{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_1152/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_1152","id":"gutenberg_1152","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1152","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Classics of Literature","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Eddas -- Translations into English","Fantasy","Nibelungen -- Romances","Sagas -- Translations into English","Siegfried (Legendary character) -- Romances"],"text":"Produced by Douglas B. Killings\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE STORY OF THE VOLSUNGS, (VOLSUNGA SAGA)\n\nWITH EXCERPTS FROM THE POETIC EDDA\n\nBy Anonymous\n\n\n\nOriginally written in Icelandic (Old Norse) in the thirteenth century\nA.D., by an unknown hand. However, most of the material is based\nsubstantially on previous works, some centuries older. A few of these\nworks have been preserved in the collection of Norse poetry known as the\n\"Poetic Edda\".\n\nThe text of this edition is based on that published as \"The Story of\nthe Volsungs\", translated by William Morris and Eirikr Magnusson (Walter\nScott Press, London, 1888).\n\nDouglas B. Killings\n\n\nSELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY:\n\nRECOMMENDED READING--\n\nAnonymous: \"Kudrun\", Translated by Marion E. Gibbs & Sidney Johnson\n(Garland Pub., New York, 1992).\n\nAnonymous: \"Nibelungenlied\", Translated by A.T. Hatto (Penguin Classics,\nLondon, 1962).\n\nSaxo Grammaticus: \"The First Nine Books of the Danish History\",\nTranslated by Oliver Elton (London, 1894; Reissued by the Online\nMedieval and Classical Library as E-Text OMACL #28, 1997).\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\nIt would seem fitting for a Northern folk, deriving the greater and\nbetter part of their speech, laws, and customs from a Northern root,\nthat the North should be to them, if not a holy land, yet at least\na place more to be regarded than any part of the world beside; that\nhowsoever their knowledge widened of other men, the faith and deeds of\ntheir forefathers would never lack interest for them, but would always\nbe kept in remembrance. One cause after another has, however, aided\nin turning attention to classic men and lands at the cost of our own\nhistory. Among battles, \"every schoolboy\" knows the story of Marathon\nor Salamis, while it would be hard indeed to find one who did more than\nrecognise the name, if even that, of the great fights of Hafrsfirth or\nSticklestead. The language and history of Greece and Rome, their laws\nand religions, have been always held part of the learning needful to an\neducated man, but no trouble has been taken to make him familiar with\nhis own people or their tongue. Even that Englishman who knew Alfred,\nBede, Caedmon, as well as he knew Plato, Caesar, Cicero, or Pericles,\nwould be hard bestead were he asked about the great peoples from whom\nwe sprang; the warring of Harold Fairhair or Saint Olaf; the Viking\n(1) kingdoms in these (the British) Western Isles; the settlement of\nIceland, or even of Normandy. The knowledge of all these things would\nnow be even smaller than it is among us were it not that there was one\nland left where the olden learning found refuge and was kept in being.\nIn England, Germany, and the rest of Europe, what is left of the\ntraditions of pagan times has been altered in a thousand ways by foreign\ninfluence, even as the peoples and their speech have been by the influx\nof foreign blood; but Iceland held to the old tongue that was once the\nuniversal speech of northern folk, and held also the great stores of\ntale and poem that are slowly becoming once more the common heritage of\ntheir descendants. The truth, care, and literary beauty of its records;\nthe varied and strong life shown alike in tale and history; and the\npreservation of the old speech, character, and tradition--a people\nplaced apart as the Icelanders have been--combine to make valuable what\nIceland holds for us. Not before 1770, when Bishop Percy translated\nMallet's \"Northern Antiquities\", was anything known here of Icelandic,\nor its literature. Only within the latter part of this century has it\nbeen studied, and in the brief book-list at the end of this volume may\nbe seen the little that has been done as yet. It is, however, becoming\never clearer, and to an increasing number, how supremely important is\nIcelandic as a word-hoard to the English-speaking peoples, and that in\nits legend, song, and story there is a very mine of noble and pleasant\nbeauty and high manhood. That which has been done, one may hope, is but\nthe beginning of a great new birth, that shall give back to our language\nand literature all that heedlessness and ignorance bid fair for awhile\nto destroy.\n\nThe Scando-Gothic peoples who poured southward and westward over\nEurope, to shake empires and found kingdoms, to meet Greek and Roman\nin conflict, and levy tribute everywhere, had kept up their\nconstantly-recruited waves of incursion, until they had raised a barrier\nof their own blood. It was their own kin, the sons of earlier\ninvaders, who stayed the landward march of the Northmen in the time of\nCharlemagne. To the Southlands their road by land was henceforth closed.\nThen begins the day of the Vikings, who, for two hundred years and more,\n\"held the world at ransom.\" Under many and brave leaders they first\nof all came round the \"Western Isles\" (2) toward the end of the eighth\ncentury; soon after they invaded Normandy, and harried the coasts of\nFrance; gradually they lengthened their voyages until there was no shore\nof the then known world upon which they were unseen or unfelt. A glance\nat English history will show the large part of it they fill, and how\nthey took tribute from the Anglo-Saxons, who, by the way, were far\nnearer kin to them than is usually thought. In Ireland, where the old\ncivilisation was falling to pieces, they founded kingdoms at Limerick\nand Dublin among other places; (3) the last named, of which the first\nking, Olaf the White, was traditionally descended of Sigurd the Volsung,\n(4) endured even to the English invasion, when it was taken by men of\nthe same Viking blood a little altered. What effect they produced\nupon the natives may be seen from the description given by the unknown\nhistorian of the \"Wars of the Gaedhil with the Gaill\": \"In a word,\nalthough there were an hundred hard-steeled iron heads on one neck,\nand an hundred sharp, ready, cool, never-rusting brazen tongues in each\nhead, and an hundred garrulous, loud, unceasing voices from each tongue,\nthey could not recount, or narrate, or enumerate, or tell what all the\nGaedhil suffered in common--both men and women, laity and clergy,\nold and young, noble and ignoble--of hardship, and of injury, and of\noppression, in every house, from these valiant, wrathful, purely pagan\npeople. Even though great were this cruelty, oppression, and tyranny,\nthough numerous were the oft-victorious clans of the many-familied\nErinn; though numerous their kings, and their royal chiefs, and their\nprinces; though numerous their heroes and champions, and their brave\nsoldiers, their chiefs of valour and renown and deeds of arms; yet not\none of them was able to give relief, alleviation, or deliverance from\nthat oppression and tyranny, from the numbers and multitudes, and\nthe cruelty and the wrath of the brutal, ferocious, furious, untamed,\nimplacable hordes by whom that oppression was inflicted, because of the\nexcellence of their polished, ample, treble, heavy, trusty, glittering\ncorslets; and their hard, strong, valiant swords; and their well-riveted\nlong spears, and their ready, brilliant arms of valour besides; and\nbecause of the greatness of their achievements and of their deeds, their\nbravery, and their valour, their strength, and their venom, and their\nferocity, and because of the excess of their thirst and their hunger for\nthe brave, fruitful, nobly-inhabited, full of cataracts, rivers, bays,\npure, smooth-plained, sweet grassy land of Erinn\"--(pp. 52-53). Some\npart of this, however, must be abated, because the chronicler is\nexalting the terror-striking enemy that he may still further exalt his\nown people, the Dal Cais, who did so much under Brian Boroimhe to check\nthe inroads of the Northmen. When a book does (5) appear, which has\nbeen announced these ten years past, we shall have more material for\nthe reconstruction of the life of those times than is now anywhere\naccessible. Viking earldoms also were the Orkneys, Faroes, and\nShetlands. So late as 1171, in the reign of Henry II., the year after\nBeckett's murder, Earl Sweyn Asleifsson of Orkney, who had long been the\nterror of the western seas, \"fared a sea-roving\" and scoured the western\ncoast of England, Man, and the east of Ireland, but was killed in an\nattack on his kinsmen of Dublin. He had used to go upon a regular plan\nthat may be taken as typical of the homely manner of most of his like\nin their cruising: \"Sweyn had in the spring hard work, and made them\nlay down very much seed, and looked much after it himself. But when\nthat toil was ended, he fared away every spring on a viking-voyage, and\nharried about among the southern isles and Ireland, and came home after\nmidsummer. That he called spring-viking. Then he was at home until the\ncorn-fields were reaped down, and the grain seen to and stored. Then\nhe fared away on a viking-voyage, and then he did not come home till the\nwinter was one month off, and that he called his autumn-viking.\" (6)\n\nToward the end of the ninth century Harold Fairhair, either spurred\nby the example of Charlemagne, or really prompted, as Snorri Sturluson\ntells us, resolved to bring all Norway under him. As Snorri has it in\n\"Heimskringla\": \"King Harold sent his men to a girl hight Gyda.... The\nking wanted her for his leman; for she was wondrous beautiful but of\nhigh mood withal. Now when the messengers came there and gave their\nmessage to her, she made answer that she would not throw herself away\neven to take a king for her husband, who swayed no greater kingdom than\na few districts; 'And methinks,' said she, 'it is a marvel that no king\nhere in Norway will put all the land under him, after the fashion that\nGorm the Old did in Denmark, or Eric at Upsala.' The messengers deemed\nthis a dreadfully proud-spoken answer, and asked her what she thought\nwould come of such an one, for Harold was so mighty a man that his\nasking was good enough for her. But although she had replied to their\nsaying otherwise than they would, they saw no likelihood, for this\nwhile, of bearing her along with them against her will, so they made\nready to fare back again. When they were ready and the folk followed\nthem out, Gyda said to the messengers--'Now tell to King Harold these my\nwords:--I will only agree to be his lawful wife upon the condition that\nhe shall first, for sake of me, put under him the whole of Norway, so\nthat he may bear sway over that kingdom as freely and fully as King\nEric over the realm of Sweden, or King Gorm over Denmark; for only then,\nmethinks, can he be called king of a people.' Now his men came back to\nKing Harold, bringing him the words of the girl, and saying she was so\nbold and heedless that she well deserved the king should send a greater\ntroop of people for her, and put her to some disgrace. Then answered the\nking. 'This maid has not spoken or done so much amiss that she should\nbe punished, but the rather should she be thanked for her words. She has\nreminded me,' said he, 'of somewhat that it seems wonderful I did not\nthink of before. And now,' added he, 'I make the solemn vow, and take\nwho made me and rules over all things, to witness that never shall I\nclip or comb my hair until I have subdued all Norway with scatt, and\nduties, and lordships; or, if not, have died in the seeking.' Guttorm\ngave great thanks to the king for his oath, saying it was \"royal work\nfulfilling royal rede.\" The new and strange government that Harold tried\nto enforce--nothing less than the feudal system in a rough guise --which\nmade those who had hitherto been their own men save at special times,\nthe king's men at all times, and laid freemen under tax, was withstood\nas long as might be by the sturdy Norsemen. It was only by dint of hard\nfighting that he slowly won his way, until at Hafrsfirth he finally\ncrushed all effective opposition. But the discontented, \"and they were a\ngreat multitude,\" fled oversea to the outlands, Iceland, the Faroes, the\nOrkneys, and Ireland. The whole coast of Europe, even to Greece and the\nshores of the Black Sea, the northern shores of Africa, and the western\npart of Asia, felt the effects also. Rolf Pad-th'-hoof, son of Harold's\ndear friend Rognvald, made an outlaw for a cattle-raid within the bounds\nof the kingdom, betook himself to France, and, with his men, founded a\nnew people and a dynasty.\n\nIceland had been known for a good many years, but its only dwellers had\nbeen Irish Culdees, who sought that lonely land to pray in peace. Now,\nhowever, both from Norway and the Western Isles settlers began to come\nin. Aud, widow of Olaf the White, King of Dublin, came, bringing with\nher many of mixed blood, for the Gaedhil (pronounced \"Gael\", Irish) and\nthe Gaill (pronounced \"Gaul\", strangers) not only fought furiously, but\nmade friends firmly, and often intermarried. Indeed, the Westmen were\namong the first arrivals, and took the best parts of the island--on its\nwestern shore, appropriately enough. After a time the Vikings who had\nsettled in the Isles so worried Harold and his kingdom, upon which they\nswooped every other while, that he drew together a mighty force, and\nfell upon them wheresoever he could find them, and followed them up with\nfire and sword; and this he did twice, so that in those lands none could\nabide but folk who were content to be his men, however lightly they\nmight hold their allegiance. Hence it was to Iceland that all turned\nwho held to the old ways, and for over sixty years from the first comer\nthere was a stream of hardy men pouring in, with their families and\ntheir belongings, simple yeomen, great and warwise chieftains, rich\nlandowners, who had left their land \"for the overbearing of King\nHarold,\" as the \"Landnamabok\" (7) has it. \"There also we shall escape\nthe troubling of kings and scoundrels\", says the \"Vatsdaelasaga\". So\nmuch of the best blood left Norway that the king tried to stay the leak\nby fines and punishments, but in vain.\n\nAs his ship neared the shore, the new-coming chief would leave it to\nthe gods as to where he settled. The hallowed pillars of the high seat,\nwhich were carried away from his old abode, were thrown overboard, with\ncertain rites, and were let drive with wind and wave until they came\nashore. The piece of land which lay next the beach they were flung upon\nwas then viewed from the nearest hill-summit, and place of the homestead\npicked out. Then the land was hallowed by being encircled with fire,\nparcelled among the band, and marked out with boundary-signs; the houses\nwere built, the \"town\" or home-field walled in, a temple put up, and the\nsettlement soon assumed shape. In 1100 there were 4500 franklins, making\na population of about 50,000, fully three-fourths of whom had a strong\ninfusion of Celtic blood in them. The mode of life was, and is, rather\npastoral than aught else. In the 39,200 square miles of the island's\narea there are now about 250 acres of cultivated land, and although\nthere has been much more in times past, the Icelanders have always been\nforced to reckon upon flocks and herds as their chief resources, grain\nof all kinds, even rye, only growing in a few favoured places, and very\nrarely there; the hay, self-sown, being the only certain harvest. On\nthe coast fishing and fowling were of help, but nine-tenths of the folk\nlived by their sheep and cattle. Potatoes, carrots, turnips, and several\nkinds of cabbage have, however, been lately grown with success. They\nproduced their own food and clothing, and could export enough wool,\ncloth, horn, dried fish, etc., as enabled them to obtain wood for\nbuilding, iron for tools, honey, wine, grain, etc, to the extent of\ntheir simple needs. Life and work was lotted by the seasons and\ntheir changes; outdoor work--fishing, herding, hay-making, and\nfuel-getting--filling the long days of summer, while the long, dark\nwinter was used in weaving and a hundred indoor crafts. The climate is\nnot so bad as might be expected, seeing that the island touches the\npolar circle, the mean temperature at Reykjavik being 39 degrees.\n\nThe religion which the settlers took with them into Iceland--the\nethnic religion of the Norsefolk, which fought its last great fight at\nSticklestead, where Olaf Haraldsson lost his life and won the name of\nSaint--was, like all religions, a compound of myths, those which had\nsurvived from savage days, and those which expressed the various degrees\nof a growing knowledge of life and better understanding of nature. Some\nhistorians and commentators are still fond of the unscientific method of\ntaking a later religion, in this case christianity, and writing down all\napparently coincident parts of belief, as having been borrowed from the\nchristian teachings by the Norsefolk, while all that remain they lump\nunder some slighting head. Every folk has from the beginning of time\nsought to explain the wonders of nature, and has, after its own fashion,\nset forth the mysteries of life. The lowest savage, no less than his\nmore advanced brother, has a philosophy of the universe by which he\nsolves the world-problem to his own satisfaction, and seeks to reconcile\nhis conduct with his conception of the nature of things. Now, it is not\nto be thought, save by \"a priori\" reasoners, that such a folk as the\nNorthmen--a mighty folk, far advanced in the arts of life, imaginative,\nliterary--should have had no further creed than the totemistic myths\nof their primitive state; a state they have wholly left ere they enter\nhistory. Judging from universal analogy, the religion of which record\nremains to us was just what might be looked for at the particular stage\nof advancement the Northmen had reached. Of course something may have\nbeen gained from contact with other peoples--from the Greeks during the\nlong years in which the northern races pressed upon their frontier; from\nthe Irish during the existence of the western viking-kingdoms; but what\nI particularly warn young students against is the constant effort of\na certain order of minds to wrest facts into agreement with their pet\ntheories of religion or what not. The whole tendency of the more modern\ninvestigation shows that the period of myth-transmission is long over\nere history begins. The same confusion of different stages of\nmyth-making is to be found in the Greek religion, and indeed in those of\nall peoples; similar conditions of mind produce similar practices, apart\nfrom all borrowing of ideas and manners; in Greece we find snake-dances,\nbear-dances, swimming with sacred pigs, leaping about in imitation of\nwolves, dog-feasts, and offering of dogs' flesh to the gods--all of them\npractices dating from crude savagery, mingled with ideas of exalted and\nnoble beauty, but none now, save a bigot, would think of accusing the\nGreeks of having stolen all their higher beliefs. Even were some part of\nthe matter of their myths taken from others, yet the Norsemen have given\ntheir gods a noble, upright, great spirit, and placed them upon a high\nlevel that is all their own. (8) From the prose Edda the following\nall too brief statement of the salient points of Norse belief is made\nup:--\"The first and eldest of gods is hight Allfather; he lives from\nall ages, and rules over all his realm, and sways all things great and\nsmall; he smithied heaven and earth, and the lift, and all that belongs\nto them; what is most, he made man, and gave him a soul that shall live\nand never perish; and all men that are right-minded shall live and be\nwith himself in Vingolf; but wicked men fare to Hell, and thence into\nNiithell, that is beneath in the ninth world. Before the earth ''twas\nthe morning of time, when yet naught was, nor sand nor sea was\nthere, nor cooling streams. Earth was not found, nor Heaven above; a\nYawning-gap there was, but grass nowhere.' Many ages ere the earth was\nshapen was Niflheim made, but first was that land in the southern sphere\nhight Muspell, that burns and blazes, and may not be trodden by those\nwho are outlandish and have no heritage there. Surtr sits on the border\nto guard the land; at the end of the world he will fare forth, and harry\nand overcome all the gods and burn the world with fire. Ere the races\nwere yet mingled, or the folk of men grew, Yawning-gap, which looked\ntowards the north parts, was filled with thick and heavy ice and\nrime, and everywhere within were fog and gusts; but the south side\nof Yawning-gap lightened by the sparks and gledes that flew out of\nMuspell-heim; as cold arose out of Niflheim and all things grim, so was\nthat part that looked towards Muspell hot and bright; but Yawning-gap\nwas as light as windless air, and when the blast of heat met the rime,\nso that it melted and dropped and quickened; from those life-drops\nthere was shaped the likeness of a man, and he was named Ymir; he was\nbad, and all his kind; and so it is said, when he slept he fell into a\nsweat; then waxed under his left hand a man and a woman, and one of his\nfeet got a son with the other, and thence cometh the Hrimthursar. The\nnext thing when the rime dropped was that the cow hight Audhumla was\nmade of it; but four milk-rivers ran out of her teats, and she fed Ymir;\nshe licked rime-stones that were salt, and the first day there came at\neven, out of the stones, a man's hair, the second day a man's head, the\nthird day all the man was there. He is named Turi; he was fair of\nface, great and mighty; he gat a son named Bor, who took to him Besla,\ndaughter of Bolthorn, the giant, and they had three sons, Odin, Vili,\nand Ve. Bor's sons slew Ymir the giant, but when he fell there ran so\nmuch blood out of his wounds that all the kin of the Hrimthursar were\ndrowned, save Hvergelmir and his household, who got away in a boat. Then\nBor's sons took Ymir and bore him into the midst of Yawning-gap, and\nmade of him the earth; of his blood seas and waters, of his flesh earth\nwas made; they set the earth fast, and laid the sea round about it in\na ring without; of his bones were made rocks; stones and pebbles of his\nteeth and jaws and the bones that were broken; they took his skull and\nmade the lift thereof, and set it up over the earth with four sides, and\nunder each corner they set dwarfs, and they took his brain and cast it\naloft, and made clouds. They took the sparks and gledes that went loose,\nand had been cast out of Muspellheim, and set them in the lift to give\nlight; they gave resting-places to all fires, and set some in the lift;\nsome fared free under it, and they gave them a place and shaped their\ngoings. A wondrous great smithying, and deftly done. The earth is\nfashioned round without, and there beyond, round about it lies the deep\nsea; and on that sea-strand the gods gave land for an abode to the giant\nkind, but within on the earth made they a burg round the world against\nrestless giants, and for this burg reared they the brows of Ymir, and\ncalled the burg Midgard. The gods went along the sea-strand and found\ntwo stocks, and shaped out of them men; the first gave soul and life,\nthe second wit and will to move, the third face, hearing, speech, and\neyesight. They gave them clothing and names; the man Ask and the woman\nEmbla; thence was mankind begotten, to whom an abode was given under\nMidgard. Then next Bor's sons made them a burg in the midst of the\nworld, that is called Asgard; there abode the gods and their kind, and\nwrought thence many tidings and feats, both on earth and in the Sky.\nOdin, who is hight Allfather, for that he is the father of all men and\nsat there in his high seat, seeing over the whole world and each man's\ndoings, and knew all things that he saw. His wife was called Frigg, and\ntheir offspring is the Asa-stock, who dwell in Asgard and the realms\nabout it, and all that stock are known to be gods. The daughter and wife\nof Odin was Earth, and of her he got Thor, him followed strength and\nsturdiness, thereby quells he all things quick; the strongest of all\ngods and men, he has also three things of great price, the hammer\nMiolnir, the best of strength belts, and when he girds that about him\nwaxes his god strength one-half, and his iron gloves that he may not\nmiss for holding his hammer's haft. Balidr is Odin's second son, and\nof him it is good to say, he is fair and: bright in face, and hair, and\nbody, and him all praise; he is wise and fair-spoken and mild, and that\nnature is in him none may withstand his doom. Tyr is daring and best of\nmood; there is a saw that he is tyrstrong who is before other men and\nnever yields; he is also so wise that it is said he is tyrlearned who\nis wise. Bragi is famous for wisdom, and best in tongue-wit, and cunning\nspeech, and song-craft. 'And many other are there, good and great; and\none, Loki, fair of face, ill in temper and fickle of mood, is called the\nbackbiter of the Asa, and speaker of evil redes and shame of all gods\nand men; he has above all that craft called sleight, and cheats all\nin all things. Among the children of Loki are Fenris-wolf and\nMidgards-worm; the second lies about all the world in the deep sea,\nholding his tail in his teeth, though some say Thor has slain him; but\nFenris-wolf is bound until the doom of the gods, when gods and men shall\ncome to an end, and earth and heaven be burnt, when he shall slay Odin.\nAfter this the earth shoots up from the sea, and it is green and fair,\nand the fields bear unsown, and gods and men shall be alive again, and\nsit in fair halls, and talk of old tales and the tidings that\nhappened aforetime. The head-seat, or holiest-stead, of the gods is at\nYggdrasil's ash, which is of all trees best and biggest; its boughs are\nspread over the whole world and stand above heaven; one root of the ash\nis in heaven, and under the root is the right holy spring; there hold\nthe gods doom every day; the second root is with the Hrimthursar,\nwhere before was Yawning-gap; under that root is Mimir's spring, where\nknowledge and wit lie hidden; thither came Allfather and begged a drink,\nbut got it not before he left his eye in pledge; the third root is\nover Niflheim, and the worm Nidhogg gnaws the root beneath. A fair hall\nstands under the ash by the spring, and out of it come three maidens,\nNorns, named Has-been, Being, Will-be, who shape the lives of men; there\nare beside other Norns, who come to every man that is born to shape his\nlife, and some of these are good and some evil. In the boughs of the\nash sits an eagle, wise in much, and between his eyes sits the hawk\nVedrfalnir; the squirrel Ratatoskr runs up and down along the ash,\nbearing words of hate betwixt the eagle and the worm. Those Norns who\nabide by the holy spring draw from it every day water, and take the clay\nthat lies around the well, and sprinkle them up over the ash for that\nits boughs should not wither or rot. All those men that have fallen in\nthe fight, and borne wounds and toil unto death, from the beginning of\nthe world, are come to Odin in Valhall; a very great throng is there,\nand many more shall yet come; the flesh of the boar Soerfmnir is sodden\nfor them every day, and he is whole again at even; and the mead they\ndrink that flows from the teats of the she-goat Heidhrun. The meat Odin\nhas on his board he gives to his two wolves, Geri and Freki, and he\nneeds no meat, wine is to him both meat and drink; ravens twain sit on\nhis shoulders, and say into his ear all tidings that they see and hear;\nthey are called Huginn and Muninn (mind and memory); them sends he at\ndawn to fly over the whole world, and they come back at breakfast-tide,\nthereby becomes he wise in many tidings, and for this men call him\nRaven's-god. Every day, when they have clothed them, the heroes put on\ntheir arms and go out into the yard and fight and fell each other; that\nis their play, and when it looks toward mealtime, then ride they home to\nValhall and sit down to drink. For murderers and men forsworn is a great\nhall, and a bad, and the doors look northward; it is altogether wrought\nof adder-backs like a wattled house, but the worms' heads turn into the\nhouse, and blow venom, so that rivers of venom run along the hall, and\nin those rivers must such men wade forever.\" There was no priest-class;\nevery chief was priest for his own folk, offered sacrifice, performed\nceremonies, and so on.\n\nIn politics the homestead, with its franklin-owner, was the unit; the\n\"thing\", or hundred-moot, the primal organisation, and the \"godord\",\nor chieftainship, its tie. The chief who had led a band of kinsmen and\nfollowers to the new country, taken possession of land, and shared it\namong them, became their head-ruler and priest at home, speaker and\npresident of their Thing, and their representative in any dealings with\nneighbouring chiefs and their clients. He was not a feudal lord, for\nany franklin could change his \"godord\" as he liked, and the right\nof \"judgment by peers\" was in full use. At first there was no higher\norganisation than the local thing. A central thing, and a speaker to\nspeak a single \"law\" for the whole island, was instituted in 929, and\nafterwards the island was divided in four quarters, each with a court,\nunder the Al-thing. Society was divided only into two classes of men,\nthe free and unfree, though political power was in the hands of the\nfranklins alone; \"godi\" and thrall ate the same food, spoke the same\ntongue, wore much the same clothes, and were nearly alike in life and\nhabits. Among the free men there was equality in all but wealth and the\nsocial standing that cannot be separated therefrom. The thrall was a\nserf rather than a slave, and could own a house, etc., of his own. In a\ngeneration or so the freeman or landless retainer, if he got a homestead\nof his own, was the peer of the highest in the land. During the tenth\ncentury Greenland was colonised from Iceland, and by end of the same\ncentury christianity was introduced into Iceland, but made at first\nlittle difference in arrangements of society. In the thirteenth century\ndisputes over the power and jurisdiction of the clergy led, with other\nmatters, to civil war, ending in submission to Norway, and the breaking\ndown of all native great houses. Although life under the commonwealth\nhad been rough and irregular, it had been free and varied, breeding\nheroes and men of mark; but the \"law and order\" now brought in left\nall on a dead level of peasant proprietorship, without room for hope\nor opening for ambition. An alien governor ruled the island, which\nwas divided under him into local counties, administered by sheriffs\nappointed by the king of Norway. The Al-thing was replaced by a royal\ncourt, the local work of the local things was taken by a subordinate\nof the sheriff, and things, quarter-courts, trial by jury, and all the\nrest, were swept away to make room for these \"improvements\", which have\nlasted with few changes into this century. In 1380 the island passed\nunder the rule of Denmark, and so continues. (9) During the fifteenth\ncentury the English trade was the only link between Iceland and the\nouter world; the Danish government weakened that link as much as it\ncould, and sought to shut in and monopolise everything Icelandic; under\nthe deadening effect of such rule it is no marvel that everything found\na lower level, and many things went out of existence for lack of use.\nIn the sixteenth century there is little to record but the Reformation,\nwhich did little good, if any, and the ravages of English, Gascon, and\nAlgerine pirates who made havoc on the coast; (10) they appear toward\nthe close of the century and disappear early in the seventeenth. In the\neighteenth century small-pox, sheep disease, famine, and the terrible\neruptions of 1765 and 1783, follow one another swiftly and with terrible\neffect. At the beginning of the present century Iceland, however,\nbegan to shake off the stupor her ill-hap had brought upon her, and\nas European attention had been drawn to her, she was listened to.\nNewspapers, periodicals, and a Useful Knowledge Society were started;\nthen came free trade, and the \"home-rule\" struggle, which met with\npartial success in 1874, and is still being carried on. A colony, Gimli,\nin far-off Canada, has been formed of Icelandic emigrants, and large\nnumbers have left their mother-land; but there are many co-operative\nsocieties organised now, which it is hoped will be able to so revive the\nold resources of the island as to make provision for the old population\nand ways of life. There is now again a representative central council,\nbut very many of the old rights and powers have not been yet restored.\nThe condition of society is peculiar absence of towns, social equality,\nno abject poverty or great wealth, rarity of crime, making it easy for\nthe whole country to be administered as a co-operative commonwealth\nwithout the great and striking changes rendered necessary by more\ncomplicated systems.\n\nIceland has always borne a high name for learning and literature; on\nboth sides of their descent people inherited special poetic power. Some\nof older Eddaic fragments attest the great reach and deep overpowering\nstrength of imagination possessed by their Norse ancestors; and\nthey themselves had been quickened by a new leaven. During the first\ngenerations of the \"land-taking\" a great school of poetry which had\narisen among the Norsemen of the Western Isles was brought by them to\nIceland. (11) The poems then produced are quite beyond parallel with\nthose of any Teutonic language for centuries after their date, which lay\nbetween the beginning of the ninth and the end of the tenth centuries.\nThrough the Greenland colony also came two, or perhaps more, great poems\nof this western school. This school grew out of the stress and storm of\nthe viking life, with its wild adventure and varied commerce, and the\nclose contact with an artistic and inventive folk, possessed of high\nculture and great learning. The infusion of Celtic blood, however\nslight it may have been, had also something to do with the swift intense\nfeeling and rapidity of passion of the earlier Icelandic poets. They\nare hot-headed and hot-hearted, warm, impulsive, quick to quarrel or\nto love, faithful, brave; ready with sword or song to battle with all\ncomers, or to seek adventure wheresoever it might be found. They leave\nIceland young, and wander at their will to different courts of northern\nEurope, where they are always held in high honour. Gunnlaug Worm-tongue\n(12) in 1004 came to England, after being in Norway, as the saga\nsays:--\"Now sail Gunnlaug and his fellows into the English main, and\ncome at autumntide south to London Bridge, where they hauled ashore\ntheir ship. Now, at that time King Ethelred, the son of Edgar, ruled\nover England, and was a good lord; the winter he sat in London. But\nin those days there was the same tongue in England as in Norway and\nDenmark; but the tongues changed when William the Bastard won England,\nfor thenceforward French went current there, for he was of French kin.\nGunnlaug went presently to the king, and greeted him well and worthily.\nThe king asked him from what land he came, and Gunnlaug told him all as\nit was. 'But,' said he, 'I have come to meet thee, lord, for that I have\nmade a song on thee, and I would that it might please thee to hearken to\nthat song.' The king said it should be so, and Gunnlaug gave forth the\nsong well and proudly, and this is the burden thereof--\n\n     \"'As God are all folk fearing\n     The fire lord King of England,\n     Kin of all kings and all folk,\n     To Ethelred the head bow.'\n\nThe king thanked him for the song, and gave him as song-reward a scarlet\ncloak lined with the costliest of furs, and golden-broidered down to\nthe hem; and made him his man; and Gunnlaug was with him all the winter,\nand was well accounted of.\n\nThe poems in this volume are part of the wonderful fragments which\nare all that remain of ancient Scandinavian poetry. Every piece which\nsurvives has been garnered by Vigfusson and Powell in the volumes of\ntheir \"Corpus\", where those who seek may find. A long and illustrious\nline of poets kept the old traditions, down even to within a couple\ncenturies, but the earlier great harvest of song was never again\nequalled. After christianity had entered Iceland, and that, with other\ncauses, had quieted men's lives, although the poetry which stood to the\nfolk in lieu of music did not die away, it lost the exclusive hold it\nhad upon men's minds. In a time not so stirring, when emotion was not so\nfervent or so swift, when there was less to quicken the blood, the story\nthat had before found no fit expression but in verse, could stretch its\nlimbs, as it were, and be told in prose. Something of Irish influence\nis again felt in this new departure and that marvellous new growth, the\nsaga, that came from it, but is little more than an influence. Every\npeople find some one means of expression which more than all else suits\ntheir mood or their powers, and this the Icelanders found in the saga.\nThis was the life of a hero told in prose, but in set form, after a\nregular fashion that unconsciously complied with all epical requirements\nbut that of verse--simple plot, events in order of time, set phrases for\neven the shifting emotion or changeful fortune of a fight or storm,\nand careful avoidance of digression, comment, or putting forward by\nthe narrator of ought but the theme he has in hand; he himself is never\nseen. Something in the perfection of the saga is to be traced to the\nlong winter's evenings, when the whole household, gathered together at\ntheir spinning, weaving, and so on, would listen to one of their number\nwho told anew some old story of adventure or achievement. In very truth\nthe saga is a prose epic, and marked by every quality an epic should\npossess. Growing up while the deeds of dead heroes were fresh in memory,\nmost often recited before the sharers in such deeds, the saga, in its\npure form, never goes from what is truth to its teller. Where the saga,\nas this one of the Volsungs is founded upon the debris of songs and\npoems, even then very old, tales of mythological heroes, of men quite\nremoved from the personal knowledge of the narrator, yet the story is\nso inwound with the tradition of his race, is so much a part of his\nthought-life, that every actor in it has for him a real existence. At\nthe feast or gathering, or by the fireside, as men made nets and women\nspun, these tales were told over; in their frequent repetition by men\nwho believed them, though incident or sequence underwent no change,\nthey would become closer knit, more coherent, and each an organic whole.\nGradually they would take a regular and accepted form, which would ease\nthe strain upon the reciter's memory and leave his mind free to adorn\nthe story with fair devices, that again gave help in the making it\neasier to remember, and thus aided in its preservation. After a couple\nof generations had rounded and polished the sagas by their telling and\nretelling, they were written down for the most part between 1141 and\n1220, and so much was their form impressed upon the mind of the folk,\nthat when learned and literary works appeared, they were written in the\nsame style; hence we have histories alike of kingdoms, or families, or\nmiracles, lives of saints, kings, or bishops in saga-form, as well as\nsubjects that seem at first sight even less hopeful. All sagas that have\nyet appeared in English may be found in the book-list at end of this\nvolume, but they are not a tithe of those that remain.