7. Gotthorm: from this it appears that in both versions of the death of Sigurth the mortally wounded hero killed his murderer, the younger brother of Gunnar and Hogni. The story of how Gotthorm was slain after killing Sigurth in his bed is told in Sigurtharkvitha en skamma, 22–23, and in the Volsungasaga.
11. On lines 3–4 cf. Guthrunarkvitha I, 1. Line 5 is probably spurious.
12. Many editions make one stanza of stanzas 12 and 13, reconstructing line 3; the manuscript shows no gap. Bugge fills out the stanza thus: “The wolves were howling | on all the ways, / The eagles cried | as their food they craved.”
13. Cf. note on preceding stanza. Grundtvig suggests as a first line: “Long did I bide, | my brothers awaiting.” Many editors reject line 4.
14. The manuscript marks line 3 as beginning a stanza, and many editions combine lines 3–4 with lines 1–2 of stanza 15. Hoalf (or Half): Gering thinks this Danish king may be identical with Alf, son of King Hjalprek, and second husband of Hjordis, Sigurth’s mother (cf. Fra Dautha Sinfjotla and note), but the name was a common one. Thora and Hokon have not been identified (cf. Guthrunarkvitha I, concluding prose, which is clearly based on this stanza). A Thora appears in Hyndluljoth, 18, as the wife of Dag, one of the sons of Halfdan the Old, the most famous of Denmark’s mythical kings, and one of her sons is Alf (Hoalf?).
15. The manuscript marks line 3 as the beginning of a stanza. Some editors combine lines 5–6 with lines 1–2 of stanza 16, while others mark them as interpolated.
16. Some editions combine lines 3–4 with stanza 17. Sigmund: Sigurth’s father, who here appears as a sea-rover in Guthrun’s tapestry. Sigar: named in Fornaldar sögur II, 10, as the father of Siggeir, the latter being the husband of Sigmund’s twin sister, Signy (cf. Fra Dautha Sinfjotla). Fjon: this name, referring to the Danish island of Fünen, is taken from the Volsungasaga paraphrase as better fitting the Danish setting of the stanza than the name in Regius, which is “Fife” (Scotland).
17. No gap is indicated in the manuscript, and most editions combine these two lines either with lines 3–4 of stanza 16, with lines 1–2 of stanza 18, or with the whole of stanza 18. Line 2 has been filled out in various ways. The Volsungasaga paraphrase indicates that these two lines are the remains of a full stanza, the prose passage running: “Now Guthrun was somewhat comforted of her sorrows. Then Grimhild learned where Guthrun was now dwelling.” The first two lines may be the ones missing. Gothic: the term “Goth” was used in the North without much discrimination to apply to all south-Germanic peoples. In Gripisspo, 35, Gunnar, Grimhild’s son, appears as “lord of the Goths.”
18. The manuscript marks line 3 as the beginning of a stanza. Grimhild is eager to have amends made to Guthrun for the slaying of Sigurth and their son, Sigmund, because Atli has threatened war if he cannot have Guthrun for his wife.
19. Lines 5–6 are almost certainly interpolations, made by a scribe with a very vague understanding of the meaning of the stanza, which refers simply to the journey of the Gjukungs to bring their sister home from Denmark.
20. Lines 1–2 are probably interpolated, though the Volsungasaga includes the names. Some one apparently attempted to supply the names of Atli’s messengers, the “long-beard men” of line 4, who have come to ask for Guthrun’s hand. Some commentators assume, as the Volsungasaga does, that these messengers went with the Gjukungs to Denmark in search of Guthrun, but it seems more likely that a transitional stanza has dropped out after stanza 19, and that Guthrun received Atli’s emissaries in her brothers’ home. Long-beards: the word may actually mean Langobards or Lombards, but, if it does, it is presumably without any specific significance here. Certainly the names in the interpolated two lines do not fit either Lombards or Huns, for Valdar is identified as a Dane, and Jarizleif and Jarizskar are apparently Slavic. The manuscript indicates line 5 as beginning a new stanza.
