Guthrunarhvot

(Guthrun’s Inciting) (*)

     Guthrun went forth to the sea after she had slain Atli. She went out into
the sea and fain would drown herself, but she could not sink. The waves bore
her across the fjord of the land of King Jonak; he too her as wife; their sons
were Sorli and Erp and Hamther. There was brought up Svanhild, Sigurth’s
daughter; she was married to the mighty Jormunrek. With him was Bikki, who
counseled that Randver, the King’s son, should have her. This Bikki told to the
king. The king had Randver hanged, and Svanhild trodden to death under horses’
feet. And when Guthrun learned this, she spake with her sons.


  1. A word-strife I learned,	most woeful of all,
  A speech from the fullness	of sorrow spoken,
  When fierce of heart	her sons to the fight
  Did Guthrun whet	with words full grim. (*)

  2. “Why sit ye idle,	why sleep out your lives,
  Why grieve ye not	in gladness to speak?
  Since Jormunrek	you sister young
  Beneath the hoofs	of horses hath trodden,
  (White and black	on the battle-way,
  Gray, road-wonted,	the steeds of the Goths.) (*)

  3. “Not like are ye	to Gunnar of yore,
  Nor have ye hearts	such as Hogni’s was;
  Vengeance for her	ye soon would have
  If brave ye were	as my brothers of old,
  Or hard your hearts	as the Hunnish kings’.” (*)

  4. Then Hamther spake,	the high of heart:
  “Little the deed	of Hogni didst love,
  When Sigurth they wakened	from his sleep;
  They bed-covers white	were red with blood
  Of thy husband, drenched	with gore from his heart. (*)

  5. “Bloody revenge	didst have for thy brothers,
  Evil and sore,		when thy sons didst slay;
  Else yet might we all	on Jormunrek
  Together our sister’s slaying avenge. (*)

  6. “-lacuna-
  The gear of Hunnish	kings now give us!
  Thou hast whetted us so	to the battle of swords.” (*)

  7. Laughing did Guthrun	go to her chamber,
  The helms of kings	from the cupboards she took,
  And mail-coats broad,	to her sons she bore them;
  On their horses’ backs	the heroes leaped.

  8. Then Hamther spake,		the high of heart:
  “Homeward no more		his mother to see
  Comes the spear-god, fallen	mid Gothic folk;
  One death-draught thou	for us all shalt drink,
  For Svanhild then	and thy sons as well.” (*)

  9. Weeping Guthrun,	Gjuki’s daughter,
  Went sadly before	the gate to sit,
  And with tear-stained cheeks		to tell the tale
  Of her mighty griefs,	so many in kind.

  10. “Three home-fires knew I,	three hearths I knew,
  Home was I brought	by husbands three;
  But Sigurth only	of all was dear,
  He whom my brothers	brought to his death.

  11. “A greater sorrow	I saw not nor knew,
  Yet more it seemed	I must suffer yet
  When the princes great	to Atli gave me. (*)

  12. “The brave boys I summoned		to secret speech;
  For my woes requital		I might not win
  Till off the heads	of the Hniflungs I hewed. (*)

  13. “To the sea I went,	my heart full sore
  For the Norns, whose wrath	I would now escape;
  But the lofty billows	bore me undrowned,
  Till to land I came,	so I longer must live.

  14. “Then to the bed-	of old was it better!-
  Of a king of the folk	a third time I came;
  Boys I bore	his heirs to be,
  Heirs so young,	the sons of Jonak.

  15. “But round Svanhild	handmaidens sat,
  She was dearest ever	of all my children;
  So did Svanhild	seem in my hall
  As the ray of the sun	is fair to see.

  16. “Gold I gave her	and garments bright,
  Ere I let her go	to the Gothic folk;
  Of my heavy woes	the hardest it was
  When Svanhild’s tresses	fair were trodden
  In the mire by hoofs	of horses wild. (*)

  17. “The sorest it was	when Sigurth mine
  On his couch, of victory	robbed, they killed;
  And grimmest of all	when to Gunnar’s heart
  There crept the bright-hued	crawling snakes. (*)

  18. “And keenest of all	when they cut the heart
  From the living breast		of the king so brave;
  Many woes I remember,	-lacuna- (*)
  -lacuna-

  19. “Bridle, Sigurth,	thy steed so black,
  Hither let run		thy swift-faring horse;
  Here there sits not	son or daughter
  Who yet to Guthrun	gifts shall give. (*)

  20. “Remember, Sigurth,	what once we said,
  When together both	on the bed we sat,
  That mightily thou	to me wouldst come
  From Hel and I	from earth to thee.

  21. “Pile ye up, jarls,	the pyre of oak,
  Make it the highest	a hero e’er had;
  Let the fire burn	my grief-filled breast,
  My sore-pressed heart,	till my sorrows melt.” (*)

  22. May nobles all	less sorrow know,
  And less the woes	of women become,
  Since the tale of this	lament is told.


NOTES

      In the manuscript the prose passage is headed ‘Of Guthrun’, and
‘Guthrunarhvot’ comes before the first stanza. Jonak is a northern addition, it
sounds like a Slavic name. The Volsungasaga also makes Erp a son of Guthrun,
but in Hamthesmol he is a son of Jonak by another wife. Jormunrek is also
called Ermanarich. Bikki corresponds to the Sifka or Sibicho of Gothic lays on
Ermanarich, whose counsel was always evil. In Volsungasaga, Jormunrek sends
Randver with Bikki to seek Svanhild’s hand, on the voyage home Bikki says to
Randver, “It were right for you to have so fair a wife, and not such an old
man.” Randver was pleased with the advice, “and he spake to her with gladness,
and she to him.” Bikki then told Ermanarich that guilty love lay between his
son and his young wife. Thus the revenge. Back

1. The Skald introducing himself into the prose speaks of the lateness of the
script. Back
2. The word ‘idle’ is a guess and is missing in the original, line 5 is marked
as beginning a new stanza, and 5-6 seem to come from Hamthesmol, 3. Back
3. Hunnish is a generic term for all South Germanic people. Back
4. In some scripts Hamther is spelt ‘Hamthir’. Back
5. The words ‘bloody’ and ‘all’ are missing in the original. Back
6. The lacuna has been assumed, perhaps even two lines are lost. Back
8. ‘Spear-god’ refers to Hamther. At this stanza the ‘hvot’ or ‘inciting’ ends,
and at 9 the lament begins. Back
11. A lost line is assumed after line 1, it has been reconstructed by other
translators. Back
12. The Niflungs were the descendants of Gjuki, Guthrun’s father. Back
16. This stanza is mixed in many editions. Back
17. The manuscript does not indicate line 1 beginning it, 17-18 are probably
later thrown in, although the compilers of Volsungasaga knew them as they are
here. This whole stanza depends on word-play, such as harthaster, “hardest”;
sarastr “sorest”, grimmastr, “grimmest”; and hvassastr, “keenest”. Back
18. In the manuscript line 3 marks the beginning of a new stanza. Most
translators consider this the end of the original and the rest coming from a
different lay. Back
19. This promise is spoken of in Volsungasaga. Back
21. It seems that many lines of this later-addition end piece have been thrown
in out of order. Back



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