\n\nOf all the stories kept in being by the saga-tellers and left for our\ndelight, there is none that so epitomises human experience; has within\nthe same space so much of nature and of life; so fully the temper and\ngenius of the Northern folk, as that of the Volsungs and Niblungs, which\nhas in varied shapes entered into the literature of many lands. In\nthe beginning there is no doubt that the story belonged to the common\nancestral folk of all the Teutonic of Scando-Gothic peoples in the\nearliest days of their wanderings. Whether they came from the Hindu\nKush, or originated in Northern Europe, brought it with them from Asia,\nor evolved it among the mountains and rivers it has taken for scenery,\nnone know nor can; but each branch of their descendants has it in one\nform or another, and as the Icelanders were the very crown and flower of\nthe northern folk, so also the story which is the peculiar heritage of\nthat folk received in their hands its highest expression and most noble\nform. The oldest shape in which we have it is in the Eddaic poems, some\nof which date from unnumbered generations before the time to which most\nof them are usually ascribed, the time of the viking-kingdoms in the\nWestern Isles. In these poems the only historical name is that of\nAttila, the great Hun leader, who filled so large a part of the\nimagination of the people whose power he had broken. There is no doubt\nthat, in the days when the kingdoms of the Scando-Goths reached from the\nNorth Cape to the Caspian, that some earlier great king performed his\npart; but, after the striking career of Attila, he became the recognised\ntype of a powerful foreign potentate. All the other actors are\nmythic-heroic. Of the Eddaic songs only fragments now remain, but\nere they perished there arose from them a saga, that now given to the\nreaders of this. The so-called Anglo-Saxons brought part of the story to\nEngland in \"Beowulf\"; in which also appear some incidents that are again\ngiven in the Icelandic saga of \"Grettir the Strong\". Most widely known\nis the form taken by the story in the hands of an unknown medieval\nGerman poet, who, from the broken ballads then surviving wrote the\n\"Nibelungenlied\" or more properly \"Nibelungen Not\" (\"The Need of the\nNiblungs\"). In this the characters are all renamed, some being more\nor less historical actors in mid-European history, as Theodoric of the\nEast-Goths, for instance. The whole of the earlier part of the story has\ndisappeared, and though Siegfried (Sigurd) has slain a dragon, there is\nnothing to connect it with the fate that follows the treasure; Andvari,\nthe Volsungs, Fafnir, and Regin are all forgotten; the mythological\nfeatures have become faint, and the general air of the whole is that of\nmedieval romance. The swoard Gram is replaced by Balmung, and the Helm\nof Awing by the Tarn-cap--the former with no gain, the latter with great\nloss. The curse of Andvari, which in the saga is grimly real, working\nitself out with slow, sure steps that no power of god or man can turn\naside, in the medieval poem is but a mere scenic effect, a strain of\nmystery and magic, that runs through the changes of the story with\nmuch added picturesqueness, but that has no obvious relation to the\nworking-out of the plot, or fulfilment of their destiny by the different\ncharacters. Brynhild loses a great deal, and is a poor creature when\ncompared with herself in the saga; Grimhild and her fateful drink have\ngone; Gudrun (Chriemhild) is much more complex, but not more tragic;\none new character, Rudiger, appears as the type of chivalry; but Sigurd\n(Siegfred) the central figure, though he has lost by the omission of so\nmuch of his life, is, as before, the embodiment of all the virtues that\nwere dear to northern hearts. Brave, strong, generous, dignified, and\nutterly truthful, he moves amid a tangle of tragic events, overmastered\nby a mighty fate, and in life or death is still a hero without stain or\nflaw. It is no wonder that he survives to this day in the national songs\nof the Faroe Islands and in the folk-ballads of Denmark; that his legend\nshould have been mingled with northern history through Ragnar Lodbrog,\nor southern through Attila and Theodoric; that it should have inspired\nWilliam Morris in producing the one great English epic of the century;\n(13) and Richard Wagner in the mightiest among his music-dramas. Of the\nstory as told in the saga there is no need here to speak, for to read\nit, as may be done a few pages farther on, is that not better than to\nread about it? But it may be urged upon those that are pleased and moved\nby the passion and power, the strength and deep truth of it, to find out\nmore than they now know of the folk among whom it grew, and the land in\nwhich they dwelt. In so doing they will come to see how needful are\na few lessons from the healthy life and speech of those days, to be\napplied in the bettering of our own.\n\nH. HALLIDAY SPARLING.\n\n\n  ENDNOTES:\n  (1)  Viking (Ice. \"Vikingr\"; \"vik\", a bay or creek, \"ingr\",\n       belonging to, (or men of) freebooters.\n  (2)  \"West over the Sea\" is the word for the British Isles.\n  (3)  See Todd (J. H.). \"War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill\".\n  (4)  He was son of Ingiald, son of Thora, daughter of Sigurd\n       Snake-I'-th'-eye, son of Ragnar Lodbrok by Aslaug, daughter\n       of Sigurd by Brynhild.  The genealogy is, doubtless, quite\n       mythical.\n  (5)  A Collection of Sagas and other Historical Documents\n       relating to the Settlements and Descents of the Northmen on\n       the British Isles. Ed., G. W. Dasent, D.C.L, and Gudbrand\n       Vigfusson, M.A. \"In the Press. Longmans, London. 8vo.\n  (6)  \"Orkneyinga Saga\".\n  (7)  Landtaking-book--\"landnam\", landtaking, from \"at nema\n       land\", hence also the early settlers were called\n       \"landnamsmenn\".\n  (8)  To all interested in the subject of comparative mythology,\n       Andrew Lang's two admirable books, \"Custom and Myth\" (1884,\n       8vo) and \"Myth, Ritual, and Religion\" (2 vols., crown 8vo,\n       1887), both published by Longmans, London, may be warmly\n       recommended.\n  (9)  Iceland was granted full independence from Denmark in 1944.\n       --DBK.\n  (10) These pirates are always appearing about the same time in\n       English State papers as plundering along the coasts of the\n       British Isles, especially Ireland.\n  (11) For all the old Scandinavian poetry extant in Icelandic, see\n       \"Corpus Poeticum Borealis\" of Vigfusson and Powell.\n  (12) Snake-tongue--so called from his biting satire.\n  (13) \"Sigurd the Volsung\", which seems to have become all but\n       forgotten in this century.--DBK.\n\n\n\n\nTRANSLATORS' PREFACE.\n\nIn offering to the reader this translation of the most complete and\ndramatic form of the great Epic of the North, we lay no claim to special\ncritical insight, nor do we care to deal at all with vexed questions,\nbut are content to abide by existing authorities, doing our utmost to\nmake our rendering close and accurate, and, if it might be so, at the\nsame time, not over prosaic: it is to the lover of poetry and nature,\nrather than to the student, that we appeal to enjoy and wonder at this\ngreat work, now for the first time, strange to say, translated into\nEnglish: this must be our excuse for speaking here, as briefly as may\nbe, of things that will seem to the student over well known to be worth\nmentioning, but which may give some ease to the general reader who comes\nacross our book.\n\nThe prose of the \"Volsunga Saga\" was composed probably some time in the\ntwelfth century, from floating traditions no doubt; from songs which,\nnow lost, were then known, at least in fragments, to the Sagaman;\nand finally from songs, which, written down about his time, are still\nexisting: the greater part of these last the reader will find in this\nbook, some inserted amongst the prose text by the original story-teller,\nand some by the present translators, and the remainder in the latter\npart of the book, put together as nearly as may be in the order of the\nstory, and forming a metrical version of the greater portion of it.\n\nThese Songs from the Elder Edda we will now briefly compare with the\nprose of the Volsung Story, premising that these are the only metrical\nsources existing of those from which the Sagaman told his tale.\n\nExcept for the short snatch on p. 24 (1) of our translation, nothing is\nnow left of these till we come to the episode of Helgi Hundings-bane,\nSigurd's half-brother; there are two songs left relating to this, from\nwhich the prose is put together; to a certain extent they cover the same\nground; but the latter half of the second is, wisely as we think, left\nuntouched by the Sagaman, as its interest is of itself too great not to\nencumber the progress of the main story; for the sake of its wonderful\nbeauty, however, we could not refrain from rendering it, and it will be\nfound first among the metrical translations that form the second part of\nthis book.\n\nOf the next part of the Saga, the deaths of Sinfjotli and Sigmund, and\nthe journey of Queen Hjordis to the court of King Alf, there is no trace\nleft of any metrical origin; but we meet the Edda once more where Regin\ntells the tale of his kin to Sigurd, and where Sigurd defeats and slays\nthe sons of Hunding: this lay is known as the \"Lay of Regin\".\n\nThe short chap. xvi. is abbreviated from a long poem called the\n\"Prophecy of Gripir\" (the Grifir of the Saga), where the whole story\nto come is told with some detail, and which certainly, if drawn out at\nlength into the prose, would have forestalled the interest of the tale.\n\nIn the slaying of the Dragon the Saga adheres very closely to the \"Lay\nof Fafnir\"; for the insertion of the song of the birds to Sigurd the\npresent translators are responsible.\n\nThen comes the waking of Brynhild, and her wise redes to Sigurd, taken\nfrom the Lay of Sigrdrifa, the greater part of which, in its metrical\nform, is inserted by the Sagaman into his prose; but the stanza relating\nBrynhild's awaking we have inserted into the text; the latter part,\nomitted in the prose, we have translated for the second part of our\nbook.\n\nOf Sigurd at Hlymdale, of Gudrun's dream, the magic potion of Grimhild,\nthe wedding of Sigurd consequent on that potion; of the wooing of\nBrynhild for Gunnar, her marriage to him, of the quarrel of the Queens,\nthe brooding grief and wrath of Brynhild, and the interview of Sigurd\nwith her--of all this, the most dramatic and best-considered parts of\nthe tale, there is now no more left that retains its metrical form than\nthe few snatches preserved by the Sagaman, though many of the incidents\nare alluded to in other poems.\n\nChap. xxx. is met by the poem called the \"Short Lay of Sigurd\",\nwhich, fragmentary apparently at the beginning, gives us something of\nBrynhild's awakening wrath and jealousy, the slaying of Sigurd, and the\ndeath of Brynhild herself; this poem we have translated entire.\n\nThe Fragments of the \"Lay of Brynhild\" are what is left of a poem partly\ncovering the same ground as this last, but giving a different account\nof Sigurd's slaying; it is very incomplete, though the Sagaman has drawn\nsome incidents from it; the reader will find it translated in our second\npart.\n\nBut before the death of the heroine we have inserted entire into the\ntext as chap. xxxi. the \"First Lay of Gudrun\", the most lyrical, the\nmost complete, and the most beautiful of all the Eddaic poems; a\npoem that any age or language might count among its most precious\npossessions.\n\nFrom this point to the end of the Saga it keeps closely to the Songs of\nEdda; in chap. xxxii. the Sagaman has rendered into prose the \"Ancient\nLay of Gudrun\", except for the beginning, which gives again another\naccount of the death of Sigurd: this lay also we have translated.\n\nThe grand poem, called the \"Hell-ride of Brynhild\", is not represented\ndirectly by anything in the prose except that the Sagaman has supplied\nfrom it a link or two wanting in the \"Lay of Sigrdrifa\"; it will be\nfound translated in our second part.\n\nThe betrayal and slaughter of the Giukings or Niblungs, and the fearful\nend of Atli and his sons, and court, are recounted in two lays, called\nthe \"Lays of Atli\"; the longest of these, the \"Greenland Lay of Atli\",\nis followed closely by the Sagaman; the Shorter one we have translated.\n\nThe end of Gudrun, of her daughter by Sigurd and of her sons by her last\nhusband Jonakr, treated of in the last four chapters of the Saga, are\nvery grandly and poetically given in the songs called the \"Whetting of\nGudrun\", and the \"Lay of Hamdir\", which are also among our translations.\n\nThese are all the songs of the Edda which the Sagaman has dealt with;\nbut one other, the \"Lament of Oddrun\", we have translated on account of\nits intrinsic merit.\n\nAs to the literary quality of this work we in say much, but we think we\nmay well trust the reader of poetic insight to break through whatever\nentanglement of strange manners or unused element may at first trouble\nhim, and to meet the nature and beauty with which it is filled: we\ncannot doubt that such a reader will be intensely touched by finding,\namidst all its wildness and remoteness, such a startling realism,\nsuch subtilty, such close sympathy with all the passions that may move\nhimself to-day.\n\nIn conclusion, we must again say how strange it seems to us, that this\nVolsung Tale, which is in fact an unversified poem, should never before\nbeen translated into English. For this is the Great Story of the\nNorth, which should be to all our race what the Tale of Troy was to the\nGreeks--to all our race first, and afterwards, when the change of the\nworld has made our race nothing more than a name of what has been--a\nstory too--then should it be to those that come after us no less than\nthe Tale of Troy has been to us.\n\nWILLIAM MORRIS and EIRIKR MAGNUSSON.\n\n\n  ENDNOTES:\n  (1)  Chapter viii.--DBK.\n\n\n\n\nTHE STORY OF THE VOLSUNGS AND NIBLUNGS.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I. Of Sigi, the Son of Odin.\n\nHere begins the tale, and tells of a man who was named Sigi, and called\nof men the son of Odin; another man withal is told of in the tale, hight\nSkadi, a great man and mighty of his hands; yet was Sigi the mightier\nand the higher of kin, according to the speech of men of that time.\nNow Skadi had a thrall with whom the story must deal somewhat, Bredi by\nname, who was called after that work which he had to do; in prowess and\nmight of hand he was equal to men who were held more worthy, yea, and\nbetter than some thereof.\n\nNow it is to be told that, on a time, Sigi fared to the hunting of the\ndeer, and the thrall with him; and they hunted deer day-long till the\nevening; and when they gathered together their prey in the evening, lo,\ngreater and more by far was that which Bredi had slain than Sigi's prey;\nand this thing he much misliked, and he said that great wonder it was\nthat a very thrall should out-do him in the hunting of deer: so he\nfell on him and slew him, and buried the body of him thereafter in a\nsnow-drift.\n\nThen he went home at evening tide and says that Bredi had ridden away\nfrom him into the wild-wood. \"Soon was he out of my sight,\" he says,\n\"and naught more I wot of him.\"\n\nSkadi misdoubted the tale of Sigi, and deemed that this was a guile of\nhis, and that he would have slain Bredi. So he sent men to seek for him,\nand to such an end came their seeking, that they found him in a certain\nsnow-drift; then said Skadi, that men should call that snow-drift\nBredi's Drift from henceforth; and thereafter have folk followed, so\nthat in such wise they call every drift that is right great.\n\nThus it is well seen that Sigi has slain the thrall and murdered him; so\nhe is given forth to be a wolf in holy places, (1) and may no more abide\nin the land with his father; therewith Odin bare him fellowship from the\nland, so long a way, that right long it was, and made no stay till he\nbrought him to certain war-ships. So Sigi falls to lying out a-warring\nwith the strength that his father gave him or ever they parted; and\nhappy was he in his warring, and ever prevailed, till he brought\nit about that he won by his wars land and lordship at the last; and\nthereupon he took to him a noble wife, and became a great and mighty\nking, and ruled over the land of the Huns, and was the greatest of\nwarriors. He had a son by his wife, who was called Refir, who grew up in\nhis father's house, and soon became great of growth, and shapely.\n\n\n  ENDNOTES:\n  (1)  \"Wolf in holy places,\" a man put out of the pale of society\n       for crimes, an outlaw.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II. Of the Birth of Volsung, the Son of Rerir, who was the Son\nof Sigi.\n\nNow Sigi grew old, and had many to envy him, so that at last those\nturned against him whom he trusted most; yea, even the brothers of his\nwife; for these fell on him at his unwariest, when there were few\nwith him to withstand them, and brought so many against him, that they\nprevailed against him, and there fell Sigi and all his folk with him.\nBut Rerir, his son, was not in this trouble, and he brought together so\nmighty a strength of his friends and the great men of the land, that\nhe got to himself both the lands and kingdom of Sigi his father; and so\nnow, when he deems that the feet under him stand firm in his rule, then\nhe calls to mind that which he had against his mother's brothers, who\nhad slain his father. So the king gathers together a mighty army, and\ntherewith falls on his kinsmen, deeming that if he made their kinship\nof small account, yet none the less they had first wrought evil against\nhim. So he wrought his will herein, in that he departed not from strife\nbefore he had slain all his father's banesmen, though dreadful the deed\nseemed in every wise. So now he gets land, lordship, and fee, and is\nbecome a mightier man than his father before him.\n\nMuch wealth won in war gat Rerir to himself, and wedded a wife withal,\nsuch as he deemed meet for him, and long they lived together, but had\nno child to take the heritage after them; and ill-content they both were\nwith that, and prayed the Gods with heart and soul that they might get\nthem a child. And so it is said that Odin hears their prayer, and Freyia\nno less hearkens wherewith they prayed unto her: so she, never lacking\nfor all good counsel, calls to her her casket-bearing may, (1) the\ndaughter of Hrimnir the giant, and sets an apple in her hand, and bids\nher bring it to the king. She took the apple, and did on her the gear of\na crow, and went flying till she came whereas the king sat on a mound,\nand there she let the apple fall into the lap of the king; but he took\nthe apple, and deemed he knew whereto it would avail; so he goes home\nfrom the mound to his own folk, and came to the queen, and some deal of\nthat apple she ate.\n\nSo, as the tale tells, the queen soon knew that she big with child, but\na long time wore or ever she might give birth to the child: so it befell\nthat the king must needs go to the wars, after the custom of kings, that\nhe may keep his own land in peace: and in this journey it came to pass\nthat Rerir fell sick and got his death, being minded to go home to Odin,\na thing much desired of many folk in those days.\n\nNow no otherwise it goes with the queen's sickness than heretofore, nor\nmay she be the lighter of her child, and six winters wore away with the\nsickness still heavy on her; so that at the last she feels that she may\nnot live long; wherefore now she bade cut the child from out of her; and\nit was done even as she bade; a man-child was it, and great of growth\nfrom his birth, as might well be; and they say that the youngling kissed\nhis mother or ever she died; but to him is a name given, and he is\ncalled Volsung; and he was king over Hunland in the room of his father.\nFrom his early years he was big and strong, and full of daring in all\nmanly deeds and trials, and he became the greatest of warriors, and of\ngood hap in all the battles of his warfaring.\n\nNow when he was fully come to man's estate, Hrimnir the giant sends to\nhim Ljod his daughter; she of whom the tale told, that she brought the\napple to Rerir, Volsung's father. So Volsung weds her withal; and long\nthey abode together with good hap and great love. They had ten sons and\none daughter, and their eldest son was hight Sigmund, and their daughter\nSigny; and these two were twins, and in all wise the foremost and the\nfairest of the children of Volsung the king, and mighty, as all his seed\nwas; even as has been long told from ancient days, and in tales of long\nago, with the greatest fame of all men, how that the Volsungs have been\ngreat men and high-minded and far above the most of men both in cunning\nand in prowess and all things high and mighty.\n\nSo says the story that king Volsung let build a noble hall in such a\nwise, that a big oak-tree stood therein, and that the limbs of the tree\nblossomed fair out over the roof of the hall, while below stood the\ntrunk within it, and the said trunk did men call Branstock.\n\n\n  ENDNOTES:\n  (1)  May (A.S. \"maeg\"), a maid.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III. Of the Sword that Sigmund, Volsung's son, drew from the\nBranstock.\n\nThere was a king called Siggeir, who ruled over Gothland, a mighty king\nand of many folk; he went to meet Volsung, the king, and prayed him for\nSigny his daughter to wife; and the king took his talk well, and his\nsons withal, but she was loth thereto, yet she bade her father rule in\nthis as in all other things that concerned her; so the king took such\nrede (1) that he gave her to him, and she was betrothed to King Siggeir;\nand for the fulfilling of the feast and the wedding, was King Siggeir\nto come to the house of King Volsung. The king got ready the feast\naccording to his best might, and when all things were ready, came the\nking's guests and King Siggeir withal at the day appointed, and many a\nman of great account had Siggeir with him.\n\nThe tale tells that great fires were made endlong the hall, and the\ngreat tree aforesaid stood midmost thereof; withal folk say that, whenas\nmen sat by the fires in the evening, a certain man came into the hall\nunknown of aspect to all men; and suchlike array he had, that over him\nwas a spotted cloak, and he was bare-foot, and had linen-breeches knit\ntight even unto the bone, and he had a sword in his hand as he went up\nto the Branstock, and a slouched hat upon his head: huge he was, and\nseeming-ancient, and one-eyed. (2) So he drew his sword and smote it\ninto the tree-trunk so that it sank in up to the hilts; and all held\nback from greeting the man. Then he took up the word, and said--\n\n\"Whoso draweth this sword from this stock, shall have the same as a gift\nfrom me, and shall find in good sooth that never bare he better sword in\nhand than is this.\"\n\nTherewith out went the old man from the hall, and none knew who he was\nor whither he went.\n\nNow men stand up, and none would fain be the last to lay hand to the\nsword, for they deemed that he would have the best of it who might first\ntouch it; so all the noblest went thereto first, and then the others,\none after other; but none who came thereto might avail to pull it out,\nfor in nowise would it come away howsoever they tugged at it; but now up\ncomes Sigmund, King Volsung's son, and sets hand to the sword, and pulls\nit from the stock, even as if it lay loose before him; so good that\nweapon seemed to all, that none thought he had seen such a sword before,\nand Siggeir would fain buy it of him at thrice its weight of gold, but\nSigmund said--\n\n\"Thou mightest have taken the sword no less than I from there whereas it\nstood, if it had been thy lot to bear it; but now, since it has first of\nall fallen into my hand, never shalt thou have it, though thou biddest\ntherefor all the gold thou hast.\"\n\nKing Siggeir grew wroth at these words, and deemed Sigmund had answered\nhim scornfully, but whereas was a wary man and a double-dealing, he\nmade as if he heeded this matter in nowise, yet that same evening he\nthought how he might reward it, as was well seen afterwards.\n\n\n  ENDNOTES:\n  (1)  Rede (A.S. raed), counsel, advice, a tale or prophecy.\n  (2)  The man is Odin, who is always so represented, because he\n       gave his eye as a pledge for a draught from the fountain of\n       Mimir, the source of all wisdom.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV. How King Siggeir wedded Signy, and bade King Volsung and his\nson to Gothland.\n\nNow it is to be told that Siggeir goes to bed by Signy that night, and\nthe next morning the weather was fair; then says King Siggeir that he\nwill not bide, lest the wind should wax, or the sea grow impassable;\nnor is it said that Volsung or his sons letted him herein, and that the\nless, because they saw that he was fain to get him gone from the feast.\nBut now says Signy to her father--\n\n\"I have no will to go away with Seggeir; neither does my heart smile\nupon him, and I wot; by my fore-knowledge, and from the fetch (1) of our\nkin, that from this counsel will great evil fall on us if this wedding\nbe not speedily undone.\"\n\n\"Speak in no such wise, daughter!\" said he, \"for great shame will it be\nto him, yea, and to us also, to break troth with him, he being sackless;\n(2) and in naught may we trust him, and no friendship shall we have of\nhim, if these matters are broken off; but he will pay us back in as evil\nwise as he may; for that alone is seemly, to hold truly to troth given.\"\n\nSo King Siggeir got ready for home, and before he went from the feast he\nbade King Volsung, his father-in-law, come see him in Gothland, and all\nhis sons with him, whenas three months should be overpast, and to bring\nsuch following with him, as he would have; and as he deemed meet for his\nhonour; and thereby will Siggeir the king pay back for the shortcomings\nof the wedding-feast, in that he would abide thereat but one night only,\na thing not according to the wont of men. So King Volsung gave word to\ncome on the day named, and the kinsmen-in-law parted, and Siggeir went\nhome with his wife.\n\n\n  ENDNOTES:\n  (1)  Fetch; wraith, or familiar spirit.\n  (2)  Sackless (A.S. \"sacu\", Icel. \"sok\".) blameless.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V. Of the Slaying of King Volsung.\n\nNow tells the tale of King Volsung and his sons that they go at the time\nappointed to Gothland at the bidding of King Siggeir, and put off from\nthe land in three ships, all well manned, and have a fair voyage, and\nmade Gothland late of an evening tide.\n\nBut that same night came Signy and called her father and brothers to a\nprivy talk, and told them what she deemed King Siggeir was minded to do,\nand how that he had drawn together an army no man may meet. \"And,\" says\nshe, \"he is minded to do guilefully by you; wherefore I bid you get\nye gone back again to your own land, and gather together the mightiest\npower ye may, and then come back hither and avenge you; neither go ye\nnow to your undoing, for ye shall surely fail not to fall by his wiles\nif ye turn not on him even as I bid you.\"\n\nThen spake Volsung the king, \"All people and nations shall tell of the\nword I spake, yet being unborn, wherein I vowed a vow that I would flee\nin fear from neither fire nor the sword; even so have I done hitherto,\nand shall I depart therefrom now I am old? Yea withal never shall the\nmaidens mock these my sons at the games, and cry out at them that they\nfear death; once alone must all men need die, and from that season shall\nnone escape; so my rede is that we flee nowhither, but do the work of\nour hands in as manly wise as we may; a hundred fights have I fought,\nand whiles I had more, and whiles I had less, and yet ever had I the\nvictory, nor shall it ever be heard tell of me that I fled away or\nprayed for peace.\"\n\nThen Signy wept right sore, and prayed that she might not go back to\nKing Siggeir, but King Volsung answered--\n\n\"Thou shalt surely go back to thine husband, and abide with him,\nhowsoever it fares with us.\"\n\nSo Signy went home, and they abode there that night; but in the morning,\nas soon as it was day, Volsung bade his men arise and go aland and make\nthem ready for battle; so they went aland, all of them all-armed, and\nhad not long to wait before Siggeir fell on them with all his army, and\nthe fiercest fight there was betwixt them; and Siggeir cried on his men\nto the onset all he might; and so the tale tells that King Volsung and\nhis sons went eight times right through Siggeir's folk that day, smiting\nand hewing on either hand, but when they would do so even once again,\nKing Volsung fell amidst his folk and all his men withal, saving his ten\nsons, for mightier was the power against them than they might withstand.\n\nBut now are all his sons taken, and laid in bonds and led away; and\nSigny was ware withal that her father was slain, and her brothers taken\nand doomed to death; that she called King Siggeir apart to talk with\nher, and said--\n\n\"This will I pray of thee, that thou let not slay my brothers hastily,\nbut let them be set awhile in the stocks, for home to me comes the saw\nthat says, \"Sweet to eye while seen\": but longer life I pray not for\nthem, because I wot well that my prayer will not avail me.\"\n\nThen answered Siggeir:\n\n\"Surely thou art mad and witless, praying thus for more bale for thy\nbrothers than their present slaying; yet this will I grant thee, for the\nbetter it likes me the more they must bear, and the longer their pain is\nor ever death come to them.\"\n\nNow he let it be done even as she prayed, and a mighty beam was brought\nand set on the feet of those ten brethren in a certain place of the\nwild-wood, and there they sit day-long until night; but at midnight, as\nthey sat in the stocks, there came on them a she-wolf from out the wood;\nold she was, and both great and evil of aspect; and the first thing she\ndid was to bite one of those brethren till he died, and then she ate him\nup withal, and went on her way.\n\nBut the next morning Signy sent a man to the brethren, even one whom she\nmost trusted, to wot of the tidings; and when he came back he told her\nthat one of them was dead, and great and grievous she deemed it, if they\nshould all fare in like wise, and yet naught might she avail them.\n\nSoon is the tale told thereof: nine nights together came the she-wolf\nat midnight, and each night slew and ate up one of the brethren, until\nall were dead, save Sigmund only; so now, before the tenth night came,\nSigny sent that trusty man to Sigmund, her brother, and gave honey into\nhis hand, bidding him do it over Sigmund's face, and set a little deal\nof it in his mouth; so he went to Sigmund and did as he was bidden, and\nthen came home again; and so the next night came the she-wolf according\nto her wont, and would slay him and eat him even as his brothers; but\nnow she sniffs the breeze from him, whereas he was anointed with the\nhoney, and licks his face all over with her tongue, and then thrusts\nher tongue into the mouth of him. No fear he had thereof, but caught\nthe she-wolf's tongue betwixt his teeth, and so hard she started back\nthereat, and pulled herself away so mightily, setting her feet against\nthe stocks, that all was riven asunder; but he ever held so fast that the\ntongue came away by the roots, and thereof she had her bane.\n\nBut some men say that this same she-wolf was the mother of King\nSiggeir, who had turned herself into this likeness by troll's lore and\nwitchcraft.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI. Of how Signy sent the Children of her and Siggeir to\nSigmund.\n\nNow whenas Sigmund is loosed and the stocks are broken, he dwells in the\nwoods and holds himself there; but Signy sends yet again to wot of the\ntidings, whether Sigmund were alive or no; but when those who were sent\ncame to him, he told them all as it had betid, and how things had gone\nbetwixt him and the wolf; so they went home and tell Signy the tidings;\nbut she goes and finds her brother, and they take counsel in such wise\nas to make a house underground in the wild-wood; and so things go on a\nwhile, Signy hiding him there, and sending him such things as he needed;\nbut King Siggeir deemed that all the Volsungs were dead.\n\nNow Siggeir had two sons by his wife, whereof it is told that when the\neldest was ten winters old, Signy sends him to Sigmund, so that he might\ngive him help, if he would in any wise strive to avenge his father;\nso the youngling goes to the wood, and comes late in evening-tide to\nSigmund's earth-house; and Sigmund welcomed him in seemly fashion, and\nsaid that he should make ready their bread; \"But I,\" said he, \"will go\nseek firewood.\"\n\nTherewith he gives the meal-bag into his hands while he himself went to\nfetch firing; but when he came back the youngling had done naught at the\nbread-making. Then asks Sigmund if the bread be ready--\n\nSays the youngling, \"I durst not set hand to the meal sack, because\nsomewhat quick lay in the meal.\"\n\nNow Sigmund deemed he wotted that the lad was of no such heart as that\nhe would be fain to have him for his fellow; and when he met his sister,\nSigmund said that he had come no nigher to the aid of a man though the\nyoungling were with him.\n\nThen said Signy, \"Take him and kill him then; for why should such an one\nlive longer?\" and even so he did.\n\nSo this winter wears, and the next winter Signy sent her next son to\nSigmund; and there is no need to make a long tale thereof, for in like\nwise went all things, and he slew the child by the counsel of Signy.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII. Of the Birth of Sinfjotli the Son of Sigmund.\n\nSo on a tide it befell as Signy sat in her bower, that there came to her\na witch-wife exceeding cunning, and Signy talked with her in such wise,\n\"Fain am I,\" says she, \"that we should change semblances together.\"\n\nShe says, \"Even as thou wilt then.\"\n\nAnd so by her wiles she brought it about that they changed semblances,\nand now the witch-wife sits in Signy's place according to her rede, and\ngoes to bed by the king that night, and he knows not that he has other\nthan Signy beside him.\n\nBut the tale tells of Signy, that she fared to the earth-house of her\nbrother, and prayed him give her harbouring for the night; \"For I have\ngone astray abroad in the woods, and know not whither I am going.\"\n\nSo he said she might abide, and that he would not refuse harbour to one\nlone woman, deeming that she would scarce pay back his good cheer by\ntale-bearing: so she came into the house, and they sat down to meat,\nand his eyes were often on her, and a goodly and fair woman she seemed\nto him; but when they are full, then he says to her, that he is right\nfain that they should have but one bed that night; she nowise turned\naway therefrom, and so for three nights together he laid her in bed by\nhim.\n\nThereafter she fared home, and found the witch-wife and bade her change\nsemblances again, and she did so.\n\nNow as time wears, Signy brings forth a man-child, who was named\nSinfjotli, and when he grew up he was both big and strong, and fair of\nface, and much like unto the kin of the Volsungs, and he was hardly yet\nten winters old when she sent him to Sigmund's earth-house; but this\ntrial she had made of her other sons or ever she had sent them to\nSigmund, that she had sewed gloves on to their hands through flesh and\nskin, and they had borne it ill and cried out thereat; and this she now\ndid to Sinfjotli, and he changed countenance in nowise thereat. Then she\nflayed off the kirtle so that the skin came off with the sleeves, and\nsaid that this would be torment enough for him; but he said--\n\n\"Full little would Volsung have felt such a smart this.\"\n\nSo the lad came to Sigmund, and Sigmund bade him knead their meal up,\nwhile he goes to fetch firing; so he gave him the meal-sack, and then\nwent after the wood, and by then he came back had Sinfjotli made an end\nof his baking. Then asked Sigmund if he had found nothing in the meal.\n\n\"I misdoubted me that there was something quick in the meal when I first\nfell to kneading of it, but I have kneaded it all up together, both the\nmeal and that which was therein, whatsoever it was.\"\n\nThen Sigmund laughed out, he said--\n\n\"Naught wilt thou eat of this bread to-night, for the most deadly of\nworms (1) hast thou kneaded up therewith.\"\n\nNow Sigmund was so mighty a man that he might eat venom and have no hurt\ntherefrom; but Sinfjotli might abide whatso venom came on the outside of\nhim, but might neither eat nor drink thereof.\n\n\n  ENDNOTES:\n  (1)  Serpents.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII. The Death of King Siggeir and of Signy.\n\nThe tale tells that Sigmund thought Sinfjotli over young to help him to\nhis revenge, and will first of all harden him with manly deeds; so in\nsummer-tide they fare wide through the woods and slay men for their\nwealth; Sigmund deems him to take much after the kin of the Volsungs,\nthough he thinks that he is Siggeir's son, and deems him to have the\nevil heart of his father, with the might and daring of the Volsungs;\nwithal he must needs think him in no wise a kinsome man, for full oft\nwould he bring Sigmund's wrongs to his memory, and prick him on to slay\nKing Siggeir.\n\nNow on a time as they fare abroad in the wood for the getting of wealth,\nthey find a certain house, and two men with great gold rings asleep\ntherein: now these twain were spell-bound skin-changers, (1) and\nwolf-skins were hanging up over them in the house; and every tenth\nday might they come out of those skins; and they were kings' sons: so\nSigmund and Sinfjofli do the wolf-skins on them, and then might they\nnowise come out of them, though forsooth the same nature went with them\nas heretofore; they howled as wolves howl, but both knew the meaning of\nthat howling; they lay out in the wild-wood, and each went his way; and\na word they made betwixt them, that they should risk the onset of seven\nmen, but no more, and that he who was first to be set on should howl in\nwolfish wise: \"Let us not depart from this,\" says Sigmund, \"for thou art\nyoung and over-bold, and men will deem the quarry good, when they take\nthee.\"\n\nNow each goes his way, and when they were parted, Sigmund meets certain\nmen, and gives forth a wolf's howl; and when Sinfjotli heard it, he went\nstraightway thereto, and slew them all, and once more they parted. But\nere Sinfjotli has fared long through the woods, eleven men meet him,\nand he wrought in such wise that he slew them all, and was awearied\ntherewith, and crawls under an oak, and there takes his rest. Then came\nSigmund thither, and said--\n\n\"Why didst thou not call on me?\"\n\nSinfjotli said, \"I was loth to call for thy help for the slaying of\neleven men.\"\n\nThen Sigmund rushed at him so hard that he staggered and fell, and\nSigmund bit him in the throat. Now that day they might not come out of\ntheir wolf-skins: but Sigmund lays the other on his back, and bears\nhim home to the house, and cursed the wolf-gears and gave them to the\ntrolls. Now on a day he saw where two weasels went, and how that one bit\nthe other in the throat, and then ran straightway into the thicket, and\ntook up a leaf and laid it on the wound, and thereon his fellow sprang\nup quite and clean whole; so Sigmund went out and saw a raven flying\nwith a blade of that same herb to him; so he took it and drew it over\nSinfjotli's hurt, and he straightway sprang up as whole as though he had\nnever been hurt. Thereafter they went home to their earth-house, and\nabode there till the time came for them to put off the wolf-shapes; then\nthey burnt them up with fire, and prayed that no more hurt might come\nto any one from them; but in that uncouth guise they wrought many famous\ndeeds in the kingdom and lordship of King Siggeir.\n\nNow when Sinfjotli was come to man's estate, Sigmund deemed he had tried\nhim fully, and or ever a long time has gone by he turns his mind to the\navenging of his father, if so it may be brought about; so on a certain\nday the twain get them gone from their earth-house, and come to the\nabode of King Siggeir late in the evening, and go into the porch before\nthe hall, wherein were tuns of ale, and there they lie hid: now the\nqueen is ware of them, where they are, and is fain to meet them; and\nwhen they met they took counsel, and were of one mind that Volsung should\nbe revenged that same night.\n\nNow Signy and the king had two children of tender age, who played with\na golden toy on the floor, and bowled it along the pavement of the hall,\nrunning along with it; but therewith a golden ring from off it trundles\naway into the place where Sigmund and Sinfjotli lay, and off runs the\nlittle one to search for the same, and beholds withal where two men are\nsitting, big and grimly to look on, with overhanging helms and bright\nwhite byrnies; (2) so he runs up the hall to his father, and tells him\nof the sight he has seen, and thereat the king misdoubts of some guile\nabiding him; but Signy heard their speech, and arose and took both the\nchildren, and went out into the porch to them and said--\n\n\"Lo ye! These younglings have bewrayed you; come now therefore and slay\nthem!\"\n\nSigmund says, \"Never will I slay thy children for telling of where I lay\nhid.\"\n\nBut Sinfjotli made little enow of it, but drew his sword and slew them\nboth, and cast them into the hall at King Siggeir's feet.\n\nThen up stood the king and cried on his men to take those who had lain\nprivily in the porch through the night. So they ran thither and would\nlay hands on them, but they stood on their defence well and manly, and\nlong he remembered it who was the nighest to them; but in the end they\nwere borne down by many men and taken, and bonds were set upon them, and\nthey were cast into fetters wherein they sit night long.\n\nThen the king ponders what longest and worst of deaths he shall mete out\nto them; and when morning came he let make a great barrow of stones and\nturf; and when it was done, let set a great flat stone midmost inside\nthereof, so that one edge was aloft, the other alow; and so great it was\nthat it went from wall to wall, so that none might pass it.\n\nNow he bids folk take Sigmund and Sinfjotli and set them in the barrow,\non either side of the stone, for the worse for them he deemed it, that\nthey might hear each the other's speech, and yet that neither might pass\none to the other. But now, while they were covering in the barrow with\nthe turf-slips, thither came Signy, bearing straw with her, and cast it\ndown to Sinfjotli, and bade the thralls hide this thing from the king;\nthey said yea thereto, and therewithal was the barrow closed in.