21. Each: the reference is presumably to Gunnar and Hogni, and perhaps also Grimhild. I suspect that this stanza belongs before stanza 20.
22. Stanzas 22–25 describe the draught of forgetfulness which Grimhild gives Guthrun, just as she gave one to Sigurth (in one version of the story) to make him forget Brynhild. The draught does not seem to work despite Guthrun’s statement in stanza 25 (cf. stanza 30), for which reason Vigfusson, not unwisely, places stanzas 22–25 after stanza 34. Blood of swine: cf. Hyndluljoth, 39 and note.
23. The Volsungasaga quotes stanzas 23–24. Heather-fish: a snake. Haddings’ land: the world of the dead, so called because, according to Saxo Grammaticus, the Danish king Hadingus once visited it. It is possible that the comma should follow “heather-fish,” making the “ear uncut” (of grain) come from the world of the dead.
24. Dew of the hearth: soot.
25. In the manuscript, and in some editions, the first line is in the third person plural: “Then they forgot, | when the draught they had drunk.” The second line in the original is manifestly in bad shape, and has been variously emended. I forgot: this emendation is doubtful, in view of stanza 30, but cf. note to stanza 22. The kings all three: probably Atli’s emissaries, though the interpolated lines of stanza 20 name four of them. I suspect that line 4 is wrong, and should read: “Ere he himself (Atli) | to speak began.” Certainly stanzas 26–27 fit Atli much better than they do Grimhild, and there is nothing unreasonable in Atli’s having come in person, along with his tributary kings, to seek Guthrun’s hand. However, the “three kings” may not be Atli’s followers at all, but Gunnar, Hogni, and the unnamed third brother possibly referred to in Sigurtharkvitha en skamma, 18.
26. Thy father’s: So the manuscript, in which case the reference is obviously to Gjuki. But some editions omit the “thy,” and if Atli, and not Grimhild, is speaking (cf. note on stanza 25), the reference may be, as in line 3 of stanza 27, to the wealth of Atli’s father, Buthli. Hlothver: the northern form of the Frankish name Chlodowech (Ludwig), but who this Hlothver was, beyond the fact that he was evidently a Frankish king, is uncertain. If Atli is speaking, he is presumably a Frankish ruler whose land Atli and his Huns have conquered.
27. Cf. note on stanza 25 as to the probable speaker.
28. In stanzas 28–32 the dialogue, in alternate stanzas, is clearly between Guthrun and her mother, Grimhild, though the manuscript does not indicate the speakers.
29. Sigmund: son of Sigurth and Guthrun, killed at Brynhild’s behest.
30. This stanza presents a strong argument for transposing the description of the draught of forgetfulness (stanzas 22–24 and lines 1–2 of stanza 25) to follow stanza 33. Raven, etc.: the original is somewhat obscure, and the line may refer simply to the “corpse-eating raven.”
32. In the manuscript this stanza is immediately followed by the two lines which here, following Bugge’s suggestion, appear as stanza 35. In lines 3–4 Guthrun foretells what will (and actually does) happen if she is forced to become Atli’s wife. If stanza 35 really belongs here, it continues the prophesy to the effect that Guthrun will have no rest till she has avenged her brothers’ death.
33. Very likely the remains of two stanzas; the manuscript marks line 4 as beginning a new stanza. On the other hand, lines 3 and 5 may be interpolations. Vinbjorg and Valbjorg: apparently imaginary place-names.
34. The kings: presumably Gunnar and Hogni. My sons: regarding Guthrun’s slaying of her two sons by Atli, Erp and Eitil, cf. Drap Niflunga, note.
35. In the manuscript this stanza follows stanza 32. The loss of two lines, to the effect that “Ill was that marriage for my brothers, and ill for Atli himself,” and the transposition of the remaining two lines to this point, are indicated in a number of editions. The warrior, etc.: Atli, whom Guthrun kills.
36. The stanza describes the journey to Atli’s home, and sundry unsuccessful efforts have been made to follow the travellers through Germany and down the Danube. Foreign women: slaves. Line 5, which the manuscript marks as beginning a stanza, is probably spurious.
