Helreith Bryndhildar

      After the death of Brynhild there were made two bale-fires, the one for
Sigurth, and that burned first, and on the other was Brynhild burned, and she
was on a wagon which was covered with a rich cloth. Thus it is told, that
Brynhild went in the wagon on Hel-way, and passed by a house where dwelt a
certain giantess. The giantess spake:

  1. “Thou shalt not further	forward fare,
  My dwelling ribbed	with rocks across;
  More seemly it were	at thy weaving to stay,
  Than another’s husband	here to follow.

  2. “What wouldst thou have	from Valland here,
  Fickle of heart,	in this my house?
  Gold-goddess, now,	if thou wouldst know,
  Heroes’ blood		from thy hands hast washed.”

  Brynhild spake:
  3. “Chide me not, woman	from rocky walls,
  Thou to battle once	I was wont to go;
  Better than thou	I shall seem to be,
  When men us two	shall truly know.”

  The giantess spake:
  4. “Thou wast, Brynhild,	Buthli’s daughter,
  For the worst of evils		born in the world;
  To death thou hast given	Gjuki’s children,
  And laid their lofty	house full low.”

  Brynhild spake:
  5. “Truth from the wagon	here I tell thee,
  Witless one,	if know thou wilt
  How the heirs of Gjuki	gave me to be
  Joyless ever, 		a breaker of oaths.

  6. “Hild the helmed	in Hlymdalir
  They named me of old,	all they who knew me.
  -lacuna-
  -lacuna-
  (Ed. Hlymdalir ‘Tumult-Dale’ is here used
  as a ‘home’ for the Valkyries.)

  7. “The monarch bold	the swan-robes bore
  Of the sisters eight	beneath an oak;
  Twelve winters I was,	if know thou wilt,
  When oaths I yielded		the king so young.
  “Next I let	the leader of Goths,
  Hjalmgunnar the old,		go down to hell,
  And victory brought	to Autha’s brother;
  For this was Othin’s 		anger mighty.

  8. “He beset me with shields	in Skatalund,
  Red and white,	their rims o’erlapped;
  He bade that my sleep	should broken be
  By him who fear	had nowhere found.

  9. “He let round my hall		that southward looked,
  The branches’ foe	high-leaping burn;
  Across it he bade	the hero come
  Who brought me the gold	that Fafnir guarded.

  10. “On Grani rode	the giver of gold,
  Where my foster-father	ruled his folk;
  Best of all	he seemed to be,
  The prince of the Danes,	when the people met.

  11. “Happy we slept,	one bed we had,
  As he my brother	born had been;
  Eight were the nights	when neither there
  Loving hand 		on the other laid.

  12. “Yet Guthrun reproached me,	Gjuki’s daughter,
  That I in Sigurth’s 	arms had slept;
  Then did I hear	what I would were hid,
  That they had betrayed me	in taking a mate.

  13. “Ever with grief	and all too long
  Are men and women	born in the world;
  But yet we shall live	our lives together,
  Sigurth and I.		Sink down, Giantess!”		




                      <<_Previous_Page       Next_Page_>>