\n\nBut when night fell, Sinfjotli said to Sigmund, \"Belike we shall scarce\nneed meat for a while, for here has the queen cast swine's flesh into\nthe barrow, and wrapped it round about on the outer side with straw.\"\n\nTherewith he handles the flesh and finds that therein was thrust\nSigmund's sword; and he knew it by the hilts, as mirk as it might be in\nthe barrow, and tells Sigmund thereof, and of that were they both fain\nenow.\n\nNow Sinfjotli drave the point of the sword up into the big stone, and\ndrew it hard along, and the sword bit on the stone. With that Sigmund\ncaught the sword by the point, and in this wise they sawed the stone\nbetween them, and let not or all the sawing was done that need be done,\neven as the song sings:\n\n     \"Sinfjotli sawed\n     And Sigmund sawed,\n     Atwain with main\n     The stone was done.\"\n\nNow are they both together loose in the barrow, and soon they cut both\nthrough stone and through iron, and bring themselves out thereof. Then\nthey go home to the hall, whenas all men slept there, and bear wood to\nthe hall, and lay fire therein; and withal the folk therein are waked by\nthe smoke, and by the hall burning over their heads.\n\nThen the king cries out, \"Who kindled this fire, I burn withal?\"\n\n\"Here am I,\" says Sigmund, \"with Sinfjotli, my sister's son; and we are\nminded that thou shalt wot well that all the Volsungs are not yet dead.\"\n\nThen he bade his sister come out, and take all good things at his hands,\nand great honour, and fair atonement in that wise, for all her griefs.\n\nBut she answered, \"Take heed now, and consider, if I have kept King\nSiggeir in memory, and his slaying of Volsung the king! I let slay both\nmy children, whom I deemed worthless for the revenging of our father,\nand I went into the wood to thee in a witch-wife's shape; and now\nbehold, Sinfjotli is the son of thee and of me both! and therefore has\nhe this so great hardihood and fierceness, in that he is the son both of\nVolsung's son and Volsung's daughter; and for this, and for naught else,\nhave I so wrought, that Siggeir might get his bane at last; and all\nthese things have I done that vengeance might fall on him, and that I\ntoo might not live long; and merrily now will I die with King Siggeir,\nthough I was naught merry to wed him.\"\n\nTherewith she kissed Sigmund her brother, and Sinfjotli, and went back\nagain into the fire, and there she died with King Siggeir and all his\ngood men.\n\nBut the two kinsmen gathered together folk and ships, and Sigmund went\nback to his father's land, and drave away thence the king, who had set\nhimself down there in the room of king Volsung.\n\nSo Sigmund became a mighty King and far-famed, wise and high-minded: he\nhad to wife one named Borghild, and two sons they had between them, one\nnamed Helgi and the other Hamund; and when Helgi was born, Norns came to\nhim, (3) and spake over him, and said that he should be in time to come\nthe most renowned of all kings. Even therewith was Sigmund come home\nfrom the wars, and so therewith he gives him the name of Helgi, and\nthese matters as tokens thereof, Land of Rings, Sun-litten Hill, and\nSharp-shearing Sword, and withal prayed that he might grow of great\nfame, and like unto the kin of the Volsungs.\n\nAnd so it was that he grew up high-minded, and well-beloved, and above\nall other men in all prowess; and the story tells that he went to the\nwars when he was fifteen winters old. Helgi was lord and ruler over the\narmy, but Sinfjotli was gotten to be his fellow herein; and so the twain\nbare sway thereover.\n\n\n  ENDNOTES:\n  (1)  \"Skin-changers\" were universally believed in once, in\n       Iceland no less than elsewhere, as see Ari in several places\n       of his history, especially the episode of Dufthach and\n       Storwolf o' Whale.  Men possessing the power of becoming\n       wolves at intervals, in the present case compelled so to\n       become, wer-wolves or \"loupsgarou\", find large place in\n       medieval story, but were equally well-known in classic\n       times.  Belief in them still lingers in parts of Europe\n       where wolves are to be found.  Herodotus tells of the Neuri,\n       who assumed once a year the shape of wolves; Pliny says that\n       one of the family of Antaeus, chosen by lot annually, became\n       a wolf, and so remained for nine years; Giraldus Cambrensis\n       will have it that Irishmen may become wolves; and Nennius\n       asserts point-blank that \"the descendants of wolves are\n       still in Ossory;\" they retransform themselves into wolves\n       when they bite.  Apuleius, Petronius, and Lucian have\n       similar stories.  The Emperor Sigismund convoked a council\n       of theologians in the fifteenth century who decided that\n       wer-wolves did exist.\n  (2)  Byrny (A.S. \"byrne\"), corslet, cuirass.\n  (3)  \"Norns came to him.\"  Nornir are the fates of the northern\n       mythology.  They are three--\"Urd\", the past; \"Verdandi\",\n       the present; and \"Skuld\", the future.  They sit beside the\n       fountain of Urd (\"Urdarbrunur\"), which is below one of the\n       roots of \"Yggdrasil\", the world-tree, which tree their\n       office it is to nourish by sprinkling it with the waters of\n       the fountain.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX. How Helgi, the son of Sigmund, won King Hodbrod and his\nRealm, and wedded Sigrun.\n\nNow the tale tells that Helgi in his warring met a king hight Hunding,\na mighty king, and lord of many men and many lands; they fell to battle\ntogether, and Helgi went forth mightily, and such was the end of that\nfight that Helgi had the victory, but King Hunding fell and many of his\nmen with him; but Helgi is deemed to have grown greatly in fame because\nhe had slain so mighty a king.\n\nThen the sons of Hunding draw together a great army to avenge their\nfather. Hard was the fight betwixt them; but Helgi goes through the\nfolk of those brothers unto their banner, and there slays these sons\nof Hunding, Alf and Eyolf, Herward and Hagbard, and wins there a great\nvictory.\n\nNow as Helgi fared from the fight, he met a many women right fair and\nworthy to look on, who rode in exceeding noble array; but one far\nexcelled them all; then Helgi asked them the name of that their lady and\nqueen, and she named herself Sigrun, and said she was daughter of King\nHogni.\n\nThen said Helgi, \"Fare home with us: good welcome shall ye have!\"\n\nThen said the king's daughter, \"Other work lies before us than to drink\nwith thee.\"\n\n\"Yea, and what work, king's daughter?\" said Helgi.\n\nShe answers, \"King Hogni has promised me to Hodbrod, the son of King\nGranmar, but I have vowed a vow that I will have him to my husband no\nmore than if he were a crow's son and not a king's; and yet will the\nthing come to pass, but and if thou standest in the way thereof, and\ngoest against him with an army, and takest me away withal; for verily\nwith no king would I rather bide on bolster than with thee.\"\n\n\"Be of good cheer, king's daughter,\" says he, \"for certes he and I shall\ntry the matter, or ever thou be given to him; yea, we shall behold which\nmay prevail against the other; and hereto I pledge my life.\"\n\nThereafter, Helgi sent men with money in their hands to summon his folk\nto him, and all his power is called together to Red-Berg: and there\nHelgi abode till such time as a great company came to him from Hedinsey;\nand therewithal came mighty power from Norvi Sound aboard great and fair\nships. Then King Helgi called to him the captain of his ships, who was\nhight Leif, and asked him if he had told over the tale of his army.\n\n\"A thing not easy to tell, lord,\" says he, \"on the ships that came out\nof Norvi Sound are twelve thousand men, and otherwhere are half as many\nagain.\"\n\nThen bade King Helgi turn into the firth, called Varin's firth, and they\ndid so: but now there fell on them so fierce a storm and so huge a sea,\nthat the beat of the waves on board and bow was to hearken to like as\nthe clashing together of high hills broken.\n\nBut Helgi bade men fear naught, nor take in any sail, but rather hoist\nevery rag higher than heretofore; but little did they miss of foundering\nor ever they made land; then came Sigrun, daughter of King Hogni, down\non to the beach with a great army, and turned them away thence to a good\nhaven called Gnipalund; but the landsmen see what has befallen and\ncome down to the sea-shore. The brother of King Hodbrod, lord of a land\ncalled Swarin's Cairn, cried out to them, and asked them who was captain\nover that mighty army. Then up stands Sinfjotli, with a helm on his\nhead, bright shining as glass, and a byrny as white as snow; a spear\nin his hand, and thereon a banner of renown, and a gold-rimmed shield\nhanging before him; and well he knew with what words to speak to kings--\n\n\"Go thou and say, when thou hast made an end of feeding thy swine and\nthy dogs, and when thou beholdest thy wife again, that here are come\nthe Volsungs, and in this company may King Helgi be found, if Hodbrod\nbe fain of finding him, for his game and his joy it is to fight and win\nfame, while thou art kissing the handmaids by the fire-side.\"\n\nThen answered Granmar, \"In nowise knowest thou how to speak seemly\nthings, and to tell of matters remembered from of old, whereas thou\nlayest lies on chiefs and lords; most like it is that thou must have\nlong been nourished with wolf-meat abroad in the wild-woods, and has\nslain thy brethren; and a marvel it is to behold that thou darest to\njoin thyself to the company of good men and true, thou, who hast sucked\nthe blood of many a cold corpse.\"\n\nSinfjotli answered, \"Dim belike is grown thy memory now, of how thou\nwert a witch-wife on Varinsey, and wouldst fain have a man to thee, and\nchose me to that same office of all the world; and how thereafter thou\nwert a Valkyria (1) in Asgarth, and it well-nigh came to this, that for\nthy sweet sake should all men fight; and nine wolf whelps I begat on thy\nbody in Lowness, and was the father to them all.\"\n\nGranmar answers, \"Great skill of lying hast thou; yet belike the father\nof naught at all mayst thou be, since thou wert gelded by the giant's\ndaughters of Thrasness; and lo thou art the stepson of King Siggeir, and\nwere wont to lie abroad in wilds and woods with the kin of wolves; and\nunlucky was the hand wherewith thou slewest thy brethren, making for\nthyself an exceeding evil name.\"\n\nSaid Sinfjotli, \"Mindest thou not then, when thou were stallion Grani's\nmare, and how I rode thee an amble on Bravoll, and that afterwards thou\nwert giant Golnir's goat-herd?\"\n\nGranmar says, \"Rather would I feed fowls with the flesh of thee than\nwrangle any longer with thee.\"\n\nThen spake King Helgi, \"Better were it for ye, and a more manly deed, to\nfight, rather than to speak such things as it is a shame even to hearken\nto; Granmar's sons are no friends of me and of mine, yet are they hardy\nmen none the less.\"\n\nSo Granmar rode away to meet King Hodbrod, at a stead called Sunfells,\nand the horses of the twain were named Sveipud and Sveggjud. The\nbrothers met in the castle-porch, and Granmar told Hodbrod of the\nwar-news. King Hodbrod was clad in a byrny, and had his helm on his\nhead; he asked--\n\n\"What men are anigh, why look ye so wrathful?\"\n\nGranmar says, \"Here are come the Volsungs, and twelve thousand men of\nthem are afloat off the coast, and seven thousand are at the island\ncalled Sok, but at the stead called Grindur is the greatest company of\nall, and now I deem withal that Helgi and his fellowship have good will\nto give battle.\"\n\nThen said the king, \"Let us send a message through all our realm, and go\nagainst them, neither let any who is fain of fight sit idle at home; let\nus send word to the sons of Ring, and to King Hogni, and to Alf the Old,\nfor they are mighty warriors.\"\n\nSo the hosts met at Wolfstone, and fierce fight befell there; Helgi\nrushed forth through the host of his foes, and many a man fell there; at\nlast folk saw a great company of shield-maidens, like burning flames to\nlook on, and there was come Sigrun, the king's daughter. Then King Helgi\nfell on King Hodbrod, and smote him, and slew him even under his very\nbanner; and Sigrun cried out--\n\n\"Have thou thanks for thy so manly deed! now shall we share the land\nbetween us, and a day of great good hap this is to me, and for this deed\nshalt thou get honour and renown, in that thou hast felled to earth so\nmighty a king.\"\n\nSo Helgi took to him that realm and dwelt there long, when he had wedded\nSigrun, and became a king of great honour and renown, though he has\nnaught more to do with this story.\n\n\n  ENDNOTES:\n  (1)  Valkyrja, \"Chooser of the elected.\"  The women were so\n       called whom Odin sent to choose those for death in battle\n       who were to join the \"Einherjar\" in the hall of the elected,\n       \"Val-holl.\"\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X. The ending of Sinfjotli, Sigmund's Son.\n\nNow the Volsungs fare back home, and have gained great renown by these\ndeeds. But Sinfjotli betook himself to warfare anew; and therewith he\nhad sight of an exceeding fair woman, and yearned above all things for\nher; but that same woman was wooed also of the brother of Borghild, the\nking's wife: and this matter they fought out betwixt them, and Sinfjotli\nslew that king; and thereafter he harried far and wide, and had many\na battle and even gained the day; and he became hereby honoured and\nrenowned above all men; but in autumn tide he came home with many ships\nand abundant wealth.\n\nThen he told his tidings to the king his father, and he again to the\nqueen, and she for her part bids him get him gone from the realm, and\nmade as if she would in nowise see him. But Sigmund said he would not\ndrive him away, and offered her atonement of gold and great wealth for\nher brother's life, albeit he said he had never erst given weregild\n(1) to any for the slaying of a man, but no fame it was to uphold wrong\nagainst a woman.\n\nSo seeing she might not get her own way herein, she said, \"Have thy will\nin this matter, O my lord, for it is seemly so to be.\"\n\nAnd now she holds the funeral feast for her brother by the aid and\ncounsel of the king, and makes ready all things therefor or in the best of\nwise, and bade thither many great men.\n\nAt that feast, Borghild the queen bare the drink to folk, and she came\nover against Sinfjofli with a great horn, and said--\n\n\"Fall to now and drink, fair stepson!\"\n\nThen he took the horn to him, and looked therein, and said--\n\n\"Nay, for the drink is charmed drink\"\n\nThen said Sigmund, \"Give it unto me then;\" and therewith he took the\nhorn and drank it off.\n\nBut the queen said to Sinfjotli, \"Why must other men needs drink thine\nale for thee?\" And she came again the second time with the horn, and\nsaid, \"Come now and drink!\" and goaded him with many words.\n\nAnd he took the horn, and said--\n\n\"Guile is in the drink.\"\n\nAnd thereon, Sigmund cried out--\n\n\"Give it then unto me!\"\n\nAgain, the third time, she came to him, and bade him drink off his\ndrink, if he had the heart of a Volsung; then he laid hand on the horn,\nbut said--\n\n\"Venom is therein.\"\n\n\"Nay, let the lip strain it out then, O son,\" quoth Sigmund; and by then\nwas he exceeding drunk with drink, and therefore spake he in that wise.\n\nSo Sinfjotli drank, and straightway fell down dead to the ground.\n\nSigmund rose up, and sorrowed nigh to death over him; then he took the\ncorpse in his arms and fared away to the wood, and went till he came to\na certain firth; and there he saw a man in a little boat; and that man\nasked if he would be wafted by him over the firth, and he said yea\nthereto; but so little was the boat, that they might not all go in it\nat once, so the corpse was first laid therein, while Sigmund went by\nthe firth-side. But therewith the boat and the man therein vanished away\nfrom before Sigmund's eyes. (2)\n\nSo thereafter Sigmund turned back home, and drave away the queen, and a\nlittle after she died. But Sigmund the king yet ruled his realm, and is\ndeemed ever the greatest champion and king of the old law.\n\n\n  ENDNOTES:\n  (1)  Weregild, fine for man-slaying (\"wer\", man, and \"gild\", a\n       payment).\n  (2)  The man in the boat is Odin, doubtless.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI. Of King Sigmund's last Battle, and of how he must yield up his\nSword again.\n\nThere was a king called Eylimi, mighty and of great fame, and his\ndaughter was called Hjordis, the fairest and wisest of womankind; and\nSigmund hears it told of her that she was meet to be his wife, yea if\nnone else were. So he goes to the house of King Eylimi, who would make\na great feast for him, if so be he comes not thither in the guise of\na foe. So messages were sent from one to the other that this present\njourney was a peaceful one, and not for war; so the feast was held in\nthe best of wise and with many a man thereat; fairs were in every place\nestablished for King Sigmund, and all things else were done to the aid\nand comfort of his journey: so he came to the feast, and both kings hold\ntheir state in one hall; thither also was come King Lyngi, son of King\nHunding, and he also is a-wooing the daughter of King Eylimi.\n\nNow the king deemed he knew that the twain had come thither but for one\nerrand, and thought withal that war and trouble might be looked for\nfrom the hands of him who brought not his end about; so he spake to his\ndaughter, and said--\n\n\"Thou art a wise woman, and I have spoken it, that thou alone shalt\nchoose a husband for thyself; choose therefore between these two kings,\nand my rede shall be even as thine.\"\n\n\"A hard and troublous matter,\" says she; \"yet will I choose him who is\nof greatest fame, King Sigmund to wife, albeit he is well stricken in\nyears.\"\n\nSo to him was she betrothed, and King Lyngi gat him gone. Then was\nSigmund wedded to Hjordis, and now each day was the feast better and\nmore glorious than on the day before it. But thereafter Sigmund went\nback home to Hunland, and King Eylimi, his father-in-law, with him, and\nKing Sigmund betakes himself to the due ruling of his realm.\n\nBut King Lyngi and his brethren gather an army together to fall on\nSigmund, for as in all matters they were wont to have the worser lot,\nso did this bite the sorest of all; and they would fain prevail over the\nmight and pride of the Volsungs. So they came to Hunland, and sent King\nSigmund word how that they would not steal upon him, and that they deemed\nhe would scarce slink away from them. So Sigmund said he would come and\nmeet them in battle, and drew his power together; but Hjordis was borne\ninto the wood with a certain bondmaid, and mighty wealth went with them;\nand there she abode the while they fought.\n\nNow the vikings rushed from their ships in numbers not to be borne up\nagainst, but Sigmund the King, and Eylimi, set up their banners, and the\nhorns blew up to battle; but King Sigmund let blow the horn his father\nerst had had, and cheered on his men to the fight, but his army was far\nthe fewest.\n\nNow was that battle fierce and fell, and though Sigmund were old, yet\nmost hardily he fought, and was ever the foremost of his men; no shield\nor byrny might hold against him, and he went ever through the ranks\nof his foemen on that day, and no man might see how things would fare\nbetween them; many an arrow and many a spear was aloft in air that day,\nand so his spae-wrights wrought for him that he got no wound, and none\ncan tell over the tale of those who fell before him, and both his arms\nwere red with blood, even to the shoulders.\n\nBut now whenas the battle had dured a while, there came a man into\nthe fight clad in a blue cloak, and with a slouched hat on his head,\none-eyed he was, (1) and bare a bill in his hand; and he came against\nSigmund the King, and have up his bill against him, and as Sigmund smote\nfiercely with the sword it fell upon the bill and burst asunder in the\nmidst: thenceforth the slaughter and dismay turned to his side, for the\ngood-hap of King Sigmund had departed from him, and his men fell fast\nabout him; naught did the king spare himself, but the rather cheered on\nhis men; but even as the saw says, \"No might 'gainst many\", so was it\nnow proven; and in this fight fell Sigmund the King, and King Eylimi,\nhis father-in-law, in the fore-front of their battle, and therewith the\nmore part of their folk.\n\n\n  ENDNOTES:\n  (1)  Odin coming to change the ownership of the sword he had\n       given Sigmund. See Chapter 3.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII. Of the Shards of the Sword Gram, and how Hjordis went to\nKing Alf.\n\nNow King Lyngi made for the king's abode, and was minded to take the\nking's daughter there, but failed herein, for there he found neither\nwife nor wealth: so he fared through all the realm, and gave his men\nrule thereover, and now deemed that he had slain all the kin of the\nVolsungs, and that he need dread them no more from henceforth.\n\nNow Hjordis went amidst the slain that night of the battle, and came\nwhereas lay King Sigmund, and asked if he might be healed; but he\nanswered--\n\n\"Many a man lives after hope has grown little; but my good-hap has\ndeparted from me, nor will I suffer myself to be healed, nor wills Odin\nthat I should ever draw sword again, since this my sword and his is\nbroken; lo now, I have waged war while it was his will.\"\n\n\"Naught ill would I deem matters,\" said she, \"if thou mightest be healed\nand avenge my father.\"\n\nThe king said, \"That is fated for another man; behold now, thou art\ngreat with a man-child; nourish him well and with good heed, and the\nchild shall be the noblest and most famed of all our kin: and keep well\nwithal the shards of the sword: thereof shall a goodly sword be made,\nand it shall be called Gram, and our son shall bear it, and shall work\nmany a great work therewith, even such as eld shall never minish; for\nhis name shall abide and flourish as long as the world shall endure: and\nlet this be enow for thee. But now I grow weary with my wounds, and I\nwill go see our kin that have gone before me.\"\n\nSo Hjordis sat over him till he died at the day-dawning; and then she\nlooked, and behold, there came many ships sailing to the land: then she\nspake to the handmaid--\n\n\"Let us now change raiment, and be thou called by my name, and say that\nthou art the king's daughter.\"\n\nAnd thus they did; but now the vikings behold the great slaughter of men\nthere, and see where two women fare away thence into the wood; and they\ndeem that some great tidings must have befallen, and they leaped ashore\nfrom out their ships. Now the captain of these folks was Alf, son of\nHjalprek, king of Denmark, who was sailing with his power along the\nland. So they came into the field among the slain, and saw how many men\nlay dead there; then the king bade go seek for the women and bring\nthem thither, and they did so. He asked them what women they were; and,\nlittle as the thing seems like to be, the bondmaid answered for the\ntwain, telling of the fall of King Sigmund and King Eylimi, and many\nanother great man, and who they were withal who had wrought the deed.\nThen the king asks if they wotted where the wealth of the king was\nbestowed; and then says the bondmaid--\n\n\"It may well be deemed that we know full surely thereof.\"\n\nAnd therewith she guides them to the place where the treasure lay: and\nthere they found exceeding great wealth; so that men deem they have\nnever seen so many things of price heaped up together in one place. All\nthis they bore to the ships of King Alf, and Hjordis and the bondmaid\nwent with them. Therewith these sail away to their own realm, and talk\nhow that surely on that field had fallen the most renowned of kings.\n\nSo the king sits by the tiller, but the women abide in the forecastle;\nbut talk he had with the women and held their counsels of much account.\n\nIn such wise the king came home to his realm with great wealth, and he\nhimself was a man exceeding goodly to look on. But when he had been but\na little while at home, the queen, his mother, asked him why the fairest\nof the two women had the fewer rings and the less worthy attire.\n\n\"I deem,\" she said, \"that she whom ye have held of least account is the\nnoblest of the twain.\"\n\nHe answered: \"I too have misdoubted me, that she is little like a\nbondwoman, and when we first met, in seemly wise she greeted noble men.\nLo now, we will make a trial of the thing.\"\n\nSo on a time as men sat at the drink, the king sat down to talk with the\nwomen, and said:--\n\n\"In what wise do ye note the wearing of the hours, whenas night grows\nold, if ye may not see the lights of heaven?\"\n\nThen says the bondwoman, \"This sign have I, that whenas in my youth I\nwas wont to drink much in the dawn, so now when I no longer use that\nmanner, I am yet wont to wake up at that very same tide, and by that\ntoken do I know thereof.\"\n\nThen the king laughed and said, \"Ill manners for a king's daughter!\" And\ntherewith he turned to Hjordis, and asked her even the same question;\nbut she answered--\n\n\"My father erst gave me a little gold ring of such nature, that it\ngroweth cold on my finger in the day-dawning; and that is the sign that\nI have to know thereof.\"\n\nThe king answered: \"Enow of gold there, where a very bondmaid bore it!\nBut come now, thou hast been long enow hid from me; yet if thou hadst\ntold me all from the beginning, I would have done to thee as though we\nhad both been one king's children: but better than thy deeds will I deal\nwith thee, for thou shalt be my wife, and due jointure will I pay thee\nwhenas thou hast borne me a child.\"\n\nShe spake therewith and told out the whole truth about herself: so there\nwas she held in great honour, and deemed the worthiest of women.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII. Of the Birth and Waxing of Sigurd Fafnir's-bane.\n\nThe tale tells that Hjordis brought forth a man-child, who was\nstraightly borne before King Hjalprek, and then was the king glad\nthereof, when he saw the keen eyes in the head of him, and he said that\nfew men would be equal to him or like unto him in any wise. So he was\nsprinkled with water, and had to name Sigurd, of whom all men speak\nwith one speech and say that none was ever his like for growth and\ngoodliness. He was brought up in the house of King Hjalprek in great\nlove and honour; and so it is, that whenso all the noblest men and\ngreatest kings are named in the olden tales, Sigurd is ever put before\nthem all, for might and prowess, for high mind and stout heart, wherewith\nhe was far more abundantly gifted than any man of the northern parts of\nthe wide world.\n\nSo Sigurd waxed in King Hjalprek's house, and there was no child but\nloved him; through him was Hjordis betrothed to King Alf, and jointure\nmeted to her.\n\nNow Sigurd's foster-father was hight Regin, the son of Hreidmar; he\ntaught him all manner of arts, the chess play, and the lore of runes,\nand the talking of many tongues, even as the wont was with kings' sons\nin those days. But on a day when they were together, Regin asked Sigurd,\nif he knew how much wealth his father had owned, and who had the ward\nthereof; Sigurd answered, and said that the kings kept the ward thereof.\n\nSaid Regin, \"Dost thou trust them all utterly?\"\n\nSigurd said, \"It is seemly that they keep it till I may do somewhat\ntherewith, for better they wot how to guard it than I do.\"\n\nAnother time came Regin to talk to Sigurd, and said--\n\n\"A marvellous thing truly that thou must needs be a horse-boy to the\nkings, and go about like a running knave.\"\n\n\"Nay,\" said Sigurd, \"it is not so, for in all things I have my will, and\nwhatso thing I desire is granted me with good will.\"\n\n\"Well, then,\" said Regin, \"ask for a horse of them.\"\n\n\"Yea,\" quoth Sigurd, \"and that shall I have, whenso I have need\nthereof.\"\n\nThereafter Sigurd went to the king, and the king said--\n\n\"What wilt thou have of us?\"\n\nThen said Sigurd, \"I would even a horse of thee for my disport.\"\n\nThen said the king, \"Choose for thyself a horse, and whatso thing else\nthou desirest among my matters.\"\n\nSo the next day went Sigurd to the wood, and met on the way an old man,\nlong-bearded, that he knew not, who asked him whither away.\n\nSigurd said, \"I am minded to choose me a horse; come thou, and counsel\nme thereon.\"\n\n\"Well then,\" said he, \"go we and drive them to the river which is called\nBusil-tarn.\"\n\nThey did so, and drave the horses down into the deeps of the river, and\nall swam back to land but one horse; and that horse Sigurd chose for\nhimself; grey he was of hue, and young of years, great of growth, and\nfair to look on, nor had any man yet crossed his back.\n\nThen spake the grey-beard, \"From Sleipnir's kin is this horse come, and\nhe must be nourished heedfully, for it will be the best of all horses;\"\nand therewithal he vanished away.\n\nSo Sigurd called the horse Grani, the best of all the horses of the\nworld; nor was the man he met other than Odin himself.\n\nNow yet again spake Regin to Sigurd, and said--\n\n\"Not enough is thy wealth, and I grieve right sore that thou must needs\nrun here and there like a churl's son; but I can tell thee where there\nis much wealth for the winning, and great name and honour to be won in\nthe getting of it.\"\n\nSigurd asked where that might be, and who had watch and ward over it.\n\nRegin answered, \"Fafnir is his name, and but a little way hence he lies,\non the waste of Gnita-heath; and when thou comest there thou mayst well\nsay that thou hast never seen more gold heaped together in one place,\nand that none might desire more treasure, though he were the most\nancient and famed of all kings.\"\n\n\"Young am I,\" says Sigurd, \"yet know I the fashion of this worm, and how\nthat none durst go against him, so huge and evil is he.\"\n\nRegin said, \"Nay it is not so, the fashion and the growth of him is even\nas of other lingworms, (1) and an over great tale men make of it; and\neven so would thy forefathers have deemed; but thou, though thou be of\nthe kin of the Volsungs, shalt scarce have the heart and mind of those,\nwho are told of as the first in all deeds of fame.\"\n\nSigurd said, \"Yea, belike I have little of their hardihood and prowess,\nbut thou hast naught to do, to lay a coward's name upon me, when I\nam scarce out of my childish years. Why dost thou egg me on hereto so\nbusily?\"\n\nRegin said, \"Therein lies a tale which I must needs tell thee.\"\n\n\"Let me hear the same,\" said Sigurd.\n\n\n  ENDNOTES:\n  (1)  Lingworm--longworm, dragon.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV. Regin's tale of his Brothers, and of the Gold called\nAndvari's Hoard.\n\n\"The tale begins,\" said Regin. \"Hreidmar was my father's name, a mighty\nman and a wealthy: and his first son was named Fafnir, his second Otter,\nand I was the third, and the least of them all both for prowess and good\nconditions, but I was cunning to work in iron, and silver, and gold,\nwhereof I could make matters that availed somewhat. Other skill my\nbrother Otter followed, and had another nature withal, for he was a\ngreat fisher, and above other men herein; in that he had the likeness of\nan otter by day, and dwelt ever in the river, and bare fish to bank\nin his mouth, and his prey would he ever bring to our father, and that\navailed him much: for the most part he kept him in his otter-gear, and\nthen he would come home, and eat alone, and slumbering, for on the\ndry land he might see naught. But Fafnir was by far the greatest and\ngrimmest, and would have all things about called his.\n\n\"Now,\" says Regin, \"there was a dwarf called Andvari, who ever abode in\nthat force, (1) which was called Andvari's force, in the likeness of a\npike, and got meat for himself, for many fish there were in the force;\nnow Otter, my brother, was ever wont to enter into the force, and bring\nfish aland, and lay them one by one on the bank. And so it befell that\nOdin, Loki, and Hoenir, as they went their ways, came to Andvari's\nforce, and Otter had taken a salmon, and ate it slumbering upon the\nriver bank; then Loki took a stone and cast it at Otter, so that he gat\nhis death thereby; the gods were well content with their prey, and\nfell to flaying off the otter's skin; and in the evening they came to\nHreidmar's house, and showed him what they had taken: thereon he laid\nhands on them, and doomed them to such ransom, as that they should fill\nthe otter skin with gold, and cover it over without with red gold; so\nthey sent Loki to gather gold together for them; he came to Ran, (2)\nand got her net, and went therewith to Andvari's force, and cast the net\nbefore the pike, and the pike ran into the net and was taken. Then said\nLoki--\n\n       \"'What fish of all fishes,\n       Swims strong in the flood,\n     But hath learnt little wit to beware?\n       Thine head must thou buy,\n       From abiding in hell,\n     And find me the wan waters flame.'\n\nHe answered--\n\n       \"'Andvari folk call me,\n       Call Oinn my father,\n     Over many a force have I fared;\n       For a Norn of ill-luck,\n       This life on me lay\n     Through wet ways ever to wade.'\n\n\"So Loki beheld the gold of Andvari, and when he had given up the gold,\nhe had but one ring left, and that also Loki took from him; then\nthe dwarf went into a hollow of the rocks, and cried out, that that\ngold-ring, yea and all the gold withal, should be the bane of every man\nwho should own it thereafter.\n\n\"Now the gods rode with the treasure to Hreidmar, and fulfilled the\notter-skin, and set it on its feet, and they must cover it over utterly\nwith gold: but when this was done then Hreidmar came forth, and beheld\nyet one of the muzzle hairs, and bade them cover that withal; then Odin\ndrew the ring, Andvari's loom, from his hand, and covered up the hair\ntherewith; then sang Loki--\n\n       \"'Gold enow, gold enow,\n       A great weregild, thou hast,\n     That my head in good hap I may hold;\n       But thou and thy son\n       Are naught fated to thrive,\n     The bane shall it be of you both.'\n\n\"Thereafter,\" says Regin, \"Fafnir slew his father and murdered him, nor\ngot I aught of the treasure, and so evil he grew, that he fell to lying\nabroad, and begrudged any share in the wealth to any man, and so became\nthe worst of all worms, and ever now lies brooding upon that treasure:\nbut for me, I went to the king and became his master-smith; and thus is\nthe tale told of how I lost the heritage of my father, and the weregild\nfor my brother.\"\n\nSo spake Regin; but since that time gold is called Ottergild, and for no\nother cause than this.\n\nBut Sigurd answered, \"Much hast thou lost, and exceeding evil have thy\nkinsmen been! But now, make a sword by thy craft, such a sword as that\nnone can be made like unto it; so that I may do great deeds therewith,\nif my heart avail thereto, and thou wouldst have me slay this mighty\ndragon.\"\n\nRegin says, \"Trust me well herein; and with that same sword shalt thou\nslay Fafnir.\"\n\n\n  ENDNOTES:\n  (1)  Waterfall (Ice. \"foss\", \"fors\").\n  (2)  Ran is the goddess of the sea, wife of Aegir.  The otter was\n       held sacred by Norsefolk and figures in the myth and legend\n       of most races besides; to this day its killing is held a\n       great crime by the Parsees (Haug. \"Religion of the Parsees\",\n       page 212).  Compare penalty above with that for killing the\n       Welsh king's cat (\"Ancient Laws and Institutes of Wales\".\n       Ed., Aneurin Owen. Longman, London, 1841, 2 vols. 8vo).\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XV. Of the Welding together of the Shards of the Sword Gram.\n\nSo Regin makes a sword, and gives it into Sigurd's hands. He took the\nsword, and said--\n\n\"Behold thy smithying, Regin!\" and therewith smote it into the anvil,\nand the sword brake; so he cast down the brand, and bade him forge a\nbetter.\n\nThen Regin forged another sword, and brought it to Sigurd, who looked\nthereon.\n\nThen said Regin, \"Belike thou art well content therewith, hard master\nthough thou be in smithying.\"\n\nSo Sigurd proved the sword, and brake it even as the first; then he said\nto Regin--\n\n\"Ah, art thou, mayhappen, a traitor and a liar like to those former kin\nof thine?\"\n\nTherewith he went to his mother, and she welcomed him in seemly wise,\nand they talked and drank together.\n\nThen spake Sigurd, \"Have I heard aright, that King Sigmund gave thee the\ngood sword Gram in two pieces?\"\n\n\"True enough,\" she said.\n\nSo Sigurd said, \"Deliver them into my hands, for I would have them.\"\n\nShe said he looked like to win great fame, and gave him the sword.\nTherewith went Sigurd to Regin, and bade him make a good sword thereof\nas he best might; Regin grew wroth thereat, but went into the smithy\nwith the pieces of the sword, thinking well meanwhile that Sigurd pushed\nhis head far enow into the matter of smithying. So he made a sword, and\nas he bore it forth from the forge, it seemed to the smiths as though\nfire burned along the edges thereof. Now he bade Sigurd take the sword,\nand said he knew not how to make a sword if this one failed. Then Sigurd\nsmote it into the anvil, and cleft it down to the stock thereof, and\nneither burst the sword nor brake it. Then he praised the sword much,\nand thereafter went to the river with a lock of wool, and threw it up\nagainst the stream, and it fell asunder when it met the sword. Then was\nSigurd glad, and went home.\n\nBut Regin said, \"Now whereas I have made the sword for thee, belike thou\nwilt hold to thy troth given, and wilt go meet Fafnir?\"\n\n\"Surely will I hold thereto,\" said Sigurd, \"yet first must I avenge my\nfather.\"\n\nNow Sigurd the older he grew, the more he grew in the love of all men,\nso that every child loved him well.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVI. The prophecy of Grifir.\n\nThere was a man hight Grifir,(1) who was Sigurd's mother's brother, and\na little after the forging of the sword Sigurd went to Grifir, because\nhe was a man who knew things to come, and what was fated to men: of him\nSigurd asked diligently how his life should go; but Grifir was long\nor he spake, yet at the last, by reason of Sigurd's exceeding great\nprayers, he told him all his life and the fate thereof, even as\nafterwards came to pass. So when Grifir had told him all even as he\nwould, he went back home; and a little after he and Regin met.\n\nThen said Regin, \"Go thou and slay Fafnir, even as thou hast given thy\nword.\"\n\nSigurd said, \"That work shall be wrought; but another is first to be\ndone, the avenging of Sigmund the king and the other of my kinsmen who\nfell in that their last fight.\"\n\n\n  ENDNOTES:\n  (1)  Called \"Gripir\" in the Edda.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVII. Of Sigurd's Avenging of Sigmund his Father.\n\nNow Sigurd went to the kings, and spake thus--\n\n\"Here have I abode a space with you, and I owe you thanks and reward,\nfor great love and many gifts and all due honour; but now will I away\nfrom the land and go meet the sons of Hunding, and do them to wit that\nthe Volsungs are not all dead; and your might would I have to strengthen\nme therein.\"\n\nSo the kings said that they would give him all things soever that\nhe desired, and therewith was a great army got ready, and all things\nwrought in the most heedful wise, ships and all war-gear, so that his\njourney might be of the stateliest: but Sigurd himself steered the\ndragon-keel which was the greatest and noblest; richly wrought were\ntheir sails, and glorious to look on.\n\nSo they sail and have wind at will; but when a few days were overpast,\nthere arose a great storm on the sea, and the waves were to behold even\nas the foam of men's blood; but Sigurd bade take in no sail, howsoever\nthey might be riven, but rather to lay on higher than heretofore. But\nas they sailed past the rocks of a ness, a certain man hailed the ships,\nand asked who was captain over that navy; then was it told him that the\nchief and lord was Sigurd, the son of Sigmund, the most famed of all the\nyoung men who now are.\n\nThen said the man, \"Naught but one thing, certes, do all say of him, that\nnone among the sons of kings may be likened unto him; now fain were I\nthat ye would shorten sail on some of the ships, and take me aboard.\"\n\nThen they asked him of his name, and he sang--\n\n     \"Hnikar I hight,\n     When I gladdened Huginn,\n     And went to battle,\n     Bright son of Volsung;\n     Now may ye call\n     The carl on the cliff top,\n     Feng or Fjolnir:\n     Fain would I with you.\"\n\nThey made for land therewith, and took that man aboard.\n\nThen quoth Sigurd,(1) as the song says--\n\n       \"Tell me this, O Hnikar,\n       Since full well thou knowest\n     Fate of Gods, good and ill of mankind,\n       What best our hap foresheweth,\n       When amid the battle\n     About us sweeps the sword edge.