37. After these two lines there appears to be a considerable gap, the lost stanzas giving Guthrun’s story of the slaying of her brothers. It is possible that stanzas 38–45 came originally from another poem, dealing with Atli’s dream, and were here substituted for the original conclusion of Guthrun’s lament. Many editions combine stanzas 37 and 38, or combine stanza 38 (the manuscript marks line 1 as beginning a stanza) with lines 1–2 of stanza 39.
39. The manuscript indicates line 3 as the beginning of a stanza. The manuscript and most editions do not indicate the speakers in this and the following stanzas.
40. Guthrun, somewhat obscurely, interprets Atli’s first dream (stanza 39) to mean that she will cure him of an abscess by cauterizing it. Her interpretation is, of course, intended merely to blind him to her purpose.
41. In stanzas 41–43 Atli’s dreams forecast the death of his two sons, whose flesh Guthrun gives him to eat (cf. Atlakvitha, 39, and Atlamol, 78).
44. This stanza is evidently Guthrun’s intentionally cryptic interpretation of Atli’s dreams, but the meaning of the original is more than doubtful. The word here rendered “sacrifice” may mean “sea-catch,” and the one rendered “beasts” may mean “whales.” None of the attempted emendations have rendered the stanza really intelligible, but it appears to mean that Atli will soon make a sacrifice of beasts at night, and give their bodies to the people. Guthrun of course has in mind the slaying of his two sons.
45. With these two lines the poem abruptly ends; some editors assign the speech to Atli (I think rightly), others to Guthrun. Ettmüller combines the lines with stanza 38. Whether stanzas 38–45 originally belonged to Guthrun’s lament, or were interpolated here in place of the lost conclusion of that poem from another one dealing with Atli’s dreams (cf. note on stanza 37), it is clear that the end has been lost.
GUTHRUNARKVITHA III GUTHRUNARKVITHA III THE THIRD LAY OF GUTHRUN INTRODUCTORY NOTE The short Guthrunarkvitha III, entitled in the manuscript simply Guthrunarkvitha, but so numbered in most editions to distinguish it from the first and second Guthrun lays, appears only in the Codex Regius. It is neither quoted nor paraphrased in the Volsungasaga, the compilers of which appear not to have known the story with which it deals. The poem as we have it is evidently complete and free from serious interpolations. It can safely be dated from the first half of the eleventh century, for the ordeal by boiling water, with which it is chiefly concerned, was first introduced into Norway by St. Olaf, who died in 1030, and the poem speaks of it in stanza 7 as still of foreign origin.
The material for the poem evidently came from North Germany, but there is little indication that the poet was working on the basis of a narrative legend already fully formed. The story of the wife accused of faithlessness who proves her innocence by the test of boiling water had long been current in Germany, as elsewhere, and had attached itself to various women of legendary fame, but not except in this poem, so far as we can judge, to Guthrun (Kriemhild). The introduction of Thjothrek (Theoderich, Dietrich, Thithrek) is another indication of relative lateness, for the legends of Theoderich do not appear to have reached the North materially before the year 1000. On the anachronism of bringing Thjothrek to Atli’s court cf. Guthrunarkvitha II, introductory prose, note, in which the development of the Theoderich tradition in its relation to that of Atli is briefly outlined.
Guthrunarkvitha III is, then, little more than a dramatic German story made into a narrative lay by a Norse poet, with the names of Guthrun, Atli, Thjothrek, and Herkja incorporated for the sake of greater effectiveness. Its story probably nowhere formed a part of the living tradition of Sigurth and Atli, but the poem has so little distinctively Norse coloring that it may possibly have been based on a story or even a poem which its composer heard in Germany or from the lips of a German narrator.
Herkja was the name of a serving-woman of Atli’s; she had been his concubine. She told Atli that she had seen Thjothrek and Guthrun both together. Atli was greatly angered thereby. Then Guthrun said: 1. “What thy sorrow, Atli, | Buthli’s son? Is thy heart heavy-laden? | Why laughest thou never? It would better befit | the warrior far To speak with men, | and me to look on.”
