Certain Songs from the Elder Edda which Deal with the Story of the Volsungs. Fragments of the Lay of Brynhild. 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

Fragments of the Lay of Brynhild

	HOGNI SAID What hath wrought Sigurd
	Of any wrong-doing
	That the life of the famed one
	Thou art fain of taking?

	GUNNAR SAID To me has Sigurd
	Sworn many oaths,
	Sworn many oaths,
	And sworn them lying,
	And he bewrayed me
	When it behoved him
	Of all folk to his troth
	To be the most trusty.

	HOGNI SAID Thee hath Brynhild
	Unto all bale,
	And all hate whetted,
	And a work of sorrow;
	For she grudges to Gudrun
	All goodly life;
	And to thee the bliss
	Of her very body.

	Some the wolf roasted,
	Some minced the worm,
	Some unto Guttorm
	Gave the wolf-meat,
	Or ever they might
	In their lust for murder
	On the high king
	Lay deadly hand.

	Sigurd lay slain
	On the south of the Rhine.
	High from the fair tree
	Croaked forth the raven,
	“Ah, yet shall Atli
	On you redden edges,
	The old oaths shall weigh
	On your souls, O warriors.”

	Without stood Gudrun,
	Giuki’s daughter,
	And the first word she said
	Was even this word:
	“Where then is Sigurd,
	Lord of the Warfolk,
	Since my kin
	Come riding the foremost?”

	One word Hogni
	Had for an answer:
	“Our swords have smitten
	Sigurd asunder,
	And the grey horse hangs drooping
	O’er his lord lying dead.”

	Then quoth Brynhild,
	Budli’s daughter;
	“Good weal shall ye have
	Of weapons and lands,
	That Sigurd alone
	Would surely have ruled
	If he had lived
	But a little longer.

	“Ah, nothing seemly
	For Sigurd to rule
	Giuki’s house
	And the folk of the Goths,
	When of him five sons
	For the slaying of men,
	Eager for battle
	Should have been begotten!”

	Then laughed Brynhild—
	Loud rang the whole house—
	One laugh only
	From out her heart:
	“Long shall your bliss be
	Of lands and people,
	Whereas the famed lord
	You have felled to the earth!”

	Then spake Gudrun,
	Giuki’s daughter;
	“Much thou speakest,
	Many things fearful,
	All grame be on Gunnar
	The bane of Sigurd!
	From a heart full of hate
	Shall come heavy vengeance.”

	Forth sped the even
	Enow there was drunken,
	Full enow was there
	Of all soft speech;
	And all men got sleep
	When to bed they were gotten;
	Gunnar only lay waking
	Long after all men.

	His feet fell he to moving,
	Fell to speak to himself
	The waster of men,
	Still turned in his mind
	What on the bough
	Those twain would be saying,
	The raven and erne,
	As they rode their ways homeward.

	But Brynhild awoke,
	Budli’s daughter,
	May of the shield-folk,
	A little ere morning:
	“Thrust ye on, hold ye back,
	—Now all harm is wrought,—
	To tell of my sorrow,
	Or to let all slip by me?”

	All kept silence
	After her speaking,
	None might know
	That woman’s mind,
	Or why she must weep
	To tell of the work
	That laughing once
	Of men she prayed.

	BRYNHILD SPAKE In dreams, O Gunnar,
	Grim things fell on me;
	Dead-cold the hall was,
	And my bed was a-cold,
	And thou, lord, wert riding
	Reft of all bliss,
	Laden with fetters
	‘Mid the host of thy foemen.

	So now all ye,
	O House of the Niblungs,
	Shall be brought to naught,
	O ye oath-breakers!

	Think’st thou not, Gunnar,
	How that betid,
	When ye let the blood run
	Both in one footstep?
	With ill reward
	Hast thou rewarded
	His heart so fain
	To be the foremost!

	As well was seen
	When he rode his ways,
	That king of all worth,
	Unto my wooing;
	How the host-destroyer
	Held to the vows
	Sworn beforetime,
	Sworn to the young king.

	For his wounding-wand
	All wrought with gold,
	The king beloved
	Laid between us;
	Without were its edges
	Wrought with fire,
	But with venom-drops
	Deep dyed within.

Thus this song telleth of the death of Sigurd, and setteth forth how that they slew him without doors; but some say that they slew him within doors, sleeping in his bed. But the Dutch Folk say that they slew him out in the wood: and so sayeth the ancient song of Gudrun, that Sigurd and the sons of Giuki were riding to the Thing whenas he was slain. But all with one accord say that they bewrayed him in their troth with him, and fell on him as he lay unarrayed and unawares.

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