Brot af Sigurtharkvithu


  Hogni spake:
  1. “(What evil deed 	has Sigurth) done,
  That the hero’s life	thou fain wouldst have?”

  Gunnar spake:
  2. “Sigurth oaths		to me hath sworn,
  Oaths hath sworn,	and all hath broken;
  He betrayed me there		where truest all
  His oaths, methinks,		he ought to have kept.”

  Hogni spake:
  3. “Thy heart hath Brynhild	whetted to hate,
  Evil to work	and harm to win;
  She grudges the honor	that Guthrun has,
  And that joy of herself	thou still dost have.”

  4. They cooked a wolf,		they cut up a snake,
  They gave to Gotthorm	the greedy one’s flesh,
  Before the men,	to murder minded,
  Laid their hands	on the hero bold.

  5. Slain was Sigurth	south of the Rhine;
  From a limb a raven	called full loud:
  “Your blood shall redden	Atli’s blade,
  And your oaths shall bind	you both in chains.”

  6. Without stood Guthrun,	Gjuki’s daughter,
  Hear now the speech		that first she spake:
  “Where is Sigurth now,	the noble king,
  That my kinsmen riding	before him come?”

  Only this	did Hogni answer:
  7. “Sigurth we	with our swords have slain;
  The gray horse mourns	by his master dead.”

  Then Brynhild spake,		the daughter of Buthli:
  8. “Well shall ye joy	in weapons and lands;
  Sigurth alone		of all had been lord,
  If a little longer	his life had been.

  9. “Right were it not	that so he should rule
  O’er Gjuki’s wealth	and the race of the Goths;
  Five are the sons	for ruling the folk,
  And greedy of fight,	that he hath fathered.”

  Then Brynhild laughed –	and the building echoed –
  Only once,	with all her heart;
  10. “Long shall ye joy	in lands and men,
  Now ye have slain	the hero noble.”

  Then Guthrun spake,	the daughter of Gjuki:
  11. “Much thou speakest	in evil speech;
  Accursed be Gunnar,	Sigurth’s killer,
  Vengeance shall come	for his cruel heart.”

  12. Early came evening,	and ale was drunk,
  And among them long	and loud they talked;
  They slumbered all	when their beds they sought,
  But Gunnar alone	was long awake.

  13. His feet were tossing,		he talked to himself,
  And the slayer of hosts	began to heed
  What the twain from the tree		had told him then,
  The raven and eagle,		as home they rode.

  14. Brynhild awoke,	the daughter of Buthli,
  The warrior’s daughter,	ere dawn of day:
  “Love me or hate me,		the harm is done,
  And my grief cries out,	or else I die.”

  15. Silent were all	who heard her speak,
  And nought of the heart	of the queen they knew,
  Who wept such tears		the thing to tell
  That laughing once	of the men she had won.

  Brynhild spake:
  16. “Gunnar, I dreamed	a dream full grim:
  In the hall were corpses;	cold was my bed;
  And, ruler, thou	didst joyless ride,
  With fetters bound	in the foemen’s throng.

  17. “ - lacuna-
  -lacuna-
  Utterly now	your Niflung race
  All shall die;	your oaths ye have broken.

  18. “Thou hast, Gunnar,	the deed forgot,
  When blood in your footprints	both ye mingled;
  All to him	has repaid with ill
  Who fain had made thee	the foremost of kings.

  19. “Well did he prove,	when proud he rode
  To win me then	thy wife to be,
  How true the host-slayer	ever had held
  The oaths he had made	with the monarch young.

  20. “The wound-staff then,	all wound with gold,
  The hero let	between us lie;
  With fire the edge	was forged full keen,
  And with drops of venom	the blade was damp.”


(Ed. Here in the manuscript in red lettering is the phrase, “Of Sigurth’s
Death” as a heading.)

      Here it is told in this poem about the death of Sigurth, and the story
goes here that they slew him out of doors, but some say that they slew him in
the house, on his bed while he was sleeping. But German men say that the killed
him out of doors in the forest; and so it is told in the old Guthrun lay, that
Sigurth and Gjuki’s sons had ridden to the council-place, and that he was slain
there. But in this story they are all agreed, that they deceived him in his
trust of them, and fell upon him when he was lying down and unprepared.



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