Atli spake: 2. “It troubles me, Guthrun, | Gjuki’s daughter, What Herkja here | in the hall hath told me, That thou in the bed | with Thjothrek liest, Beneath the linen | in lovers’ guise.”
Guthrun spake: 3. “This shall I | with oaths now swear, Swear by the sacred | stone so white, That nought was there | with Thjothmar’s son That man or woman | may not know.
4. “Nor ever once | did my arms embrace The hero brave, | the leader of hosts; In another manner | our meeting was, When our sorrows we | in secret told.
5. “With thirty warriors | Thjothrek came, Nor of all his men | doth one remain; Thou hast murdered my brothers | and mail-clad men, Thou hast murdered all | the men of my race.
6. “Gunnar comes not, | Hogni I greet not, No longer I see | my brothers loved; My sorrow would Hogni | avenge with the sword, Now myself for my woes | I shall payment win.
7. “Summon Saxi, | the southrons’ king, For he the boiling | kettle can hallow.” Seven hundred | there were in the hall, Ere the queen her hand | in the kettle thrust.
8. To the bottom she reached | with hand so bright, And forth she brought | the flashing stones: “Behold, ye warriors, | well am I cleared Of sin by the kettle’s | sacred boiling.”
9. Then Atli’s heart | in happiness laughed, When Guthrun’s hand | unhurt he saw; “Now Herkja shall come | the kettle to try, She who grief | for Guthrun planned.”
10. Ne’er saw man sight | more sad than this, How burned were the hands | of Herkja then; In a bog so foul | the maid they flung, And so was Guthrun’s | grief requited.
NOTES Prose. The annotator derived all the material for this note from the poem itself, except for the reference to Herkja as Atli’s former concubine. Herkja: the historical Kreka and the Helche of the Nibelungenlied, who there appears as Etzel’s (Attila’s) first wife. Thjothrek: cf. Introductory Note.
2. The manuscript omits the names of the speakers throughout.
3. Holy stone: just what this refers to is uncertain; it may be identical with the “ice-cold stone of Uth” mentioned in an oath in Helgakvitha Hundingsbana II, 29. Thjothmar’s son: the manuscript has simply “Thjothmar.” Some editions change it as here, some assume that Thjothmar is another name or an error for Thjothrek, and Finnur Jonsson not only retains Thjothmar here but changes Thjothrek to Thjothmar in stanza 5 to conform to it.
5. Regarding the death of Thjothrek’s men cf. Guthrunarkvitha II, introductory prose, note. It was on these stanzas of Guthrunarkvitha III that the annotator based his introduction to Guthrunarkvitha II. The manuscript repeats the “thirty” in line 2, in defiance of metrical requirements.
6. In the manuscript this stanza follows stanza 7; many editions have made the transposition.
7. Who Saxi may be is not clear, but the stanza clearly points to the time when the ordeal by boiling water was still regarded as a foreign institution, and when a southern king (i.e., a Christian from some earlier-converted region) was necessary to consecrate the kettle used in the test. The ordeal by boiling water followed closely the introduction of Christianity, which took place around the year 1000. Some editions make two stanzas out of stanza 7, and Müllenhoff contends that lines 1–2 do not constitute part of Guthrun’s speech.
10. The word “requited” in line 4 is omitted in the manuscript, but it is clear that some such word was intended. The punishment of casting a culprit into a bog to be drowned was particularly reserved for women, and is not infrequently mentioned in the sagas.
ODDRUNARGRATR THE LAMENT OF ODDRUN INTRODUCTORY NOTE The Oddrunargratr follows Guthrunarkvitha III in the Codex Regius; it is not quoted or mentioned elsewhere, except that the composer of the “short” Sigurth lay seems to have been familiar with it. The Volsungasaga says nothing of the story on which it is based, and mentions Oddrun only once, in the course of its paraphrase of Brynhild’s prophecy from the “short” Sigurth lay. That the poem comes from the eleventh century is generally agreed; prior to the year 1000 there is no trace of the figure of Oddrun, Atli’s sister, and yet the Oddrunargratr is almost certainly older than the “short” Sigurth lay, so that the last half of the eleventh century seems to be a fairly safe guess.
