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THE SHORT LAY OF SIGURTH
SIGURÞARKVIÐA HIN SKAMMA
The generally accepted title of "The Short Lay of
Sigurth"---thus it is
called in the Prose immediately preceding it in the Codex
Regius----is
decidedly a misnomer; for the tragedy, not of Sigurth's,
but of Brynhild's
life forms its chief content, just as "The First Lay of
Guthrún" contemplates
Guthrún's sorrows. The performance of the poet is
uneven. The introduction
strikes one as perfunctory and grudging, as though to furnish
just enough
background to make Brynhild's behavior comprehensible. Even
Sigurth's dying
words contain no memorable lines. It is only when "the
fiendish woman's"
fierce jealousy is at work, when she eggs on Gunnar with scornful
threats,
when she prepares to be reunited with Sigurth in death,and also
when Hogni
sternly repels Gunnar's treachery and later refuses to hinder
Brynhild from
slaying herself, that the lines rise to a dark grandeur.
The latter part of
the lay falls off in power and contains elements which one would
like to
consider interpolations. Thus, the prophecy of Guthrún's
fate reminds one of
the style of the "Grípisspá," besides being
psychologically out of place.
And unfortunately it cannot be said that the character of
Brynhild and her
tragedy has been brought humanly near to us. Though one of
the longest, this
is likewise one of the weakest, poems of the Collection.
For reasons, both of composition and legendary development, our
lay is
generally attributed to an Icelander of the eleventh or twelfth
century. In
particular, it is a later, Icelandic development to make Brynhild
a sister of
Atli; so, also, is the whole relationship hinted at between
Gunnar and
Oddrún, especially as a motivation of the fall of the
Niflungs. The Volsunga
saga which makes extensive use of the lay allows of fairly close
control. The
metre is fornyrðislag, at times, rather irregular.
1. In times long gone came to Gjúki's hall
Sigurth the Volsung----
had he slain
Fáfnir----
in the troth was taken of
the twain brothers: (1)
to each other sware oaths
the kings.
2. The maid they gave him
with much treasure,
Guthrún the young, Gjúki's daughter; (2)
drank together days full
many
Sigurth the young and the sons of Gjúki.
3. Then wended their way
to
woo Brynhild:
rode Sigurth with them
to seek her hall,
Sigmund's young son, the
seaways knowing----(3)
for himself had won her
if fate
had willed.
4. His naked sword
laid
the Southron (4) king
betwixt them twain, his trusted blade; (5)
nor did he kiss the
queenly woman,
the Hunnish hero, nor held her to him,
but yielded to Gunnar
the youthful maiden.
5. In all her life no ill knew she,
and in her fate
no flaw,
either;
of blemish none
in her body knew she:
yet cruel norns came
between them. (6)
6. Without she sate
at eventide; (7)
gan Brynhild rashly (8)
to raise her voice:
"I shall hold Sigurth, the youthful hero,
within my arms,
his end though it be.
7. "In wrath spoke I:
I shall rue it after----
his wife is Guthrún, and Gunnar's, I.
The loathly norns
our longing caused."
8. Without went she, wishing them evil
every evening with
ice-cold heart, (9)
when both they
to bed did
go,
Sigurth and Guthrún, to sleep together.
9. "(Now Gjúki's daughter
him gladly
kisses) (10)
and the Hunnish king clasps his lady:
I have nor husband nor happiness,
must seek my glee in grim revenge."
10. In hate-filled breast she brooded murder:
"Shalt, Gunnar, forego altogether
my demesnes and
me also:
thy love I list not,
liege, to have ever.
11. "Will I fare thither where before I was,
to my near kindred, my kinsmen dear---
there dully dwell,
and dream through life---
but thou do to death
Guthrún's darling,
and greatest grow, Gunnar, of all. (11)
12. "Let the son fare eke with his father,
nor keep too long
the cub of the wolf:
easier never
is revenge
than when slain warrior's
son still lives." (12)
13. Then hung his head, heartsick, Gunnar;
brooding darkly
he sate all day,
nor did he know
in nowise clearly
what were for him
wisest to do,
what were for him
worthiest to do,
since to Sigurth
he had sworn dear oaths, (13)
and loth he was
to lose the Volsung.
