- Rus
- Ukr
The Second, or “Old Lay” of Gudrún (Bellows)
Translated by Henry Adams Bellows (1885-1939), 1936.
[P1] King Thjothrek[1] was with Atli, and had lost most of his men. Thjothrek and Guthrun lamented their griefs together. She spoke to him, saying:
1. A maid of maids
my mother bore me,
Bright in my bower,
my brothers I loved,
Till Gjuki dowered
me with gold,
Dowered with gold,
and to Sigurth gave me.
2. So Sigurth rose
o'er Gjuki's sons
As the leek grows green
above the grass,[2]
Or the stag o'er all
the beasts doth stand,
Or as glow-red gold
above silver gray.
3. Till my brothers let me
no longer have
The best of heroes
my husband to be;
Sleep they could not,
or quarrels settle,
Till Sigurth they
at last had slain.
4. From the Thing ran Grani[3]
with thundering feet,
But thence did Sigurth
himself come never;
Covered with sweat
was the saddle-bearer,
Wont the warrior's
weight to bear.
5. Weeping I sought
with Grani to speak,
With tear-wet cheeks
for the tale I asked;
The head of Grani
was bowed to the grass,
The steed knew well
his master was slain.
6. Long I waited
and pondered well
Ere ever the king
for tidings I asked.[4]
7. His head bowed Gunnar,
but Hogni told
The news full sore
of Sigurth slain:
"Hewed to death
at our hands he lies,
Gotthorm's slayer,[5]
given to wolves.
8. "On the southern road
thou shalt Sigurth see,
Where hear thou canst
the ravens cry;
The eagles cry
as food they crave,
And about thy husband
wolves are howling."
9. "Why dost thou, Hogni,
such a horror
Let me hear,
all joyless left?
Ravens yet
thy heart shall rend
In a land that never
thou hast known."
10. Few the words
of Hogni were,
Bitter his heart
from heavy sorrow:
"Greater, Guthrun,
thy grief shall be
If the ravens so
my heart shall rend."
11. From him who spake
I turned me soon,
In the woods to find
what the wolves had left;
Tears I had not,
nor wrung my bands,
Nor wailing went,
as other women,
(When by Sigurth
slain I sat).[6]
12. Never so black
had seemed the night
As when in sorrow
by Sigurth I sat;
The wolves [were howling
on all the ways,
The eagles cried as their food they craved.][7]
13. Long did I bide,
my brothers awaiting.][8]
Best of all
methought 'twould be
If I my life
could only lose,
Or like to birch-wood
burned might be.
14. From the mountain forth
five days I fared,
Till Hoalf's hall
so high I saw;
[9]Seven half-years
with Thora I stayed,
Hokon's daughter,
in Denmark then.[10]
15. With gold she broidered,
to bring me joy,
Southern halls
and Danish swans;
On the tapestry wove we
warrior's deeds,
And the hero's thanes
on our handiwork;
(Flashing shields
and fighters armed,
Sword-throng, helm-throng,
the host of the king).[11]
16. Sigmund's[12] ship
by the land was sailing,
Golden the figure-head,
gay the beaks;
[13]On board we wove
the warriors faring,
Sigar and Siggeir,[14]
south to Fjon.[15]
17. Then Grimhild asked,
the Gothic[16] queen,
Whether willingly would I . . . . .[17]
18. Her needlework cast she
aside, and called
Her sons to ask,
with stern resolve,
[18]Who amends to their sister
would make for her son,
Or the wife requite
for her husband killed.[19]
19. Ready was Gunnar
gold to give,
Amends for my hurt,
and Hogni too;
Then would she know
who now would go,
The horse to saddle,
the wagon to harness,
(The horse to ride,
the hawk to fly,
And shafts from bows
of yew to shoot).[20]
20. (Valdar, king
of the Danes, was come,
With Jarizleif, Eymoth,
and Jarizskar).[21]
In like princes
came they all,
The long-beard men,[22]
with mantles red,
Short their mail-coats,
mighty their helms,
[23]Swords at their belts,
and brown their hair.