Where or how the figure of Oddrun entered the Sigurth-Atli cycle is uncertain. She does not appear in any of the extant German versions, and it is generally assumed that she was a creation of the North, though the poet refers to “old tales” concerning her. She does not directly affect the course of the story at all, though the poet has used effectively the episode of Gunnar’s death, with the implication that Atli’s vengeance on Gunnar and Hogni was due, at least in part, to his discovery of Gunnar’s love affair with Oddrun. The material which forms the background of Oddrun’s story belongs wholly to the German part of the legend (cf. introductory note to Gripisspo), and is paralleled with considerable closeness in the Nibelungenlied; only Oddrun herself and the subsidiary figures of Borgny and Vilmund are Northern additions. The geography, on the other hand, is so utterly chaotic as to indicate that the original localization of the Atli story had lost all trace of significance by the time this poem was composed.
In the manuscript the poem, or rather the brief introductory prose note, bears the heading “Of Borgny and Oddrun,” but nearly all editions, following late paper manuscripts, have given the poem the title it bears here. Outside of a few apparently defective stanzas, and some confusing transpositions, the poem has clearly been preserved in good condition, and the beginning and end are definitely marked.
Heithrek was the name of a king, whose daughter was called Borgny. Vilmund was the name of the man who was her lover. She could not give birth to a child until Oddrun, Atli’s sister, had come to her; Oddrun had been beloved of Gunnar, son of Gjuki. About this story is the following poem.
1. I have heard it told | in olden tales How a maiden came | to Morningland; No one of all | on earth above To Heithrek’s daughter | help could give.
2. This Oddrun learned, | the sister of Atli, That sore the maiden’s | sickness was; The bit-bearer forth | from his stall she brought, And the saddle laid | on the steed so black.
3. She let the horse go | o’er the level ground, Till she reached the hall | that loftily rose, (And in she went | from the end of the hall;) From the weary steed | the saddle she took; Hear now the speech | that first she spake: 4. “What news on earth, |...Or what has happened | in Hunland now?”
“Here Borgny lies | in bitter pain, Thy friend, and, Oddrun, | thy help would find.”
Oddrun spake: 5. “Who worked this woe | for the woman thus, Or why so sudden | is Borgny sick?”
The serving-maid spake: “Vilmund is he, | the heroes’ friend, Who wrapped the woman | in bedclothes warm, (For winters five, | yet her father knew not).”
6. Then no more | they spake, methinks; She went at the knees | of the woman to sit; With magic Oddrun | and mightily Oddrun Chanted for Borgny | potent charms.
7. At last were born | a boy and girl, Son and daughter | of Hogni’s slayer; Then speech the woman | so weak began, Nor said she aught | ere this she spake: 8. “So may the holy | ones thee help, Frigg and Freyja | and favoring gods, As thou hast saved me | from sorrow now.”
Oddrun spake: 9. “I came not hither | to help thee thus Because thou ever | my aid didst earn; I fulfilled the oath | that of old I swore, That aid to all | I should ever bring, (When they shared the wealth | the warriors had).”
Borgny spake: 10. “Wild art thou, Oddrun, | and witless now, That so in hatred | to me thou speakest; I followed thee | where thou didst fare, As we had been born | of brothers twain.”
Oddrun spake: 11. “I remember the evil | one eve thou spakest, When a draught I gave | to Gunnar then; Thou didst say that never | such a deed By maid was done | save by me alone.”
12. Then the sorrowing woman | sat her down To tell the grief | of her troubles great.
13. “Happy I grew | in the hero’s hall As the warriors wished, | and they loved me well; Glad I was | of my father’s gifts, For winters five, | while my father lived.