14. Both this and that in thought he weighed:
ere now was it nowise
known that ever
from her king
a queen
did go.
Gunnar said:
15. "To me is Brynhild, Buthli's daughter,
above all else, the
best of women;
and my life liefer
would I lose, by far,
than of her riches (14) bereft to
be."
16. (15) Summoned he Hogni
to secret speech,
to whom he could
wholly trust him:
"Wilt betray Sigurth for the sake of
gold?
'Tis good to gain
the golden rings,
to have and to hold the
hoard-of-the-Rhine, (16)
and to our ease
to own
this wealth."
17. To him hardy
Hogni
answered:
" 'Twould ill beseem us,
for the
sake of gold
with swords to sever oaths which
we sware---
our former oaths,
the faith we plighted.
18. "On earth are not
more honored kings,
the while we four (17) o'er folk hold sway
and here the Hunnish hero liveth,
nor beneath heaven more highborn sib;
if we begat us goodly
sons, (18)
still greater grew then
the Gjúkung kin.
19. "Full well know I
whose wiles these be:
'tis Queen Brynhild's unbridled
hate." (19)
Gunnar said:
20. "Egg we Guthorm (20)
to the evil deed,
our younger brother, a boy as yet:
he stood without
the oaths we sware,
our former oaths,
the faith we plighted."
21. 'Twas easy to egg the o'er eager one----(21)
.......... ............... ....... .................
.............
stood in Sigurth's heart the steel.
22. Arose in the hall
the hero, to wreak him,
and after the rash one in anger
threw----
cast the king's hand---- the keen-edged
sword,
gleaming Gram
on to
Guthorm flew it.
23. Then fell on the floor his foe,
sundered:
his head and hands did hasten on,
the nether half
into hall fell back.
24. At Sigurth's side
had slept Guthrún,
to carefree slumber, at the side of the king.
To wild woe now
awakened she,
in the blood of Frey's
friend (22) as
she weltered.
25. Her hands wrung she so ruefully
that bold Sigurth
by the bed him lifted:
"Weep not, Guthrún, nor wail so sore,
my young bride:
thy
brothers live. (23)
26. "Too young the heir (24)
who after me
lives
to flee afar from his father's slayers;
they rashly wrought the reckless deed
nightly and knavish, but newly sworn to it.
27. "Like sister's son
at their side ne'er rides,
though seven sons thou
suckle hereafter; (25)
full well know I
whose
wiles are these:
this bale was wrought by Brynhild
alone.
28. "Me she loved more than any man;
yet Gunnar's trust betrayed I never,
but always kept him the oaths I swate,
lest I be called
the Queen's lover."
29. Her senses lost she--- his life the king---
her hands wrung she so ruefully
that in the cupboard the beakers clinked
and in the garth
the geese
sang out.
30. Laughed then Brynhild,
Buthli's daughter,
one time only, out of
inmost heart,
on her couch when came to her ears
the grievous wailing of Gjúki's daughter.
31. Said then Gunnar,
the goodly king:
"Thou laughest not, vengeful lady,
so gleefully as though glad thy heart:
wherefore wholly
hueless grow'st thou,
fiendish woman?
I ween thee fey. (26)
32. "But right were it,
wretched woman,
that before thy eyes where Atli slain,
and with bloody wounds
thy
brother lay,
with bloody wounds, for thee to
bind."
Brynhild said:
33. "No fault find I:
thou hast
foughten well; (27)
but little Atli thy anger fears:
longer will he live than thou,
and in might will ever o'ermatch thee, Gunnar!
34. "Say I shall now
what thyself knowest,
how ye Gjúkungs grew
guilty full
soon;
my freedom had I,
nor was fettered in aught (28)
on my brother's benches,
with bounty dowered.
35. "Nor did I wish
to
be wedded ever,
till high on horseback to
our halls did ride,
matchless, ye Gjúkungs----
mighty kings three.
