Certain Songs from the Elder Edda which Deal with the Story of the Volsungs. Part of the Second Lay of Helgi Hunding's-Bane. 1909-14. The Story of the Volsungs and Niblungs. The Harvard Classics

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The Story of the Volsungs and Niblungs.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14.

Certain Songs from the Elder Edda which Deal with the Story of the Volsungs

Part of the Second Lay of Helgi Hunding’s-Bane

HELGI 1 wedded Sigrun, and they begat sons together, but Helgi lived not to be old; for Dag, 2 the son of Hogni, sacrificed to Odin, praying that he might avenge his father. So Odin lent Dag his spear, and Dag met Helgi, his brother-in-law, at a place called Fetter-grove, and thrust him through with that spear, and there fell Helgi dead, but Dag rode to Sevafell, and told Sigrun of the news.

	Loth am I, sister,
	Of sorrow to tell thee,
	For by hard need driven
	Have I drawn on thee greeting;
	This morning fell
	In Fetter-grove
	The king well deemed
	The best in the wide world,
	Yea, he who stood
	On the necks of the strong.

	SIGRUN All oaths once sworn
	Shall bite thee sore,
	The oaths that to Helgi
	Once thou swarest
	At the bright white
	Water of Lightening, 3
	And at the cold rock
	That the sea runneth over.

	May the ship sweep not on
	That should sweep at its swiftest,
	Though the wind desired
	Behind thee driveth!
	May the horse never run
	That should run at his most might
	When from thy foe’s face
	Thou hast most need to flee!

	May the sword never bite
	That thou drawest from scabbard.
	But if round thine head
	In wrath it singeth!

	Then should meet price be paid
	For Helgi’s slaying
	When a wolf thou wert
	Out in the wild-wood,
	Empty of good things,
	Empty of gladness,
	With no meat for thy mouth
	But dead men’s corpses!

	DAG With mad words thou ravest,
	Thy wits are gone from thee,
	When thou for thy brother
	Such ill fate biddest;
	Odin alone
	Let all this bale loose,
	Casting the strife-runes
	’Twixt friends and kindred.

	Rings of red gold
	Will thy brother give thee,
	And the stead of Vandil
	And the lands of Vigdale;
	Have half of the land
	For thy sorrow’s healing,
	O ring-arrayed sweetling
	For thee and thy sons!

	SIGRUN No more sit I happy
	At Sevafell;
	At day-dawn, at night
	Naught love I my life
	Till broad o’er the people
	My lord’s light breaketh;
	Till his war-horse runneth
	Beneath him hither,
	Well wont to the gold bit—
	Till my king I welcome.

	In such wise did Helgi
	Deal fear around
	To all his foes
	And all their friends
	As when the goat runneth
	Before the wolf’s rage
	Filled with mad fear
	Down from the fell.

	As high above all lords
	Did Helgi bear him
	As the ash-tree’s glory
	From the thorn ariseth,
	Or as the fawn
	With the dew-fall sprinkled
	Is far above
	All other wild things,
	As his horns go gleaming
	’Gainst the very heavens.

A barrow was raised above Helgi, but when he came to Valhall, then Odin bade him be lord of all things there, even as he; so Helgi sang—

	Now shalt thou, Hunding,
	For the help of each man
	Get ready the foot-bath,
	And kindle the fire;
	The hounds shalt thou bind
	And give heed to the horses,
	Give wash to the swine
	Ere to sleep thou goest.

A bondmaid of Sigrun went in the evening-tide by Helgi’s mound, and there she saw how Helgi rode toward it with a great company; then she sang—

	It is vain things’ beguiling
	That methinks I behold
	Or the ending of all things,
	As ye ride, O ye dead men,
	Smiting with spurs
	Your horses’ sides?
	Or may dead warriors
	Wend their ways homeward?

	THE DEAD No vain things’ beguiling
	Is that thou beholdest
	Nor the ruin of all things;
	Though thou lookest upon us,
	Though we smite with spurs
	Our horses’ sides;
	Rather dead warriors
	May wend their ways homeward.