21. Each[24] to give me
gifts was fain,
Gifts to give,
and goodly speech,
Comfort so
for my sorrows great
To bring they tried,
but I trusted them not.
22. [25]A draught did Grimhild
give me to drink,
Bitter and cold;
I forgot my cares;
For mingled therein was magic earth,
Ice-cold sea, and the blood of swine.[26]
23. [27]In the cup were runes of every kind,
Written and reddened, I could not read them;
A heather-fish[28] from the Haddings' land,[29]
An ear uncut, and the entrails of beasts.
24. Much evil was brewed within the beer,
Blossoms of trees, and acorns burned,
Dew of the hearth,[30] and holy entrails,
The liver of swine,—all grief to allay.
25. Then I forgot,[31] when the draught they gave me,
There in the hall, my husband's slaying;[32]
On their knees the kings all three[33] did kneel,
Ere she herself to speak began:[34]
26. "Guthrun, gold
to thee I give,
The wealth that once
thy father's[35] was,
Rings to have,
and Hlothver's[36] halls,
And the hangings all
that the monarch had.
27. "Hunnish women,
skilled in weaving,
Who gold make fair
to give thee joy,
And the wealth of Buthli
thine shall be,
Gold-decked one,
as Atli's wife."[37]
Guthrun spake:[38]
28. "A husband now
I will not have,
Nor wife of Brynhild's
brother be;
It beseems me not
with Buthli's son
Happy to be,
and heirs to bear."
Grimhild spake:
29. "Seek not on men
to avenge thy sorrows,
Though the blame at first
with us hath been;
Happy shalt be
as if both still lived,
Sigurth and Sigmund,[39]
if sons thou bearest."
Guthrun spake:
30. "Grimhild, I may not
gladness find,
Nor hold forth hopes
to heroes now,
Since once the raven
and ravening wolf[40]
Sigurth's heart's-blood
hungrily lapped."[41]
Grimhild spake:
31. "Noblest of birth
is the ruler now
I have found for thee,
and foremost of all;
Him shalt thou have
while life thou hast,
Or husbandless be
if him thou wilt choose not."
Guthrun spake:
32. "Seek not so eagerly
me to send
To be a bride
of yon baneful race;
On Gunnar first
his wrath shall fall,
And the heart will he tear
from Hogni's breast."[42]
33. Weeping Grimhild
heard the words
That fate full sore
for her sons foretold,
(And mighty woe
for them should work;)[43]
"Lands I give thee,
with all that live there,
(Vinbjorg is thine,
and Valbjorg too,)[44]
Have them forever,
but hear me, daughter."
34. So must I do
as the kings[45] besought,
And against my will
for my kinsmen wed,
Ne'er with my husband
joy I had,
And my sons[46] by my brothers'
fate were saved not.
35. [47]I could not rest
till of life I had robbed
The warrior[48] bold,
the maker of battles.
36. [49]Soon on horseback
each hero was,
And the foreign women[50]
in wagons faring;
A week through lands
so cold we went,
And a second week
the waves we smote,
(And a third through lands
that water lacked).[51]
37. The warders now
on the lofty walls
Opened the gates,
and in we rode.
* * * * * * [52]
38. Atli woke me,
forever I seemed
Of bitterness full
for my brothers' death.
Atli spake:[53]
39. "Now from sleep
the Norns have waked me
With visions of terror,—
to thee will I tell them;
[54]Methought thou, Guthrun,
Gjuki's daughter,
With poisoned blade
didst pierce my body."
Guthrun spake:
40. "Fire a dream
of steel shall follow
And willful pride
one of woman's wrath;
A baneful sore
I shall burn from thee,
And tend and heal thee,
though hated thou am."[55]
Atli spake:
41. [56]"Of plants I dreamed,
in the garden drooping,
That fain would I have
full high to grow;
Plucked by the roots,
and red with blood,
They brought them hither,
and bade me eat.