14. “These were the words | the weary king, Ere he died, | spake last of all: He bade me with red gold | dowered to be, And to Grimhild’s son | in the South be wedded.
15. “But Brynhild the helm | he bade to wear, A wish-maid bright | he said she should be; For a nobler maid | would never be born On earth, he said, | if death should spare her.
16. “At her weaving Brynhild | sat in her bower, Lands and folk | alike she had; The earth and heaven | high resounded When Fafnir’s slayer | the city saw.
17. “Then battle was fought | with the foreign swords, And the city was broken | that Brynhild had; Not long thereafter, | but all too soon, Their evil wiles | full well she knew.
18. “Woeful for this | her vengeance was, As so we learned | to our sorrow all; In every land | shall all men hear How herself at Sigurth’s | side she slew.
19. “Love to Gunnar | then I gave, To the breaker of rings, | as Brynhild might; To Atli rings | so red they offered, And mighty gifts | to my brother would give.
20. “Fifteen dwellings | fain would he give For me, and the burden | that Grani bore; But Atli said | he would never receive Marriage gold | from Gjuki’s son.
21. “Yet could we not | our love o’ercome, And my head I laid | on the hero’s shoulder; Many there were | of kinsmen mine Who said that together | us they had seen.
22. “Atli said | that never I Would evil plan, | or ill deed do; But none may this | of another think, Or surely speak, | when love is shared.
23. “Soon his men | did Atli send, In the murky wood | on me to spy; Thither they came | where they should not come, Where beneath one cover | close we lay.
24. “To the warriors ruddy | rings we offered, That nought to Atli | e’er they should say; But swiftly home | they hastened thence, And eager all | to Atli told.
25. “But close from Guthrun | kept they hid What first of all | she ought to have known...|...|...26. “Great was the clatter | of gilded hoofs When Gjuki’s sons | through the gateway rode; The heart they hewed | from Hogni then, And the other they cast | in the serpents’ cave.
27. “The hero wise | on his harp then smote,...|...For help from me | in his heart yet hoped The high-born king, | might come to him.
28. “Alone was I gone | to Geirmund then, The draught to mix | and ready to make; Sudden I heard | from Hlesey clear How in sorrow the strings | of the harp resounded.
29. “I bade the serving-maids | ready to be, For I longed the hero’s | life to save; Across the sound | the boats we sailed, Till we saw the whole | of Atli’s home.
30. “Then crawling the evil | woman came, Atli’s mother— | may she ever rot! And hard she bit | to Gunnar’s heart, So I could not help | the hero brave.
31. “Oft have I wondered | how after this, Serpents’-bed goddess! | I still might live, For well I loved | the warrior brave, The giver of swords, | as my very self.
32. “Thou didst see and listen, | the while I said The mighty grief | that was mine and theirs; Each man lives | as his longing wills,— Oddrun’s lament | is ended now.”
NOTES Prose. Nothing further is known of Heithrek, Borgny or Vilmund. The annotator has added the name of Borgny’s father, but otherwise his material comes from the poem itself. Oddrun, sister of Atli and Brynhild, here appears as proficient in birth-runes (cf. Sigrdrifumol, 8). Regarding her love for Gunnar, Guthrun’s brother, and husband of her sister, Brynhild, cf. Sigurtharkvitha en skamma, 57 and note.
1. Olden tales: this may be merely a stock phrase, or it may really mean that the poet found his story in oral prose tradition. Morningland: the poem’s geography is utterly obscure. “Morningland” is apparently identical with “Hunland” (stanza 4), and yet Oddrun is herself sister of the king of the Huns. Vigfusson tries to make “Mornaland” into “Morva land” and explain it as Moravia. Probably it means little more than a country lying vaguely in the East. With stanza 28 the confusion grows worse.
3. Line 3 (cf. Völundarkvitha, 17) or line 5 (cf. Thrymskvitha, 2), both quoted from older poems, is probably spurious; the manuscript marks line 3 as the beginning of a new stanza.
