The Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga); with Excerpts from the Poetic Edda, - [e book reading free .txt] 📗
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at the feet, Two hounds therewith, And two hawks moreover: Then is all dealt With even dealing. "Lay there amidst us The right-dight metal, The sharp-edged steel, That so lay erst; When we both together Into one bed went, And were called by the name Of man and wife. "Never, then, belike Shall clash behind him Valhall's bright door With rings bedight: And if my fellowship Followeth after, In no wretched wise Then shall we wend. "For him shall follow My five bondmaids, My eight bondsmen, No borel folk: Yea, and my fosterer, And my father's dower That Budli of old days Gave to his dear child. "Much have I spoken, More would I speak, If the sword would give me Space for speech; But my words are waning, My wounds are swelling— Naught but truth have I told— —And now make I ending."
ENDNOTES:
(1) "Menia's Maid"—periphrasis for gold.
THE HELL-RIDE OF BRYNHILD.
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
THE HELL-RIDE OF BRYNHILD.
After the death of Brynhild were made two bales, one for Sigurd, and that was first burned; but Brynhild was burned on the other, and she was in a chariot hung about with goodly hangings.
And so folk say that Brynhild drave in her chariot down along the way to Hell, and passed by an abode where dwelt a certain giantess, and the giantess spake:—
THE GIANT-WOMAN "Nay, with my goodwill Never goest thou Through this stone-pillared Stead of mine! More seemly for thee To sit sewing the cloth, Than to go look on The love of another. "What dost thou, going From the land of the Gauls, O restless head, To this mine house? Golden girl, hast thou not, If thou listest to hearken, In sweet wise from thy hands The blood of men washen?" BRYNHILD "Nay, blame me naught, Bride of the rock-hall, Though I roved a warring In the days that were; The higher of us twain Shall I ever be holden When of our kind Men make account." THE GIANT-WOMAN "Thou, O Brynhild, Budli's daughter, Wert the worst ever born Into the world; For Giuki's children Death hast thou gotten, And turned to destruction Their goodly dwelling." BRYNHILD "I shall tell thee True tale from my chariot, O thou who naught wottest, If thou listest to wot; How for me they have gotten Those heirs of Giuki, A loveless life, A life of lies. "Hild under helm, The Hlymdale people, E'en those who knew me, Ever would call me. "The changeful shapes Of us eight sisters, The wise king bade Under oak-tree to bear; Of twelve winters was I, If thou listest to wot, When I sware to the young lord Oaths of love. "Thereafter gat I Mid the folk of the Goths, For Helmgunnar the old, Swift journey to Hell, And gave to Aud's brother The young, gain and glory; Whereof overwrath Waxed Odin with me. "So he shut me in shield-wall In Skata grove, Red shields and white Close set around me; And bade him alone My slumber to break Who in no land Knew how to fear. "He set round my hall, Toward the south quarter, The Bane of all trees Burning aloft; And ruled that he only Thereover should ride Who should bring me the gold O'er which Fafnir brooded. "Then upon Grani rode The goodly gold-strewer To where my fosterer Ruled his fair dwelling. He who alone there Was deemed best of all, The War-lord of the Danes, Well worthy of men. "In peace did we sleep Soft in one bed, As though he had been Naught but my brother: There as we lay Through eight nights wearing, No hand in love On each other we laid. "Yet thence blamed me, Gudrun, Giuki's daughter, That I had slept In the arms of Sigurd; And then I wotted As I fain had not wotted, That they had bewrayed me In my betrothals. "Ah! For unrest All too long Are men and women Made alive! Yet we twain together Shall wear through the ages, Sigurd and I.— —Sink adown, O giant-wife!"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
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