42. "I dreamed my hawks
from my hand had flown,
Eager for food,
to an evil house;
I dreamed their hearts
with honey I ate,
Soaked in blood,
and heavy my sorrow.
43. "Hounds I dreamed
from my hand I loosed,
Loud in hunger
and pain they howled;
Their flesh methought
was eagles' food,
And their bodies now
I needs must eat."
Guthrun spake:
44. "Men shall soon
of sacrifice speak,
And off the heads
of beasts shall hew
Die they shall
ere day has dawned,
A few nights hence,
and the folk shall have them."[57]
Atli spake:
45. "On my bed I sank,
nor slumber sought,
Weary with woe,—
full well I remember.
. . . . . . . . . .[58]
Notes:
[1] Thjothrek: the famous Theoderich, king of the Ostrogoths, who became renowned in German story as Dietrich von Bern. The German tradition early accepted the anachronism of bringing together Attila (Etzel, Atli), who died in 453, and Theoderich. who was born about 455, and adding thereto Ermanarich (Jormunrek), king of the Goths, who died about 376. Ermanarich, in German tradition, replaced Theoderich's actual enemy, Odovakar, and it was in battle with Jormunrek (i. e., Odovakar) that Thjothrek is here said to have lost most of his men. The annotator found the material for this note in Guthrunarkvitha III, in which Guthrun is accused of having Thjothrek as her lover. At the time when Guthrunarkvitha II was composed (early tenth century) it is probable that the story of Theoderich had not reached the North at all, and the annotator is consequently wrong in giving the poem its setting.
[2] Cf. Guthrunarkvitha I, 17.
[3] Regarding the varying accounts of the manner of Sigurth's death cf. Brot, concluding prose and note. Grani: cf. Brot, 7.
[4] No gap indicated in the manuscript. Some editions combine these two lines with either stanza 5 or stanza 7.
[5] Gotthorm: from this it appears that in both versions of the death of Sigurth the mortally wounded hero killed his murderer, the younger brother of Gunnar and Hogni. The story of how Gotthorm was slain after killing Sigurth in his bed is told in Sigurtharkvitha en skamma, 22-23, and in the Volsungasaga.
[6] On lines 3-4 cf. Guthrunarkvitha I, 1. Line 5 is probably spurious.
[7] Many editions make one stanza of stanzas 12 and 13, reconstructing line 3; the manuscript shows no gap. Bugge fills out the stanza as given in brackets.
[8] Cf. note on preceding stanza. Grundtvig suggests as a first line that given in brackets. Many editors reject line 4.
[9] The manuscript marks line 3 as beginning a stanza, and many editions combine lines 3-4 with lines 1-2 of stanza 15.
[10] Hoalf (or Half): Gering thinks this Danish king may be identical with Alf, son of King Hjalprek, and second husband of Hjordis, Sigurth's mother (cf. Fra Dautha Sinfjotla and note), but the name was a common one. Thora and Hokon have not been identified (cf. Guthrunarkvitha I, concluding prose, which is clearly based on this stanza). A Thora appears in Hyndluljoth, 18, as the wife of Dag, one of the sons of Halfdan the Old, the most famous of Denmark's mythical kings, and one of her sons is Alf (Hoalf?).
[11] The manuscript marks line 3 as the beginning of a stanza. Some editors combine lines 5-6 with lines 1-2 of stanza 16, while others mark them as interpolated.
[12] Sigmund: Sigurth's father, who here appears as a sea-rover in Guthrun's tapestry.
[13] Some editions combine lines 3-4 with stanza 17.
[14] Sigar: named in Fornaldar sogur II, 10, as the father of Siggeir, the latter being the husband of Sigmund's twin sister, Signy (cf. Fra Dautha Sinfjotla).
[15] Fjon: this name, referring to the Danish island of Funen, is taken from the Volsungasaga paraphrase as better fitting the Danish setting of the stanza than the name in Regius, which is "Fife" (Scotland).