\"\n\nQuoth Hnikar--\n\n       \"Good are many tokens\n       If thereof men wotted\n     When the swords are sweeping:\n       Fair fellow deem I\n       The dark-winged raven,\n     In war, to weapon-wielder.\n\n       \"The second good thing:\n       When abroad thou goest\n     For the long road well arrayed,\n       Good if thou seest\n       Two men standing,\n     Fain of fame within the forecourt.\n\n       \"A third thing:\n       Good hearing,\n       The wolf a howling\n     Abroad under ash boughs;\n       Good hap shalt thou have\n       Dealing with helm-staves,\n     If thou seest these fare before thee.\n\n       \"No man in fight\n       His face shall turn\n       Against the moon's sister\n       Low, late-shining,\n       For he winneth battle\n       Who best beholdeth\n       Through the midmost sword-play,\n       And the sloping ranks best shapeth.\n\n       \"Great is the trouble\n       Of foot ill-tripping,\n     When arrayed for fight thou farest,\n       For on both sides about\n       Are the D?sir (2) by thee,\n     Guileful, wishful of thy wounding.\n\n       \"Fair-combed, well washen\n       Let each warrior be,\n     Nor lack meat in the morning,\n       For who can rule\n       The eve's returning,\n     And base to fall before fate grovelling.\"\n\nThen the storm abated, and on they fared till they came aland in the\nrealm of Hunding's sons, and then Fjolnir vanished away.\n\nThen they let loose fire and sword, and slew men and burnt their abodes,\nand did waste all before them: a great company of folk fled before the\nface of them to Lyngi the King, and tell him that men of war are in the\nland, and are faring with such rage and fury that the like has never\nbeen heard of; and that the sons of King Hunding had no great forecast\nin that they said they would never fear the Volsungs more, for here was\ncome Sigurd, the son of Sigmund, as captain over this army.\n\nSo King Lyngi let send the war-message all throughout his realm, and has\nno will to flee, but summons to him all such as would give him aid. So\nhe came against Sigurd with a great army, he and his brothers with him,\nand an exceeding fierce fight befell; many a spear and many an arrow\nmight men see there raised aloft, axes hard driven, shields cleft and\nbyrnies torn, helmets were shivered, skulls split atwain, and many a man\nfelled to the cold earth.\n\nAnd now when the fight has long dured in such wise, Sigurd goes forth\nbefore the banners, and has the good sword Gram in his hand, and smites\ndown both men and horses, and goes through the thickest of the throng\nwith both arms red with blood to the shoulder; and folk shrank aback\nbefore him wheresoever he went, nor would either helm or byrny hold\nbefore him, and no man deemed he had ever seen his like. So a long while\nthe battle lasted, and many a man was slain, and furious was the onset;\ntill at last it befell, even as seldom comes to hand, when a land army\nfalls on, that, do whatso they might, naught was brought about; but so\nmany men fell of the sons of Hunding that the tale of them may not be\ntold; and now whenas Sigurd was among the foremost, came the sons of\nHunding against him, and Sigurd smote therewith at Lyngi the king, and\nclave him down, both helm and head, and mail-clad body, and thereafter\nhe smote Hjorward his brother atwain, and then slew all the other sons\nof Hunding who were yet alive, and the more part of their folk withal.\n\nNow home goes Sigurd with fair victory won, and plenteous wealth and\ngreat honour, which he had gotten to him in this journey, and feasts\nwere made for him against he came back to the realm.\n\nBut when Sigurd had been at home but a little, came Regin to talk with\nhim, and said--\n\n\"Belike thou wilt now have good will to bow down Fafnir's crest\naccording to thy word plighted, since thou hast thus revenged thy father\nand the others of thy kin.\"\n\nSigurd answered, \"That will we hold to, even as we have promised, nor\ndid it ever fall from our memory.\"\n\n\n  ENDNOTES:\n  (1)  This and verses following were inserted from the \"Reginsmal\"\n       by the translators.\n  (2)  \"D?sir\", sing. \"D?s\".  These are the guardian beings who\n       follow a man from his birth to his death.  The word\n       originally means sister, and is used throughout the Eddaic\n       poems as a dignified synonym for woman, lady.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVIII. Of the Slaying of the Worm Fafnir.\n\nNow Sigurd and Regin ride up the heath along that same way wherein\nFafnir was wont to creep when he fared to the water; and folk say that\nthirty fathoms was the height of that cliff along which he lay when he\ndrank of the water below. Then Sigurd spake:\n\n\"How sayedst thou, Regin, that this drake (1) was no greater than other\nlingworms; methinks the track of him is marvellous great?\"\n\nThen said Regin, \"Make thee a hole, and sit down therein, and whenas\nthe worm comes to the water, smite him into the heart, and so do him to\ndeath, and win thee great fame thereby.\"\n\nBut Sigurd said, \"What will betide me if I be before the blood of the\nworm?\"\n\nSays Regin, \"Of what avail to counsel thee if thou art still afeard of\neverything? Little art thou like thy kin in stoutness of heart.\"\n\nThen Sigurd rides right over the heath; but Regin gets him gone, sore\nafeard.\n\nBut Sigurd fell to digging him a pit, and whiles he was at that work,\nthere came to him an old man with a long beard, and asked what he\nwrought there, and he told him.\n\nThen answered the old man and said, \"Thou doest after sorry counsel:\nrather dig thee many pits, and let the blood run therein; but sit thee\ndown in one thereof, and so thrust the worm's heart through.\"\n\nAnd therewithal he vanished away; but Sigurd made the pits even as it\nwas shown to him.\n\nNow crept the worm down to his place of watering, and the earth shook\nall about him, and he snorted forth venom on all the way before him as\nhe went; but Sigurd neither trembled nor was adrad at the roaring of\nhim. So whenas the worm crept over the pits, Sigurd thrust his sword\nunder his left shoulder, so that it sank in up to the hilts; then up\nleapt Sigurd from the pit and drew the sword back again unto him, and\ntherewith was his arm all bloody, up to the very shoulder.\n\nNow when that mighty worm was ware that he had his death-wound, then he\nlashed out head and tail, so that all things soever that were before him\nwere broken to pieces.\n\nSo whenas Fafnir had his death-wound, he asked \"Who art thou? And who is\nthy father? And what thy kin, that thou wert so hardy as to bear weapons\nagainst me?\"\n\nSigurd answered, \"Unknown to men is my kin. I am called a noble beast:\n(2) neither father have I nor mother, and all alone have I fared\nhither.\"\n\nSaid Fafnir, \"Whereas thou hast neither father nor mother, of what\nwonder wert thou born then? But now, though thou tellest me not thy name\non this my death-day, yet thou knowest verily that thou liest unto me.\"\n\nHe answered, \"Sigurd am I called, and my father was Sigmund.\"\n\nSays Fafnir, \"Who egged thee on to this deed, and why wouldst thou be\ndriven to it? Hadst thou never heard how that all folk were adrad of\nme, and of the awe of my countenance? But an eager father thou hadst, O\nbright eyed swain!\"\n\nSigurd answered, \"A hardy heart urged me on hereto; and a strong hand\nand this sharp sword, which well thou knowest now, stood me in stead in\nthe doing of the deed; 'Seldom hath hardy eld a faint-heart youth.'\"\n\nFafnir said, \"Well, I wot that hadst thou waxed amid thy kin, thou\nmightest have good skill to slay folk in thine anger; but more of a\nmarvel is it, that thou, a bondsman taken in war, shouldst have the\nheart to set on me, 'for few among bondsmen have heart for the fight.'\"\n\nSaid Sigurd, \"Wilt thou then cast it in my teeth that I am far away from\nmy kin? Albeit I was a bondsman, yet was I never shackled. God wot thou\nhast found me free enow.\"\n\nFafnir answered, \"In angry wise dost thou take my speech; but hearken,\nfor that same gold which I have owned shall be thy bane too.\"\n\nQuoth Sigurd, \"Fain would we keep all our wealth til that day of days;\nyet shall each man die once for all.\"\n\nSaid Fafnir, \"Few things wilt thou do after my counsel; but take heed\nthat thou shalt be drowned if thou farest unwarily over the sea; so bide\nthou rather on the dry land, for the coming of the calm tide.\"\n\nThen said Sigurd, \"Speak, Fafnir, and say, if thou art so exceeding\nwise, who are the Norns who rule the lot of all mothers' sons.\"\n\nFafnir answers, \"Many there be and wide apart; for some are of the kin\nof the Aesir, and some are of Elfin kin, and some there are who are\ndaughters of Dvalin.\"\n\nSaid Sigurd, \"How namest thou the holm whereon Surt (3) and the Aesir\nmix and mingle the water of the sword?\"\n\n\"Unshapen is that holm hight,\" said Fafnir.\n\nAnd yet again he said, \"Regin, my brother, has brought about my end,\nand it gladdens my heart that thine too he bringeth about; for thus will\nthings be according to his will.\"\n\nAnd once again he spake, \"A countenance of terror I bore up before all\nfolk, after that I brooded over the heritage of my brother, and on every\nside did I spout out poison, so that none durst come anigh me, and of\nno weapon was I adrad, nor ever had I so many men before me, as that\nI deemed myself not stronger than all; for all men were sore afeard of\nme.\"\n\nSigurd answered and said, \"Few may have victory by means of that same\ncountenance of terror, for whoso comes amongst many shall one day find\nthat no one man is by so far the mightiest of all.\"\n\nThen says Fafnir, \"Such counsel I give thee, that thou take thy horse\nand ride away at thy speediest, for ofttimes it falls out so, that he\nwho gets a death-wound avenges himself none the less.\"\n\nSigurd answered, \"Such as thy redes are I will nowise do after them;\nnay, I will ride now to thy lair and take to me that great treasure of\nthy kin.\"\n\n\"Ride there then,\" said Fafnir, \"and thou shalt find gold enow to\nsuffice thee for all thy life-days; yet shall that gold be thy bane, and\nthe bane of every one soever who owns it.\"\n\nThen up stood Sigurd, and said, \"Home would I ride and lose all that\nwealth, if I deemed that by the losing thereof I should never die; but\nevery brave and true man will fain have his hand on wealth till that\nlast day; but thou, Fafnir, wallow in the death-pain till Death and Hell\nhave thee.\"\n\nAnd therewithal Fafnir died.\n\n\n  ENDNOTES:\n  (1)  Lat. \"draco\", a dragon.\n  (2)  \"Unknown to men is my kin.\"  Sigurd refusing to tell his\n       name is to be referred to the superstition that a dying man\n       could throw a curse on his enemy.\n  (3)  Surt; a fire-giant, who will destroy the world at the\n       Ragnarok, or destruction of all things.  Aesir; the gods.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIX. Of the Slaying of Regin, Son of Hreidmar.\n\nThereafter came Regin to Sigurd, and said, \"Hail, lord and master, a\nnoble victory hast thou won in the slaying of Fafnir, whereas none durst\nheretofore abide in the path of him; and now shall this deed of fame be\nof renown while the world stands fast.\"\n\nThen stood Regin staring on the earth a long while, and presently\nthereafter spake from heavy mood: \"Mine own brother hast thou slain, and\nscarce may I be called sackless of the deed.\"\n\nThen Sigurd took his sword Gram and dried it on the earth, and spake to\nRegin--\n\n\"Afar thou faredst when I wrought this deed and tried this sharp sword\nwith the hand and the might of me; with all the might and main of a\ndragon must I strive, while thou wert laid alow in the heather-bush,\nwotting not if it were earth or heaven.\"\n\nSaid Regin, \"Long might this worm have lain in his lair, if the sharp\nsword I forged with my hand had not been good at need to thee; had that\nnot been, neither thou nor any man would have prevailed against him as\nat this time.\"\n\nSigurd answers, \"Whenas men meet foes in fight, better is stout heart\nthan sharp sword.\"\n\nThen said Regin, exceeding heavily, \"Thou hast slain my brother, and\nscarce may I be sackless of the deed.\"\n\nTherewith Sigurd cut out the heart of the worm with the sword called\nRidil; but Regin drank of Fafnir's blood, and spake, \"Grant me a boon,\nand do a thing little for thee to do. Bear the heart to the fire, and\nroast it, and give me thereof to eat.\"\n\nThen Sigurd went his ways and roasted it on a rod; and when the blood\nbubbled out he laid his finger thereon to essay it, if it were fully\ndone; and then he set his finger in his mouth, and lo, when the\nheart-blood of the worm touched his tongue, straightway he knew the\nvoice of all fowls, and heard withal how the wood-peckers chattered in\nthe brake beside him--\n\n\"There sittest thou, Sigurd, roasting Fafnir's heart for another, that\nthou shouldest eat thine ownself, and then thou shouldest become the\nwisest of all men.\"\n\nAnd another spake: \"There lies Regin, minded to beguile the man who\ntrusts in him.\"\n\nBut yet again said the third, \"Let him smite the head from off him then,\nand be only lord of all that gold.\"\n\nAnd once more the fourth spake and said, \"Ah, the wiser were he if he\nfollowed after that good counsel, and rode thereafter to Fafnir's lair,\nand took to him that mighty treasure that lieth there, and then rode\nover Hindfell, whereas sleeps Brynhild; for there would he get great\nwisdom. Ah, wise he were, if he did after your redes, and bethought him\nof his own weal; 'for where wolf's ears are, wolf's teeth are near.'\"\n\nThen cried the fifth: \"Yea, yea, not so wise is he as I deem him, if he\nspareth him, whose brother he hath slain already.\"\n\nAt last spake the sixth: \"Handy and good rede to slay him, and be lord\nof the treasure!\"\n\nThen said Sigurd, \"The time is unborn wherein Regin shall be my bane;\nnay, rather one road shall both these brothers fare.\"\n\nAnd therewith he drew his sword Gram and struck off Regin's head.\n\nThen heard Sigurd the wood-peckers a-singing, even as the song says. (1)\n\nFor the first sang:\n\n     \"Bind thou, Sigurd,\n     The bright red rings!\n     Not meet it is\n     Many things to fear.\n     A fair may know I,\n     Fair of all the fairest\n     Girt about with gold,\n     Good for thy getting.\"\n\nAnd the second:\n\n     \"Green go the ways\n     Toward the hall of Giuki\n     That the fates show forth\n     To those who fare thither;\n     There the rich king\n     Reareth a daughter;\n     Thou shalt deal, Sigurd,\n     With gold for thy sweetling.\"\n\nAnd the third:\n\n     \"A high hall is there\n     Reared upon Hindfell,\n     Without all around it\n     Sweeps the red flame aloft.\n     Wise men wrought\n     That wonder of halls\n     With the unhidden gleam\n     Of the glory of gold.\"\n\nThen the fourth sang:\n\n     \"Soft on the fell\n     A shield-may sleepeth\n     The lime-trees' red plague\n     Playing about her:\n     The sleep-thorn set Odin\n     Into that maiden\n     For her choosing in war\n     The one he willed not.\n\n     \"Go, son, behold\n     That may under helm\n     Whom from battle\n     Vinskornir bore,\n     From her may not turn\n     The torment of sleep.\n     Dear offspring of kings\n     In the dread Norns' despite.\"\n\nThen Sigurd ate some deal of Fafnir's heart, and the remnant he kept.\nThen he leapt on his horse and rode along the trail of the worm Fafnir,\nand so right unto his abiding-place; and he found it open, and beheld\nall the doors and the gear of them that they were wrought of iron: yea,\nand all the beams of the house; and it was dug down deep into the earth:\nthere found Sigurd gold exceeding plenteous, and the sword Rotti; and\nthence he took the Helm of Awe, and the Gold Byrny, and many things\nfair and good. So much gold he found there, that he thought verily that\nscarce might two horses, or three belike, bear it thence. So he took\nall the gold and laid it in two great chests, and set them on the horse\nGrani, and took the reins of him, but nowise will he stir, neither will\nhe abide smiting. Then Sigurd knows the mind of the horse, and leaps on\nthe back of him, and smites and spurs into him, and off the horse goes\neven as if he were unladen.\n\n\n  ENDNOTES:\n  (1)  The Songs of the Birds were inserted from \"Reginsmal\" by the\n       translators.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XX. Of Sigurd's Meeting with Brynhild on the Mountain.\n\nBy long roads rides Sigurd, till he comes at the last up on to Hindfell,\nand wends his way south to the land of the Franks; and he sees before\nhim on the fell a great light, as of fire burning, and flaming up even\nunto the heavens; and when he came thereto, lo, a shield-hung castle\nbefore him, and a banner on the topmost thereof: into the castle went\nSigurd, and saw one lying there asleep, and all-armed. Therewith he\ntakes the helm from off the head of him, and sees that it is no man, but\na woman; and she was clad in a byrny as closely set on her as though it\nhad grown to her flesh; so he rent it from the collar downwards; and then\nthe sleeves thereof, and ever the sword bit on it as if it were cloth.\nThen said Sigurd that over-long had she lain asleep; but she asked--\n\n\"What thing of great might is it that has prevailed to rend my byrny,\nand draw me from my sleep?\"\n\nEven as sings the song: (1)\n\n     \"What bit on the byrny,\n     Why breaks my sleep away,\n     Who has turned from me\n     My wan tormenting?\"\n\n\"Ah, is it so, that here is come Sigurd Sigmundson, bearing Fafnir's\nhelm on his head and Fafnir's bane in his hand?\"\n\nThen answered Sigurd--\n\n     \"Sigmund's son\n     With Sigurd's sword\n     E'en now rent down\n     The raven's wall.\"\n\n\"Of the Volsung's kin is he who has done the deed; but now I have heard\nthat thou art daughter of a mighty king, and folk have told us that thou\nwert lovely and full of lore, and now I will try the same.\"\n\nThen Brynhild sang--\n\n     \"Long have I slept\n     And slumbered long,\n     Many and long are the woes of mankind,\n     By the might of Odin\n     Must I bide helpless\n     To shake from off me the spells of slumber.\n\n     \"Hail to the day come back!\n     Hail, sons of the daylight!\n     Hail to thee, dark night, and thy daughter!\n     Look with kind eyes a-down,\n     On us sitting here lonely,\n     And give unto us the gain that we long for.\n\n     \"Hail to the Aesir,\n     And the sweet Asyniur! (2)\n     Hail to the fair earth fulfilled of plenty!\n     Fair words, wise hearts,\n     Would we win from you,\n     And healing hands while life we hold.\"\n\nThen Brynhild speaks again and says, \"Two kings fought, one hight Helm\nGunnar, an old man, and the greatest of warriors, and Odin had promised\nthe victory unto him; but his foe was Agnar, or Audi's brother: and so\nI smote down Helm Gunnar in the fight; and Odin, in vengeance for that\ndeed, stuck the sleep-thorn into me, and said that I should never\nagain have the victory, but should be given away in marriage; but\nthereagainst I vowed a vow, that never would I wed one who knew the\nname of fear.\"\n\nThen said Sigurd, \"Teach us the lore of mighty matters!\"\n\nShe said, \"Belike thou cannest more skill in all than I; yet will I\nteach thee; yea, and with thanks, if there be aught of my cunning that\nwill in anywise pleasure thee, either of runes or of other matters that\nare the root of things; but now let us drink together, and may the Gods\ngive to us twain a good day, that thou mayst win good help and fame\nfrom my wisdom, and that thou mayst hereafter mind thee of that which we\ntwain speak together.\"\n\nThen Brynhild filled a beaker and bore it to Sigurd, and gave him the\ndrink of love, and spake--\n\n       \"Beer bring I to thee,\n       Fair fruit of the byrnies' clash,\n       Mixed is it mightily,\n       Mingled with fame,\n       Brimming with bright lays\n       And pitiful runes,\n       Wise words, sweet words,\n       Speech of great game.\n\n       \"Runes of war know thou,\n       If great thou wilt be!\n     Cut them on hilt of hardened sword,\n       Some on the brand's back,\n       Some on its shining side,\n     Twice name Tyr therein.\n\n       \"Sea-runes good at need,\n       Learnt for ship's saving,\n     For the good health of the swimming horse;\n       On the stern cut them,\n       Cut them on the rudder-blade\n     And set flame to shaven oar:\n       Howso big be the sea-hills,\n       Howso blue beneath,\n     Hail from the main then comest thou home.\n\n       \"Word-runes learn well\n       If thou wilt that no man\n     Pay back grief for the grief thou gavest;\n       Wind thou these,\n       Weave thou these,\n     Cast thou these all about thee,\n       At the Thing,\n       Where folk throng,\n     Unto the full doom faring.\n\n       \"Of ale-runes know the wisdom\n       If thou wilt that another's wife\n     Should not bewray thine heart that trusteth:\n       Cut them on the mead-horn,\n       On the back of each hand,\n     And nick an N upon thy nail.\n\n       \"Ale have thou heed\n       To sign from all harm\n     Leek lay thou in the liquor,\n       Then I know for sure\n       Never cometh to thee,\n     Mead with hurtful matters mingled.\n\n       \"Help-runes shalt thou gather\n       If skill thou wouldst gain\n     To loosen child from low-laid mother;\n       Cut be they in hands hollow,\n       Wrapped the joints round about;\n     Call for the Good-folks' gainsome helping.\n\n       \"Learn the bough-runes wisdom\n       If leech-lore thou lovest;\n     And wilt wot about wounds' searching\n       On the bark be they scored;\n       On the buds of trees\n     Whose boughs look eastward ever.\n\n       \"Thought-runes shalt thou deal with\n       If thou wilt be of all men\n     Fairest-souled wight, and wisest,\n       These areded\n       These first cut\n     These first took to heart high Hropt.\n\n     \"On the shield were they scored\n     That stands before the shining God,\n     On Early-waking's ear,\n     On All-knowing's hoof,\n     On the wheel which runneth\n     Under Rognir's chariot;\n     On Sleipnir's jaw-teeth,\n     On the sleigh's traces.\n\n     \"On the rough bear's paws,\n     And on Bragi's tongue,\n     On the wolf's claws,\n     And on eagle's bill,\n     On bloody wings,\n     And bridge's end;\n     On loosing palms,\n     And pity's path:\n\n     \"On glass, and on gold,\n     And on goodly silver,\n     In wine and in wort,\n     And the seat of the witch-wife;\n     On Gungnir's point,\n     And Grani's bosom;\n     On the Norn's nail,\n     And the neb of the night-owl.\n\n       \"All these so cut,\n       Were shaven and sheared,\n     And mingled in with holy mead,\n     And sent upon wide ways enow;\n       Some abide with the Elves,\n       Some abide with the Aesir,\n     Or with the wise Vanir,\n     Some still hold the sons of mankind.\n\n       \"These be the book-runes,\n       And the runes of good help,\n     And all the ale-runes,\n     And the runes of much might;\n       To whomso they may avail,\n       Unbewildered unspoilt;\n     They are wholesome to have:\n     Thrive thou with these then.\n     When thou hast learnt their lore,\n     Till the Gods end thy life-days.\n\n       \"Now shalt thou choose thee\n       E'en as choice is bidden,\n     Sharp steel's root and stem,\n       Choose song or silence;\n       See to each in thy heart,\n     All hurt has been heeded.\"\n\nThen answered Sigurd--\n\n     \"Ne'er shall I flee,\n     Though thou wottest me fey;\n     Never was I born for blenching,\n     Thy loved rede will I\n       Hold aright in my heart\n     Even as long as I may live.\"\n\n\n  ENDNOTES:\n  (1)  The stanzas on the two following pages were inserted here\n       from \"Sigrdrifasmal\" by the translators.\n  (2)  Goddesses.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXI. More Wise Words of Brynhild.\n\nSigurd spake now, \"Sure no wiser woman than thou art one may be found in\nthe wide world; yea, yea, teach me more yet of thy wisdom!\"\n\nShe answers, \"Seemly is it that I do according to thy will, and show\nthee forth more redes of great avail, for thy prayer's sake and thy\nwisdom;\" and she spake withal--\n\n\"Be kindly to friend and kin, and reward not their trespasses against\nthee; bear and forbear, and win for thee thereby long enduring praise of\nmen.\n\n\"Take good heed of evil things: a may's love, and a man's wife; full oft\nthereof doth ill befall!\n\n\"Let not thy mind be overmuch crossed by unwise men at thronged meetings\nof folk; for oft these speak worse than they wot of; lest thou be called\na dastard, and art minded to think that thou art even as is said; slay\nsuch an one on another day, and so reward his ugly talk.\n\n\"If thou farest by the way whereas bide evil things, be well ware of\nthyself; take not harbour near the highway, though thou be benighted,\nfor oft abide there ill wights for men's bewilderment.\n\n\"Let not fair women beguile thee, such as thou mayst meet at the feast,\nso that the thought thereof stand thee in stead of sleep, and a quiet\nmind; yea, draw them not to thee with kisses or other sweet things of\nlove.\n\n\"If thou hearest the fool's word of a drunken man, strive not with him\nbeing drunk with drink and witless; many a grief, yea, and the very\ndeath, groweth from out such things.\n\n\"Fight thy foes in the field, nor be burnt in thine house.\n\n'Never swear thou wrongsome oath; great and grim is the reward for the\nbreaking of plighted troth.\n\n\"Give kind heed to dead men,--sick-dead, Sea-dead; deal heedfully with\ntheir dead corpses.\n\n\"Trow never in him for whom thou hast slain father, brother, or whatso\nnear kin, yea, though young he be; 'for oft waxes wolf in youngling'.\n\n\"Look thou with good heed to the wiles of thy friends; but little skill\nis given to me, that I should foresee the ways of thy life; yet good it\nwere that hate fell not on thee from those of thy wife's house.\"\n\nSigurd spake, \"None among the sons of men can be found wiser than thou;\nand thereby swear I, that thee will I have as my own, for near to my\nheart thou liest.\"\n\nShe answers, \"Thee would I fainest choose, though I had all men's sons\nto choose from.\"\n\nAnd thereto they plighted troth both of them.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXII. Of the Semblance and Array of Sigurd Fafnir's-bane. (1)\n\nNow Sigurd rides away; many-folded is his shield, and blazing with red\ngold, and the image of a dragon is drawn thereon; and this same was dark\nbrown above, and bright red below; and with even such-like image was\nadorned helm, and saddle, and coat-armour; and he was clad in the golden\nbyrny, and all his weapons were gold wrought.\n\nNow for this cause was the drake drawn on all his weapons, that when he\nwas seen of men, all folk might know who went there; yea, all those who\nhad heard of his slaying of that great dragon, that the Voerings call\nFafnir; and for that cause are his weapons gold-wrought, and brown\nof hue, and that he was by far above other men in courtesy and goodly\nmanners, and well-nigh in all things else; and whenas folk tell of all\nthe mightiest champions, and the noblest chiefs, then ever is he named\nthe foremost, and his name goes wide about on all tongues north of the\nsea of the Greek-lands, and even so shall it be while the world endures.\n\nNow the hair of this Sigurd was golden-red of hue, fair of fashion, and\nfalling down in great locks; thick and short was his beard, and of no\nother colour, high-nosed he was, broad and high-boned of face; so\nkeen were his eyes, that few durst gaze up under the brows of him; his\nshoulders were as broad to look on as the shoulders of two; most duly\nwas his body fashioned betwixt height and breadth, and in such wise as\nwas seemliest; and this is the sign told of his height, that when he was\ngirt with his sword Gram, which same was seven spans long, as he went\nthrough the full-grown rye-fields, the dew-shoe of the said sword smote\nthe ears of the standing corn; and, for all that, greater was his\nstrength than his growth: well could he wield sword, and cast forth\nspear, shoot shaft, and hold shield, bend bow, back horse, and do all\nthe goodly deeds that he learned in his youth's days.\n\nWise he was to know things yet undone; and the voice of all fowls he\nknew, wherefore few things fell on him unawares.\n\nOf many words he was, and so fair of speech withal, that whensoever he\nmade it his business to speak, he never left speaking before that to all\nmen it seemed full sure, that no otherwise must the matter be than as he\nsaid.\n\nHis sport and pleasure it was to give aid to his own folk, and to prove\nhimself in mighty matters, to take wealth from his unfriends, and give\nthe same to his friends.\n\nNever did he lose heart, and of naught was he adrad.\n\n\n  ENDNOTES:\n  (1)  This chapter is nearly literally the same as chapter 166 of\n       the \"Wilkinasaga\"; Ed.: Perinskiold, Stockholm, 1715.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIII. Sigurd comes to Hlymdale.\n\nForth Sigurd rides till he comes to a great and goodly dwelling, the\nlord whereof was a mighty chief called Heimir; he had to wife a sister\nof Brynhild, who was hight Bekkhild, because she had bidden at home, and\nlearned handicraft, whereas Brynhild fared with helm and byrny unto the\nwars, wherefore was she called Brynhild.\n\nHeimir and Bekkhild had a son called Alswid, the most courteous of men.\n\nNow at this stead were men disporting them abroad, but when they see\nthe man riding thereto, they leave their play to wonder at him, for none\nsuch had they ever seen erst; so they went to meet him, and gave him\ngood welcome; Alswid bade him abide and have such things at his hands as\nhe would; and he takes his bidding blithesomely; due service withal was\nestablished for him; four men bore the treasure of gold from off the\nhorse, and the fifth took it to him to guard the same; therein were many\nthings to behold, things of great price, and seldom seen; and great\ngame and joy men had to look on byrnies and helms, and mighty rings, and\nwondrous great golden stoups, and all kinds of war weapons.\n\nSo there dwelt Sigurd long in great honour holden; and tidings of that\ndeed of fame spread wide through all lands, of how he had slain that\nhideous and fearful dragon. So good joyance had they there together,\nand each was leal to other; and their sport was in the arraying of\ntheir weapons, and the shafting of their arrows, and the flying of their\nfalcons.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIV. Sigurd sees Brynhild at Hlymdale.\n\nIn those days came home to Heimir, Brynhild, his foster-daughter,\nand she sat in her bower with her maidens, and could more skill in\nhandycraft than other women; she sat, overlaying cloth with gold, and\nsewing therein the great deeds which Sigurd had wrought, the slaying of\nthe Worm, and the taking of the wealth of him, and the death of Regin\nwithal.\n\nNow tells the tale, that on a day Sigurd rode into the wood with hawk,\nand hound, and men thronging; and whenas he came home his hawk flew up\nto a high tower, and sat him down on a certain window. Then fared Sigurd\nafter his hawk, and he saw where sat a fair woman, and knew that it was\nBrynhild, and he deems all things he sees there to be worthy together,\nboth her fairness, and the fair things she wrought: and therewith he\ngoes into the hall, but has no more joyance in the games of the men\nfolk.\n\nThen spake Alswid, \"Why art thou so bare of bliss? this manner of thine\ngrieveth us thy friends; why then wilt thou not hold to thy gleesome\nways? Lo, thy hawks pine now, and thy horse Grani droops; and long will\nit be ere we are booted thereof?\"\n\nSigurd answered, \"Good friend, hearken to what lies on my mind; for my\nhawk flew up into a certain tower; and when I came thereto and took him,\nlo there I saw a fair woman, and she sat by a needlework of gold, and\ndid thereon my deeds that are passed, and my deeds that are to come.\"\n\nThen said Alswid, \"Thou has seen Brynhild, Budli's daughter, the\ngreatest of great women.\"\n\n\"Yea, verily,\" said Sigurd; \"but how came she hither?\"\n\nAswid answered, \"Short space there was betwixt the coming hither of the\ntwain of you.\"\n\nSays Sigurd, \"Yea, but a few days agone I knew her for the best of the\nworld's women.\"\n\nAlswid said, \"Give not all thine heed to one woman, being such a man as\nthou art; ill life to sit lamenting for what we may not have.\"\n\n\"I shall go meet her,\" says Sigurd, \"and get from her love like my love,\nand give her a gold ring in token thereof.\"\n\nAlswid answered, \"None has ever yet been known whom she would let sit\nbeside her, or to whom she would give drink; for ever will she hold to\nwarfare and to the winning of all kinds of fame.\"\n\nSigurd said, \"We know not for sure whether she will give us answer or\nnot, or grant us a seat beside her.\"\n\nSo the next day after, Sigurd went to the bower, but Alswid stood\noutside the bower door, fitting shafts to his arrows.\n\nNow Sigurd spake, \"Abide, fair and hale lady,--how farest thou?\"\n\nShe answered, \"Well it fares; my kin and my friends live yet: but who\nshall say what goodhap folk may bear to their life's end?\"\n\nHe sat him down by her, and there came in four damsels with great golden\nbeakers, and the best of wine therein; and these stood before the twain.\n\nThen said Brynhild, \"This seat is for few, but and if my father come.\"\n\nHe answered, \"Yet is it granted to one that likes me well.\"\n\nNow that chamber was hung with the best and fairest of hangings, and the\nfloor thereof was all covered with cloth.\n\nSigurd spake, \"Now has it come to pass even as thou didst promise.\"\n\n\"O be thou welcome here!\" said she, and arose therewith, and the four\ndamsels with her, and bore the golden beaker to him, and bade him drink;\nhe stretched out his hand to the beaker, and took it, and her hand\nwithal, and drew her down beside him; and cast his arms round about her\nneck and kissed her, and said--\n\n\"Thou art the fairest that was ever born!\"\n\nBut Brynhild said, \"Ah, wiser is it not to cast faith and troth into a\nwoman's power, for ever shall they break that they have promised.\"\n\nHe said, \"That day would dawn the best of days over our heads whereon\neach of each should be made happy.\"\n\nBrynhild answered, \"It is not fated that we should abide together; I am\na shield-may, and wear helm on head even as the kings of war, and them\nfull oft I help, neither is the battle become loathsome to me.\"\n\nSigurd answered, \"What fruit shall be of our life, if we live not\ntogether: harder to bear this pain that lies hereunder, than the stroke\nof sharp sword.\"\n\nBrynhild answers, \"I shall gaze on the hosts of the war-kings, but thou\nshalt wed Gudrun, the daughter of Giuki.\"\n\nSigurd answered, \"What king's daughter lives to beguile me? neither am\nI double-hearted herein; and now I swear by the Gods that thee shall I\nhave for mine own, or no woman else.\"\n\nAnd even suchlike wise spake she.\n\nSigurd thanked her for her speech, and gave her a gold ring, and now\nthey swore oath anew, and so he went his ways to his men, and is with\nthem awhile in great bliss.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXV. Of the Dream of Gudrun, Giuki's daughter.\n\nThere was a king hight Giuki, who ruled a realm south of the Rhine;\nthree sons he had, thus named: Gunnar, Hogni, and Guttorm, and Gudrun\nwas the name of his daughter, the fairest of maidens; and all these\nchildren were far before all other king's children in all prowess, and\nin goodliness and growth withal; ever were his sons at the wars\nand wrought many a deed of fame. But Giuki had wedded Grimhild the\nWise-wife.\n\nNow Budli was the name of a king mightier than Giuki, mighty though they\nboth were: and Atli was the brother of Brynhild: Atli was a fierce man\nand a grim, great and black to look on, yet noble of mien withal, and\nthe greatest of warriors. Grimhild was a fierce-hearted woman.\n\nNow the days of the Giukings bloomed fair, and chiefly because of those\nchildren, so far before the sons of men.\n\nOn a day Gudrun says to her mays that she may have no joy of heart; then\na certain woman asked her wherefore her joy was departed.\n\nShe answered, \"Grief came to me in my dreams, therefore is there sorrow\nin my heart, since thou must needs ask thereof.\"\n\n\"Tell it me, then, thy dream,\" said the woman, \"for dreams oft forecast\nbut the weather.\"\n\nGudrun answers, \"Nay, nay, no weather is this; I dreamed that I had a\nfair hawk on my wrist, feathered with feathers of gold.\"\n\nSays the woman, \"Many have heard tell of thy beauty, thy wisdom, and thy\ncourtesy; some king's son abides thee, then.\"\n\nGudrun answers, \"I dreamed that naught was so dear to me as this hawk,\nand all my wealth had I cast aside rather than him.\"\n\nThe woman said, \"Well, then, the man thou shalt have will be of the\ngoodliest, and well shalt thou love him.\"\n\nGudrun answered, \"It grieves me that I know not who he shall be; let us\ngo seek Brynhild, for she belike will wot thereof.\"\n\nSo they arrayed them in gold and many a fair thing, and she went with\nher damsels till they came to the hall of Brynhild, and that hall was\ndight with gold, and stood on a high hill; and whenas their goings were\nseen, it was told Brynhild, that a company of women drove toward the\nburg in gilded waggons.\n\n\"That shall be Gudrun, Giuki's daughter,\" says she: \"I dreamed of her\nlast night; let us go meet her! No fairer woman may come to our house.\"\n\nSo they went abroad to meet them, and gave them good greeting, and they\nwent into the goodly hall together; fairly painted it was within, and\nwell adorned with silver vessel; cloths were spread under the feet of\nthem, and all folk served them, and in many wise they sported.\n\nBut Gudrun was somewhat silent.\n\nThen said Brynhild, \"Ill to abash folk of their mirth; prithee do not\nso; let us talk together for our disport of mighty kings and their great\ndeeds.\"\n\n\"Good talk,\" says Gudrun, \"let us do even so; what kings deemest thou to\nhave been the first of all men?\"\n\nBrynhild says, \"The sons of Haki, and Hagbard withal; they brought to\npass many a deed of fame in the warfare.\"\n\nGudrun answers, \"Great men certes, and of noble fame! Yet Sigar took\ntheir one sister, and burned the other, house and all; and they may be\ncalled slow to revenge the deed; why didst thou not name my brethren, who\nare held to be the first of men as at this time?\"\n\nBrynhild says, \"Men of good hope are they surely, though but little\nproven hitherto; but one I know far before them, Sigurd, the son of\nSigmund the king; a youngling was he in the days when he slew the sons\nof Hunding, and revenged his father, and Eylimi, his mother's father.\"\n\nSaid Gudrun, \"By what token tellest thou that?\"\n\nBrynhild answered, \"His mother went amid the dead, and found Sigmund the\nking sore wounded, and would bind up his hurts; but he said he grew over\nold for war, and bade her lay this comfort to her heart, that she should\nbear the most famed of sons; and wise was the wise man's word therein:\nfor after the death of King Sigmund, she went to King Alf, and there was\nSigurd nourished in great honour, and day by day he wrought some deed of\nfame, and is the man most renowned of all the wide world.\"\n\nGudrun says, \"From love hast thou gained these tidings of him; but for\nthis cause came I here, to tell thee dreams of mine which have brought\nme great grief.\"\n\nSays Brynhild, \"Let not such matters sadden thee; abide with thy friends\nwho wish thee blithesome, all of them!\"\n\n\"This I dreamed,\" said Gudrun, \"that we went, a many of us in company,\nfrom the bower, and we saw an exceeding great hart, that far excelled\nall other deer ever seen, and the hair of him was golden; and this\ndeer we were all fain to take, but I alone got him; and he seemed to me\nbetter than all things else; but sithence thou, Byrnhild, didst shoot\nand slay my deer even at my very knees, and such grief was that to\nme that scarce might I bear it; and then afterwards thou gavest me a\nwolf-cub, which besprinkled me with the blood of my brethren.\"\n\nBrynhild answers, \"I will arede thy dream, even as things shall come\nto pass hereafter; for Sigurd shall come to thee, even he whom I have\nchosen for my well-beloved; and Grimhild shall give him mead mingled\nwith hurtful things, which shall cast us all into mighty strife. Him\nshalt thou have, and him shalt thou quickly miss; and Atli the king\nshalt thou wed; and thy brethren shalt thou lose, and slay Atli withal\nin the end.\"\n\nGudrun answers, \"Grief and woe to know that such things shall be!\"\n\nAnd therewith she and hers get them gone home to King Giuki.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVI. Sigurd comes to the Giukings and is wedded to Gudrun.\n\nNow Sigurd goes his ways with all that great treasure, and in friendly\nwise he departs from them; and on Grani he rides with all his war-gear\nand the burden withal; and thus he rides until he comes to the hall\nof King Giuki; there he rides into the burg, and that sees one of the\nking's men, and he spake withal--\n\n\"Sure it may be deemed that here is come one of the Gods, for his array\nis all done with gold, and his horse is far mightier than other horses,\nand the manner of his weapons is most exceeding goodly, and most of all\nthe man himself far excels all other men ever seen.