Would that ye never had wended thither!
36. " (That hero's wife) (29)
I wished to be
who on Grani's back sate, rich in gold;
his eyes were ay
unlike to yours,
nor were ye like him in looks or shape,
folk-kings though
ye called yourselves.
37. "And Atli said
in secret to me
that with me he would not
his wealth e'er share---
gold nor lands----
if my love I gave not,
nor aught else of
the olden treasures
in earliest youth which
up
he yielded,
and in earliest youth to own gave me. (30)
38. "Then did I dwell
in doubt, full long,
whether wars to wage,
and wend to battle
in byrnie bold,
my
brother to spite:
had that forth gone far
to many folks,
and to many been a mournful fate.
39. "Our bond then made we
which bound us together:
in my heart hoped I for the Niflung hoard,
Sigmund's son's his silver and gold;
nor wanted I another's
(31) wealth.
40. "But him I loved, nor other lord.
A fickle heart I had
nowise;
will Atli all this
hereafter know,
when that he hears how to Hel I fared.
41. "For lightheartedly let no woman
another's husband hold in her arms. (32)
(Now will I slay me and Sigurth follow): (33)
my heavy harm then have I avenged."
42. Up rose Gunnar,
Gjúki's son;
his arm laid he about
the lady's neck. (34)
43. With kindly thoughts all came thither,
the highborn heroes, her hands to stay:
and though thrust she all
thanes from her,
nor would be hindered
Helward to fare.
44. Summoned he Hogni to secret speech:
"I will have all heroes in the hall gather,
both thine and mine--- much we need them----
how we hinder that to
Hel she fares;
until in time we turn her from it:
some means must we meanwhile find."
45. To him hardy Hogni
answered:
"Hinder her not
Helward to fare,
whence back never she be born again!
Wicked left she
her
mother's womb,
to the world was she but woe to bring,
sadness and sorrow to sons of men."
46. Sadly he (35) turned from talking
with her,
when the gold-dight one
her gifts
bestowed:
on all looked she
which she had owned,
eke on lifeless bondmaids (36) and on ladies-in-waiting.
47. In gold byrnie sheathed her, grim in her mind,
ere with the sword she slew herself;
back on bolster
her body sank:
dying bethought her of dire counsel:
48. "Now shall hither
my handmaids come
if gold they wish,
and wealth, (37) from me;
gilded trinkets I give
to each,
broidered bedclothes,
bright-hued
rainment."
49. Were silent all
when said these words,
and all together
this
answer made:
"No more shall die: we mean to live;
'tis unseeming honor to us women."
50. Thereon the lady
in linen dight
so young in years, full yare did say:
"Unfain I wish none to follow me,
nor lose his life
who is loth to die.
51. "On your bodies' bones
will
burn, hereafter,
far fewer rings
when
forth ye come---
nor Menja's meal---- and we meet in Hel. (38)
52. "Seat thee, Gunnar; I say to thee
thy brow-white wife awaiteth death;
nor is thy ship in
shelter, either,
even though thy bride have
breathed her last.
53. "Will Guthrún soon forgive thee
this, (39)
though oft the Queen at Atli's court
will think in sorrow on Sigurth dead.
54. "Is a maid child born---
her mother she-----
of hue whiter than the
very heavens,
than the sun even, Svanhild (40) hight.
55. "Wilt give Guthrún to goodly hero---
that bringeth sorrow (41)
to sons of
men----
nor will she wed
whom wish
she might:
will Atli wed her
his wife to be----
he, born to Buthli, my own brother.
56. "Am I mindful much how with me
ye dealt,
how ye did wrong me wretched one:
no hap was mine
the while I lived.
57. "Thou wilt Oddrún (42)
then ask for wife,
but Atli will not
thy
wishes heed;
still, under linen
ye twain will lie:
will she hold thee dear,
as I had done
if kindlier weird
had willed it so.
58. "Will Atli then
deal ill with
thee,
in dungeon wilt with
worms be laid.
