# HELREITH BRYNHILDAR

HELREITH BRYNHILDAR

BRYNHILD’S HELL-RIDE



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,
    Though 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.
    .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .   |   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .
    .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .   |   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .

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.

8.  “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.

9.  “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.

10. “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.

11. “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.

12. “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.

13. “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.

14. “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!”





DRAP NIFLUNGA

THE SLAYING OF THE NIFLUNGS