\"\n\nSo the king goes out with his court and greets the man, and asks--\n\n\"Who art thou who thus ridest into my burg, as none has durst hitherto\nwithout the leave of my sons?\"\n\nHe answered, \"I am called Sigurd, son of King Sigmund.\"\n\nThen said King Giuki, \"Be thou welcome here then, and take at our hands\nwhatso thou willest.\"\n\nSo he went into the king's hall, and all men seemed little beside him,\nand all men served him, and there he abode in great joyance.\n\nNow oft they all ride abroad together, Sigurd and Gunnar and Hogni,\nand ever is Sigurd far the foremost of them, mighty men of their hands\nthough they were.\n\nBut Grimhild finds how heartily Sigurd loved Brynhild, and how oft he\ntalks of her; and she falls to thinking how well it were, if he might\nabide there and wed the daughter of King Giuki, for she saw that none\nmight come anigh to his goodliness, and what faith and goodhelp there\nwas in him, and how that he had more wealth withal than folk might tell\nof any man; and the king did to him even as unto his own sons, and they\nfor their parts held him of more worth than themselves.\n\nSo on a night as they sat at the drink, the queen arose, and went before\nSigurd, and said--\n\n\"Great joy we have in thine abiding here, and all good things will\nwe put before thee to take of us; lo now, take this horn and drink\nthereof.\"\n\nSo he took it and drank, and therewithal she said, \"Thy father shall be\nGiuki the king, and I shall be thy mother, and Gunnar and Hogni shall be\nthy brethren, and all this shall be sworn with oaths each to each; and\nthen surely shall the like of you never be found on earth.\"\n\nSigurd took her speech well, for with the drinking of that drink all\nmemory of Brynhild departed from him. So there he abode awhile.\n\nAnd on a day went Grimhild to Giuki the king, and cast her arms about\nhis neck, and spake--\n\n\"Behold, there has now come to us the greatest of great hearts that the\nworld holds; and needs must he be trusty and of great avail; give him\nthy daughter then, with plenteous wealth, and as much of rule as he\nwill; perchance thereby he will be well content to abide here ever.\"\n\nThe king answered, \"Seldom does it befall that kings offer their\ndaughters to any; yet in higher wise will it be done to offer her to\nthis man, than to take lowly prayers for her from others.\"\n\nOn a night Gudrun pours out the drink, and Sigurd beholds her how fair\nshe is and how full of all courtesy.\n\nFive seasons Sigurd abode there, and ever they passed their days\ntogether in good honour and friendship.\n\nAnd so it befell that the kings held talk together, and Giuki said --\n\n\"Great good thou givest us, Sigurd, and with exceeding strength thou\nstrengthenest our realm.\"\n\nThen Gunnar said, \"All things that may be will we do for thee, so thou\nabidest here long; both dominion shalt thou have, and our sister freely\nand unprayed for, whom another man would not get for all his prayers.\"\n\nSigurd says, \"Thanks have ye for this wherewith ye honour me, and\ngladly will I take the same.\"\n\nTherewith they swore brotherhood together, and to be even as if they\nwere children of one father and one mother; and a noble feast was\nholden, and endured many days, and Sigurd drank at the wedding of him\nand Gudrun; and there might men behold all manner of game and glee, and\neach day the feast better and better.\n\nNow fare these folk wide over the world, and do many great deeds, and\nslay many kings' sons, and no man has ever done such works of prowess as\ndid they; then home they come again with much wealth won in war.\n\nSigurd gave of the serpent's heart to Gudrun, and she ate thereof, and\nbecame greater-hearted, and wiser than ere before: and the son of these\ntwain was called Sigmund.\n\nNow on a time went Grimhild to Gunnar her son, and spake--\n\n\"Fair blooms the life and fortune of thee, but for one thing only, and\nnamely whereas thou art unwedded; go woo Brynhild; good rede is this,\nand Sigurd will ride with thee.\"\n\nGunnar answered, \"Fair is she certes, and I am fain enow to win her;\"\nand therewith he tells his father, and his brethren, and Sigurd, and\nthey all prick him on to that wooing.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVII. The Wooing of Brynhild.\n\nNow they array them joyously for their journey, and ride over hill and\ndale to the house of King Budli, and woo his daughter of him; in a good\nwise he took their speech, if so be that she herself would not deny\nthem; but he said withal that so high-minded was she, that that man\nonly might wed her whom she would.\n\nThen they ride to Hlymdale, and there Heimir gave them good welcome; so\nGunnar tells his errand; Heimir says, that she must needs wed but him\nwhom she herself chose freely; and tells them how her abode was but a\nlittle way thence, and that he deemed that him only would she have who\nshould ride through the flaming fire that was drawn round about her\nhall; so they depart and come to the hall and the fire, and see there a\ncastle with a golden roof-ridge, and all round about a fire roaring up.\n\nNow Gunnar rode on Goti, but Hogni on Holkvi, and Gunnar smote his horse\nto face the fire, but he shrank aback.\n\nThen said Sigurd, \"Why givest thou back, Gunnar?\"\n\nHe answered, \"The horse will not tread this fire; but lend me thy horse\nGrani.\"\n\n\"Yea, with all my good will,\" says Sigurd.\n\nThen Gunnar rides him at the fire, and yet nowise will Gram stir, nor\nmay Gunnar any the more ride through that fire. So now they change\nsemblance, Gunnar and Sigurd, even as Grimhild had taught them; then\nSigurd in the likeness of Gunnar mounts and rides, Gram in his hand, and\ngolden spurs on his heels; then leapt Grani into the fire when he felt\nthe spurs; and a mighty roar arose as the fire burned ever madder, and\nthe earth trembled, and the flames went up even unto the heavens, nor\nhad any dared to ride as he rode, even as it were through the deep mirk.\n\nBut now the fire sank withal, and he leapt from his horse and went into\nthe hall, even as the song says--\n\n     \"The flame flared at its maddest,\n     Earth's fields fell a-quaking\n     As the red flame aloft\n     Licked the lowest of heaven.\n     Few had been fain,\n     Of the rulers of folk,\n     To ride through that flame,\n     Or athwart it to tread.\n\n     \"Then Sigurd smote\n     Grani with sword,\n     And the flame was slaked\n     Before the king;\n     Low lay the flames\n     Before the fain of fame;\n     Bright gleamed the array\n     That Regin erst owned.\n\nNow when Sigurd had passed through the fire, he came into a certain fair\ndwelling, and therein sat Brynhild.\n\nShe asked, \"What man is it?\"\n\nThen he named himself Gunnar, son of Giuki, and said--\"Thou art awarded\nto me as my wife, by the good will and word of thy father and thy\nfoster-father, and I have ridden through the flames of thy fire,\naccording to thy word that thou hast set forth.\"\n\n\"I wot not clearly,\" said she, \"how I shall answer thee.\"\n\nNow Sigurd stood upright on the hall floor, and leaned on the hilt of\nhis sword, and he spake to Brynhild--\n\n\"In reward thereof, shall I pay thee a great dower in gold and goodly\nthings?\"\n\nShe answered in heavy mood from her seat, whereas she sat like unto swan\non billow, having a sword in her hand, and a helm on her head, and being\nclad in a byrny, \"O Gunnar,\" she says, \"speak not to me of such things,\nunless thou be the first and best of all men; for then shalt thou slay\nthose my wooers, if thou hast heart thereto; I have been in battles with\nthe king of the Greeks, and our weapons were stained with red blood, and for\nsuch things still I yearn.\"\n\nHe answered, \"Yea, certes many great deeds hast thou done; but yet call\nthou to mind thine oath, concerning the riding through of this fire,\nwherein thou didst swear that thou wouldst go with the man who should do\nthis deed.\"\n\nSo she found that he spoke but the sooth, and she paid heed to his\nwords, and arose, and greeted him meetly, and he abode there three\nnights, and they lay in one bed together; but he took the sword Gram and\nlaid it betwixt them: then she asked him why he laid it there; and he\nanswered, that in that wise must he needs wed his wife or else get his\nbane.\n\nThen she took from off her the ring Andvari's-loom, which he had given\nher aforetime, and gave it to him, but he gave her another ring out of\nFafnir's hoard.\n\nThereafter he rode away through the same fire unto his fellows, and he\nand Gunnar changed semblances again, and rode unto Hlymdale, and told\nhow it had gone with them.\n\nThat same day went Brynhild home to her foster-father, and tells him\nas one whom she trusted, how that there had come a king to her; \"And he\nrode through my flaming fire, and said he was come to woo me, and named\nhimself Gunnar; but I said that such a deed might Sigurd alone have\ndone, with whom I plighted troth on the mountain; and he is my first\ntroth-plight, and my well-beloved.\"\n\nHeimir said that things must needs abide even as now they had now come\nto pass.\n\nBrynhild said, \"Aslaug the daughter of me and Sigurd shall be nourished\nhere with thee.\"\n\nNow the kings fare home, but Brynhild goes to her father; Grimhild\nwelcomes the kings meetly, and thanks Sigurd for his fellowship; and\nwithal is a great feast made, and many were the guests thereat; and\nthither came Budli the King with his daughter Brynhild, and his son\nAtli, and for many days did the feast endure: and at that feast was\nGunnar wedded to Brynhild: but when it was brought to an end, once more\nhas Sigurd memory of all the oaths that he sware unto Brynhild, yet\nwithal he let all things abide in rest and peace.\n\nBrynhild and Gunnar sat together in great game and glee, and drank\ngoodly wine.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVIII. How the Queens held angry converse together at the\nBathing.\n\nOn a day as the Queens went to the river to bathe them, Brynhild waded\nthe farthest out into the river; then asked Gudrun what that deed might\nsignify.\n\nBrynhild said, \"Yea, and why then should I be equal to thee in this\nmatter more than in others? I am minded to think that my father is\nmightier than thine, and my true love has wrought many wondrous works of\nfame, and hath ridden the flaming fire withal, while thy husband was but\nthe thrall of King Hjalprek.\"\n\nGudrun answered full of wrath, \"Thou wouldst be wise if thou shouldst\nhold thy peace rather than revile my husband: lo now, the talk of all\nmen it is, that none has ever abode in this world like unto him in all\nmatters soever; and little it beseems thee of all folk to mock him who\nwas thy first beloved: and Fafnir he slew, yea, and he rode thy flaming\nfire, whereas thou didst deem that he was Gunnar the King, and by thy\nside he lay, and took from thine hand the ring Andvari's-loom;--here\nmayst thou well behold it!\"\n\nThen Brynhild saw the ring and knew it, and waxed as wan as a dead\nwoman, and she went home and spake no word the evening long.\n\nSo when Sigurd came to bed to Gudrun she asked him why Brynhild's joy\nwas so departed.\n\nHe answered, \"I know not, but sore I misdoubt me that soon we shall know\nthereof overwell.\"\n\nGudrun said, \"Why may she not love her life, having wealth and bliss,\nand the praise of all men, and the man withal that she would have?\"\n\n\"Ah, yea!\" said Sigurd, \"and where in all the world was she then, when\nshe said that she deemed she had the noblest of all men, and the dearest\nto her heart of all?\"\n\nGudrun answers, \"Tomorn will I ask her concerning this, who is the\nliefest to her of all men for a husband.\"\n\nSigurd said, \"Needs must I forbid thee this, and full surely wilt thou\nrue the deed if thou doest it.\"\n\nNow the next morning they sat in the bower, and Brynhild was silent;\nthen spake Gudrun--\n\n\"Be merry, Brynhild! Grievest thou because of that speech of ours\ntogether, or what other thing slayeth thy bliss?\"\n\nBrynhild answers, \"With naught but evil intent thou sayest this, for a\ncruel heart thou hast.\"\n\n\"Say not so,\" said Gudrun; \"but rather tell me all the tale.\"\n\nBrynhild answers, \"Ask such things only as are good for thee to\nknow--matters meet for mighty dames. Good to love good things when all\ngoes according to thy heart's desire!\"\n\nGudrun says, \"Early days for me to glory in that; but this word of thine\nlooketh toward some foreseeing. What ill dost thou thrust at us? I did\nnaught to grieve thee.\"\n\nBrynhild answers, \"For this shalt thou pay, in that thou hast got Sigurd\nto thee,--nowise can I see thee living in the bliss thereof, whereas\nthou hast him, and the wealth and the might of him.\"\n\nBut Gudrun answered, \"Naught knew I of your words and vows together; and\nwell might my father look to the mating of me without dealing with thee\nfirst.\"\n\n\"No secret speech had we,\" quoth Brynhild, \"though we swore oath\ntogether; and full well didst thou know that thou wentest about to\nbeguile me; verily thou shalt have thy reward!\"\n\nSays Gudrun, \"Thou art mated better than thou are worthy of; but thy\npride and rage shall be hard to slake belike, and therefor shall many a\nman pay.\"\n\n\"Ah, I should be well content,\" said Brynhild, \"if thou hadst not the\nnobler man!\"\n\nGudrun answers, \"So noble a husband hast thou, that who knows of a\ngreater king or a lord of more wealth and might?\"\n\nSays Brynhild, \"Sigurd slew Fafnir, and that only deed is of more worth\nthan all the might of King Gunnar.\"\n\n(Even as the song says):\n\n     \"The worm Sigurd slew,\n     Nor e'er shall that deed\n     Be worsened by age\n     While the world is alive:\n     But thy brother the King\n     Never durst, never bore\n     The flame to ride down\n     Through the fire to fare.\"\n\nGudrun answers, \"Grani would not abide the fire under Gunnar the King,\nbut Sigurd durst the deed, and thy heart may well abide without mocking\nhim.\"\n\nBrynhild answers, \"Nowise will I hide from thee that I deem no good of\nGrimhild.\"\n\nSays Gudrun, \"Nay, lay no ill words on her, for in all things she is to\nthee as to her own daughter.\"\n\n\"Ah,\" says Brynhild, \"she is the beginning of all this hale that biteth\nso; an evil drink she bare to Sigurd, so that he had no more memory of\nmy very name.\"\n\n\"All wrong thou talkest; a lie without measure is this,\" quoth Gudrun.\n\nBrynhild answered, \"Have thou joy of Sigurd according to the measure of\nthe wiles wherewith ye have beguiled me! Unworthily have ye conspired\nagainst me; may all things go with you as my heart hopes!\"\n\nGudrun says, \"More joy shall I have of him than thy wish would give unto\nme: but to no man's mind it came, that he had aforetime his pleasure of\nme; nay not once.\"\n\n\"Evil speech thou speakest,\" says Brynhild; \"when thy wrath runs off\nthou wilt rue it; but come now, let us no more cast angry words one at\nthe other!\"\n\nSays Gudrun, \"Thou wert the first to cast such words at me, and now thou\nmakest as if thou wouldst amend it, but a cruel and hard heart abides\nbehind.\"\n\n\"Let us lay aside vain babble,\" says Brynhild. \"Long did I hold my peace\nconcerning my sorrow of heart, and, lo now, thy brother alone do I love;\nlet us fall to other talk.\"\n\nGudrun said, \"Far beyond all this doth thine heart look.\"\n\nAnd so ugly ill befell from that going to the river, and that knowing of\nthe ring, wherefrom did all their talk arise.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIX. Of Brynhild's great Grief and Mourning.\n\nAfter this talk Brynhild lay a-bed, and tidings were brought to King\nGunnar that Brynhild was sick; he goes to see her thereon, and asks what\nails her; but she answered him naught, but lay there as one dead: and\nwhen he was hard on her for an answer, she said--\n\n\"What didst thou with that ring that I gave thee, even the one which\nKing Budli gave me at our last parting, when thou and King Giuki came to\nhim and threatened fire and the sword, unless ye had me to wife? Yea, at\nthat time he led me apart, and asked me which I had chosen of those who\nwere come; but I prayed him that I might abide to ward the land and be\nchief over the third part of his men; then were there two choices for me\nto deal betwixt, either that I should be wedded to him whom he would, or\nlose all my weal and friendship at his hands; and he said withal that\nhis friendship would be better to me than his wrath: then I bethought me\nwhether I should yield to his will, or slay many a man; and therewithal\nI deemed that it would avail little to strive with him, and so it fell\nout, that I promised to wed whomsoever should ride the horse Grani with\nFafnir's Hoard, and ride through my flaming fire, and slay those men\nwhom I called on him to slay, and now so it was, that none durst ride,\nsave Sigurd only, because he lacked no heart thereto; yea, and the Worm\nhe slew, and Regin, and five kings beside; but thou, Gunnar, durst do\nnaught; as pale as a dead man didst thou wax, and no king thou art,\nand no champion; so whereas I made a vow unto my father, that him alone\nwould I love who was the noblest man alive, and that this is none save\nSigurd, lo, now have I broken my oath and brought it to naught, since\nhe is none of mine, and for this cause shall I compass thy death; and a\ngreat reward of evil things have I wherewith to reward Grimhild;--never,\nI wot, has woman lived eviler or of lesser heart than she.\"\n\nGunnar answered in such wise that few might hear him, \"Many a vile\nword hast thou spoken, and an evil-hearted woman art thou, whereas thou\nrevilest a woman far better than thou; never would she curse her life\nas thou dost; nay, nor has she tormented dead folk, or murdered any; but\nlives her life well praised of all.\"\n\nBrynhild answered, \"Never have I dwelt with evil things privily, or done\nloathsome deeds;--yet most fain I am to slay thee.\"\n\nAnd therewith would she slay King Gunnar, but Hogni laid her in fetters;\nbut then Gunnar spake withal--\n\n\"Nay, I will not that she abide in fetters.\"\n\nThen said she, \"Heed it not! For never again seest thou me glad in thine\nhall, never drinking, never at the chess-play, never speaking the words\nof kindness, never over-laying the fair cloths with gold, never giving\nthee good counsel;--ah, my sorrow of heart that I might not get Sigurd\nto me!\"\n\nThen she sat up and smote her needlework, and rent it asunder, and bade\nset open her bower doors, that far away might the wailings of her sorrow\nbe heard; then great mourning and lamentation there was, so that folk\nheard it far and wide through that abode.\n\nNow Gudrun asked her bower-maidens why they sat so joyless and downcast.\n\"What has come to you, that ye fare ye as witless women, or what\nunheard-of wonders have befallen you?\"\n\nThen answered a waiting lady, hight Swaflod, \"An untimely, an evil day\nit is, and our hall is fulfilled of lamentation.\"\n\nThen spake Gudrun to one of her handmaids, \"Arise, for we have slept\nlong; go, wake Brynhild, and let us fall to our needlework and be\nmerry.\"\n\n\"Nay, nay,\" she says, \"nowise may I wake her, or talk with her; for many\ndays has she drunk neither mead nor wine; surely the wrath of the Gods\nhas fallen upon her.\"\n\nThen spake Gudrun to Gunnar, \"Go and see her,\" she says, \"and bid her\nknow that I am grieved with her grief.\"\n\n\"Nay,\" says Gunnar, \"I am forbid to go see her or to share her weal.\"\n\nNevertheless he went unto her, and strives in many wise to have speech\nof her, but gets no answer whatsoever; therefore he gets him gone and\nfinds Hogni, and bids him go see her: he said he was loth thereto, but\nwent, and gat no more of her.\n\nThen they go and find Sigurd, and pray him to visit her; he answered\nnaught thereto, and so matters abode for that night.\n\nBut the next day, when he came home from hunting, Sigurd went to Gudrun,\nand spake--\n\n\"In such wise do matters show to me, as though great and evil things\nwill betide from this trouble and upheaving; and that Brynhild will\nsurely die.\"\n\nGudrun answers, \"O my lord, by great wonders is she encompassed, seven\ndays and seven nights has she slept, and none has dared wake her.\"\n\n\"Nay, she sleeps not,\" said Sigurd, \"her heart is dealing rather with\ndreadful intent against me.\"\n\nThen said Gudrun, weeping, \"Woe worth the while for thy death! Go and\nsee her; and wot if her fury may not be abated; give her gold, and\nsmother up her grief and anger therewith!\"\n\nThen Sigurd went out, and found the door of Brynhild's chamber open; he\ndeemed she slept, and drew the clothes from off her, and said--\n\n\"Awake, Brynhild! The sun shineth now over all the house, and thou hast\nslept enough; cast off grief from thee, and take up gladness!\"\n\nShe said, \"And how then hast thou dared to come to me? in this treason\nnone was worse to me than thou.\"\n\nSaid Sigurd, \"Why wilt thou not speak to folk? for what cause sorrowest\nthou?\"\n\nBrynhild answers, \"Ah, to thee will I tell of my wrath!\"\n\nSigurd said, \"As one under a spell art thou, if thou deemest that there\nis aught cruel in my heart against thee; but thou hast him for husband\nwhom thou didst choose.\"\n\n\"Ah, nay,\" she said, \"never did Gunnar ride through the fire to me, nor\ndid he give me to dower the host of the slain: I wondered at the man\nwho came into my hall; for I deemed indeed that I knew thine eyes; but I\nmight not see clearly, or divide the good from the evil, because of the\nveil that lay heavy on my fortune.\"\n\nSays Sigurd, \"No nobler men are there than the sons of Giuki, they slew\nthe king of the Danes, and that great chief, the brother of King Budli.\"\n\nBrynhild answered, \"Surely for many an ill-deed must I reward them; mind\nme not of my griefs against them! But thou, Sigurd, slewest the Worm,\nand rodest the fire through; yea, and for my sake, and not one of the\nsons of King Giuki.\"\n\nSigurd answers, \"I am not thy husband, and thou art not my wife; yet did\na farfamed king pay dower to thee.\"\n\nSays Brynhild, \"Never looked I at Gunnar in such a wise that my heart\nsmiled on him; and hard and fell am I to him, though I hide it from\nothers.\"\n\n\"A marvellous thing,\" says Sigurd, \"not to love such a king; what angers\nthee most? for surely his love should be better to thee than gold.\"\n\n\"This is the sorest sorrow to me,\" she said, \"that the bitter sword is\nnot reddened in thy blood.\"\n\n\"Have no fear thereof!\" says he, \"no long while to wait or the bitter\nsword stand deep in my heart; and no worse needest thou to pray for\nthyself, for thou wilt not live when I am dead; the days of our two\nlives shall be few enough from henceforth.\"\n\nBrynhild answers, \"Enough and to spare of bale is in thy speech, since\nthou bewrayedst me, and didst twin (1) me and all bliss;--naught do I\nheed my life or death.\"\n\nSigurd answers, \"Ah, live, and love King Gunnar and me withal! and all\nmy wealth will I give thee if thou die not.\"\n\nBrynhild answers, \"Thou knowest me not, nor the heart that is in me;\nfor thou art the first and best of all men, and I am become the most\nloathsome of all women to thee.\"\n\n\"This is truer,\" says Sigurd, \"that I loved thee better than myself,\nthough I fell into the wiles from whence our lives may not escape; for\nwhenso my own heart and mind availed me, then I sorrowed sore that thou\nwert not my wife; but as I might I put my trouble from me, for in a\nking's dwelling was I; and withal and in spite of all I was well content\nthat we were all together. Well may it be, that that shall come to pass\nwhich is foretold; neither shall I fear the fulfilment thereof.\"\n\nBrynhild answered, and said, \"Too late thou tellest me that my grief\ngrieved thee: little pity shall I find now.\"\n\nSigurd said, \"This my heart would, that thou and I should go into one\nbed together; even so wouldst thou be my wife.\"\n\nSaid Brynhild, \"Such words may nowise be spoken, nor will I have two\nkings in one hall; I will lay my life down rather than beguile Gunnar\nthe King.\"\n\nAnd therewith she call to mind how they met, they two, on the mountain,\nand swore oath each to each.\n\n\"But now is all changed, and I will not live.\"\n\n\"I might not call to mind thy name,\" said Sigurd, \"or know thee again,\nbefore the time of thy wedding; the greatest of all griefs is that.\"\n\nThen said Brynhild, \"I swore an oath to wed the man who should ride my\nflaming fire, and that oath will I hold to, or die.\"\n\n\"Rather than thou die, I will wed thee, and put away Gudrun,\" said\nSigurd.\n\nBut therewithal so swelled the heart betwixt the sides of him, that the\nrings of his byrny burst asunder.\n\n\"I will not have thee,\" says Brynhild, \"nay, nor any other!\"\n\nThen Sigurd got him gone.\n\nSo saith the song of Sigurd--\n\n     \"Out then went Sigurd,\n     The great kings' well-loved,\n     From the speech and the sorrow,\n     Sore drooping, so grieving,\n     That the shirt round about him\n     Of iron rings woven,\n     From the sides brake asunder\n     Of the brave in the battle.\"\n\nSo when Sigurd came into the hall, Gunnar asked if he had come to a\nknowledge of what great grief lay heavy on her, or if she had power of\nspeech: and Sigurd said that she lacked it not. So now Gunnar goes\nto her again, and asked her, what wrought her woe, or if there were\nanything that might amend it.\n\n\"I will not live,\" says Brynhild, \"for Sigurd has bewrayed me, yea,\nand thee no less, whereas thou didst suffer him to come into my bed:\nlo thou, two men in one dwelling I will not have; and this shall be\nSigurd's death, or thy death, or my death;--for now has he told Gudrun\nall, and she is mocking me even now!\"\n\n\n  ENDNOTES:\n  (1)  Sunder.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXX. Of the Slaying of Sigurd Fafnir's-bane.\n\nThereafter Brynhild went out, and sat under her bower-wall, and had\nmany words of wailing to say, and still she cried that all things were\nloathsome to her, both land and lordship alike, so she might not have\nSigurd.\n\nBut therewith came Gunnar to her yet again, and Brynhild spake, \"Thou\nshalt lose both realm and wealth, and thy life and me, for I shall fare\nhome to my kin, and abide there in sorrow, unless thou slayest Sigurd\nand his son; never nourish thou a wolfcub.\"\n\nGunnar grew sick at heart thereat, and might nowise see what fearful\nthing lay beneath it all; he was bound to Sigurd by oath, and this way\nand that way swung the heart within him; but at the last he bethought\nhim of the measureless shame if his wife went from him, and he said\nwithin himself, \"Brynhild is better to me than all things else, and the\nfairest woman of all women, and I will lay down my life rather than lose\nthe love of her.\" And herewith he called to him his brother and spake,--\n\n\"Trouble is heavy on me,\" and he tells him that he must needs slay\nSigurd, for that he has failed him where in he trusted him; \"so let us\nbe lords of the gold and the realm withal.\"\n\nHogni answers, \"Ill it behoves us to break our oaths with wrack and\nwrong, and withal great aid we have in him; no kings shall be as\ngreat as we, if so be the King of the Hun-folk may live; such another\nbrother-in-law never may we get again; bethink thee how good it is to\nhave such a brother-in-law, and such sons to our sister! But well I see\nhow things stand, for this has Brynhild stirred thee up to, and surely\nshall her counsel drag us into huge shame and scathe.\"\n\nGunnar says, \"Yet shall it be brought about: and, lo, a rede\nthereto;--let us egg on our brother Guttorm to the deed; he is young,\nand of little knowledge, and is clean out of all the oaths moreover.\"\n\n\"Ah, set about in ill wise,\" says Hogni, \"and though indeed it may well\nbe compassed, a due reward shall we gain for the bewrayal of such a man\nas is Sigurd.\"\n\nGunnar says, \"Sigurd shall die, or I shall die.\"\n\nAnd therewith he bids Brynhild arise and be glad at heart: so she arose,\nand still ever she said that Gunnar should come no more into her bed\ntill the deed was done.\n\nSo the brothers fall to talk, and Gunnar says that it is a deed well\nworthy of death, that taking of Brynhild's maidenhead; \"So come now, let\nus prick on Guttorm to do the deed.\"\n\nTherewith they call him to them, and offer him gold and great dominion,\nas they well have might to do. Yea, and they took a certain worm and\nsomewhat of wolf's flesh and let seethe them together, and gave him to\neat of the same, even as the singer sings--\n\n     \"Fish of the wild-wood,\n     Worm smooth crawling,\n     With wolf-meat mingled,\n     They minced for Guttorm;\n     Then in the beaker,\n     In the wine his mouth knew,\n     They set it, still doing\n     More deeds of wizards.\n\nWherefore with the eating of this meat he grew so wild and eager, and\nwith all things about him, and with the heavy words of Grimhild, that\nhe gave his word to do the deed; and mighty honour they promised him in\nreward thereof.\n\nBut of these evil wiles naught at all knew Sigurd, for he might not deal\nwith his shapen fate, nor the measure of his life-days, neither deemed\nhe that he was worthy of such things at their hands.\n\nSo Guttorm went in to Sigurd the next morning as he lay upon his bed,\nyet durst he not do aught against him, but shrank back out again; yea,\nand even so he fared a second time, for so bright and eager were the\neyes of Sigurd that few durst look upon him. But the third time he went\nin, and there lay Sigurd asleep; then Guttorm drew his sword and thrust\nSigurd through in such wise that the sword point smote into the bed\nbeneath him; then Sigurd awoke with that wound, and Guttorm gat him unto\nthe door; but therewith Sigurd caught up the sword Gram, and cast it\nafter him, and it smote him on the back, and struck him asunder in the\nmidst, so that the feet of him fell one way, and the head and hands back\ninto the chamber.\n\nNow Gudrun lay asleep on Sigurd's bosom, but she woke up unto woe that\nmay not be told of, all swimming in the blood of him, and in such wise\ndid she bewail her with weeping and words of sorrow, that Sigurd rose up\non the bolster, and spake.\n\n\"Weep not,\" said he, \"for thy brothers live for thy delight; but a young\nson have I, too young to be ware of his foes; and an ill turn have these\nplayed against their own fortune; for never will they get a mightier\nbrother-in-law to ride abroad with them; nay, nor a better son to their\nsister, than this one, if he may grow to man's estate. Lo, now is that\ncome to pass which was foretold me long ago, but from mine eyes has it\nbeen hidden, for none may fight against his fate and prevail. Behold\nthis has Brynhild brought to pass, even she who loves me before all\nmen; but this may I swear, that never have I wrought ill to Gunnar, but\nrather have ever held fast to my oath with him, nor was I ever too much\na friend to his wife. And now if I had been forewarned, and had been\nafoot with my weapons, then should many a man have lost his life or\never I had fallen, and all those brethren should have been slain, and\na harder work would the slaying of me have been than the slaying of the\nmightiest bull or the mightiest boar of the wild-wood.\"\n\nAnd even therewithal life left the King; but Gudrun moaned and drew\na weary breath, and Brynhild heard it, and laughed when she heard her\nmoaning.\n\nThen said Gunnar, \"Thou laughest not because thy heart-roots are\ngladdened, or else why doth thy visage wax so wan? Sure an evil creature\nthou art; most like thou art nigh to thy death! Lo now, how meet would\nit be for thee to behold thy brother Atli slain before thine eyes, and\nthat thou shouldst stand over him dead; whereas we must needs now\nstand over our brother-in-law in such a case, our brother-in-law and our\nbrother's bane.\"\n\nShe answered, \"None need mock at the measure of slaughter being\nunfulfilled; yet heedeth not Atli your wrath or your threats; yea, he\nshall live longer than ye, and be a mightier man.\"\n\nHogni spake and said, \"Now hath come to pass the soothsaying of\nBrynhild; an ill work not to be atoned for.\"\n\nAnd Gudrun said, \"My kinsmen have slain my husband; but ye, when ye next\nride to the war and are come into the battle, then shall ye look about\nand see that Sigurd is neither on the right hand nor the left, and ye\nshall know that he was your good-hap and your strength; and if he\nhad lived and had sons, then should ye have been strengthened by his\noffspring and his kin.\"\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXI. Of the Lamentation of Gudrun over Sigurd dead, as it is\ntold told in ancient Songs. (1)\n\n     Gudrun of old days\n     Drew near to dying\n     As she sat in sorrow\n     Over Sigurd;\n     Yet she sighed not\n     Nor smote hand on hand,\n     Nor wailed she aught\n     As other women.\n\n     Then went earls to her.\n     Full of all wisdom,\n     Fain help to deal\n     To her dreadful heart:\n     Hushed was Gudrun\n     Of wail, or greeting,\n     But with a heavy woe\n     Was her heart a-breaking.\n\n     Bright and fair\n     Sat the great earls' brides,\n     Gold arrayed\n     Before Gudrun;\n     Each told the tale\n     Of her great trouble,\n     The bitterest bale\n     She erst abode.\n\n     Then spake Giaflaug,\n     Giuki's sister:\n     \"Lo upon earth\n     I live most loveless\n     Who of five mates\n     Must see the ending,\n     Of daughters twain\n     And three sisters,\n     Of brethren eight,\n     And abide behind lonely.\"\n\n     Naught gat Gudrun\n     Of wail and greeting,\n     So heavy was she\n     For her dead husband,\n     So dreadful-hearted\n     For the King laid dead there.\n\n     Then spake Herborg\n     Queen of Hunland--\n     \"Crueller tale\n     Have I to tell of,\n     Of my seven sons\n     Down in the Southlands,\n     And the eighth man, my mate,\n     Felled in the death-mead.\n\n     \"Father and mother,\n     And four brothers,\n     On the wide sea\n     The winds and death played with;\n     The billows beat\n     On the bulwark boards.\n\n     \"Alone must I sing o'er them,\n     Alone must I array them,\n     Alone must my hands deal with\n     Their departing;\n     And all this was\n     In one season's wearing,\n     And none was left\n     For love or solace.\n\n     \"Then was I bound\n     A prey of the battle,\n     When that same season\n     Wore to its ending;\n     As a tiring may\n     Must I bind the shoon\n     Of the duke's high dame,\n     Every day at dawning.\n\n     \"From her jealous hate\n     Gat I heavy mocking,\n     Cruel lashes\n     She laid upon me,\n     Never met I\n     Better master\n     Or mistress worser\n     In all the wide world.\"\n\n     Naught gat Gudrun\n     Of wail or greeting,\n     So heavy was she\n     For her dead husband,\n     So dreadful-hearted\n     For the King laid dead there.\n\n     Then spake Gullrond,\n     Giuki's daughter--\n     \"O foster-mother,\n     Wise as thou mayst be,\n     Naught canst thou better\n     The young wife's bale.\"\n     And she bade uncover\n     The dead King's corpse.\n\n     She swept the sheet\n     Away from Sigurd,\n     And turned his cheek\n     Towards his wife's knees--\n     \"Look on thy loved one\n     Lay lips to his lips,\n     E'en as thou wert clinging\n     To thy king alive yet!\"\n\n     Once looked Gudrun--\n     One look only,\n     And saw her lord's locks\n     Lying all bloody,\n     The great man's eyes\n     Glazed and deadly,\n     And his heart's bulwark\n     Broken by sword-edge.\n\n     Back then sank Gudrun,\n     Back on the bolster,\n     Loosed was her head array,\n     Red did her cheeks grow,\n     And the rain-drops ran\n     Down over her knees.\n\n     Then wept Gudrun,\n     Giuki's daughter,\n     So that the tears flowed\n     Through the pillow;\n     As the geese withal\n     That were in the homefield,\n     The fair fowls the may owned,\n     Fell a-screaming.\n\n     Then spake Gullrond,\n     Giuki's daughter--\n     \"Surely knew I\n     No love like your love\n     Among all men,\n     On the mould abiding;\n     Naught wouldst thou joy in\n     Without or within doors,\n     O my sister,\n     Save beside Sigurd.\"\n\n     Then spake Gudrun,\n     Giuki's daughter--\n     \"Such was my Sigurd\n     Among the sons of Giuki,\n     As is the king leek\n     O'er the low grass waxing,\n     Or a bright stone\n     Strung on band,\n     Or a pearl of price\n     On a prince's brow.\n\n     \"Once was I counted\n     By the king's warriors\n     Higher than any\n     Of Herjan's mays;\n     Now am I as little\n     As the leaf may be,\n     Amid wind-swept wood\n     Now when dead he lieth.\n\n     I miss from my seat,\n     I miss from my bed,\n     My darling of sweet speech.\n     Wrought the sons of Giuki,\n     Wrought the sons of Giuki,\n     This sore sorrow,\n     Yea, for their sister,\n     Most sore sorrow.\n\n     \"So may your lands\n     Lie waste on all sides,\n     As ye have broken\n     Your bounden oaths!\n     Ne'er shalt thou, Gunnar,\n     The gold have joy of;\n     The dear-bought rings\n     Shall drag thee to death,\n     Whereon thou swarest\n     Oath unto Sigurd.\n\n     Ah, in the days by-gone\n     Great mirth in the homefield\n     When my Sigurd\n     Set saddle on Grani,\n     And they went their ways\n     For the wooing of Brynhild!\n     An ill day, an ill woman,\n     And most ill hap!\"\n\n     Then spake Brynhild,\n     Budli's daughter--\n     \"May the woman lack\n     Both love and children,\n     Who gained greeting\n     For thee, O Gudrun!\n     Who gave thee this morning\n     Many words!\"\n\n     Then spake Gullrond,\n     Giuki's daughter--\n     \"Hold peace of such words\n     Thou hated of all folk!\n     The bane of brave men\n     Hast thou been ever,\n     All waves of ill\n     Wash over thy mind,\n     To seven great kings\n     Hast thou been a sore sorrow,\n     And the death of good will\n     To wives and women.\"\n\n     Then spake Brynhild,\n     Budli's daughter--\n     \"None but Atli\n     Brought bale upon us,\n     My very brother\n     Born of Budli.\n\n     When we saw in the hall\n     Of the Hunnish people\n     The gold a-gleaming\n     On the kingly Giukings;\n     I have paid for that faring\n     Oft and full,\n     And for the sight\n     That then I saw.\"\n\n     By a pillar she stood\n     And strained its wood to her;\n     From the eyes of Brynhild,\n     Budli's daughter,\n     Flashed out fire,\n     And she snorted forth venom,\n     As the sore wounds she gazed on\n     Of the dead-slain Sigurd.\n\n\n  ENDNOTES:\n  (1)  This chapter is the Eddaic poem, called the first Lay of\n       Gudrun, inserted here by the translators.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXII. Of the Ending of Brynhild.\n\nAnd now none might know for what cause Brynhild must bewail with weeping\nfor what she had prayed for with laughter: but she spake--\n\n\"Such a dream I had, Gunnar, as that my bed was acold, and that thou\ndidst ride into the hands of thy foes: lo now, ill shall it go with thee\nand all thy kin, O ye breakers of oaths; for on the day thou slayedst\nhim, dimly didst thou remember how thou didst blend thy blood with the\nblood of Sigurd, and with an ill reward hast thou rewarded him for all\nthat he did well to thee; whereas he gave unto thee to be the mightiest\nof men; and well was it proven how fast he held to his oath sworn, when\nhe came to me and laid betwixt us the sharp-edged sword that in venom\nhad been made hard. All too soon did ye fall to working wrong against\nhim and against me, whenas I abode at home with my father, and had all\nthat I would, and had no will that any one of you should be any of mine,\nas ye rode into our garth, ye three kings together; but then Atli led me\napart privily, and asked me if I would not have him who rode Grani; yea,\na man nowise like unto you; but in those days I plighted myself to the\nson of King Sigmund and no other; and lo, now, no better shall ye fare\nfor the death of me.\"\n\nThen rose up Gunnar, and laid his arms about her neck, and besought her\nto live and have wealth from him; and all others in likewise letted her\nfrom dying; but she thrust them all from her, and said that it was not\nthe part of any to let her in that which was her will.\n\nThen Gunnar called to Hogni, and prayed him for counsel, and bade him go\nto her, and see if he might perchance soften her dreadful heart, saying\nwithal, that now they had need enough on their hands in the slaking of\nher grief, till time might get over.\n\nBut Hogni answered, \"Nay, let no man hinder her from dying; for no gain\nwill she be to us, nor has she been gainsome since she came hither!\n\nNow she bade bring forth much gold, and bade all those come thither who\nwould have wealth: then she caught up a sword, and thrust it under her\narmpit, and sank aside upon the pillows, and said, \"Come, take gold\nwhoso will!\"\n\nBut all held their peace, and she said, \"Take the gold, and be glad\nthereof!