[16] Gothic: the term "Goth" was used in the North without much discrimination to apply to all south-Germanic peoples. In Gripisspo, 35, Gunnar, Grimhild's son, appears as "lord of the Goths."
[17] No gap is indicated in the manuscript, and most editions combine these two lines either with lines 3-4 of stanza 16, with lines 1-2 of stanza 18, or with the whole of stanza 18. Line 2 has been filled out in various ways. The Volsungasaga paraphrase indicates that these two lines are the remains of a full stanza, the prose passage running: "Now Guthrun was somewhat comforted of her sorrows. Then Grimhild learned where Guthrun was now dwelling." The first two lines may be the ones missing.
[18] The manuscript marks line 3 as the beginning of a stanza.
[19] Grimhild is eager to have amends made to Guthrun for the slaying of Sigurth and their son, Sigmund, because Atli has threatened war if he cannot have Guthrun for his wife.
[20] Lines 5-6 are almost certainly interpolations, made by a scribe with a very vague understanding of the meaning of the stanza, which refers simply to the journey of the Gjukungs to bring their sister home from Denmark.
[21] Lines 1-2 are probably interpolated, though the Volsungasaga includes the names. Someone apparently attempted to supply the names of Atli's messengers, the "long-beard men" of line 4, who have come to ask for Guthrun's hand. Some commentators assume, as the Volsungasaga does, that these messengers went with the Gjukungs to Denmark in search of Guthrun, but it seems more likely that a transitional stanza has dropped out after stanza 19, and that Guthrun received Atli's emissaries in her brothers' home.
[22] Long-beards: the word may actually mean Langobards or Lombards, but, if it does, it is presumably without any specific significance here. Certainly the names in the interpolated two lines do not fit either Lombards or Huns, for Valdar is identified as a Dane, and Jarizleif and Jarizskar are apparently Slavic.
[23] The manuscript indicates line 5 as beginning a new stanza.
[24] Each: the reference is presumably to Gunnar and Hogni, and perhaps also Grimhild, I suspect that this stanza belongs before stanza 20.
[25] Stanzas 22-25 describe the draught of forgetfulness which Grimhild gives Guthrun, just as she gave one to Sigurth (in one version of the story) to make him forget Brynhild. The draught does not seem to work despite Guthrun's statement in stanza 25 (cf. stanza 30), for which reason Vigfusson, not unwisely, places stanzas 22-25 after stanza 34.
[26] Blood of swine: cf. Hyndluljoth, 39 and note.
[27] The Volsungasaga quotes stanzas 23-24.
[28] Heather-fish: a snake.
[29] Haddings' land: the world of the dead, so called because, according to Saxo Grammaticus, the Danish king Hadingus once visited it. It is possible that the comma should follow "heather fish," making the "ear uncut" (of grain) come from the world of the dead.
[30] Dew of the hearth: soot.
[31] I forgot: this emendation is doubtful, in view of stanza 30, but cf. note to stanza 22.
[32] In the manuscript, and in some editions, the first line is in the third person plural: "Then they forgot, when the draught they had drunk." The second line in the original is manifestly in bad shape, and has been variously emended.
[33] The kings all three: probably Atli's emissaries, though the interpolated lines of stanza 20 name four of them.
[34] I suspect that line 4 is wrong, and should read: "Ere he himself (Atli) to speak began." Certainly stanzas 26-27 fit Atli much better than they do Grimhild, and there is nothing unreasonable in Atli's having come in person, along with his tributary kings, to seek Guthrun's hand. However, the "three kings" may not be Atli's followers at all, but Gunnar, Hogni, and the unnamed third brother possibly referred to in Sigurtharkvitha en skamma, 18.
[35] Thy father's: So the manuscript, in which case the reference is obviously to Gjuki. But some editions omit the "thy," and if Atli, and not Grimhild, is speaking (cf. note on stanza 25), the reference may be, as in line 3 of stanza 27, to the wealth of Atli's father, Buthli.
