” lay, therefore, can scarcely have been composed much before the year 1000, and may be somewhat later. The poet appears to have known and made use of the older lament; stanza 17, for example, is a close parallel to stanza 2 of the earlier poem; but whatever material he used he fitted into a definite poetic scheme of his own. And while this particular poem is, as critics have generally agreed, one of the latest of the collection, it probably represents one of the earliest parts of the entire Sigurth cycle to take on verse form.
Guthrunarkvitha I, so far as the narrative underlying it is concerned, shows very little northern addition to the basic German tradition. Brynhild appears only as Guthrun’s enemy and the cause of Sigurth’s death; the three women who attempt to comfort Guthrun, though unknown to the southern stories, seem to have been rather distinct creations of the poet’s than traditional additions to the legend. Regarding the relations of the various elements in the Sigurth cycle, cf. introductory note to Gripisspo.
Guthrun sat by the dead Sigurth; she did not weep as other women, but her heart was near to bursting with grief. The men and women came to her to console her, but that was not easy to do. It is told of men that Guthrun had eaten of Fafnir’s heart, and that she understood the speech of birds. This is a poem about Guthrun.
1. Then did Guthrun | think to die, When she by Sigurth | sorrowing sat; Tears she had not, | nor wrung her hands, Nor ever wailed, | as other women.
2. To her the warriors | wise there came, Longing her heavy | woe to lighten; Grieving could not | Guthrun weep, So sad her heart, | it seemed, would break.
3. Then the wives | of the warriors came, Gold-adorned, | and Guthrun sought; Each one then | of her own grief spoke, The bitterest pain | she had ever borne.
4. Then spake Gjaflaug, | Gjuki’s sister: “Most joyless of all | on earth am I; Husbands five | were from me taken, (Two daughters then, | and sisters three,) Brothers eight, | yet I have lived.”
5. Grieving could not | Guthrun weep, Such grief she had | for her husband dead, And so grim her heart | by the hero’s body.
6. Then Herborg spake, | the queen of the Huns: “I have a greater | grief to tell; My seven sons | in the southern land, And my husband, fell | in fight all eight. (Father and mother | and brothers four Amid the waves | the wind once smote, And the seas crashed through | the sides of the ship.)
7. “The bodies all | with my own hands then I decked for the grave, | and the dead I buried; A half-year brought me | this to bear; And no one came | to comfort me.
8. “Then bound I was, | and taken in war, A sorrow yet | in the same half-year; They bade me deck | and bind the shoes Of the wife of the monarch | every morn.
9. “In jealous rage | her wrath she spake, And beat me oft | with heavy blows; Never a better | lord I knew, And never a woman | worse I found.”
10. Grieving could not | Guthrun weep, Such grief she had | for her husband dead, And so grim her heart | by the hero’s body.
11. Then spake Gollrond, | Gjuki’s daughter: “Thy wisdom finds not, | my foster-mother, The way to comfort | the wife so young.” She bade them uncover | the warrior’s corpse.
12. The shroud she lifted | from Sigurth, laying His well-loved head | on the knees of his wife: “Look on thy loved one, | and lay thy lips To his as if yet | the hero lived.”
13. Once alone | did Guthrun look; His hair all clotted | with blood beheld, The blinded eyes | that once shone bright, The hero’s breast | that the blade had pierced.
14. Then Guthrun bent, | on her pillow bowed, Her hair was loosened, | her cheek was hot, And the tears like raindrops | downward ran.
15. Then Guthrun, daughter | of Gjuki, wept, And through her tresses | flowed the tears; And from the court | came the cry of geese, The birds so fair | of the hero’s bride.
16. Then Gollrond spake, | the daughter of Gjuki: “Never a greater | love I knew Than yours among | all men on earth; Nowhere wast happy, | at home or abroad, Sister mine, | with Sigurth away.”
Guthrun spake: 17. “So was my Sigurth | o’er Gjuki’s sons As the spear-leek grown | above the grass, Or the jewel bright | borne on the band, The precious stone | that princes wear.
18. “To the leader of men | I loftier seemed And higher than all | of Herjan’s maids; As little now | as the leaf I am On the willow hanging; | my hero is dead.
19. “In his seat, in his bed, | I see no more My heart’s true friend; | the fault is theirs, The sons of Gjuki, | for all my grief, That so their sister | sorely weeps.
20. “So shall your land | its people lose As ye have kept | your oaths of yore; Gunnar, no joy | the gold shall give thee, (The rings shall soon | thy slayers be,) Who swarest oaths | with Sigurth once.
21. “In the court was greater | gladness then The day my Sigurth | Grani saddled, And went forth Brynhild’s | hand to win, That woman ill, | in an evil hour.”
22. Then Brynhild spake, | the daughter of Buthli: “May the witch now husband | and children want Who, Guthrun, loosed | thy tears at last, And with magic today | hath made thee speak.”