\"\n\nAnd therewith she spake unto Gunnar, \"Now for a little while will I tell\nof that which shall come to pass hereafter; for speedily shall ye be\nat one again with Gudrun by the rede of Grimhild the Wise-wife; and the\ndaughter of Gudrun and Sigurd shall be called Swanhild, the fairest of\nall women born. Gudrun shall be given to Atli, yet not with her good\nwill. Thou shalt be fain to get Oddrun, but that shall Atli forbid thee;\nbut privily shall ye meet, and much shall she love thee. Atli shall\nbewray thee, and cast thee into a worm-close, and thereafter shall Atli\nand his sons be slain, and Gudrun shall be their slayer; and afterwards\nshall the great waves bear her to the burg of King Jonakr, to whom she\nshall bear sons of great fame: Swanhild shall be sent from the land\nand given to King Jormunrek; and her shall bite the rede of Bikki, and\ntherewithal is the kin of you clean gone; and more sorrows therewith for\nGudrun.\n\n\"And now I pray thee, Gunnar, one last boon.--Let make a great bale on\nthe plain meads for all of us; for me, and for Sigurd, and for those who\nwere slain with him, and let that be covered over with cloth dyed red by\nthe folk of the Gauls, (1) and burn me thereon on one side of the King\nof the Huns, and on the other those men of mine, two at the head and two\nat the feet, and two hawks withal; and even so is all shared equally;\nand lay there betwixt us a drawn sword, as in the other days when we\ntwain stepped into one bed together; and then may we have the name of\nman and wife, nor shall the door swing to at the heel of him as I go\nbehind him. Nor shall that be a niggard company if there follow him\nthose five bond-women and eight bondmen, whom my father gave me, and\nthose burn there withal who were slain with Sigurd.\n\n\"Now more yet would I say, but for my wounds, but my life-breath flits;\nthe wounds open,--yet have I said sooth.\"\n\nNow is the dead corpse of Sigurd arrayed in olden wise, and a mighty\nbale is raised, and when it was somewhat kindled, there was laid thereon\nthe dead corpse of Sigurd Fafnir's-bane, and his son of three winters\nwhom Brynhild had let slay, and Guttorm withal; and when the bale was\nall ablaze, thereunto was Brynhild borne out, when she had spoken with\nher bower-maidens, and bid them take the gold that she would give; and\nthen died Brynhild, and was burned there by the side of Sigurd, and thus\ntheir life-days ended.\n\n\n  ENDNOTES:\n  (1)  The original has \"raudu manna blodi\", red-dyed in the blood\n       of men; the Sagaman's original error in dealing with the\n       word \"Valaript\" in the corresponding passage of the short\n       lay of Sigurd.--Tr.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXIII. Gudrun wedded to Atli.\n\nNow so it is, that whoso heareth these tidings sayeth, that no such an\none as was Sigurd was left behind him in the world, nor ever was such a\nman brought forth because of all the worth of him, nor may his name ever\nminish by eld in the Dutch Tongue nor in all the Northern Lands, while\nthe world standeth fast.\n\nThe story tells that, on a day, as Gudrun sat in her bower, she fell to\nsaying, \"Better was life in those days when I had Sigurd; he who was far\nabove other men as gold is above iron, or the leek over other grass\nof the field, or the hart over other wild things; until my brethren\nbegrudged me such a man, the first and best of all men; and so they\nmight not sleep or they had slain him. Huge clamour made Grani when he\nsaw his master and lord sore wounded, and then I spoke to him even as\nwith a man, but he fell drooping down to the earth, for he knew that\nSigurd was slain.\"\n\nThereafter Gudrun gat her gone into the wild woods, and heard on all\nways round about her the howling of wolves, and deemed death a merrier\nthing than life. Then she went till she came to the hall of King Alf,\nand sat there in Denmark with Thora, the daughter of Hakon, for seven\nseasons, and abode with good welcome. And she set forth her needlework\nbefore her, and did thereinto many deeds and great, and fair plays after\nthe fashion of those days, swords and byrnies, and all the gear of\nkings, and the ship of King Sigmund sailing along the land; yea, and\nthey wrought there, how they fought, Sigar and Siggeir, south in Fion.\nSuch was their disport; and now Gudrun was somewhat solaced of her\ngrief.\n\nSo Grimhild comes to hear where Gudrun has take up her abode, and\nshe calls her sons to talk with her, and asks whether they will make\natonement to Gudrun for her son and her husband, and said that it was\nbut meet and right to do so.\n\nThen Gunnar spake, and said that he would atone for her sorrows with\ngold.\n\nSo they send for their friends, and array their horses, their helms,\nand their shields, and their byrnies, and all their war-gear; and their\njourney was furnished forth in the noblest wise, and no champion who\nwas of the great men might abide at home; and their horses were clad in\nmail-coats, and every knight of them had his helm done over with gold or\nwith silver.\n\nGrimhild was of their company, for she said that their errand would\nnever be brought fairly to pass if she sat at home.\n\nThere were well five hundred men, and noble men rode with them. There\nwas Waldemar of Denmark, and Eymod and Jarisleif withal. So they went\ninto the hall of King Alf, and there abode them the Longbeards and\nFranks, and Saxons: they fared with all their war-gear, and had over\nthem red fur-coats. Even as the song says--\n\n     \"Byrnies short cut,\n     Strong helms hammered,\n     Girt with good swords,\n     Red hair gleaming.\"\n\nThey were fain to choose good gifts for their sister, and spake softly\nto her, but in none of them would she trow. Then Gunnar brought unto her\na drink mingled with hurtful things, and this she must needs drink, and\nwith the drinking thereof she had no more memory of their guilt against\nher.\n\nBut in that drink was blended the might of the earth and the sea with\nthe blood of her son; and in that horn were all letters cut and reddened\nwith blood, as is said hereunder--\n\n     \"On the horn's face were there\n     All the kin of letters\n     Cut aright and reddened,\n     How should I rede them rightly?\n     The ling-fish long\n     Of the land of Hadding,\n     Wheat-ears unshorn,\n     And wild things' inwards.\n\n     In that beer were mingled\n     Many ills together,\n     Blood of all the wood\n     And brown-burnt acorns,\n     The black dew of the hearth,\n     The God-doomed dead beast's inwards,\n     And the swine's liver sodden\n     Because all wrongs that deadens.\n\nAnd so now, when their hearts are brought anigh to each other, great\ncheer they made: then came Grimhild to Gudrun, and spake:\n\n\"All hail to thee, daughter! I give thee gold and all kinds of good\nthings to take to thee after thy father, dear-bought rings and bed-gear\nof the maids of the Huns, the most courteous and well dight of all\nwomen; and thus is thy husband atoned for: and thereafter shalt thou be\ngiven to Atli, the mighty king, and be mistress of all his might. Cast\nnot all thy friends aside for one man's sake, but do according to our\nbidding.\"\n\nGudrun answers, \"Never will I wed Atli the King: unseemly it is for us\nto get offspring betwixt us.\"\n\nGrimhild says, \"Nourish not thy wrath; it shall be to thee as if Sigurd\nand Sigmund were alive when thou hast borne sons.\"\n\nGudrun says, \"I cannot take my heart from thoughts of him, for he was\nthe first of all men.\"\n\nGrimhild says, \"So it is shapen that thou must have this king and none\nelse.\"\n\nSays Gudrun, \"Give not this man to me, for an evil thing shall come\nupon thy kin from him, and to his own sons shall he deal evil, and be\nrewarded with a grim revenge thereafter.\"\n\nThen waxed Grimhild fell at those words, and spake, \"Do even as we\nbid thee, and take therefore great honour, and our friendship, and the\nsteads withal called Vinbjorg and Valbjorg.\"\n\nAnd such might was in the words of her, that even so must it come to\npass.\n\nThen Gudrun spake, \"Thus then must it needs befall, howsoever against\nthe will of me, and for little joy shall it be and for great grief.\"\n\nThen men leaped on their horses, and their women were set in wains. So\nthey fared four days a-riding and other four a-shipboard, and yet four\nmore again by land and road, till at the last they came to a certain\nhigh-built hall; then came to meet Gudrun many folk thronging; and\nan exceedingly goodly feast was there made, even as the word had gone\nbetween either kin, and it passed forth in most proud and stately wise.\nAnd at that feast drinks Atli his bridal with Gudrun; but never did her\nheart laugh on him, and little sweet and kind was their life together.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXIV. Atli bids the Giukings to him.\n\nNow tells the tale that on a night King Atli woke from sleep and spake\nto Gudrun--\n\n\"Medreamed,\" said he, \"that thou didst thrust me through with a sword.\"\n\nThen Gudrun areded the dream, and said that it betokened fire, whenas\nfolk dreamed of iron. \"It befalls of thy pride belike, in that thou\ndeemest thyself the first of men.\"\n\nAtli said, \"Moreover I dreamed that here waxed two sorb-tree (1)\nsaplings, and fain I was that they should have no scathe of me; then\nthese were riven up by the roots and reddened with blood, and borne to\nthe bench, and I was bidden eat thereof.\n\n\"Yea, yet again I dreamed that two hawks flew from my hand hungry and\nunfed, and fared to hell, and meseemed their hearts were mingled with\nhoney, and that I ate thereof.\n\n\"And then again I dreamed that two fair whelps lay before me yelling\naloud, and that the flesh of them I ate, though my will went not with\nthe eating.\"\n\nGudrun says, \"Nowise good are these dreams, yet shall they come to pass;\nsurely thy sons are nigh to death, and many heavy things shall fall upon\nus.\"\n\n\"Yet again I dreamed,\" said he, \"and methought I lay in a bath, and folk\ntook counsel to slay me.\"\n\nNow these things wear away with time, but in nowise was their life\ntogether fond.\n\nNow falls Atli to thinking of where may be gotten that plenteous gold\nwhich Sigurd had owned, but King Gunnar and his brethren were lords\nthereof now.\n\nAtli was a great king and mighty, wise, and a lord of many men; and now\nhe falls to counsel with his folk as to the ways of them. He wotted well\nthat Gunnar and his brethren had more wealth than any others might have,\nand so he falls to the rede of sending men to them, and bidding them\nto a great feast, and honouring them in diverse wise, and the chief of\nthose messengers was hight Vingi.\n\nNow the queen wots of their conspiring, and misdoubts her that this\nwould mean some beguiling of her brethren: so she cut runes, and took a\ngold ring, and knit therein a wolf's hair, and gave it into the hands of\nthe king's messengers.\n\nThereafter they go their ways according to the king's bidding; and or\never they came aland Vingi beheld the runes, and turned them about in\nsuch wise as if Gudrun prayed her brethren in her runes to go meet King\nAtli.\n\nThereafter they came to the hall of King Gunnar, and had good welcome at\nhis hands, and great fires were made for them, and in great joyance they\ndrank of the best of drink.\n\nThen spake Vingi, \"King Atli sends me hither, and is fain that ye go\nto his house and home in all glory, and take of him exceeding honours,\nhelms and shields, swords and byrnies, gold and goodly raiment, horses,\nhosts of war, and great and wide lands, for, saith he, he is fainest of\nall things to bestow his realm and lordship upon you.\"\n\nThen Gunnar turned his head aside, and spoke to Hogni--\n\n\"In what wise shall we take this bidding? might and wealth he bids us\ntake; but no kings know I who have so much gold as we have, whereas\nwe have all the hoard which lay once on Gnitaheath; and great are our\nchambers, and full of gold, and weapons for smiting, and all kinds of\nraiment of war, and well I wot that amidst all men my horse is the best,\nand my sword the sharpest, and my gold the most glorious.\"\n\nHogni answers, \"A marvel is it to me of his bidding, for seldom hath he\ndone in such a wise, and ill-counselled will it be to wend to him; lo\nnow, when I saw those dear-bought things the king sends us I wondered to\nbehold a wolf's hair knit to a certain gold ring; belike Gudrun deems him\nto be minded as a wolf towards us, and will have naught of our faring.\"\n\nBut withal Vingi shows him the runes which he said Gudrun had sent.\n\nNow the most of folk go to bed, but these drank on still with certain\nothers; and Kostbera, the wife of Hogni, the fairest of women, came to\nthem, and looked on the runes.\n\nBut the wife of Gunnar was Glaumvor, a great-hearted wife.\n\nSo these twain poured out, and the kings drank, and were exceeding\ndrunken, and Vingi notes it, and says--\n\n\"Naught may I hide that King Atli is heavy of foot and over-old for the\nwarding of his realm; but his sons are young and of no account: now will\nhe give you rule over his realms while they are yet thus young, and most\nfain will he be that ye have the joy thereof before all others.\"\n\nNow so it befell both that Gunnar was drunk, and that great dominion was\nheld out to him, nor might he work against the fate shapen for him; so\nhe gave his word to go, and tells Hogni his brother thereof.\n\nBut he answered, \"Thy word given must even stand now, nor will I fail to\nfollow thee, but most loth am I to this journey.\"\n\n\n  ENDNOTES:\n  (1)  Service-tree; \"pyrus sorbus domestica\", or \"p. s.\n       tormentalis.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXV. The Dreams of the Wives of the Giukings.\n\nSo when men had drunk their fill, they fared to sleep; then falls\nKostbera to beholding the runes, and spelling over the letters, and sees\nthat beneath were other things cut, and that the runes are guileful;\nyet because of her wisdom she had skill to read them aright. So then she\ngoes to bed by her husband; but when they awoke, she spake unto Hogni--\n\n\"Thou art minded to wend away from home--ill-counselled is that; abide\ntill another time! Scarce a keen reader of runes art thou, if thou\ndeemest thou hast beheld in them the bidding of thy sister to this\njourney: lo, I read the runes, and had marvel of so wise a woman\nas Gudrun is, that she should have miscut them; but that which lieth\nunderneath beareth your bane with it,--yea, either she lacked a letter,\nor others have dealt guilefully with the runes.\n\n\"And now hearken to my dream; for therein methought there fell in upon\nus here a river exceeding strong, and brake up the timbers of the hall.\"\n\nHe answered, \"Full oft are ye evil of mind, ye women, but for me, I\nwas not made in such wise as to meet men with evil who deserve no evil;\nbelike he will give us good welcome.\"\n\nShe answered, \"Well, the thing must ye yourselves prove, but no\nfriendship follows this bidding:--but yet again I dreamed that another\nriver fell in here with a great and grimly rush, and tore up the dais\nof the hall, and brake the legs of both you brethren; surely that\nbetokeneth somewhat.\"\n\nHe answers, \"Meadows along our way, whereas thou didst dream of the\nriver; for when we go through the meadows, plentifully doth the seeds of\nthe hay hang about our legs.\"\n\n\"Again I dreamed,\" she says, \"that thy cloak was afire, and that the\nflame blazed up above the hall.\"\n\nSays he, \"Well, I wot what that shall betoken; here lieth my fair-dyed\nraiment, and it shall burn and blaze, whereas thou dreamedst of the\ncloak.\"\n\n\"Methought a bear came in,\" she says, \"and brake up the king's\nhigh-seat, and shook his paws in such a wise that we were all adrad\nthereat, and he gat us all together into the mouth of him, so that we\nmight avail us naught, and thereof fell great horror on us.\"\n\nHe answered, \"Some great storm will befall, whereas thou hadst a white\nbear in thy mind.\"\n\n\"An erne methought came in,\" she says, \"and swept adown the hall, and\ndrenched me and all of us with blood, and ill shall that betoken, for\nmethought it was the double of King Atli.\"\n\nHe answered, \"Full oft do we slaughter beasts freely, and smite down\ngreat neat for our cheer, and the dream of the erne has but to do with\noxen; yea, Atli is heart-whole toward us.\"\n\nAnd therewithal they cease this talk.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXVI. Of the Journey of the Giukings to King Atli.\n\nNow tells the tale of Gunnar, that in the same wise it fared with him;\nfor when they awoke, Glaumvor his wife told him many dreams which seemed\nto her like to betoken guile coming; but Gunnar areded them all in other\nwise.\n\n\"This was one of them,\" said she; \"methought a bloody sword was borne\ninto the hall here, wherewith thou wert thrust through, and at either\nend of that sword wolves howled.\"\n\nThe king answered, \"Cur dogs shall bite me belike; blood-stained weapons\noft betoken dogs' snappings.\"\n\nShe said, \"Yet again I dreamed--that women came in, heavy and drooping,\nand chose thee for their mate; may-happen these would be thy fateful\nwomen.\"\n\nHe answered, \"Hard to arede is this, and none may set aside the fated\nmeasure of his days, nor is it unlike that my time is short.\" (1)\n\nSo in the morning they arose, and were minded for the journey, but some\nletted them herein.\n\nThen cried Gunnar to the man who is called Fjornir--\n\n\"Arise, and give us to drink goodly wine from great tuns, because\nmayhappen this shall be very last of all our feasts; for belike if we\ndie the old wolf shall come by the gold, and that bear shall nowise\nspare the bite of his war-tusks.\"\n\nThen all the folk of his household brought them on their way weeping.\n\nThe son of Hogni said--\n\n\"Fare ye well with merry tide.\"\n\nThe more part of their folk were left behind; Solar and Snaevar, the\nsons of Hogni, fared with them, and a certain great champion, named\nOrkning, who was the brother of Kostbera.\n\nSo folk followed them down to the ships, and all letted them of their\njourney, but attained to naught therein.\n\nThen spake Glaumvor, and said--\n\n\"O Vingi, most like that great ill hap will come of thy coming, and\nmighty and evil things shall betide in thy travelling.\"\n\nHe answered, \"Hearken to my answer; that I lie not aught: and may the\nhigh gallows and all things of grame have me, if I lie one word!\"\n\nThen cried Kostbera, \"Fare ye well with merry days.\"\n\nAnd Hogni answered, \"Be glad of heart, howsoever it may fare with us!\"\n\nAnd therewith they parted, each to their own fate. Then away they rowed,\nso hard and fast, that well-nigh the half of the keel slipped away from\nthe ship, and so hard they laid on to the oars that thole and gunwale\nbrake.\n\nBut when they came aland they made their ship fast, and then they rode\nawhile on their noble steeds through the murk wild-wood.\n\nAnd now they behold the king's army, and huge uproar, and the clatter of\nweapons they hear from thence; and they see there a mighty host of men,\nand the manifold array of them, even as they wrought there: and all the\ngates of the burg were full of men.\n\nSo they rode up to the burg, and the gates thereof were shut; then Hogni\nbrake open the gates, and therewith they ride into the burg.\n\nThen spake Vingi, \"Well might ye have left this deed undone; go to now,\nbide ye here while I go seek your gallows-tree! Softly and sweetly I\nbade you hither, but an evil thing abode thereunder; short while to bide\nere ye are tied up to that same tree!\"\n\nHogni answered, \"None the more shall we waver for that cause; for little\nmethinks have we shrunk aback whenas men fell to fight; and naught\nshall it avail thee to make us afeard,--and for an ill fate hast thou\nwrought.\"\n\nAnd therewith they cast him down to earth, and smote him with their\naxe-hammers till he died.\n\n\n  ENDNOTES:\n  (1)  Parallel beliefs to those in the preceding chapters, and\n       elsewhere in this book, as to spells, dreams, drinks, etc.,\n       among the English people may be found in \"Leechdoms,\n       Wortcunning, and Starcraft of the Anglo-Saxons; being a\n       collection of Documents illustrating the History of Science\n       in this Country before the Norman Conquest\".  Ed: Rev. T. O.\n       Cockayne, M.A. (3 vols.)  Longmans, London, 1864, 8vo.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXVII. The Battle in the Burg of King Atli.\n\nThen they rode unto the king's hall, and King Atli arrayed his host for\nbattle, and the ranks were so set forth that a certain wall there was\nbetwixt them and the brethren.\n\n\"Welcome hither,\" said he. \"Deliver unto me that plenteous gold which is\nmine of right; even the wealth which Sigurd once owned, and which is now\nGudrun's of right.\"\n\nGunnar answered, \"Never gettest thou that wealth; and men of might must\nthou meet here, or ever we lay by life if thou wilt deal with us in\nbattle; ah, belike thou settest forth this feast like a great man, and\nwouldst not hold thine hand from erne and wolf!\"\n\n\"Long ago I had it in my mind,\" said Atli, \"to take the lives of you, and\nbe lord of the gold, and reward you for that deed of shame, wherein ye\nbeguiled the best of all your affinity; but now shall I revenge him.\"\n\nHogni answered, \"Little will it avail to lie long brooding over that\nrede, leaving the work undone.\"\n\nAnd therewith they fell to hard fighting, at the first brunt with shot.\n\nBut therewithal came the tidings to Gudrun, and when she heard thereof\nshe grew exceeding wroth, and cast her mantle from her, and ran out and\ngreeted those new-comers, and kissed her brethren, and showed them all\nlove,--and the last of all greetings was that betwixt them.\n\nThen said she, \"I thought I had set forth counsels whereby ye should not\ncome hither, but none may deal with his shapen fate.\" And withal she\nsaid, \"Will it avail aught to seek for peace?\"\n\nBut stoutly and grimly they said nay thereto. So she sees that the\ngame goeth sorely against her brethren, and she gathers to her great\nstoutness of heart, and does on her a mail-coat and takes to her a\nsword, and fights by her brethren, and goes as far forward as the\nbravest of man-folk: and all spoke in one wise that never saw any fairer\ndefence than in her.\n\nNow the men fell thick, and far before all others was the fighting of\nthose brethren, and the battle endured a long while unto midday; Gunnar\nand Hogni went right through the folk of Atli, and so tells the tale\nthat all the mead ran red with blood; the sons of Hogni withal set on\nstoutly.\n\nThen spake Atli the king, \"A fair host and a great have we, and mighty\nchampions withal, and yet have many of us fallen, and but evil am I\napaid in that nineteen of my champions are slain, and but left six\nalive.\"\n\nAnd therewithal was there a lull in the battle.\n\nThen spake Atli the king, \"Four brethren were we, and now am I left\nalone; great affinity I gat to me, and deemed my fortune well sped\nthereby; a wife I had, fair and wise, high of mind, and great of heart;\nbut no joyance may I have of her wisdom, for little peace is betwixt\nus,--but ye--ye have slain many of my kin, and beguiled me of realm and\nriches, and for the greatest of all woes have slain my sister withal.\"\n\nQuoth Hogni, \"Why babblest thou thus? thou wert the first to break the\npeace. Thou didst take my kinswoman and pine her to death by hunger, and\ndidst murder her, and take her wealth; an ugly deed for a king!--meet\nfor mocking and laughter I deem it, that thou must needs make long tale\nof thy woes; rather will I give thanks to the Gods that thou fallest\ninto ill.\"\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXVIII. Of the slaying of the Giukings.\n\nNow King Atli eggs on his folk to set on fiercely, and eagerly they\nfight; but the Giukings fell on so hard that King Atli gave back into\nthe hall, and within doors was the fight, and fierce beyond all fights.\n\nThat battle was the death of many a man, but such was the ending\nthereof, that there fell all the folk of those brethren, and they twain\nalone stood up on their feet, and yet many more must fare to hell first\nbefore their weapons.\n\nAnd now they fell on Gunnar the king, and because of the host of men\nthat set on him was hand laid on him, and he was cast into fetters;\nafterwards fought Hogni, with the stoutest heart and the greatest\nmanlihood; and he felled to earth twenty of the stoutest of the\nchampions of King Atli, and many he thrust into the fire that burnt\namidst the hall, and all were of one accord that such a man might scarce\nbe seen; yet in the end was he borne down by many and taken.\n\nThen said King Atli, \"A marvellous thing how many men have gone their\nways before him! Cut the heart from out of him, and let that be his\nbane!\"\n\nHogni said, \"Do according to thy will; merrily will I abide whatso thou\nwrlt do against me; and thou shalt see that my heart is not adrad, for\nhard matters have I made trial of ere now, and all things that may try\na man was I fain to bear, whiles yet I was unhurt; but now sorely am\nI hurt, and thou alone henceforth will bear mastery in our dealings\ntogether.\"\n\nThen spake a counsellor of King Atli, \"Better rede I see thereto; take\nwe the thrall Hjalli, and give respite to Hogni; for this thrall is made\nto die, since the longer he lives the less worth shall he be.\"\n\nThe thrall hearkened, and cried out aloft, and fled away anywhither\nwhere he might hope for shelter, crying out that a hard portion was his\nbecause of their strife and wild doings, and an ill day for him whereon\nhe must be dragged to death from his sweet life and his swine-keeping.\nBut they caught him, and turned a knife against him, and he yelled and\nscreamed or ever he felt the point thereof.\n\nThen in such wise spake Hogni as a man seldom speaketh who is fallen\ninto hard need, for he prayed for the thrall's life, and said that these\nshrieks he could not away with, and that it were a lesser matter to him\nto play out the play to the end; and therewithal the thrall gat his life\nas for that time: but Gunnar and Hogni are both laid in fetters.\n\nThen spake King Atli with Gunnar the king, and bade him tell out\nconcerning the gold, and where it was, if he would have his life.\n\nBut he answered, \"Nay, first will I behold the bloody heart of Hogni, my\nbrother.\"\n\nSo now they caught hold of the thrall again, and cut the heart from out\nof him, and bore it unto King Gunnar, but he said--\n\n\"The faint heart of Hjalli may ye here behold, little like the proud\nheart of Hogni, for as much as it trembleth now, more by the half it\ntrembled whenas it lay in the breast of him.\"\n\nSo now they fell on Hogni even as Atli urged them, and cut the heart\nfrom out of him, but such was the might of his manhood, that he laughed\nwhile he abode that torment, and all wondered at his worth, and in\nperpetual memory is it held sithence. (1)\n\nThen they showed it to Gunnar, and he said--\n\n\"The mighty heart of Hogni, little like the faint heart of Hjalli, for\nlittle as it trembleth now, less it trembled whenas in his breast it\nlay! But now, O Atli, even as we die so shalt thou die; and lo, I alone\nwot where the gold is, nor shall Hogni be to tell thereof now; to and\nfro played the matter in my mind whiles we both lived, but now have I\nmyself determined for myself, and the Rhine river shall rule over the\ngold, rather than that the Huns shall bear it on the hands of them.\"\n\nThen said King Atli, \"Have away the bondsman;\" and so they did.\n\nBut Gudrun called to her men, and came to Atli, and said--\n\n\"May it fare ill with thee now and from henceforth, even as thou hast\nill held to thy word with me!\"\n\nSo Gunnar was cast into a worm-close, and many worms abode him there,\nand his hands were fast bound; but Gudrun sent him a harp, and in such\nwise did he set forth his craft, that wisely he smote the harp, smiting\nit with his toes, and so excellently well he played, that few deemed\nthey had heard such playing, even when the hand had done it. And with\nsuch might and power he played, that all worms fell asleep in the end,\nsave one adder only, great and evil of aspect, that crept unto him and\nthrust its sting into him until it smote his heart; and in such wise\nwith great hardihood he ended his life days.\n\n\n  ENDNOTES:\n  (1)  Since (\"sidh\", after, and \"dham\", that.).\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXIX. The End of Atli and his Kin and Folk.\n\nNow thought Atli the King that he had gained a mighty victory, and spake\nto Gudrun even as mocking her greatly, or as making himself great before\nher. \"Gudrun,\" saith he, \"thus hast thou lost thy brethren, and thy very\nself hast brought it about.\"\n\nShe answers, \"In good liking livest thou, whereas thou thrustest these\nslayings before me, but mayhappen thou wilt rue it, when thou hast tried\nwhat is to come hereafter; and of all I have, the longest-lived matter\nshall be the memory of thy cruel heart, nor shall it go well with thee\nwhiles I live.\"\n\nHe answered and said, \"Let there be peace betwixt us; I will atone for\nthy brethren with gold and dear-bought things, even as thy heart may\nwish.\"\n\nShe answers, \"Hard for a long while have I been in our dealings\ntogether, and now I say, that while Hogni was yet alive thou mightest\nhave brought it to pass; but now mayest thou never atone for my brethren\nin my heart; yet oft must we women be overborne by the might of you men;\nand now are all my kindred dead and gone, and thou alone art left to\nrule over me: wherefore now this is my counsel that we make a great\nfeast, wherein I will hold the funeral of my brother and of thy kindred\nwithal.\"\n\nIn such wise did she make herself soft and kind in words, though far\nother things forsooth lay thereunder, but he hearkened to her gladly,\nand trusted in her words, whereas she made herself sweet of speech.\n\nSo Gudrun held the funeral feast for her brethren, and King Atli for his\nmen, and exceeding proud and great was this feast.\n\nBut Gudrun forgat not her woe, but brooded over it, how she might work\nsome mighty shame against the king; and at nightfall she took to her the\nsons of King Atli and her as they played about the floor; the younglings\nwaxed heavy of cheer, and asked what she would with them.\n\n\"Ask me not,\" she said; \"ye shall die, the twain of you!\"\n\nThen they answered, \"Thou mayest do with thy children even as thou wilt,\nnor shall any hinder thee, but shame there is to thee in the doing of\nthis deed.\"\n\nYet for all that she cut the throats of them.\n\nThen the king asked where his sons were, and Gudrun answered, \"I will\ntell thee, and gladden thine heart by the telling; lo now, thou didst\nmake a great woe spring up for me in the slaying of my brethren; now\nhearken and hear my rede and my deed; thou hast lost thy sons, and\ntheir heads are become beakers on the board here, and thou thyself hast\ndrunken the blood of them blended with wine; and their hearts I took and\nroasted them on a spit, and thou hast eaten thereof.\"\n\nKing Atli answered, \"Grim art thou in that thou hast murdered thy sons,\nand given me their flesh to eat, and little space passes betwixt ill\ndeed of thine and ill deed.\"\n\nGudrun said, \"My heart is set on the doing to thee of as great shame as\nmay be; never shall the measure of ill be full to such a king as thou\nart.\"\n\nThe king said, \"Worser deeds hast thou done than men have to tell of,\nand great unwisdom is there in such fearful redes; most meet art thou\nto be burned on bale when thou hast first been smitten to death with\nstones, for in such wise wouldst thou have what thou hast gone a weary\nway to seek.\"\n\nShe answered, \"Thine own death thou foretellest, but another death is\nfated for me.\"\n\nAnd many other words they spake in their wrath.\n\nNow Hogni had a son left alive, hight Niblung, and great wrath of heart\nhe bare against King Atli; and he did Gudrun to wit that he would\navenge his father. And she took his words well, and they fell to counsel\ntogether thereover, and she said it would be great goodhap if it might\nbe brought about.\n\nSo on a night, when the king had drunken, he gat him to bed, and when he\nwas laid asleep, thither to him came Gudrun and the son of Hogni.\n\nGudrun took a sword and thrust it through the breast of King Atli, and\nthey both of them set their hands to the deed, both she and the son of\nHogni.\n\nThen Atli the king awoke with the wound, and cried out; \"no need of\nbinding or salving here!--who art thou who hast done the deed?\"\n\nGudrun says, \"Somewhat have I, Gudrun, wrought therein, and somewhat\nwithal the son of Hogni.\"\n\nAtli said, \"Ill it beseemed to thee to do this, though somewhat of wrong\nwas between us; for thou wert wedded to me by the rede of thy kin, and\ndower paid I for thee; yea, thirty goodly knights, and seemly maidens,\nand many men besides; and yet wert thou not content, but if thou should\nrule over the lands King Budli owned: and thy mother-in-law full oft\nthou lettest sit a-weeping.\"\n\nGudrun said, \"Many false words hast thou spoken, and of naught I account\nthem; oft, indeed, was I fell of mood, but much didst thou add thereto.\nFull oft in this thy house did frays befall, and kin fought kin, and\nfriend fought friend, and made themselves big one against the other;\nbetter days had I whenas I abode with Sigurd, when we slew kings, and\ntook their wealth to us, but gave peace to whomso would, and the great\nmen laid themselves under our hands, and might we gave to him of them\nwho would have it; then I lost him, and a little thing was it that I\nshould bear a widow's name, but the greatest of griefs that I should\ncome to thee--I who had aforetime the noblest of all kings, while for\nthee, thou never barest out of the battle aught but the worser lot.\"\n\nKing Atli answered, \"Naught true are thy words, nor will this our speech\nbetter the lot of either of us, for all is fallen now to naught; but now\ndo to me in seemly wise, and array my dead corpse in noble fashion.\"\n\n\"Yea, that will I,\" she says, \"and let make for thee a goodly grave, and\nbuild for thee a worthy abiding place of stone, and wrap thee in fair\nlinen, and care for all that needful is.\"\n\nSo therewithal he died, and she did according to her word: and then they\ncast fire into the hall.\n\nAnd when the folk and men of estate awoke amid that dread and trouble,\nnaught would they abide the fire, but smote each the other down, and\ndied in such wise; so there Atli the king, and all his folk, ended their\nlife-days. But Gudrun had no will to live longer after this deed so\nwrought, but nevertheless her ending day was not yet come upon her.\n\nNow the Volsungs and the Giukings, as folk tell in tale, have been the\ngreatest-hearted and the mightiest of all men, as ye may well behold\nwritten in the songs of old time.\n\nBut now with the tidings just told were these troubles stayed.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XL. How Gudrun cast herself into the Sea, but was brought ashore\nagain.\n\nGudrun had a daughter by Sigurd hight Swanhild; she was the fairest of\nall women, eager-eyed as her father, so that few durst look under the\nbrows of her; and as far did she excel other woman-kind as the sun\nexcels the other lights of heaven.\n\nBut on a day went Gudrun down to the sea, and caught up stones in her\narms, and went out into the sea, for she had will to end her life. But\nmighty billows drave her forth along the sea, and by means of their\nupholding was she borne along till she came at the last to the burg of\nKing Jonakr, a mighty king, and lord of many folk. And he took Gudrun to\nwife, and their children were Hamdir, and Sorli, and Erp; and there was\nSwanhild nourished withal.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XLI. Of the Wedding and Slaying of Swanhild.\n\nJormunrek was the name of a mighty king of those days, and his son was\ncalled Randver. Now this king called his son to talk with him, and said,\n\"Thou shalt fare on an errand of mine to King Jonakr, with my counsellor\nBikki, for with King Jonakr is nourished Swanhild, the daughter of\nSigurd Fafnir's-bane; and I know for sure that she is the fairest may\ndwelling under the sun of this world; her above all others would I have\nto my wife, and thou shalt go woo her for me.\"\n\nRandver answered, \"Meet and right, fair lord, that I should go on thine\nerrands.\"\n\nSo the king set forth this journey in seemly wise, and they fare till\nthey come to King Jonakr's abode, and behold Swanhild, and have many\nthoughts concerning the treasure of her goodliness.\n\nBut on a day Randver called the king to talk with him, and said,\n\"Jormunrek the King would fain be thy brother-in-law, for he has heard\ntell of Swanhild, and his desire it is to have her to wife, nor may it\nbe shown that she may be given to any mightier man than he is one.\"\n\nThe King says, \"This is an alliance of great honour, for a man of fame\nhe is.\"\n\nGudrun says, \"A wavering trust, the trust in luck that it change not!\"\n\nYet because of the king's furthering, and all the matters that went\nherewith, is the wooing accomplished; and Swanhild went to the ship with\na goodly company, and sat in the stern beside the king's son.\n\nThen spake Bikki to Randver, \"How good and right it were if thou thyself\nhad to wife so lovely a woman rather than the old man there.\"\n\nGood seemed that word to the heart of the king's son, and he spake to\nher with sweet words, and she to him in like wise.\n\nSo they came aland and go unto the king, and Bikki said unto him, \"Meet\nand right it is, lord, that thou shouldst know what is befallen, though\nhard it be to tell of, for the tale must be concerning thy beguiling,\nwhereas thy son has gotten to him the full love of Swanhild, nor is she\nother than his harlot; but thou, let not the deed be unavenged.\"\n\nNow many an ill rede had he given the king or this, but of all his ill\nredes did this sting home the most; and still would the king hearken\nto all his evil redes; wherefore he, who might nowise still the wrath\nwithin him, cried out that Randver should be taken and tied up to the\ngallows-tree.\n\nAnd as he was led to the gallows he took his hawk and plucked the\nfeathers from off it, and bade show it to his father; and when the king\nsaw it, then he said, \"Now may folk behold that he deemeth my honour to\nbe gone away from me, even as the feathers of this hawk;\" and therewith\nhe bade deliver him from the gallows.\n\nBut in that while had Bikki wrought his will, and Randver was\ndead-slain.\n\nAnd, moreover, Bikki spake, \"Against none hast thou more wrongs to\navenge thee of than against Swanhild; let her die a shameful death.\"\n\n\"Yea,\" said the king, \"we will do after thy counsel.\"\n\nSo she was bound in the gate of the burg, and horses were driven at her\nto tread her down; but when she opened her eyes wide, then the horses\ndurst not trample her; so when Bikki beheld that, he bade draw a bag\nover the head of her; and they did so, and therewith she lost her life.\n(1)\n\n\n  ENDNOTES\n  (1)  In the prose Edda the slaying of Swanhild is a spontaneous\n       and sudden act on the part of the king.  As he came back\n       from hunting one day, there sat Swanhild washing her linen,\n       and it came into the king's mind how that she was the cause\n       of all his woe, so he and his men rode over her and slew\n       her.--Tr.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XLII. Gudrun sends her Sons to avenge Swanhild.\n\nNow Gudrun heard of the slaying of Swanhild, and spake to her sons, \"Why\nsit ye here in peace amid merry words, whereas Jormunrek hath slain your\nsister, and trodden her under foot of horses in shameful wise? No heart\nye have in you like to Gunnar or Hogni; verily they would have avenged\ntheir kinswoman!\"\n\nHamdir answered, \"Little didst thou praise Gunnar and Hogni, whereas\nthey slew Sigurd, and thou wert reddened in the blood of him, and ill\nwere thy brethren avenged by the slaying of thine own sons: yet not\nso ill a deed were it for us to slay King Jormunrek, and so hard thou\npushest us on to this that we may naught abide thy hard words.\"\n\nGudrun went about laughing now, and gave them to drink from mighty\nbeakers, and thereafter she got for them great byrnies and good, and all\nother weed (1) of war.\n\nThen spake Hamdir, \"Lo now, this is our last parting, for thou shalt\nhear tidings of us, and drink one grave-ale (2) over us and over\nSwanhild.\"\n\nSo therewith they went their ways.\n\nBut Gudrun went unto her bower, with heart swollen with sorrow, and\nspake--\n\n\"To three men was I wedded, and first to Sigurd Fafnir's-bane, and he\nwas bewrayed and slain, and of all griefs was that the greatest grief.\nThen was I given to King Atli, and so fell was my heart toward him that\nI slew in the fury of my grief his children and mine. Then gave I myself\nto the sea, but the billows thereof cast me out aland, and to this king\nthen was I given; then gave I Swanhild away out of the land with mighty\nwealth; and lo, my next greatest sorrow after Sigurd, for under horses'\nfeet was she trodden and slain; but the grimmest and ugliest of woes\nwas the casting of Gunnar into the Worm-close, and the hardest was the\ncutting of Hogni's heart from him.\n\n\"Ah, better would it be if Sigurd came to meet me, and I went my ways\nwith him, for here bideth now behind with me neither son nor daughter\nto comfort me. Oh, mindest thou not, Sigurd, the words we spoke when we\nwent into one bed together, that thou wouldst come and look on me; yea,\neven from thine abiding place among the dead?