59. "Will lose his life,
not long thereafter,
Atli, when all this ill is
wrought---
lose his treasure
and the life of his sons-----
for Gjúki's daughter, (43)
grim in her mind,
with sword full soon will slay him in bed. (44)
60. "For thy sister
more seeming were it
to follow in death
her first husband,
if good counsel were
given her,
of heart like mine
she had in her breast.
61. "Of what will be I speak----
yet, spite of us,
her life she keepeth a long time after:
towering billows
will toss Guthrún
beyond the sea
to Jónakr's lands. (45)
62. "(Will she issue have, as heirs twain
sons,
as heirs twain sons,) (46)
for
Jónakr;
o'er the sea Svanhild will she send abroad,
Sigurth's daughter, to sorry fate.
63. "Will be her bale
Bikki's counsels,
for Jormunrekk will
ill reward her.
Slain are then all Sigurth's kin,
but greater still
are
Guthrún's sorrows, (47)
64. "One boon shall I yet beg of thee,
which in this life
my last will be:
on meadow make thou of many logs
a pyre reared, with room for
all
who after Sigurth
did seek their death.
65. "Hide it wholly
with
hangings and shields,
with well-dyed weeds and Welsh thralls (48)
many:
let the Hunnish hero burn hard by me.
66. "On the Hunnish hero's
other hand let
burn
of my bondmaids, bracelet-decked,
twain at his head,
(twain at his feet,
the hero's hounds) (49) and hawks
eke twain;
then all is ordered evenly.
67. "Let the wand-of-wounds (50) be once more
laid
betwixt us twain
truehearted ones,
as when we both
one bed did share,
though hight we were husband and
wife.
68. "On his heels fall not the shining hall's (51)
ring-handled gate, on hinges rolling,
if him follow my faithful thralls:
at our rich riding
shall rail no man.
69. "For he is followed by five bondmaids
and eight henchmen of honest kin,
my playmate (52) eke and all the dowry
the which Buthli
to Brynhild gave.
70. "I told thee much,
yet more would say
but for my fate:
my speech fails me,
my voice weakens, my wounds do burn:
but truth I told thee---- my time
is come."
___________________
1. Gunnar and Hogni. See "Brot af
Sigurþarkviðu," St. 18 and Note 18.
2. In this version, then, Sigurth's marriage does not take place
simultaneously with that of Gunnar (as it does in
"Grípisspá," St. 43).
3. Inserted by the Translator: no sea journey (like that in
the
Nibelungenlied) is indicated in the original.
4. This adjective has been taken to indicate the German origin of
this version
of the legend. However, like "Hunnish" below, it
is an honorific epithet.
5. "She asked what that signified. He said it had been
decreed that thus must
be wed his wife or else suffer death." (the Volsunga
saga, Chap. 27).
6. Fate, not any fault of her own, is the cause for his
refraining from her.
He is bound by his oath to Gunnar and by his marriage with
Guthrún; moreover,
he has been weaned of his love for Brynhild by the magic
potion. See
"Grípisspá" St. 33.
7. "Sitting outside" at eventide (to be by herself)
suggests her sinister
purpose.
8. Accepting Gering's emendation.
9. I follow B. M. Olsen's and Bugge's interpretation.
10. Supplied by Bugge.
11. See "Brot af Sigurþarkviðu," Sts. 8 ff.
12. Of all the slain one's kin, no one is more likely to seek
revenge than his
son; but the passage is doubtful. For that matter,
Sigurth's son (Sigmund)
plays no role whatever in the legends. See St. 26, below.
13. Accepting Bugge's emendation.
14. Thus the original. A number of editors, misled by our
more sentimental
taste, have emended the word in question to
"love"; but see Stanzas 10, 36,
39, 51. Gunnar's avarice is plainly shown in the next
stanza.
15. The order of Sts. 15 and 16 is changed, following Bugge.
16. Sigurth's treasure was later thrown into the Rhine in
order to hide it
("Alakviða," St. 29); hence this---or any other
treasure---is the "hoard-of-
the-Rhine."
