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:
“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.
“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:
“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:
“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:
“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.
“Hild the helmed   |   in Hlymdalir
They named me of old,   |   all they who knew me.
.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .   |   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .
.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .   |   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .
“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.
“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.
“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.
“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.
“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.
“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.
“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