\"\n\nAnd thus had the words of her sorrow an end.\n\n\n  ENDNOTE:\n  (1)  Weed (A.S. \"weodo\"), clothing.\n  (2)  Grave-ale, burial-feast.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XLIII. The Latter End of all the Kin of the Giukings.\n\nNow telleth the tale concerning the sons of Gudrun, that she had arrayed\ntheir war-raiment in such wise, that no steel would bite thereon; and\nshe bade them play not with stones or other heavy matters, for that it\nwould be to their scathe if they did so.\n\nAnd now, as they went on their way, they met Erp, their brother, and\nasked him in what wise he would help them.\n\nHe answered, \"Even as hand helps hand, or foot helps foot.\"\n\nBut that they deemed naught at all, and slew him there and then. Then\nthey went their ways, nor was it long or ever Hamdir stumbled, and\nthrust down his hand to steady himself, and spake therewith--\n\n\"Naught but a true thing spake Erp, for now should I have fallen, had\nnot hand been to steady me.\"\n\nA little after Sorli stumbled, but turned about on his feet, and\nso stood, and spake--\n\n\"Yea now had I fallen, but that I steadied myself with both feet.\"\n\nAnd they said they had done evilly with Erp their brother.\n\nBut on they fare till they come to the abode of King Jormunrek, and they\nwent up to him and set on him forthwith, and Hamdir cut both hands from\nhim and Sorli both feet. Then spake Hamdir--\n\n\"Off were the head if Erp were alive; our brother, whom we slew on the\nway, and found out our deed too late.\" Even as the Song says,--\n\n     \"Off were the head\n     If Erp were alive yet,\n     Our brother the bold,\n     Whom we slew by the way,\n     The well-famed in warfare.\"\n\nNow in this must they turn away from the words of their mother, whereas\nthey had to deal with stones. For now men fell on them, and they\ndefended themselves in good and manly wise, and were the scathe of many\na man, nor would iron bite on them.\n\nBut there came thereto a certain man, old of aspect and one-eyed, (1)\nand he spake--\n\n\"No wise men are ye, whereas ye cannot bring these men to their end.\"\n\nThen the king said, \"Give us rede thereto, if thou canst.\"\n\nHe said, \"Smite them to the death with stones.\"\n\nIn such wise was it done, for the stones flew thick and fast from every\nside, and that was the end of their life-days.\n\nAnd now has come to an end the whole root and stem of the Giukings. (2)\n\n     NOW MAY ALL EARLS\n     BE BETTERED IN MIND,\n     MAY THE GRIEF OF ALL MAIDENS\n     EVER BE MINISHED,\n     FOR THIS TALE OF TROUBLE\n     SO TOLD TO ITS ENDING.\n\n\n  ENDNOTES:\n  (1)  Odin; he ends the tale as he began it.\n  (2)  \"And now,\" etc., inserted by translators from the Poetic\n       Edda, the stanza at the end from the Whetting of Gudrun.\n\n\n\nAPPENDIX: EXCERPTS FROM THE POETIC EDDA.\n\n\n\n\nPART OF THE SECOND LAY OF HELGI HUNDINGS-BANE (1)\n\nHelgi wedded Sigrun, and they begate sons together, but Helgi lived not\nto be old; for Dag, (2) the son of Hogni, sacrificed to Odin, praying\nthat he might avenge his father. So Odin lent Dag his spear, and Dag met\nHelgi, his brother-in-law, at a place called Fetter-grove, and thrust\nhim through with that spear, and there fell Helgi dead; but Dag rode to\nSevafell, and told Sigrun of the news.\n\n     DAG:\n     Loth am I, sister\n     Of sorrow to tell thee,\n     For by hard need driven\n     Have I drawn on the greeting;\n     This morning fell\n     In Fetter-grove\n     The king well deemed\n     The best in the wide world,\n     Yea, he who stood\n     On the necks of the strong.\"\n\n     SIGRUN:\n     All oaths once sworn\n     Shall bite thee sore,\n     The oaths that to Helgi\n     Once thou swarest\n     At the bright white\n     Water of Lightening, (3)\n     And at the cold rock\n     That the sea runneth over.\n\n     May the ship sweep not on\n     That should sweep at its swiftest,\n     Though the wind desired\n     Behind thee driveth!\n     May the horse never run\n     That should run at his most might\n     When from thy foe's face\n     Thou hast most need to flee!\n\n     May the sword never bite\n     That thou drawest from scabbard\n     But and if round thine head\n     In wrath it singeth!\n\n     Then should meet price be paid\n     For Helgi's slaying\n     When a wolf thou wert\n     Out in the wild-wood,\n     Empty of good things\n     Empty of gladness,\n     With no meat for thy mouth\n     But dead men's corpses!\n\n     DAG:\n     With mad words thou ravest,\n     Thy wits are gone from thee,\n     When thou for thy brother\n     Such ill fate biddest;\n     Odin alone\n     Let all this bale loose,\n     Casting the strife-runes\n     'Twixt friends and kindred.\n\n     Rings of red gold\n     Will thy brother give thee,\n     And the stead of Vandil\n     And the lands of Vigdale;\n     Have half of the land\n     For thy sorrow's healing,\n     O ring-arrayed sweetling\n     For thee and thy sons!\n\n     SIGRUN:\n     No more sit I happy\n     At Sevafell;\n     At day-dawn, at night\n     Naught love I my life\n     Till broad o'er the people\n     My lord's light breaketh;\n     Till his war-horse runneth\n     Beneath him hither,\n     Well wont to the gold bit--\n     Till my king I welcome.\n\n     In such wise did Helgi\n     Deal fear around\n     To all his foes\n     And all their friends\n     As when the goat runneth\n     Before the wolf's rage\n     Filled with mad fear\n     Down from the fell.\n\n     As high above all lords\n     Did Helgi beat him\n     As the ash-tree's glory\n     From the thorn ariseth,\n     Or as the fawn\n     With the dew-fell sprinkled\n     Is far above\n     All other wild things,\n     As his horns go gleaming\n     'Gainst the very heavens.\n\nA barrow was raised above Helgi, but when he came in Valhall, then Odin\nbade him be lord of all things there, even as he; so Helgi sang--\n\n     HELGI:\n     Now shalt thou, Hunding\n     For the help of each man\n     Get ready the foot-bath,\n     And kindle the fire;\n     The hounds shalt thou bind\n     And give heed to the horses,\n     Give wash to the swine\n     Ere to sleep thou goest.\n\nA bondmaid of Sigrun went in the evening-tide by Helgi's mound, and\nthere saw how Helgi rode toward it with a great company; then she sang--\n\n     BONDMAID:\n     It is vain things' beguilling\n     That methinks I behold,\n     Or the ending of all things,\n     As ye ride, O ye dead men,\n     Smiting with spurs\n     Your horses' sides?\n     Or may dead warriors\n     Wend their ways homeward?\n\n     THE DEAD:\n     No vain things' beguiling\n     Is that thou beholdest,\n     Nor the ruin of all things;\n     Though thou lookest upon us,\n     Though we smite with spurs\n     Our horses' sides;\n     Rather dead warriors\n     May wend their ways homeward.\n\nThen went the bondmaid home, and told Sigrun, and sang--\n\n     BONDMAID:\n     Go out, Sigrun\n     From Sevafell,\n     If thou listest to look on\n     The lord of thy people!\n     For the mound is uncovered\n     Thither is Helgi come,\n     And his wounds are bleeding,\n     But the king thee biddeth\n     To come and stay\n     That stream of sorrow.\n\nSo Sigrun went into the mound to Helgi, and sang--\n\n     SIGRUN:\n     Now am I as fain\n     Of this fair meeting,\n     As are the hungry\n     Hawks of Odin,\n     When they wot of the slaying\n     Of the yet warm quarry,\n     Or bright with dew\n     See the day a-dawning.\n\n     Ah, I will kiss\n     My king laid lifeless,\n     Ere thou castest by\n     Thy blood-stained byrny.\n     O Helgi, thy hair\n     Is thick with death's rime,\n     With the dew of the dead\n     Is my love all dripping;\n     Dead-cold are the hands\n     Of the son of Hogni;\n     How for thee, O my king,\n     May I win healing?\n\n     HELGI:\n     Thou alone, Sigrun\n     Of Sevafell,\n     Hast so done that Helgi\n     With grief's dew drippeth;\n     O clad in gold\n     Cruel tears thou weepest,\n     Bright May of the Southlands,\n     Or ever thou sleepest;\n     Each tear in blood falleth\n     On the breast of thy lord,\n     Cold wet and bitter-sharp\n     Swollen with sorrow.\n\n     Ah, we shall drink\n     Dear draughts and lovely,\n     Though, we have lost\n     Both life and lands;\n     Neither shall any\n     Sing song of sorrow,\n     Though in my breast\n     Be wounds wide to behold:\n     For now are brides\n     In the mound abiding;\n     Kings' daughters sit\n     By us departed.\n\nBow Sigrun arrayed a bed in the mound, and sang--\n\n     SIGRUN:\n     Here, Helgi, for thee\n     A bed have I dight,\n     Kind without woe,\n     O kin of the Ylfings!\n     To thy bosom, O king,\n     Will I come and sleep soft,\n     As I was wont\n     When my lord was living.\n\n     HELGI:\n     Now will I call\n     Naught not to be hoped for\n     Early or late\n     At Sevafell,\n     When thou in the arms\n     Of a dead man art laid,\n     White maiden of Hogni,\n     Here in the mound:\n     And thou yet quick,\n     O King's daughter!\n\n     Now needs must I ride\n     On the reddening ways;\n     My pale horse must tread\n     The highway aloft;\n     West must I go\n     To Windhelm's bridge\n     Ere the war-winning crowd\n     Hall-crower (4) waketh.\n\nSo Helgi rode his ways: and the others gat them gone home to the house.\nBut the next night Sigrun bade the bondwoman have heed of the mound. So\nat nightfall, thenas Sigrun came to the mound, she sang:\n\n     SIGRUN:\n     Here now would he come,\n     If to come he were minded;\n     Sigmund's offspring\n     From the halls of Odin.\n     O me the hope waneth\n     Of Helgi's coming;\n     For high on the ash-boughs\n     Are the ernes abiding,\n     And all folk drift\n     Toward the Thing of the dreamland.\n\n     BONDMAID:\n     Be not foolish of heart,\n     And fare all alone\n     To the house of the dead,\n     O Hero's daughter!\n     For more strong and dreadful\n     In the night season\n     Are all dead warriors\n     Than in the daylight.\n\nBut a little while lived Sigrun, because of her sorrow and trouble.\nBut in old time folk trowed that men should be born again, though their\ntroth be now deemed but an old wife's dotting. And so, as folk say,\nHelgi and Sigrun were born again, and at that tide was he called Helgi\nthe Scathe of Hadding, and she Kara the daughter of Halfdan; and she was\na Valkyrie, even as is said in the Lay of Kara.\n\n\n  ENDNOTES:\n  (1)  Only that part of the song is given which completes the\n       episodes of Helgi Hunding's-bane; the earlier part of the\n       song differs little from the Saga.\n  (2)  Hogni, the father of Dar and Sigrun, had been slain by Helgi\n       in battle, and Helgi had given peace to, and taken oaths of\n       Dag.\n  (3)  One of the rivers of the under-world.\n  (4)  Hall-crower, \"Salgofnir\": lit. Hall-gaper, the cock of\n       Valhall.\n\n\n\n\nPART OF THE LAY OF SIGRDRIFA (1)\n\n       Now this is my first counsel,\n       That thou with thy kin\n     Be guiltless, guileless ever,\n       Nor hasty of wrath,\n       Despite of wrong done--\n     Unto the dead good that doeth.\n\n       Lo the second counsel,\n       That oath thou swearest never,\n     But trusty oath and true:\n       Grim tormenting\n       Gripes troth-breakers;\n     Cursed wretch is the wolf of vows.\n\n       This is my third rede,\n       That thou at the Thing\n     Deal not with the fools of folk;\n       For unwise man\n       From mouth lets fall\n     Worser word than well he wotteth.\n\n       Yet hard it is\n       That holding of peace\n     When men shall deem thee dastard,\n     Or deem the lie said soothly;\n     But woeful is home-witness,\n     Unless right good thou gettest it.\n       Ah, on another day\n       Drive the life from out him,\n     And pay the liar back for his lying.\n\n       Now behold the fourth rede:\n       If ill witch thee bideth,\n     Woe-begatting by the way,\n       Good going further\n       Rather than guesting,\n     Though thick night be on thee.\n\n       Far-seeing eyes\n       Need all sons of men\n     Who wend in wrath to war;\n       For baleful women\n       Bide oft by the highway,\n     Swords and hearts to soften.\n\n       And now the fifth rede:\n       As fair as thou seest\n     Brides on the bench abiding,\n       Let not love's silver\n       Rule over thy sleeping;\n     Draw no woman to kind kissing!\n\n       For the sixth thing, I rede\n       When men sit a-drinking\n     Amid ale-words and ill-words,\n       Dead thou naught\n       With the drunken fight-staves\n     For wine stealeth wit from many.\n\n       Brawling and drink\n       Have brought unto men\n     Sorrow sore oft enow;\n       Yea, bane unto some,\n       And to some weary bale;\n     Many are the griefs of mankind.\n\n       For the seventh, I rede thee,\n       If strife thou raisest\n     With a man right high of heart,\n       Better fight a-field\n       Than burn in the fire\n     Within thine hall fair to behold.\n\n       The eighth rede that I give thee:\n       Unto all ill look thou,\n     And hold thine heart from all beguiling;\n       Draw to thee no maiden,\n       No man's wife bewray thou,\n     Urge them not unto unmeet pleasure.\n\n       This is the ninth counsel:\n       That thou have heed of dead folk\n     Whereso thou findest them a-field;\n       Be they sick-dead,\n       Be they sea-dead,\n     Or come to ending by war-weapons.\n\n       Let bath be made\n       For such men fordone,\n     Wash thou hands and feet thereof,\n       Comb their hair and dry them\n       Ere the coffin has them;\n     Then bid them sleep full sweetly.\n\n       This for the tenth counsel:\n       That thou give trust never\n     Unto oaths of foeman's kin,\n     Be'st thou bane of his brother,\n     Or hast thou felled his father;\n     Wolf in young son waxes,\n     Though he with gold be gladdened.\n\n       For wrong and hatred\n       Shall rest them never,\n     Nay, nor sore sorrow.\n       Both wit and weapons\n       Well must the king have\n     Who is fain to be the foremost.\n\n       The last rede and eleventh:\n       Until all ill look thou.\n     And watch thy friends' ways ever\n       Scarce durst I look\n       For long life for thee, king:\n     Strong trouble ariseth now already.\n\n\n  ENDNOTES:\n  (1)  This continues the first part of the lay given in Chapter XX\n       of the Saga; and is, in fact, the original verse of Chapter\n       XXI.\n\n\n\n\nTHE LAY CALLED THE SHORT LAY OF SIGURD.\n\n     Sigurd of yore,\n     Sought the dwelling of Giuki,\n     As he fared, the young Volsung,\n     After fight won;\n     Troth he took\n     From the two brethren;\n     Oath swore they betwixt them,\n     Those bold ones of deed.\n\n     A may they gave to him\n     And wealth manifold,\n     Gudrun the young,\n     Giuki's daughter:\n     They drank and gave doom\n     Many days together,\n     Sigurd the young,\n     And the sons of Giuki.\n\n     Until they wended\n     For Brynhild's wooing,\n     Sigurd a-riding\n     Amidst their rout;\n     The wise young Volsung\n     Who knew of all ways--\n     Ah!  He had wed her,\n     Had fate so willed it.\n\n     Southlander Sigurd\n     A naked sword,\n     Bright, well grinded,\n     Laid betwixt them;\n     No kiss he won\n     From the fair woman,\n     Nor in arms of his\n     Did the Hun King hold her,\n     Since he gat the young maid\n     For the son of Giuki.\n\n     No lack in her life\n     She wotted of now,\n     And at her death-day\n     No dreadful thing\n     For a shame indeed\n     Or a shame in seeming;\n     But about and betwixt\n     Went baleful fate.\n\n     Alone, abroad,\n     She sat of an evening,\n     Of full many things\n     She fall a-talking:\n     \"O for my Sigurd!\n     I shall have death,\n     Or my fair, my lovely,\n     Laid in mine arms.\n\n     \"For the word once spoken,\n     I sorrow sorely--\n     His queen is Gudrun,\n     I am wed to Gunnar;\n     The dread Norns wrought for us\n     A long while of woe.\"\n\n     Oft with heart deep\n     In dreadful thoughts,\n     O'er ice-fields and ice-hills\n     She fared a-night time,\n     When he and Gudrun\n     Were gone to their fair bed,\n     And Sigurd wrapped\n     The bed-gear round her.\n\n     \"Ah!  Now the Hun King\n     His queen in arms holdeth,\n     While love I go lacking,\n     And all things longed for\n     With no delight\n     But in dreadful thought.\"\n\n     These dreadful things\n     Thrust her toward murder:\n     --\"Listen, Gunnar,\n     For thou shalt lose\n     My wide lands,\n     Yea, me myself!\n     Never love I my life,\n     With thee for my lord--\n\n     \"I will fare back thither\n     From whence I came,\n     To my nighest kin\n     And those that know me\n     There shall I sit\n     Sleeping my life away,\n     Unless thou slayest\n     Sigurd the Hun King,\n     Making thy might more\n     E'en than his might was!\n\n     \"Yea, let the son fare\n     After the father,\n     And no young wolf\n     A long while nourish!\n     For on earth man lieth\n     Vengeance lighter,\n     And peace shall be surer\n     If the son live not.\"\n\n     Adrad was Gunnar,\n     Heavy-hearted was he,\n     And in doubtful mood\n     Day-long he sat.\n     For naught he wotted,\n     Nor might see clearly\n     What was the seemliest\n     Of deeds to set hand to;\n     What of all deeds\n     Was best to be done:\n     For he minded the vows\n     Sworn to the Volsung,\n     And the sore wrong\n     To be wrought against Sigurd.\n\n     Wavered his mind\n     A weary while,\n     No wont it was\n     Of those days worn by,\n     That queens should flee\n     From the realms of their kings.\n\n     \"Brynhild to me\n     Is better than all,\n     The child of Budli\n     Is the best of women.\n     Yea, and my life\n     Will I lay down,\n     Ere I am twinned\n     From that woman's treasure.\"\n\n     He bade call Hogni\n     To the place where he bided;\n     With all the trust that might be,\n     Trowed he in him.\n\n     \"Wilt thou bewray Sigurd\n     For his wealth's sake?\n     Good it is to rule\n     O'er the Rhine's metal;\n     And well content\n     Great wealth to wield,\n     Biding in peace\n     And blissful days.\"\n\n     One thing alone Hogni\n     Had for an answer:\n     \"Such doings for us\n     Are naught seemly to do;\n     To rend with sword\n     Oaths once sworn,\n     Oaths once sworn,\n     And troth once plighted.\n\n     \"Nor know we on mould,\n     Men of happier days,\n     The while we four\n     Rule over the folk;\n     While the bold in battle,\n     The Hun King, bides living.\n\n     \"And no nobler kin\n     Shall be known afield,\n     If our five sons\n     We long may foster;\n     Yea, a goodly stem\n     Shall surely wax.\n     --But I clearly see\n     In what wise it standeth,\n     Brynhild's sore urging\n     O'ermuch on thee beareth.\n\n     \"Guttorm shall we\n     Get for the slaying,\n     Our younger brother\n     Bare of wisdom;\n     For he was out of\n     All the oaths sworn,\n     All the oaths sworn,\n     And the plighted troth.\"\n\n     Easy to rouse him\n     Who of naught recketh!\n     --Deep stood the sword\n     In the heart of Sigurd.\n\n     There, in the hall,\n     Gat the high-hearted vengeance;\n     For he can his sword\n     At the reckless slayer:\n     Out at Guttorm\n     Flew Gram the mighty,\n     The gleaming steel\n     From Sigurd's hand.\n\n     Down fell the slayer\n     Smitten asunder;\n     The heavy head\n     And the hands fell one way,\n     But the feet and such like\n     Aback where they stood.\n\n     Gudrun was sleeping\n     Soft in the bed,\n     Empty of sorrow\n     By the side of Sigurd:\n     When she awoke\n     With all pleasure gone,\n     Swimming in blood\n     Of Frey's beloved.\n\n     So sore her hands\n     She smote together,\n     That the great-hearted\n     Gat raised in bed;\n     --\"O Gudrun, weep not\n     So woefully,\n     Sweet lovely bride,\n     For thy brethren live for thee!\n\n     \"A young child have I\n     For heritor;\n     Too young to win forth\n     From the house of his foes.--\n     Black deeds and ill\n     Have they been a-doing,\n     Evil rede\n     Have they wrought at last.\n\n     \"Late, late, rideth with them\n     Unto the Thing,\n     Such sister's son,\n     Though seven thou bear,--\n     --But well I wot\n     Which way all goeth;\n     Alone wrought Brynhild\n     This bale against us.\n\n     \"That maiden loved me\n     Far before all men,\n     Yet wrong to Gunnar\n     I never wrought;\n     Brotherhood I heeded\n     And all bounden oaths,\n     That none should deem me\n     His queen's darling.\"\n\n     Weary sighed Gudrun,\n     As the king gat ending,\n     And so sore her hands\n     She smote together,\n     That the cups arow\n     Rang out therewith,\n     And the geese cried on high\n     That were in the homefield.\n\n     Then laughed Brynhild\n     Budli's daughter,\n     Once, once only,\n     From out her heart;\n     When to her bed\n     Was borne the sound\n     Of the sore greeting\n     Of Giuki's daughter.\n\n     Then, quoth Gunnar,\n     The king, the hawk-bearer,\n     \"Whereas, thou laughest,\n     O hateful woman,\n     Glad on thy bed,\n     No good it betokeneth:\n     Why lackest thou else\n     Thy lovely hue?\n     Feeder of foul deeds,\n     Fey do I deem thee,\n\n     \"Well worthy art thou\n     Before all women,\n     That thine eyes should see\n     Atli slain of us;\n     That thy brother's wounds\n     Thou shouldest see a-bleeding,\n     That his bloody hurts\n     Thine hands should bind.\"\n\n     \"No man blameth thee, Gunnar,\n     Thou hast fulfilled death's measure\n     But naught Atli feareth\n     All thine ill will;\n     Life shall he lay down\n     Later than ye,\n     And still bear more might\n     Aloft than thy might.\n\n     \"I shall tell thee, Gunnar,\n     Though well the tale thou knowest,\n     In what early days\n     Ye dealt abroad your wrong:\n     Young was I then,\n     Worn with no woe,\n     Good wealth I had\n     In the house of my brother!\n\n     \"No mind had I\n     That a man should have me,\n     Or ever ye Giukings,\n     Rode into our garth;\n     There ye sat on your steeds\n     Three kings of the people--\n     --Ah!  That that faring\n     Had never befallen!\n\n     \"Then spake Atli\n     To me apart,\n     And said that no wealth\n     He would give unto me,\n     Neither gold nor lands\n     If I would not be wedded;\n     Nay, and no part\n     Of the wealth apportioned,\n     Which in my first days\n     He gave me duly;\n     Which in my first days\n     He counted down.\n\n     \"Wavered the mind\n     Within me then,\n     If to fight I should fall\n     And the felling of folk,\n     Bold in Byrny\n     Because of my brother;\n     A deed of fame\n     Had that been to all folk,\n     But to many a man\n     Sorrow of mind.\n\n     \"So I let all sink\n     Into peace at the last:\n     More grew I minded\n     For the mighty treasure,\n     The red-shining rings\n     Of Sigmund's son;\n     For no man's wealth else\n     Would I take unto me.\n\n     \"For myself had I given\n     To that great king\n     Who sat amid gold\n     On the back of Grani;\n     Nought were his eyes\n     Like to your eyen,\n     Nor in any wise\n     Went his visage with yours;\n     Though ye might deem you\n     Due kings of men.\n\n     \"One I loved,\n     One, and none other,\n     The gold-decked may\n     Had no doubtful mind;\n     Thereof shall Atli\n     Wot full surely,\n     When he getteth to know\n     I am gone to the dead.\n\n     \"Far be it from me,\n     Feeble and wavering,\n     Ever to love\n     Another's love--\n     --Yes shall my woe\n     Be well avenged.\"\n\n     Up rose Gunnar,\n     The great men's leader,\n     And cast his arms\n     About the queen's neck;\n     And all went nigh\n     One after other,\n     With their whole hearts\n     Her heart to turn.\n\n     But then all these\n     From her neck she thrust,\n     Of her long journey\n     No man should let her.\n\n     Then called he Hogni\n     To have talk with him;\n     \"Let all folk go\n     Forth into the hall,\n     Thine with mine--\n     --O need sore and mighty!--\n     To wot if we yet\n     My wife's parting may stay.\n     Till with time's wearing\n     Some hindrance wax.\"\n\n     One answer Hogni\n     Had for all;\n     \"Nay, let hard need\n     Have rule thereover,\n     And no man let her\n     Of her long journey!\n     Never born again,\n     May she come back thence!\n\n     \"Luckless she came\n     To the lap of her mother,\n     Born into the world\n     For utter woe,\n     TO many a man\n     For heart-whole mourning.\"\n\n     Upraised he turned\n     From the talk and the trouble,\n     To where the gem-field\n     Dealt out goodly treasure;\n     As she looked and beheld\n     All the wealth that she had,\n     And the hungry bondmaids,\n     And maids of the hall.\n\n     With no good in her heart\n     She donned her gold byrny,\n     Ere she thrust the sword point\n     Through the midst of her body:\n     On the boister's far side\n     Sank she adown,\n     And, smitten with sword,\n     Still bethought her of redes.\n\n     \"Let all come forth\n     Who are fain the red gold,\n     Or things less worthy\n     To win from my hands;\n     To each one I give\n     A necklace gilt over,\n     Wrought hangings and bed=gear,\n     And bright woven weed.\"\n\n     All they kept silence,\n     And thought what to speak,\n     Then all at once\n     Answer gave:\n     \"Full enow are death-doomed,\n     Fain are we to live yet,\n     Maids of the hall\n     All meet work winning.\"\n\n     \"From her wise heart at last\n     The linen-clad damsel,\n     The one of few years\n     Gave forth the word:\n     \"I will that none driven\n     By hand or by word,\n     For our sake should lose\n     Well-loved life.\n\n     \"Thou on the bones of you\n     Surely shall burn,\n     Less dear treasure\n     At your departing\n     Nor with Menia's Meal (1)\n     Shall ye come to see me.\"\n\n     \"Sit thee down, Gunnar,\n     A word must I say to thee\n     Of the life's ruin\n     Of thy lightsome bride--\n     --Nor shall thy ship\n     Swim soft and sweetly\n     For all that I\n     Lay life adown.\n\n     \"Sooner than ye might deem\n     Shall ye make peace with Gudrun,\n     For the wise woman\n     Shall full in the young wife\n     The hard memory\n     Of her dead husband.\n\n     \"There is a may born\n     Reared by her mother,\n     Whiter and brighter\n     Than is the bright day;\n     She shall be Swanhild,\n     She shall be Sunbeam.\n\n     \"Thou shalt give Gudrun\n     Unto a great one,\n     Noble, well-praised\n     Of the world's folk;\n     Not with her goodwill,\n     Or love shalt thou give her;\n     Yet will Atli\n     Come to win her,\n     My very brother,\n     Born of Budli.\n\n     --\"Ah!  Many a memory\n     Of how ye dealt with me,\n     How sorely, how evilly\n     Ye ever beguiled me,\n     How all pleasure left me\n     The while my life lasted--!\n\n     \"Fain wilt thou be\n     Oddrun to win,\n     But thy good liking\n     Shall Atli let;\n     But in secret wise\n     Shall ye win together,\n     And she shall love thee\n     As I had loved thee,\n     If in such wise\n     Fare had willed it.\n\n     \"But with all ill\n     Shall Atli sting thee,\n     Into the strait worm-close\n     Shall he cast thee.\n\n     \"But no long space\n     Shall slip away\n     Ere Atli too\n     All life shall lose,\n     Yea, all his weal\n     With the life of his sons,\n     For a dreadful bed\n     Dights Gudrun for him,\n     From a heart sore laden,\n     With the sword's sharp edge.\n\n     \"More seemly for Gudrun,\n     Your very sister,\n     In death to wend after\n     Her love first wed;\n     Had but good rede\n     To her been given,\n     Or if her heart\n     Had been like to my heart.\n\n     --\"Faint my speech groweth--\n     But for our sake\n     Ne'er shall she lose\n     Her life beloved;\n     The sea shall have her,\n     High billows bear her\n     Forth unto Jonakr's\n     Fair land of his fathers.\n\n     \"There shall she bear sons,\n     Stays of a heritage,\n     Stays of a heritage,\n     Jonakr's sons;\n     And Swanhild shall she\n     Send from the land,\n     That may born of her,\n     The may born of Sigurd.\n\n     \"Her shall bite\n     The rede of Bikki,\n     Whereas for no good\n     Wins Jormunrek life;\n     And so is clean perished\n     All the kin of Sigurd,\n     Yea, and more greeting,\n     And more for Gudrun.\n\n     \"And now one prayer\n     Yet pray I of thee--\n     That last word of mine\n     Here in the world--\n     So broad on the field\n     Be the burg of the dead\n     That fair space may be left\n     For us all to lie down,\n     All those that died\n     At Sigurd's death!\n\n     \"Hang round that burg\n     Fair hangings and shields,\n     Web by Gauls woven,\n     And folk of the Gauls:\n     There burn the Hun King\n     Lying beside me.\n\n     \"But on the other side\n     Burn by the Hun King\n     Those who served me\n     Strewn with treasure;\n     Two at the head,\n     And two at the feet,\n     Two hounds therewith,\n     And two hawks moreover:\n     Then is all dealt\n     With even dealing.\n\n     \"Lay there amidst us\n     The right-dight metal,\n     The sharp-edged steel,\n     That so lay erst;\n     When we both together\n     Into one bed went,\n     And were called by the name\n     Of man and wife.\n\n     \"Never, then, belike\n     Shall clash behind him\n     Valhall's bright door\n     With rings bedight:\n     And if my fellowship\n     Followeth after,\n     In no wretched wise\n     Then shall we wend.\n\n     \"For him shall follow\n     My five bondmaids,\n     My eight bondsmen,\n     No borel folk:\n     Yea, and my fosterer,\n     And my father's dower\n     That Budli of old days\n     Gave to his dear child.\n\n     \"Much have I spoken,\n     More would I speak,\n     If the sword would give me\n     Space for speech;\n     But my words are waning,\n     My wounds are swelling--\n     Naught but truth have I told--\n     --And now make I ending.\"\n\n\n  ENDNOTES:\n  (1)  \"Menia's Maid\"--periphrasis for gold.\n\n\n\n\nTHE HELL-RIDE OF BRYNHILD.\n\nAfter the death of Brynhild were made two bales, one for Sigurd, and\nthat was first burned; but Brynhild was burned on the other, and she was\nin a chariot hung about with goodly hangings.\n\nAnd so folk say that Brynhild drave in her chariot down along the way\nto Hell, and passed by an abode where dwelt a certain giantess, and the\ngiantess spake:--\n\n     THE GIANT-WOMAN\n     \"Nay, with my goodwill\n     Never goest thou\n     Through this stone-pillared\n     Stead of mine!\n     More seemly for thee\n     To sit sewing the cloth,\n     Than to go look on\n     The love of another.\n\n     \"What dost thou, going\n     From the land of the Gauls,\n     O restless head,\n     To this mine house?\n     Golden girl, hast thou not,\n     If thou listest to hearken,\n     In sweet wise from thy hands\n     The blood of men washen?\"\n\n     BRYNHILD\n     \"Nay, blame me naught,\n     Bride of the rock-hall,\n     Though I roved a warring\n     In the days that were;\n     The higher of us twain\n     Shall I ever be holden\n     When of our kind\n     Men make account.\"\n\n     THE GIANT-WOMAN\n     \"Thou, O Brynhild,\n     Budli's daughter,\n     Wert the worst ever born\n     Into the world;\n     For Giuki's children\n     Death hast thou gotten,\n     And turned to destruction\n     Their goodly dwelling.\"\n\n     BRYNHILD\n     \"I shall tell thee\n     True tale from my chariot,\n     O thou who naught wottest,\n     If thou listest to wot;\n     How for me they have gotten\n     Those heirs of Giuki,\n     A loveless life,\n     A life of lies.\n\n     \"Hild under helm,\n     The Hlymdale people,\n     E'en those who knew me,\n     Ever would call me.\n\n     \"The changeful shapes\n     Of us eight sisters,\n     The wise king bade\n     Under oak-tree to bear;\n     Of twelve winters was I,\n     If thou listest to wot,\n     When I sware to the young lord\n     Oaths of love.\n\n     \"Thereafter gat I\n     Mid the folk of the Goths,\n     For Helmgunnar the old,\n     Swift journey to Hell,\n     And gave to Aud's brother\n     The young, gain and glory;\n     Whereof overwrath\n     Waxed Odin with me.\n\n     \"So he shut me in shield-wall\n     In Skata grove,\n     Red shields and white\n     Close set around me;\n     And bade him alone\n     My slumber to break\n     Who in no land\n     Knew how to fear.\n\n     \"He set round my hall,\n     Toward the south quarter,\n     The Bane of all trees\n     Burning aloft;\n     And ruled that he only\n     Thereover should ride\n     Who should bring me the gold\n     O'er which Fafnir brooded.\n\n     \"Then upon Grani rode\n     The goodly gold-strewer\n     To where my fosterer\n     Ruled his fair dwelling.\n     He who alone there\n     Was deemed best of all,\n     The War-lord of the Danes,\n     Well worthy of men.\n\n     \"In peace did we sleep\n     Soft in one bed,\n     As though he had been\n     Naught but my brother:\n     There as we lay\n     Through eight nights wearing,\n     No hand in love\n     On each other we laid.\n\n     \"Yet thence blamed me, Gudrun,\n     Giuki's daughter,\n     That I had slept\n     In the arms of Sigurd;\n     And then I wotted\n     As I fain had not wotted,\n     That they had bewrayed me\n     In my betrothals.\n\n     \"Ah!  For unrest\n     All too long\n     Are men and women\n     Made alive!\n     Yet we twain together\n     Shall wear through the ages,\n     Sigurd and I.--\n     --Sink adown, O giant-wife!\"\n\n\n\n\nFRAGMENTS OF THE LAY OF BRYNHILD\n\n     HOGNI SAID:\n     \"What hath wrought Sigurd\n     Of any wrong-doing\n     That the life of the famed one\n     Thou art fain of taking?\"\n\n     GUNNAR SAID:\n     \"To me has Sigurd\n     Sworn many oaths,\n     Sworn many oaths,\n     And sworn them lying,\n     And he bewrayed me\n     When it behoved him\n     Of all folk to his troth\n     To be the most trusty.\"\n\n     HOGNI SAID:\n     \"Thee hath Brynhild\n     Unto all bale,\n     And all hate whetted,\n     And a work of sorrow;\n     For she grudges to Gudrun\n     All goodly life;\n     And to thee the bliss\n     Of her very body.\"\n\n    ..........\n\n     Some the wolf roasted,\n     Some minced the worm,\n     Some unto Guttorm\n     Gave the wolf-meat,\n     Or ever they might\n     In their lust for murder\n     On the high king\n     Lay deadly hand.\n\n     Sigurd lay slain\n     On the south of the Rhine\n     High from the fair tree\n     Croaked forth the raven,\n     \"Ah, yet shall Atli\n     On you redden edges,\n     The old oaths shall weigh\n     On your souls, O warriors.\"\n\n     Without stood Gudrun,\n     Giuki's daughter,\n     And the first word she said\n     Was even this word:\n     \"Where then is Sigurd,\n     Lord of the Warfolk,\n     Since my kin\n     Come riding the foremost?\n\n     One word Hogni\n     Had for an answer:\n     \"Our swords have smitten\n     Sigurd asunder,\n     And the grey horse hangs drooping\n     O'er his lord lying dead.\"\n\n     Then quoth Brynhild,\n     Budli's daughter;\n     \"Good weal shall ye have\n     Of weapons and lands,\n     That Sigurd alone\n     Would surely have ruled\n     If he had lived\n     But a little longer.\n\n     \"Ah, nothing seemly\n     For Sigurd to rule\n     Giuki's house\n     And the folk of the Goths,\n     When of him five sons\n     For the slaying of men,\n     Eager for battle,\n     Should have been begotten!\"\n\n     Then laughed Brynhild--\n     Loud rang the whole house--\n     One laugh only\n     From out her heart:\n     \"Long shall your bliss be\n     Of lands and people,\n     Whereas the famed lord\n     You have felled to the earth!\"\n\n     Then spake Gudrun,\n     Giuki's daughter;\n     \"Much thou speakest,\n     Many things fearful,\n     All grame be on Gunnar\n     The bane of Sigurd!\n     From a heart full of hate\n     Shall come heavy vengeance.\"\n\n     Forth sped the even\n     Enow there was drunken,\n     Full enow was there\n     Of all soft speech;\n     And all men got sleep\n     When to bed they were gotten;\n     Gunnar only lay waking\n     Long after all men.\n\n     His feet fell he to moving,\n     Fell to speak to himself\n     The waster of men,\n     Still turned in his mind\n     What on the bough\n     Those twain would be saying,\n     The raven and erne,\n     As they rode their ways homeward.\n\n     But Brynhild awoke,\n     Budli's daughter,\n     May of the shield-folk,\n     A little ere morning:\n     \"Thrust ye on, hold ye back,\n     --Now all harm is wrought,--\n     To tell of my sorrow,\n     Or to let all slip by me?\"\n\n     All kept silence\n     After her speaking,\n     None might know\n     That woman's mind,\n     Or why she must weep\n     To tell of the work\n     That laughing once\n     Of men she prayed.\n\n     BRYNHILD SPAKE:\n     \"In dreams, O Gunnar,\n     Grim things fell on me;\n     Dead-cold the hall was,\n     And my bed was a-cold,\n     And thou, lord, wert riding\n     Reft of all bliss,\n     Laden with fetters\n     'Mid the host of thy foemen.\"\n\n     \"So now all ye,\n     O House of the Niblungs,\n     Shall be brought to naught,\n     O ye oath-breakers!\n\n     \"Think'st thou not, Gunnar,\n     How that betid,\n     When ye let the blood run\n     Both in one footstep?\n     With ill reward\n     Hast thou rewarded\n     His heart so fain\n     To be the foremost!\n\n     \"As well was seen\n     When he rode his ways,\n     That king of all worth,\n     Unto my wooing;\n     How the host-destroyer\n     Held to the vows\n     Sworn beforetime,\n     Sworn to the young king.\n\n     \"For his wounding-wand\n     All wrought with gold,\n     The king beloved\n     Laid between us;\n     Without were its edges\n     Wrought with fire,\n     But with venom-drops\n     Deep dyed within.\"\n\nThus this song telleth of the death of Sigurd, and setteth forth how\nthat they slew him without doors; but some say that they slew him within\ndoors, sleeping in his bed. But the Dutch Folk say that they slew him\nout in the wood: and so sayeth the ancient song of Gudrun, that Sigurd\nand the sons of Giuki were riding to the Thing whenas he was slain. But\nall with one accord say that they bewrayed him in their troth with him,\nand fell on him as he lay unarrayed and unawares.\n\n\n\n\nTHE SECOND OR ANCIENT LAY OF GUDRUN.\n\nThiodrek the King was in Atli's house, and had lost there the more part\nof his men: so there Thiodrek and Gudrun bewailed their troubles one to\nthe other, and she spake and said:--\n\n     A may of all mays\n     My mother reared me\n     Bright in bower;\n     Well loved I my brethren,\n     Until that Giuki\n     With gold arrayed me,\n     With gold arrayed me,\n     And gave me to Sigurd.\n\n     Such was my Sigurd,\n     Among the sons of Giuki\n     As is the green leek\n     O'er the low grass waxen,\n     Or a hart high-limbed\n     Over hurrying deer,\n     Or glede-red gold\n     Over grey silver.\n\n     Till me they begrudged,\n     Those my brethren,\n     The fate to have him,\n     Who was first of all men;\n     Nor might they sleep,\n     Nor sit a-dooming,\n     Ere they let slay\n     My well-loved Sigurd.\n\n     Grani ran to the Thing,\n     There was clatter to hear,\n     But never came Sigurd\n     Himself thereunto;\n     All the saddle-girt beasts\n     With blood were besprinkled,\n     As faint with the way\n     Neath the slayers they went.\n\n     Then greeting I went\n     With Grani to talk,\n     And with tear-furrowed cheeks\n     I bade him tell all;\n     But drooping laid Grani,\n     His head in the grass,\n     For the steed well wotted\n     Of his master's slaying.\n\n     A long while I wandered,\n     Long my mind wavered,\n     Ere the kings I might ask\n     Concerning my king.\n\n     Then Gunnar hung head,\n     But Hogni told\n     Of the cruel slaying\n     Of my Sigurd:\n     \"On the water's far side\n     Lies, smitten to death,\n     The bane of Guttorm\n     To the wolves given over.\n\n     \"Go, look on Sigurd,\n     On the ways that go southward,\n     There shalt thou hear\n     The ernes high screaming,\n     The ravens a-croaking\n     As their meat they crave for;\n     Thou shalt hear the wolves howling\n     Over thine husband.\n\n     \"How hast thou, Hogni,\n     The heart to tell me,\n     Me of joy made empty,\n     Of such misery?\n     Thy wretched heart\n     May the ravens tear\n     Wide over the world,\n     With no men mayst thou wend.\"\n\n     One thing Hogni\n     Had for answer,\n     Fallen from his high heart,\n     Full of all trouble:\n     \"More greeting yet,\n     O Gudrun, for thee,\n     If my heart the ravens\n     Should rend asunder!\"\n\n     Thence I turned\n     From the talk and the trouble\n     To go a leasing (1)\n     What the wolves had left me;\n     No sigh I made\n     No smote hands together,\n     Nor did I wail\n     As other women\n     When I sat over\n     My Sigurd slain.