17. Gunnar, Hogni, Sigurth, Guthorm.
18. There is here an implied criticism of Gunnar: he has
never accomplished
Brynhild's love.
19. No doubt several lines are missing here. In the
Volsunga saga, Chap. 30,
Hogni continues, "and her counsels will bring us shame and
harm."
20. "He Who Reveres the Gods." He is Gjúki's
stepson. See "Hyndluljóð," St.
27 and Note 37.
21. Here, too, we must assume a considerable gap. In the
Volsunga saga, Chap.
30 we read, "They called him to them and offered him gold
and great power if
he would do this; they took a serpent and some wolf's meat,
and had it
cooked, and gave it to him to eat---as the skald has it:
A worm they took, of wolf's meat others,
and thereof gave
Guthorm to
eat,
with drink of mead and many other
magic matter
....... .............
............
(ere, eager of evil,
the angry men
on highborn hero
their hands could lay)."
(The lines in parentheses are supplied after Bugge's suggestion
from the
corresponding Stanza in "Brot af
Sigurpðarkviðu"). He is won over, and twice
approaches the bed where lie Guthrún and Sigurth, but is
frightened off both
times by Sigurth's penetrating glance. Only at the third
attempt does he slay
the hero.
22. Only in a transferred sense: the god Frey is the
progenitor of the royal
race of Sweden, the Ynglings. See "Helgakviða
Hundingsbana" I, St. 55.
23. He speaks as though, at first, he knows not who are the
perpetrators of
the deed: on her brothers devolves the duty of revenge.
24. According to the Volsunga saga, Chap. 31, his son Sigmund was
only three
years old when he also was slain at Brynhild's bidding.
25. That is, in a later marriage.
26. "According to Scotch tradition, men became violently
hilarious, 'fey,'
just before a violent death." (Bugge)
27. Irony?
28. Conjectural.
29. Supplied with all editors.
30. When the Gjúkungs rode into Atli's hall she had the choice
to remain a
free valkyrie and wage wars but forego her dowry, or else to
marry Gunnar (in
Sigurth's guise) and gain both dowry and the Niflung hoard.
This variant of
the legend occurs only here.
31. That is, Gunnar's.
32. Striving to avert the catastrophe, Sigurth had offered to lie
with her.
This she rejected: "I will not have two kings in one
hall; and rather will I
die than deceive King Gunnar." (Volsunga saga, Chap.
29). See also "The
Great Lacuna," Stanza D.
33. Supplied after Heusler's suggestion.
34. No doubt a number of lines have dropped out here.
35. Gunnar.
36. The slaves who had been slain to be burned on the funeral
pile with her.
She then asks, in St. 48, who might of their own free will wish
to follow her
in death.
37. Uncertain.
38. That is, "when you ultimately die and join me in
Hel you will have fewer
ornaments burned with you than I would have given
you." "Menja's meal" is a
kenning for "gold"; see "Grottasongr,"
Introductory Prose.
39. According to the Volsunga saga, Chap. 31, by Queen
Grímhild's magic;
whereafter, againt her wishes, Guthrún is married to King Atil.
40. See "Guðrúnarhvot," Introductory Prose and
St. 15.
41. Conjectural.
42. "Knowing Weapon Runes," Brynhild's
sister. For the story, see
"Oddrúnargrátr."
43. Guthrún.
44. This is told in "Dráp Niflunga" and the
succeeding lays.
45. As is related in "Guðrúnarhvot," and
"Hamðismál."
46. Supplied after Bugge from "Guðrúnarhvot,"
St. 14.
47. See her lament in "Guðrúnarhvot."
48. Many slaves were made in Celtic lands. According to Old
Germanic custom
custom not only a man's property, but also his slaves and
favorite animals
followed him in death: he had to maintain his standing in
the world beyond.
See Sts. 68 and 69.
49. After the paper manuscripts and the Volsunga saga, Chap. 31.
50. Kenning for "sword."
51. Of Hel, probably. A difficult passage.
52. Or "nurse."
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