4. Line 1 in the original appears to have lost its second half. In line 2 the word rendered “has happened” is doubtful. The manuscript does not indicate the speaker of lines 3–4, and a few editors assign them to Borgny herself.
5. The manuscript does not indicate the speakers. For the woman: conjectural; the manuscript has instead: “What warrior now | hath worked this woe?” The manuscript indicates line 3 as beginning a new stanza. Line 5, apparently modeled on line 4 of stanza 13, is probably spurious.
6. Charms: cf. Sigrdrifumol, 8.
7. Hogni’s slayer: obviously Vilmund, but unless he was the one of Atli’s followers who actually cut out Hogni’s heart (cf. Drap Niflunga), there is nothing else to connect him with Hogni’s death. Sijmons emends the line to read “Born of the sister | of Hogni’s slayer.”
8. Regarding Frigg as a goddess of healing cf. Svipdagsmol, 52, note. Regarding Freyja as the friend of lovers cf. Grimnismol, 14, note. A line is very possibly missing from this stanza.
9. The manuscript does not name the speaker. In line 2 the word rendered “earn” is omitted in the manuscript, but nearly all editions have supplied it. Line 5 is clearly either interpolated or out of place. It may be all that is left of a stanza which stood between stanzas 15 and 16, or it may belong in stanza 12.
10–20. In the manuscript the order is as follows: 12; 13; 14; 15, 3–4; 10; 11; 16; 17; 18; 19, 1–2; 15, 1–2; 19, 3–4; 20. The changes made here, following several of the editions, are: (a) the transposition of stanzas 10–11, which are clearly dialogue, out of the body of the lament to a position just before it; (b) the transposition of lines 1–2 of stanza 15 to their present position from the middle of stanza 19.
10. The manuscript does not name the speaker; cf. note on stanzas 10–20.
11. The manuscript does not name the speaker; cf. note on stanzas 10–20. The word rendered “evil” in line 1 is a conjectural addition. Apparently Borgny was present at Atli’s court while the love affair between Oddrun and Gunnar was in progress, and criticised Oddrun for her part in it. A draught, etc.: apparently in reference to a secret meeting of the lovers.
12. In the manuscript this stanza follows stanza 9; cf. note on stanzas 10–20. No gap is indicated, but something has presumably been lost. Grundtvig supplies as a first line: “The maid her evil | days remembered,” and inserts as a second line line 5 of stanza 9.
13. The manuscript indicates line 3 as the beginning of a new stanza; many editions combine lines 1–2 with stanza 12 and lines 3–4 with lines 1–2 of stanza 14. The hero: Buthli, father of Oddrun, Atli, and Brynhild.
14. The manuscript indicates line 3, but not line 1, as the beginning of a new stanza; some editions combine lines 3–4 with lines 3–4 of stanza 15. Making Buthli plan the marriage of Oddrun and Gunnar may be a sheer invention of the poet, or may point to an otherwise lost version of the legend.
15. Lines 1–2 have here been transposed from the middle of stanza 19; cf. note on stanzas 10–20. Wish-maid: a Valkyrie, so called because the Valkyries fullfilled Othin’s wish in choosing the slain heroes for Valhall. The reference to Brynhild as a Valkyrie by no means fits with the version of the story used in stanzas 16–17, and the poet seems to have attempted to combine the two contradictory traditions; cf. Fafnismol, note on stanza 44. In the manuscript stanzas 10–11 follow line 4 of stanza 15.
16. In stanzas 16–17 the underlying story seems to be the one used in Sigurtharkvitha en skamma (particularly stanzas 32–39), and referred to in Guthrunarkvitha I, 24, wherein Gunnar and Sigurth lay siege to Atli’s city (it here appears as Brynhild’s) and are bought off only by Atli’s giving Brynhild to Gunnar as wife, winning her consent thereto by falsely representing to her that Gunnar is Sigurth. This version is, of course, utterly at variance with the one in which Sigurth wins Brynhild for Gunnar by riding through the ring of flames, and is probably more closely akin to the early German traditions. In the Nibelungenlied Brynhild appears as a queen ruling over lands and peoples. Fafnir’s slayer: Sigurth.