\n\n     Night methought it,\n     And the moonless dark,\n     When I sat in sorrow\n     Over Sigurd;\n     Better than all things\n     I deemed it would be\n     If they would let me\n     Cast my life by,\n     Or burn me up\n     As they burn the birch-wood.\n\n     From the fell I wandered\n     Five days together,\n     Until the high hall\n     Of Half lay before me;\n     Seven seasons there\n     I sat with Thora,\n     The daughter of Hacon,\n     Up in Denmark.\n\n     My heart to gladden\n     With gold she wrought\n     Southland halls\n     And swans of the Dane-folk;\n     There had we painted\n     The chiefs a-playing;\n     Fair our hands wrought\n     Folk of the kings.\n\n     Red shields we did,\n     Doughty knights of the Huns,\n     Hosts spear-dight, hosts helm-dight,\n     All a high king's fellows;\n     And the ships of Sigmund\n     From the land swift sailing;\n     Heads gilt over\n     And prows fair graven.\n\n     On the cloth we broidered\n     That tide of their battling,\n     Siggeir and Siggar,\n     South in Fion.\n\n     Then heard Grimhild,\n     The Queen of Gothland,\n     How I was abiding,\n     Weighed down with woe;\n     And she thrust the cloth from her\n     And called to her sons,\n     And oft and eagerly\n     Asked them thereof,\n     Who for her son\n     Would their sister atone,\n     Who for her lord slain\n     Would lay down weregild.\n\n     Fain was Gunnar\n     Gold to lay down\n     All wrongs to atone for,\n     And Hogni in likewise;\n     Then she asked who was fain\n     Of faring straightly,\n     The steed to saddle\n     To set forth the wain,\n     The horse to back,\n     And the hawk to fly,\n     To shoot forth the arrow\n     From out the yew-bow.\n\n     Valdarr the Dane-king\n     Came with Jarisleif\n     Eymod the third went\n     Then went Jarizskar;\n     In kingly wise\n     In they wended,\n     The host of the Longbeards;\n     Red cloaks had they,\n     Byrnies short-cut,\n     Helms strong hammered,\n     Girt with glaives,\n     And hair red-gleaming.\n\n     Each would give me\n     Gifts desired,\n     Gifts desired,\n     Speech dear to my heart,\n     If they might yet,\n     Despite my sorrow,\n     Win back my trust,\n     But in them nought I trusted.\n\n     Then brought me Grimhild\n     A beaker to drink of,\n     Cold and bitter,\n     Wrong's memory to quench;\n     Made great was that drink\n     With the might of the earth,\n     With the death-cold sea\n     And the blood that Son (2) holdeth.\n\n     On that horn's face were there\n     All the kin of letters\n     Cut aright and reddened,\n     How should I rede them rightly?\n\n     The ling-fish long\n     Of the land of Hadding,\n     Wheat-ears unshorn,\n     And wild things' inwards.\n\n     In that mead were mingled\n     Many ills together,\n     Blood of all the wood,\n     And brown-burnt acorns;\n     The black dew of the hearth, (3)\n     And god-doomed dead beasts' inwards\n     And the swine's liver sodden,\n     For wrongs late done that deadens.\n\n     Then waned my memory\n     When that was within me,\n     Of my lord 'mid the hall\n     By the iron laid low.\n     Three kings came\n     Before my knees\n     Ere she herself\n     Fell to speech with me.\n\n     \"I will give to thee, Gudrun,\n     Gold to be glad with,\n     All the great wealth\n     Of thy father gone from us,\n     Rings of red gold\n     And the great hall of Lodver,\n     And all fair hangings left\n     By the king late fallen.\n\n     \"Maids of the Huns\n     Woven pictures to make,\n     And work fair in gold\n     Till thou deem'st thyself glad.\n     Alone shalt thou rule\n     O'er the riches of Budli,\n     Shalt be made great with gold,\n     And be given to Atli.\"\n\n     \"Never will I\n     Wend to a husband,\n     Or wed the brother\n     Of Queen Brynhild;\n     Naught it beseems me\n     With the son of Budli\n     Kin to bring forth,\n     Or to live and be merry.\"\n\n     \"Nay, the high chiefs\n     Reward not with hatred,\n     For take heed that I\n     Was the first in this tale!\n     To thy heart shall it be\n     As if both these had life,\n     Sigurd and Sigmund,\n     When thou hast borne sons.\"\n\n     \"Naught may I, Grimhild,\n     Seek after gladness,\n     Nor deem aught hopeful\n     Of any high warrior,\n     Since wolf and raven\n     Were friends together,\n     The greedy, the cruel,\n     O'er great Sigurd's heart-blood.\"\n\n     \"Of all men that can be\n     For the noblest of kin\n     This king have I found,\n     And the foremost of all;\n     Him shalt thou have\n     Till with eld thou art heavy--\n     Be thou ever unwed,\n     If thou wilt naught of him!\"\n\n     \"Nay, nay, bid me not\n     With thy words long abiding\n     To take unto me\n     That balefullest kin;\n     This king shall bid Gunnar\n     Be stung to his bane,\n     And shall cut the heart\n     From out of Hogni.\n\n     \"Nor shall I leave life\n     Ere the keen lord,\n     The eager in sword-play,\n     My hand shall make end of.\"\n\n     Grimhild a-weeping\n     Took up the word then,\n     When the sore bale she wotted\n     Awaiting her sons,\n     And the bane hanging over\n     Her offspring beloved.\n\n     \"I will give thee, moreover,\n     Great lands, many men,\n     Wineberg and Valberg,\n     If thou wilt but have them;\n     Hold them lifelong,\n     And live happy, O daughter!\"\n\n     \"Then him must I take\n     From among kingly men,\n     'Gainst my heart's desire,\n     From the hands of my kinsfolk;\n     But no joy I look\n     To have from that lord:\n     Scarce may my brother's bane\n     Be a shield to my sons.\"\n\n     Soon was each warrior\n     Seen on his horse,\n     But the Gaulish women\n     Into wains were gotten;\n     Then seven days long\n     O'er a cold land we rode,\n     And for seven other\n     Clove we the sea-waves.\n     But with the third seven\n     O'er dry land we wended.\n\n     There the gate-wardens\n     Of the burg, high and wide,\n     Unlooked the barriers\n     Ere the burg-garth we rode to--\n\n    ............\n\n     Atli woke me\n     When meseemed I was\n     Full evil of heart\n     For my kin dead slain.\n\n     \"In such wise did the Norns\n     Wake me or now.\"--\n     Fain was he to know\n     Of this ill foreshowing--\n     \"That methought, O Gudrun,\n     Giuki's daughter,\n     That thou setst in my heart\n     A sword wrought for guile.\"\n\n     \"For fires tokening I deem it\n     That dreaming of iron,\n     But for pride and for lust\n     The wrath of fair women\n     Against some bale\n     Belike, I shall burn thee\n     For thy solace and healing\n     Though hateful thou art.\"\n\n     \"In the fair garth methought\n     Had saplings fallen\n     E'en such as I would\n     Should have waxen ever;\n     Uprooted were these,\n     And reddened with blood,\n     And borne to the bench,\n     And folk bade me eat of them.\n\n     \"Methought from my hand then\n     Went hawks a-flying\n     Lacking their meat\n     To the land of all ill;\n     Methought that their hearts\n     Mingled with honey,\n     Swollen with blood\n     I ate amid sorrow.\n\n     \"Lo, next two whelps\n     From my hands I loosened,\n     Joyless were both,\n     And both a-howling;\n     And now their flesh\n     Became naught but corpses,\n     Whereof must I eat\n     But sore against my will.\"\n\n     \"O'er the prey of the fishers\n     Will folk give doom;\n     From the bright white fish\n     The heads will they take;\n     Within a few nights,\n     Fey as they are,\n     A little ere day\n     Of that draught will they eat.\"\n\n     \"Ne'er since lay I down,\n     Ne'er since would I sleep,\n     Hard of heart, in my bed:--\n     That deed have I to do. (4)\n\n\n  ENDNOTES:\n  (1)  The original has \"a vid lesa\".  \"Leasing\" is the word still\n       used for gleaning in many country sides in England.\n  (2)  Son was the vessel into which was poured the blood of\n       Quasir, the God of Poetry.\n  (3)  This means soot.\n  (4)  The whole of this latter part is fragmentary and obscure;\n       there seems wanting to two of the dreams some trivial\n       interpretation by Gudrun, like those given by Hogni to\n       Kostbera in the Saga, of which nature, of course, the\n       interpretation contained in the last stanza but one is, as\n       we have rendered it: another rendering, from the different\n       reading of the earlier edition of \"Edda\" (Copenhagen, 1818)\n       would make this refer much more directly to the slaying of\n       her sons by Gudrun.\n\n\n\n\nTHE SONG OF ATLI.\n\nGudrun, Giuki's daughter, avenger her brethren, as is told far and wide;\nfirst she slew the sons of Atli, and then Atli himself; and she burned\nthe hall thereafter, and all the household with it: and about these\nmatters is this song made:--\n\n     In days long gone\n     Sent Atli to Gunnar\n     A crafty one riding,\n     Knefrud men called him;\n     To Giuki's garth came he,\n     To the hall of Gunnar,\n     To the benches gay-dight,\n     And the gladsome drinking.\n\n     There drank the great folk\n     'Mid the guileful one's silence,\n     Drank wine in their fair hall:\n     The Huns' wrath they feared\n     When Knefrud cried\n     In his cold voice,\n     As he sat on the high seat,\n     That man of the Southland:\n\n     \"Atli has sent me\n     Riding swift on his errands\n     On the bit-griping steed\n     Through dark woodways unbeaten,\n     To bid thee, King Gunnar,\n     Come to his fair bench\n     With helm well-adorned,\n     To the house of King Atli.\n\n     \"Shield shall ye have there\n     And spears ashen-shafted,\n     Helms ruddy with gold,\n     And hosts of the Huns;\n     Saddle-gear silver gilt,\n     Shirts red as blood,\n     The hedge of the warwife,\n     And horses bit-griping.\n\n     \"And he saith he will give you\n     Gnitaheath widespread,\n     And whistling spears\n     And prows well-gilded,\n     Might wealth\n     With the stead of Danpi,\n     And that noble wood\n     Men name the Murkwood.\"\n\n     Then Gunnar turned head\n     And spake unto Hogni:\n     \"What rede from thee, high one,\n     Since such things we hear?\n     No gold know I\n     On Gnitaheath,\n     That we for our parts\n     Have not portion as great.\n\n     \"Seven halls we have\n     Fulfilled of swords,\n     And hilts of gold\n     Each sword there has;\n     My horse is the best,\n     My blade is the keenest;\n     Fair my bow o'er the bench is,\n     Gleams my byrny with gold;\n     Brightest helm, brightest shield,\n     From Kiar's dwelling ere brought--\n     Better all things I have\n     Than all things of the Huns.\"\n\n     HOGNI SAID:\n     \"What mind has our sister\n     That a ring she hath sent us\n     In weed of wolves clad?\n     Bids she not to be wary?\n     For a wolf's hair I found\n     The fair ring wreathed about;\n     Wolf beset shall the way be\n     If we wend on this errand.\"\n\n     No sons whetted Gunnar,\n     Nor none of his kin,\n     Nor learned men nor wise men,\n     Nor such as were mighty.\n     Then spake Gunnar\n     E'en as a king should speak,\n     Glorious in mead-hall\n     From great heart and high:\n\n     \"Rise up now, Fiornir,\n     Forth down the benches\n     Let the gold-cups of great ones\n     Pass in hands of my good-men!\n     Well shall we drink wine,\n     Draughts dear to our hearts,\n     Though the last of all feasts\n     In our fair house this be!\n\n     \"For the wolves shall rule\n     O'er the wealth of the Niblungs,\n     With the pine-woods' wardens\n     In Gunnar perish:\n     And the black-felled bears\n     With fierce teeth shall bite\n     For the glee of the dog kind,\n     If again comes not Gunnar.\"\n\n     Then good men never shamed,\n     Greeting aloud,\n     Led the great king of men\n     From the garth of his home;\n     And cried the fair son\n     Of Hogni the king:\n     \"Fare happy, O Lords,\n     Whereso your hearts lead you!\"\n\n     Then the bold knights\n     Let their bit-griping steeds\n     Wend swift o'er the fells,\n     Tread the murk-wood unknown,\n     All the Hunwood was shaking\n     As the hardy ones fared there;\n     O'er the green meads they urged\n     Their steeds shy of the goad.\n\n     Then Atli's land saw they;\n     Great towers and strong,\n     And the bold men of Bikki,\n     Aloft on the burg:\n     The Southland folks' hall\n     Set with benches about,\n     Dight with bucklers well bounden,\n     And bright white shining shields.\n\n     There drank Atli,\n     The awful Hun king,\n     Wine in his fair hall;\n     Without were the warders,\n     Gunnar's folk to have heed of,\n     Lest they had fared thither\n     With the whistling spear\n     War to wake 'gainst the king.\n\n     But first came their sister\n     As they came to the hall,\n     Both her brethren she met,\n     With beer little gladdened:\n     \"Bewrayed art thou, Gunnar!\n     What dost thou great king\n     To deal war to the Huns?\n     Go thou swift from the hall!\n\n     Better, brother, hadst thou\n     Fared here in thy byrny\n     Than with helm gaily dight\n     Looked on Atli's great house:\n     Them hadst sat then in saddle\n     Through days bright with the sun\n     Fight to awaken\n     And fair fields to redden:\n\n     \"O'er the folk fate makes pale\n     Should the Norn's tears have fallen,\n     The shield mays of the Huns\n     Should have known of all sorrow;\n     And King Atli himself\n     To worm-close should be brought;\n     But now is the worm-close\n     Kept but for thee.\"\n\n     Then spake Gunnar\n     Great 'mid the people:\n     \"Over-late sister\n     The Niblungs to summon;\n     A long way to seek\n     The helping of warriors,\n     The high lord unshamed,\n     From the hills of the Rhine!\"\n\n    ..............\n\n     Seven Hogni beat down\n     With his sword sharp-grinded,\n     And the eighth man he thrust\n     Amidst of the fire.\n     Ever so shall famed warrior\n     Fight with his foemen,\n     As Hogni fought\n     For the hand of Gunnar.\n\n     But on Gunnar they fell,\n     And set him in fetters,\n     And bound hard and fast\n     That friend of Burgundians;\n     Then the warrior they asked\n     If he would buy life,\n     But life with gold\n     That king of the Goths.\n\n     Nobly spake Gunnar,\n     Great lord of the Niblungs;\n     \"Hogni's bleeding heart first\n     Shall lie in mine hand,\n     Cut from the breast\n     Of the bold-riding lord,\n     With bitter-sharp knife\n     From the son of the king.\"\n\n     With guile the great one\n     Would they beguile,\n     On the wailing thrall\n     Laid they hand unwares,\n     And cut the heart\n     From out of Hjalli,\n     Laid it bleeding on trencher\n     And bare it to Gunnar.\n\n     \"Here have I the heart\n     Of Hjalli the trembler,\n     Little like the heart\n     Of Hogni the hardy:\n     As much as it trembleth\n     Laid on the trencher\n     By the half more it trembled\n     In the breast of him hidden.\"\n\n     Then laughed Hogni\n     When they cut the heart from him,\n     From the crest-smith yet quick,\n     Little thought he to quail.\n     The hard acorn of thought\n     From the high king they took,\n     Laid it bleeding on trencher\n     And bare it Gunnar.\n\n     \"Here have I the heart\n     Of Hogni the hardy,\n     Little like to the heart\n     Of Hjalli the trembler.\n     Howso little it quaketh\n     Laid here on the dish,\n     Yet far less it quaked\n     In the breast of him laid.\n\n     \"So far mayst thou bide\n     From men's eyen, O Atli,\n     As from that treasure\n     Thou shalt abide!\n\n     \"Behold in my heart\n     Is hidden for ever\n     That hoard of the Niblungs,\n     Now Hogni is dead.\n     Doubt threw me two ways\n     While the twain of us lived,\n     But all that is gone\n     Now I live on alone.\n\n     \"The great Rhine shall rule\n     O'er the hate-raising treasure,\n     That gold of the Niblungs,\n     The seed of the gods:\n     In the weltering water\n     Shall that wealth lie a-gleaming,\n     Or it shine on the hands\n     Of the children of Huns!\"\n\n     Then cried Atli,\n     King of the Hun-folk,\n     \"Drive forth your wains now\n     The slave is fast bounden.\"\n     And straightly thence\n     The bit-shaking steeds\n     Drew the hoard-warden,\n     The war-god to his death.\n\n     Atli the great king,\n     Rode upon Glaum,\n     With shields set round about,\n     And sharp thorns of battle:\n     Gudrun, bound by wedlock\n     To these, victory made gods of,\n     Held back her tears\n     As the hall she ran into.\n\n     \"Let it fare with thee, Atli,\n     E'en after thine oaths sworn\n     To Gunnar fell often;\n     Yea, oaths sworn of old time,\n     By the sun sloping southward,\n     By the high burg of Sigry,\n     By the fair bed of rest,\n     By the red ring of Ull!\"\n\n     Now a host of men\n     Cast the high king alive\n     Into a close\n     Crept o'er within\n     With most foul worms,\n     Fulfilled of all venom,\n     Ready grave to dig\n     In his doughty heart.\n\n     Wrathful-hearted he smote\n     The harp with his hand,\n     Gunnar laid there alone;\n     And loud rang the strings.--\n     In such wise ever\n     Should hardy ring-scatterer\n     Keep gold from all folk\n     In the garth of his foeman.\n\n     Then Atli would wend\n     About his wide land,\n     On his steed brazen shod,\n     Back from the murder.\n     Din there was in the garth,\n     All thronged with the horses;\n     High the weapon-song rose\n     From men come from the heath.\n\n     Out then went Gudrun,\n     'Gainst Atli returning,\n     With a cup gilded over,\n     To greet the land's ruler;\n     \"Come, then, and take it,\n     King glad in thine hall,\n     From Gudrun's hands,\n     For the hell-farers groan not!\"\n\n     Clashed the beakers of Atli,\n     Wine-laden on bench,\n     As in hall there a-gathered,\n     The Huns fell a-talking,\n     And the long-bearded eager ones\n     Entered therein,\n     From a murk den new-come,\n     From the murder of Gunnar.\n\n     Then hastened the sweet-faced\n     Delight of the shield-folk,\n     Bright in the fair hall,\n     Wine to bear to them:\n     The dreadful woman\n     Gave dainties withal\n     To the lords pale with fate,\n     Laid strange word upon Atli:\n\n     \"The hearts of thy sons\n     Hast thou eaten, sword-dealer,\n     All bloody with death\n     And drenched with honey:\n     In most heavy mood\n     Brood o'er venison of men!\n     Drink rich draughts therewith,\n     Down the high benches send it!\n\n     \"Never callest thou now\n     From henceforth to thy knee\n     Fair Erp or fair Eiril,\n     Bright-faced with the drink;\n     Never seest thou them now\n     Amidmost the seat,\n     Scattering the gold,\n     Or shafting of spears;\n     Manes trimming duly,\n     Or driving steeds forth!\"\n\n     Din arose from the benches,\n     Dread song of men was there,\n     Noise 'mid the fair hangings,\n     As all Hun's children wept;\n     All saving Gudrun,\n     Who never gat greeting,\n     For her brethren bear-hardy\n     For her sweet sons and bright,\n     The young ones, the simple\n     Once gotten with Atli.\n\n    ...............\n\n     The seed of gold\n     Sowed the swan-bright woman,\n     Rings of red gold\n     She gave to the house-carls;\n     Fate let she wax,\n     Let the bright gold flow forth,\n     In naught spared that woman\n     The store-houses' wealth.\n\n     Atli unaware\n     Was a-weary with drink;\n     No weapon had he,\n     No heeding of Gudrun--\n     Ah, the pity would be better,\n     When in soft wise they twain\n     Would full often embrace\n     Before the great lords!\n\n     To the bed with sword-point\n     Blood gave she to drink\n     With a hand fain of death,\n     And she let the dogs loose:\n     Then in from the hall-door--\n     --Up waked the house-carls--\n     Hot brands she cast,\n     Gat revenge for her brethren.\n\n     To the flame gave she all\n     Who therein might be found;\n     Fell adown the old timbers,\n     Reeked all treasure-houses;\n     There the shield-mays were burnt,\n     Their lives' span brought to naught;\n     In the fierce fire sank down\n     All the stead of the Budlungs.\n\n     Wide told of is this--\n     Ne'er sithence in the world,\n     Thus fared bride clad in byrny\n     For her brothers' avenging;\n     For behold, this fair woman\n     To three kings of the people,\n     Hath brought very death\n     Or ever she died!\n\n\n\n\nTHE WHETTING OF GUDRUN.\n\nGudrun went down unto the sea whenas she had slain Atli, and she cast\nherself therein, for she was fain to end her life: but nowise might\nshe drown. She drave over the firths to the land of King Jonakr, and he\nwedded her, and their sons were Sorli, and Erp, and Hamdir, and there\nwas Swanhild, Sigurd's daughter, nourished: and she was given to\nJormunrek the Mighty. Now Bikki was a man of his, and gave such counsel\nto Randver, the king's son, as that he should take her; and with that\ncounsel were the young folk well content.\n\nThen Bikki told the king, and the king let hang Randver, but bade\nSwanhild be trodden under horses' feet. But when Gudrun heard thereof,\nshe spake to her sons--\n\n     Words of strife heard I,\n     Huger than any,\n     Woeful words spoken,\n     Sprung from all sorrow,\n     When Gudrun fierce-hearted\n     With the grimmest of words\n     Whetter her sons\n     Unto the slaying.\n\n     \"Why are ye sitting here?\n     Why sleep ye life away?\n     Why doth it grieve you nought?\n     Glad words to speak,\n     Now when your sister--\n     Young of years was she--\n     Has Jormunrek trodden\n     With the treading of horses?--\n\n     \"Black horses and white\n     In the highway of warriors;\n     Grey horses that know\n     The roads of the Goths.--\n\n     \"Little like are ye grown\n     To that Gunnar of old days!\n     Nought are your hearts\n     As the heart of Hogni!\n     Well would ye seek\n     Vengeance to win\n     If your mood were in aught\n     As the mood of my brethren,\n     Or the hardy hearts\n     Of the Kings of the Huns!\"\n\n     Then spake Hamdir,\n     The high-hearted--\n     \"Little didst thou\n     Praise Hogni's doings,\n     When Sigurd woke\n     From out of sleep,\n     And the blue-white bed-gear\n     Upon thy bed\n     Grew red with man's blood--\n     With the blood of thy mate!\n\n     \"Too baleful vengeance\n     Wroughtest thou for thy brethren\n     Most sore and evil\n     When thy sons thou slewedst,\n     Else all we together\n     On Jormunrek\n     Had wrought sore vengeance\n     For that our sister.\n\n     \"Come, bring forth quickly\n     The Hun kings' bright gear,\n     Since thou has urged us\n     Unto the sword-Thing!\"\n\n     Laughing went Gudrun\n     To the bower of good gear,\n     Kings' crested helms\n     From chests she drew,\n     And wide-wrought byrnies\n     Bore to her sons:\n     Then on their horses\n     Load laid the heroes.\n\n     Then spake Hamdir,\n     The high-hearted--\n     \"Never cometh again\n     His mother to see\n     The spear-god laid low\n     In the land of the Goths.\n     That one arvel mayst thou\n     For all of us drink,\n     For sister Swanhild,\n     And us thy sons.\"\n\n     Greeted Gudrun\n     Giuki's daughter;\n     Sorrowing she went\n     In the forecourt to sit,\n     That she might tell,\n     With cheeks tear-furrowed,\n     Her weary wail\n     In many a wise.\n\n     \"Three fires I knew,\n     Three hearths I knew,\n     To three husbands' houses\n     Have I been carried;\n     And better than all\n     Had been Sigurd alone,\n     He whom my brethren\n     Brought to his bane.\n\n     \"Such sore grief as that\n     Methought never should be,\n     Yet more indeed\n     Was left for my torment\n     Then, when the great ones\n     Gave me to Atli.\n\n     \"My fair bright boys\n     I bade unto speech,\n     Nor yet might I win\n     Weregild for my bale,\n     Ere I had hewn off\n     Those Niblungs' heads.\n\n     \"To the sea-strand I went\n     With the Norns sorely wroth,\n     For I would thrust from me\n     The storm of their torment;\n     But the high billows\n     Would not drown, but bore me\n     Forth, till I stepped a-land\n     Longer to live.\n\n     \"Then I went a-bed--\n     --Ah, better in the old days,\n     This was the third time!--\n     To a king of the people;\n     Offspring I brought forth,\n     Props of a fair house,\n     Props of a fair house,\n     Jonakr's fair sons.\n\n     \"But around Swanhild\n     Bond-maidens sat,\n     Her, that of all mine\n     Most to my heart was;\n     Such was my Swanhild,\n     In my hall's midmost,\n     As is the sunbeam\n     Fair to beheld.\n\n     \"In gold I arrayed her,\n     And goodly raiment,\n     Or ever I gave her\n     To the folk of the Goths.\n     That was the hardest\n     Of my heavy woes,\n     When the bright hair,--\n     O the bright hair of Swanhild!--\n     In the mire was trodden\n     By the treading of horses.\n\n     \"This was the sorest,\n     When my love, my Sigurd,\n     Reft of glory\n     In his bed gat ending:\n     But this the grimmest\n     When glittering worms\n     Tore their way\n     Through the heart of Gunnar.\n\n     \"But this the keenest\n     When they cut to the quick\n     Of the hardy heart\n     Of the unfeared Hogni.\n     Of much of bale I mind me,\n     Of many griefs I mind me;\n     Why should I sit abiding\n     Yet more bale and more?\n\n     \"Thy coal-black horse,\n     O Sigurd, bridle,\n     The swift on the highway!\n     O let him speed hither!\n     Here sitteth no longer\n     Son or daughter,\n     More good gifts\n     To give to Gudrun!\n\n     \"Mindst thou not, Sigurd,\n     Of the speech betwixt us,\n     When on one bed\n     We both sat together,\n     O my great king--\n     That thou wouldst come to me\n     E'en from the hall of Hell,\n     I to thee from the fair earth?\n\n     \"Pile high, O earls\n     The oaken pile,\n     Let it be the highest\n     That ever queen had!\n     Let the fire burn swift,\n     My breast with woe laden,\n     And thaw all my heart,\n     Hard, heavy with sorrow!\"\n\n     Now may all earls\n     Be bettered in mind,\n     May the grief of all maidens\n     Ever be minished,\n     For this tale of sorrow\n     So told to its ending.\n\n\n\n\nTHE LAY OF HAMDIR\n\n     Great deeds of bale\n     In the garth began,\n     At the sad dawning\n     The tide of Elves' sorrow\n     When day is a-waxing\n     And man's grief awaketh,\n     And the sorrow of each one\n     The early day quickeneth.\n\n     Not now, not now,\n     Nor yesterday,\n     But long ago\n     Has that day worn by,\n     That ancientest time,\n     The first time to tell of,\n     Then, whenas Gudrun,\n     Born of Giuki,\n     Whetter her sons\n     To Swanhild's avenging.\n\n     \"Your sister's name\n     Was naught but Swanhild,\n     Whom Jormunrek\n     With horses has trodden!--\n     White horses and black\n     On the war-beaten way,\n     Grey horses that go\n     On the roads of the Goths.\n\n     \"All alone am I now\n     As in holt is the aspen;\n     As the fir-tree of boughs,\n     So of kin am I bare;\n     As bare of things longed for\n     As the willow of leaves\n     When the bough-breaking wind\n     The warm day endeth.\n\n     \"Few, sad, are ye left\n     O kings of my folk!\n     Yet alone living\n     Last shreds of my kin!\n\n     \"Ah, naught are ye grown\n     As that Gunnar of old days;\n     Naught are your hearts\n     As the heart of Hogni!\n     Well would ye seek\n     Vengeance to win\n     If your hearts were in aught\n     As the hearts of my brethren!\"\n\n     Then spake Hamdir\n     The high-hearted:\n     \"Nought hadst thou to praise\n     The doings of Hogni,\n     When they woke up Sigurd\n     From out of slumber,\n     And in bed thou sat'st up\n     'Mid the banes-men's laughter.\n\n     \"Then when thy bed=gear,\n     Blue-white, well woven\n     By art of craftsmen\n     All swam with thy king's blood;\n     The Sigurd died,\n     O'er his dead corpse thou sattest,\n     Not heeding aught gladsome,\n     Since Gunnar so willed it.\n\n     \"Great grief for Atli\n     Gatst thou by Erp's murder,\n     And the end of thine Eitil,\n     But worse grief for thyself.\n     Good to use sword\n     For the slaying of others\n     In such wise that its edge\n     Shall not turn on ourselves!\"\n\n     Then well spake Sorli\n     From a heart full of wisdom:\n     \"No words will I\n     Make with my mother,\n     Though both ye twain\n     Need words belike--\n     What askest thou, Gudrun,\n     To let thee go greeting?\n\n     \"Weep for thy brethren,\n     Weep for thy sweet sons,\n     And thy nighest kinsfolk\n     Laid by the fight-side!\n     Yea, and thou Gudrun,\n     May'st greet for us twain\n     Sitting fey on our steeds\n     Doomed in far lands to die.\"\n\n     From the garth forth they went\n     With hearts full of fury,\n     Sorli and Hamdir,\n     The sons of Gudrun,\n     And they met on the way\n     The wise in all wiles:\n     \"And thou little Erp,\n     What helping from thee?\"\n\n     He of alien womb\n     Spake out in such wise:\n     \"Good help for my kin,\n     Such as foot gives to foot,\n     Or flesh-covered hand\n     Gives unto hand!\"\n\n     \"What helping for foot\n     That help that foot giveth,\n     Or for flesh-covered hand\n     The helping of hand?\"\n\n     Then spake Erp\n     Yet once again\n     Mock spake the prince\n     As he sat on his steed:\n     \"Fool's deed to show\n     The way to a dastard!\"\n     \"Bold beyond measure,\"\n     Quoth they, \"is the base-born!\"\n\n     Out from the sheath\n     Drew they the sheath-steel,\n     And the glaives' edges played\n     For the pleasure of hell;\n     By the third part they minished\n     The might that they had,\n     Their young kin they let lie\n     A-cold on the earth.\n\n     Then their fur-cloaks they shook\n     And bound fast their swords,\n     In webs goodly woven\n     Those great ones were clad;\n     Young they went o'er the fells\n     Where the dew was new-fallen\n     Swift, on steeds of the Huns,\n     Heavy vengeance to wreak.\n\n     Forth stretched the ways,\n     And an ill way they found,\n     Yea, their sister's son (1)\n     Hanging slain upon tree--\n     Wolf-trees by the wind made cold\n     At the town's westward\n     Loud with cranes' clatter--\n     Ill abiding there long!\n\n     Din in the king's hall\n     Of men merry with drink,\n     And none might hearken\n     The horses' tramping\n     Or ever the warders\n     Their great horn winded.\n\n     Then men went forth\n     To Jormunrek\n     To tell of the heeding\n     Of men under helm:\n     \"Give ye good counsel!\n     Great ones are come hither,\n     For the wrong of men mighty\n     Was the may to death trodden.\"\n\n     \"Loud Jormunrek laughed,\n     And laid hand to his beard,\n     Nor bade bring his byrny,\n     But with the wine fighting,\n     Shook his red locks,\n     On his white shield sat staring,\n     And in his hand\n     Swung the gold cup on high.\n\n     \"Sweet sight for me\n     Those twain to set eyes on,\n     Sorli and Hamdir,\n     Here in my hall!\n     Then with bowstrings\n     Would I bind them,\n     And hang the good Giukings\n     Aloft on the gallows!\"\n\n    ..............\n\n     Then spake Hrothglod\n     From off the high steps,\n     Spake the slim-fingered\n     Unto her son,--\n     --For a threat was cast forth\n     Of what ne'er should fall--\n     \"Shall two men alone\n     Two hundred Gothfolk\n     Bind or bear down\n     In the midst of their burg?\"\n\n    ...............\n\n     Strife and din in the hall,\n     Cups smitten asunder\n     Men lay low in blood\n     From the breasts of Goths flowing.\n\n     Then spake Hamdir,\n     The high-hearted:\n     \"Thou cravedst, O king,\n     From the coming of us,\n     The sons of one mother,\n     Amidmost thine hall--\n     Look on these hands of thine,\n     Look on these feet of thine,\n     Cast by us, Jormunrek,\n     On to the flame!\"\n\n     Then cried aloud\n     The high Gods' kinsman (2)\n     Bold under byrny,--\n     Roared he as bears roar;\n     \"Stones to the stout ones\n     That the spears bite not,\n     Nor the edges of steel,\n     These sons of Jonakr!\"\n\n    ..............\n\n     QUOTH SORLI:\n     \"Bale, brother, wroughtst thou\n     By that bag's (3) opening,\n     Oft from that bag\n     Rede of bale cometh!\n     Heart hast thou, Hamdir,\n     If thou hadst heart's wisdom\n     Great lack in a man\n     Who lacks wisdom and lore!\"\n\n     HAMDIR SAID:\n     \"Yes, off were the head\n     If Erp were alive yet,\n     Our brother the bold\n     Whom we slew by the way;\n     The far-famed through the world--\n     Ah, the fares drave me on,\n     And the man war made holy,\n     There must I slay!\"\n\n     SORLI SAID:\n       \"Unmeet we should do\n       As the doings of wolves are,\n     Raising wrong each 'gainst other\n       As the dogs of the Norns,\n       The greedy ones nourished\n     In waste steads of the world.\n\n     In strong wise have we fought,\n     On Goths' corpses we stand,\n     Beat down by our edges,\n     E'en as ernes on the bough.\n     Great fame our might winneth,\n     Die we now, or to-morrow,--\n     No man lives till eve\n     Whom the fates doom at morning.\"\n     At the hall's gable-end\n     Fell Sorli to earth,\n     But Hamdir lay low\n     At the back of the houses.\n\nNow this is called the Ancient Lay of Hamdir.\n\n\n  ENDNOTES:\n  (1)  Randver, the son of their sister's husband.\n  (2)  Odin, namely.\n  (3)  \"Bag\", his mouth.\n\n\n\n\nTHE LAMENT OF ODDRUN.\n\nThere was a king hight Heidrik, and his daughter was called Borgny, and\nthe name of her lover was Vilmund. Now she might nowise be made lighter\nof a child she travailed with, before Oddrun, Atil's sister, came to\nher,--she who had been the love of Gunnar, Giuki's son. But of their\nspeech together has this been sung:\n\n     I have hear tell\n     In ancient tales\n     How a may there came\n     To Morna-land,\n     Because no man\n     On mould abiding\n     For Heidrik's daughter\n     Might win healing.\n\n     All that heard Oddrun,\n     Atil's sister,\n     How that the damsel\n     Had heavy sickness,\n     So she led from stall\n     Her bridled steed,\n     And on the swart one\n     Laid the saddle.\n\n     She made her horse wend\n     O'er smooth ways of earth,\n     Until to a high-built\n     Hall she came;\n     Then the saddle she had\n     From the hungry horse,\n     And her ways wended\n     In along the wide hall,\n     And this word first\n     Spake forth therewith:\n\n     \"What is most famed,\n     Afield in Hunland,\n     Or what may be\n     Blithest in Hunland?\"\n\n     QUOTH THE HANDMAID:\n     \"Here lieth Borgny,\n     Borne down by trouble,\n     Thy sweet friend, O Oddrun,\n     See to her helping!\"\n\n     ODDRUN SAID:\n     \"Who of the lords\n     Hath laid this grief on her,\n     Why is the anguish\n     Of Borgny so weary?\"\n\n     THE HANDMAID SAID:\n     \"He is hight Vilmund,\n     Friend of hawk-bearers,\n     He wrapped the damsel\n     In the warm bed-gear\n     Five winters long\n     Without her father's wotting.\"\n\n     No more than this\n     They spake methinks;\n     Kind sat she down\n     By the damsel's knee;\n     Mightily sand Oddrun,\n     Sharp piercing songs\n     By Borgny's side:\n\n     Till a maid and a boy\n     Might tread on the world's ways,\n     Blithe babes and sweet\n     Of Hogni's bane:\n     Then the damsel forewearied\n     The word took up,\n     The first word of all\n     That had won from her:\n\n     \"So may help thee\n     All helpful things,\n     Fey and Freyia,\n     And all the fair Gods,\n     As thou hast thrust\n     This torment from me!\"\n\n     ODDRUN SAID:\n     \"Yet no heart had I\n     For thy helping,\n     Since never wert thou\n     Worthy of helping,\n     But my word I held to,\n     That of old was spoken\n     When the high lords\n     Dealt out the heritage,\n     That every soul\n     I would ever help.\"\n\n     BORGNY SAID:\n     \"Right mad art thou, Oddrun,\n     And reft of thy wits,\n     Whereas thou speakest\n     Hard words to me\n     Thy fellow ever\n     Upon the earth\n     As of brothers twain,\n     We had been born.\"\n\n     ODDRUN SAID:\n     \"Well I mind me yet,\n     What thou saidst that evening,\n     Whenas I bore forth\n     Fair drink for Gunnar;\n     Such a thing, saidst thou,\n     Should fall out never,\n     For any may\n     Save for me alone.\"\n\n     Mind had the damsel\n     Of the weary day\n     Whenas the high lords\n     Dealt out the heritage,\n     And she sat her down,\n     The sorrowful woman,\n     To tell of the bale,\n     And the heavy trouble.\n\n     \"Nourished was I\n     In the hall of kings--\n     Most folk were glad--\n     'Mid the council of great ones:\n     In fair life lived I,\n     And the wealth of my father\n     For five winters only,\n     While yet he had life.\n\n     \"Such were the last words\n     That ever he spake,\n     The king forewearied,\n     Ere his ways he went;\n     For he bade folk give me\n     The gold red-gleaming,\n     And give me in Southlands\n     To the son of Grimhild.\n\n     \"But Brynhild he bade\n     To the helm to betake her,\n     And said that Death-chooser\n     She should become;\n     And that no better\n     Might ever be born\n     Into the world,\n     If fate would not spoil it.\n\n     \"Brynhild in bower\n     Sewed at her broidery,\n     Folk she had\n     And fair lands about her;\n     Earth lay a-sleeping,\n     Slept the heavens aloft\n     When Fafnir's-bane\n     The burg first saw.\n\n     \"Then was war waged\n     With the Welsh-wrought sword\n     And the burg all broken\n     That Brynhild owned;\n     Nor wore long space,\n     E'en as well might be,\n     Ere all those wiles\n     Full well she knew.\n\n     \"Hard and dreadful\n     Was the vengeance she drew down,\n     So that all we\n     Have woe enow.\n     Through all lands of the world\n     Shall that story fare forth\n     How she did her to death\n     For the death of Sigurd.\n\n     \"But therewithal Gunnar\n     The gold-scatterer\n     Did I fall to loving\n     And should have loved him.\n     Rings of red gold\n     Would they give to Atli,\n     Would give to my brother\n     Things goodly and great.\n\n     \"Yea, fifteen steads\n     Would they give for me,\n     And the load of Grani\n     To have as a gift;\n     But then spake Atli,\n     That such was his will,\n     Never gift to take\n     From the sons of Giuki.\n\n     \"But we in nowise\n     Might love withstand,\n     And mine head must I lay\n     On my love, the ring-breaker;\n     And many there were\n     Among my kin,\n     Who said that they\n     Had seen us together.\n\n     \"Then Atli said\n     That I surely never\n     Would fall to crime\n     Or shameful folly:\n     But now let no one\n     For any other,\n     That shame deny\n     Where love has dealing.\n\n     \"For Atli sent\n     His serving-folk\n     Wide through the murkwood\n     Proof to win of me,\n     And thither they came\n     Where they ne'er should have come,\n     Where one bed we twain\n     Had dight betwixt us.\n\n     \"To those men had we given\n     Rings of red gold,\n     Naught to tell\n     Thereof to Atli,\n     But straight they hastened\n     Home to the house,\n     And all the tale\n     To Atli told.\n\n     'Whereas from Gudrun\n     Well they hid it,\n     Though better by half\n     Had she have known it.\n\n    ................\n\n     \"Din was there to hear\n     Of the hoofs gold-shod,\n     When into the garth\n     Rode the sons of Giuki.\n\n     \"There from Hogni\n     The heart they cut,\n     But into the worm-close\n     Cast the other.\n     There the king, the wise-hearted,\n     Swept his harp-strings,\n     For the might king\n     Had ever mind\n     That I to his helping\n     Soon should come.\n\n     \"But now was I gone\n     Yet once again\n     Unto Geirmund,\n     Good feast to make;\n     Yet had I hearing,\n     E'en out from Hlesey,\n     How of sore trouble\n     The harp-strings sang.\n\n     \"So I bade the bondmaids\n     Be ready swiftly,\n     For I listed to save\n     The life of the king,\n     And we let our ship\n     Swim over the sound,\n     Till Atli's dwelling\n     We saw all clearly.\n\n     Then came the wretch (1)\n     Crawling out,\n     E'en Atli's mother,\n     All sorrow upon her!\n     A grave gat her sting\n     In the heart of Gunnar,\n     So that no helping\n     Was left for my hero.\n\n     \"O gold-clad woman,\n     Full oft I wonder\n     How I my life\n     Still hold thereafter,\n     For methought I loved\n     That light in battle,\n     The swift with the sword,\n     As my very self.\n\n     \"Thou hast sat and hearkened\n     As I have told thee\n     Of many an ill-fate,\n     Mine and theirs--\n     Each man liveth\n     E'en as he may live--\n     Now hath gone forth\n     The greeting of Oddrun.\"\n\n\n  ENDNOTES:\n  (1)  Atli's mother took the form of the only adder that was not\n       lulled to sleep by Gunnar's harp-playing, and who slew him.","title":"The Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga); with Excerpts from the Poetic Edda","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":57188}