Then went the bondmaid home, and told Sigrun, and sang—

	Go out, Sigrun
	From Sevafell,
	If thou listest to look on
	The lord of thy people!
	For the mound is uncovered
	Thither is Helgi come,
	And his wounds are bleeding,
	But the king thee biddeth
	To come and stay
	That stream of sorrow.

So Sigrun went into the mound to Helgi, and sang—

	Now am I as fain
	Of this fair meeting,
	As are the hungry
	Hawks of Odin,
	When they wot of the slaying
	Of the yet warm quarry,
	Or bright with dew
	See the day a-dawning.

	Ah, I will kiss
	My king laid lifeless,
	Ere thou castest by
	Thy blood-stained byrny.
	O Helgi, thy hair
	Is thick with death’s rime,
	With the dew of the dead
	Is my love all dripping;
	Dead-cold are the hands
	Of the son of Hogni!
	How for thee, O my king,
	May I win healing?

	HELGI Thou alone, Sigrun
	Of Sevafell,
	Hast so done that Helgi
	With grief’s dew drippeth;
	O clad in gold
	Cruel tears thou weepest,
	Bright May of the Southlands,
	Or ever thou sleepest:
	Each tear in blood falleth
	On the breast of thy lord,
	Cold-wet and bitter-sharp
	Swollen with sorrow.

	Ah, we shall drink
	Dear draughts and lovely
	Though we have lost
	Both life and lands;
	Neither shall any
	Sing song of sorrow,
	Though in my breast
	Be wounds wide to behold:
	For now are brides
	In the mound abiding;
	Kings’ daughters sit
	By us departed.

Now Sigrun arrayed a bed in the mound, and sang:

	Here Helgi, for thee
	A bed have I dight,
	Kind without woe,
	O kin of the Ylfings!
	To thy bosom, O king,
	Will I come and sleep soft,
	As I was wont
	When my lord was living.

	HELGI Now will I call
	Naught not to be hoped for
	Early or late
	At Sevafell,
	When thou in the arms
	Of a dead man art laid,
	White maiden of Hogni,
	Here in the mound:
	And thou yet quick,
	O King’s daughter!

	Now needs must I ride
	On the reddening ways;
	My pale horse must tread
	The highway aloft:
	West must I go
	To Windhelm’s bridge
	Ere the war-winning crowd
	Hall-crower 4 waketh.

So Helgi rode his ways: and the others gat them gone home to the house. But the next night Sigrun bade the bondwoman have heed of the mound. So at nightfall, whenas Sigrun came to the mound, she sang:

	Here now would he come,
	If to come he were minded;
	Sigmund’s offspring
	From the halls of Odin.
	O me the hope waneth
	Of Helgi’s coming;
	For high on the ash-boughs
	Are the ernes abiding,
	And all folk drift
	Toward the Thing of the dreamland.

	THE BONDMAID Be not foolish of heart,
	And fare all alone
	To the house of the dead,
	O Hero’s daughter!
	For more strong and dreadful
	In the night season
	Are all dead warriors
	Than in the daylight.

But a little while lived Sigrun, because of her sorrow and trouble. But in old time folk trowed that men should be born again, though their troth be now deemed but an old wife’s doting. And so, as folk say, Helgi and Sigrun were born again, and at that tide was he called Helgi the Scathe of Hadding, and she Kara the daughter of Halfdan; and she was a Valkyria, even as is said in the Lay of Kara.

Note 1. Only that part of the song is given which completes the episode of Helgi Hunding’s-bane; the earlier part of the song differs little from the Saga. [back]

Note 2. Hogni, the father of Dag and Sigrun, had been slain by Helgi in battle and Helgi had given peace to, and taken oaths of Dag. [back]

Note 3. One of the rivers of the under-world. [back]

Note 4. Hall-crower, Salgofnir: lit. Hall-gaper, the cock of Valhall. [back]

CONTENTS · BOOK CONTENTS · BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

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