17. Cf. note on preceding stanza.
18. Cf. Sigurtharkvitha en skamma, stanzas 64–70.
19. In the manuscript lines 1–2 of stanza 15 follow line 2, resulting in various conjectural combinations. The manuscript marks line 3 as beginning a new stanza. Rings, etc.: possibly, as Gering maintains, payment offered by Gunnar and Hogni for Brynhild’s death, but more probably, as in stanza 20, Gunnar’s proffered “marriage gold” for the hand of Oddrun.
20. Grani’s burden: the treasure won by Sigurth from Fafnir; cf. Fafnismol, concluding prose. The manuscript marks line 3 as beginning a new stanza, as also in stanzas 21 and 22.
23. Murky wood: the forest which divided Atli’s realm from that of the Gjukungs is in Atlakvitha, 3, called Myrkwood. This hardly accords with the extraordinary geography of stanzas 28–29, or with the journey described in Guthrunarkvitha II, 36.
24. In the manuscript lines 3 and 4 stand in reversed order.
25. No gap is indicated in the manuscript; some editors assume the loss not only of two lines, but of an additional stanza. Evidently Guthrun has already become Atli’s wife.
26. If a stanza has been lost after stanza 25, it may well have told of Atli’s treacherous invitation to the Gjukungs to visit him; cf. Drap Niflunga, which likewise tells of the slaying of Hogni and Gunnar (the other).
27. In the manuscript these three lines follow line 2 of stanza 28. No gap is indicated in the manuscript. In the Volsungasaga Guthrun gives her brother the harp, with which he puts the serpents to sleep. The episode is undoubtedly related to the famous thirtieth Aventiure of the Nibelungenlied, in which Volker plays the followers of Gunther to sleep before the final battle.
28. In the manuscript the three lines of stanza 27 follow line 2, and line 3 is marked as beginning a new stanza. Geirmund: nothing further is known of him, but he seems to be an ally or retainer of Atli, or possibly his brother. Hlesey: the poet’s geography is here in very bad shape. Hlesey is (or may be) the Danish island of Läsö, in the Kattegat (cf. Harbarthsljoth, 37 and note), and thither he has suddenly transported not only Gunnar’s death-place but Atli’s whole dwelling (cf. stanza 29), despite his previous references to the ride to Hunland (stanzas 3–4) and the “murky wood” (stanza 23). Geirmund’s home, where Oddrun has gone, is separated from Hlesey and Atli’s dwelling by a sound (stanza 29). However, geographical accuracy is seldom to be looked for in heroic epic poetry.
29. Many editions combine this stanza with lines 3–4 of stanza 28. The sound: cf. note on stanza 28.
30. The manuscript marks line 3 as beginning a new stanza. Atli’s mother: the Volsungasaga does not follow this version; Gunnar puts all the serpents but one to sleep with his harp playing, “but a mighty and evil adder crawled to him and drove his fangs into him till they reached his heart, and so he died.” It is possible that “Atli” is a scribal error for a word meaning “of serpents.”
31. Serpents’-bed goddess: woman (i.e., Borgny); “goddess of gold” was a frequent term for a woman, and gold was often called the “serpents’ bed” (cf. Guthrunarkvitha I, 24 and note).
32. Some editions make line 4 a statement of the poet’s, and not part of Oddrun’s speech.
ATLAKVITHA EN GRÖNLENZKA THE GREENLAND LAY OF ATLI INTRODUCTORY NOTE There are two Atli poems in the Codex Regius, the Atlakvitha (Lay of Atli) and the Atlamol (Ballad of Atli). The poems are not preserved or quoted in any other old manuscript, but they were extensively used by the compilers of the Volsungasaga. In the manuscript superscription to each of these poems appears the word “Greenland,” which has given rise to a large amount of argument. The scribe was by no means infallible, and in this case his statement proves no more than that in the period round 1300 there was a tradition that these two poems originated in the Greenland settlement.