[36] Hlothver: the northern form of the Frankish name Chlodowech (Ludwig), but who this Hlothver was, beyond the fact that he was evidently a Frankish king, is uncertain. If Atli is speaking, he is presumably a Frankish ruler whose land Atli and his Huns have conquered.
[37] Cf. note on stanza 25 as to the probable speaker.
[38] In stanzas 28-32 the dialogue, in alternate stanzas, is clearly between Guthrun and her mother, Grimhild, though the manuscript does not indicate the speakers.
[39] Sigmund: son of Sigurth and Guthrun, killed at Brynhild's behest.
[40] Raven, etc.: the original is somewhat obscure, and the line may refer simply to the "corpse-eating raven."
[41] This stanza presents a strong argument for transposing the description of the draught of forgetfulness (stanzas 22-24 and lines 1-2 of stanza 25) to follow stanza 33.
[42] In the manuscript this stanza is immediately followed by the two lines which here, following Bugge's suggestion, appear as stanza 35. In lines 3-4 Guthrun foretells what will (and actually does) happen if she is forced to become Atli's wife. If stanza 35 really belongs here, it continues the prophesy to the effect that Guthrun will have no rest till she has avenged her brothers' death.
[43] Very likely the remains of two stanzas; the manuscript marks line 4 as beginning a new stanza. On the other hand, lines 3 and 5 may be interpolations.
[44] Vinbjorg and Valbjorg: apparently imaginary place-names.
[45] The kings: presumably Gunnar and Hogni.
[46] My sons: regarding Guthrun's slaying of her two sons by Atli, Erp and Eitil, cf. Drap Niflunga, note.
[47] In the manuscript this stanza follows stanza 32. The loss of two lines, to the effect that "Ill was that marriage for my brothers, and ill for Atli himself," and the transposition of the remaining two lines to this point, are indicated in a number of editions.
[48] The warrior, etc.: Atli, whom Guthrun kills.
[49] The stanza describes the journey to Atli's home, and sundry unsuccessful efforts have been made to follow the travellers through Germany and down the Danube.
[50] Foreign women: slaves.
[51] Line 5, which the manuscript marks as beginning a stanza, is probably spurious.
[52] After these two lines there appears to be a considerable gap, the lost stanzas giving Guthrun's story of the slaying of her brothers. It is possible that stanzas 38-45 came originally from another poem, dealing with Atli's dream, and were here substituted for the original conclusion of Guthrun's lament. Many editions combine stanzas 37 and 38, or combine stanza 38 (the manuscript marks line 1 as beginning a stanza) with lines 1-2 of stanza 39.
[53] The manuscript and most editions do not indicate the speakers in this and the following stanzas.
[54] The manuscript indicates line 3 as the beginning of a stanza.
[55] Guthrun, somewhat obscurely, interprets Atli's first dream (stanza 39) to mean that she will cure him of an abscess by cauterizing it. Her interpretation is, of course, intended merely to blind him to her purpose.
[56] In stanzas 41-43 Atli's dreams forecast the death of his two sons, whose flesh Guthrun gives him to eat (cf. Atlakvitha, 39, and Atlamol, 78).
[57] This stanza is evidently Guthrun's intentionally cryptic interpretation of Atli's dreams, but the meaning of the original is more than doubtful. The word here rendered "sacrifice" may mean "sea-catch," and the one rendered "beasts" may mean "whales." None of the attempted emendations have rendered the stanza really intelligible, but it appears to mean that Atli will soon make a sacrifice of beasts at night, and give their bodies to the people. Guthrun of course has in mind the slaying of his two sons.
[58] With these two lines the poem abruptly ends; some editors assign the speech to Atli (I think rightly), others to Guthrun. Ettmuller combines the lines with stanza 38. Whether stanzas 38-45 originally belonged to Guthrun's lament, or were interpolated here in place of the lost conclusion of that poem from another one dealing with Atli's dreams (cf. note on stanza 37), it is clear that the end has been lost.