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The manuscript gives the poem no title. Gripir: this uncle of Sigurth’s was probably a pure invention of the poet’s. The Volsungasaga mentions him, but presumably only because of his appearance here. On Eylimi and Hjordis see Fra Dautha Sinfjotla and note. Geitir, the serving-man, is likewise apparently an invention of the poet’s. 21. The manuscript does not indicate the speakers anywhere in the poem. Some editors have made separate stanzas out of the two-line speeches in stanzas 1, 3 and 6. 33. Sigurth: a few editions use in the verse the older form of this name, “Sigvorth,” though the manuscript here keeps to the form used in this translation. The Old High German “Sigifrid” (“Peace-Bringer through Victory”) became the Norse “Sigvorth” (“Victory-Guarder”), this, in turn, becoming “Sigurth.” 44. Bugge thinks a stanza has been lost after stanza 4, in which Geitir tells Gripir who Sigurth is. 55. Grani: Sigurth’s horse. According to the Volsungasaga his father was Sleipnir, Othin’s eight-legged horse, and Othin himself gave him to Sigurth. The introductory note to the Reginsmol tells a different story. 69. Thy father: on the death of Sigmund and Eylimi at the hands of Hunting’s sons see Fra Dautha Sinfjotla and note. 711. The dragon: Fafnir, brother of the dwarf Regin, who turns himself into a dragon to guard Andvari’s hoard; cf. Reginsmol and Fafnismol. Gnitaheith: a relic of the German tradition; it has been identified as lying south of Paderborn. 813. Gjuki: the Norse form of the name Gibeche (“The Giver”). Gjuki is the father of Gunnar, Hogni, and Guthrun, the family which reflects most directly the Burgundian part of the tradition (cf. Introductory Note). The statement that Sigurth is to go direct from the slaying of Fafnir to Gjuki’s hall involves one of the confusions resulting from the dual personality of Brynhild. In the older (and the original South Germanic) story, Sigurth becomes a guest of the Gjukungs before he has ever heard of Brynhild, and first sees her when, having changed forms with Gunnar, he goes to woo her for the latter. In another version he finds Brynhild before he visits the Gjukungs, only to forget her as the result of the magic draught administered by Guthrun’s mother. Both these versions are represented in the poems of which the author of the Gripisspo made use, and he tried, rather clumsily, to combine them, by having Sigurth go to Gjuki’s house, then find the unnamed Valkyrie, and then return to Gjuki, the false wooing following this second visit. 915. Basing his story on the Sigrdrifumol, the poet here tells of Sigurth’s finding of the Valkyrie, whom he does not identify with Brynhild, daughter of Buthli (stanza 27), at all. His error in this respect is not surprising, in view of Brynhild’s dual identity (cf. Introductory Note, and Fafnismol, 44 and note). Helgi: according to Helreith Brynhildar (stanza 8), with which the author of the Gripisspo was almost certainly familiar, the hero for whose death Brynhild was punished was named Hjalmgunnar. Is Helgi here identical with Hjalmgunnar, or did the author make a mistake? Finnur Jonsson thinks the author regarded Sigurth’s Valkyrie as a fourth incarnation of Svava-Sigrun-Kara, and wrote Helgi’s name in deliberately. Many editors, following Bugge, have tried to reconstruct line 2 so as to get rid of Helgi’s name. 1019. Heimir: the Volsungasaga says that Heimir was the husband of Brynhild’s sister, Bekkhild. Brynhild’s family connections involve a queer mixture of northern and southern legend. Heimir and Bekkhild are purely of northern invention; neither of them is mentioned in any of the earlier poems, though Brynhild speaks of her “foster-father” in Helreith Brynhildar. In the older Norse poems Brynhild is a sister of Atli (Attila), a relationship wholly foreign to the southern stories, and the father of this strangely assorted pair is Buthli, who in the Nibelungenlied is apparently Etzel’s grandfather. Add to this her role of Valkyrie, and it is small wonder that the annotator himself was puzzled. 1127. Brynhild (“Armed Warrior”): on her and her family see Introductory Note and note to stanza 19. 1233. Most editions have no comma after line 3, and change the meaning to “Fain of thee | the fair-haired one / For her daughter is.” Grimhild: in the northern form of the story Kriemhild, Gunther’s sister and Siegfried’s wife, becomes Grimhild, mother of Gunnar and Guthrun, the latter taking Kriemhild’s place. The Volsungasaga tells how Grimhild gave Sigurth a magic draught which made him utterly forget Brynhild. Edzardi thinks two stanzas have been lost after stanza 33, their remains appearing in stanza 37. 1335. In the Volsungasaga Grimhild merely advises Gunnar to seek Brynhild for his wife, and to have Sigurth ride with him. Goths: the historical Gunnar (Gundicarius, cf. Introductory Note) was not a Goth, but a Burgundian, but the word “Goth” was applied in the North without much discrimination to the southern Germanic peoples. 1437. In the Nibelungenlied Siegfried merely makes himself invisible in order to lend Gunther his strength for the feats which must be performed in order to win the redoubtable bride. In the northern version Sigurth and Gunnar change forms, “as Grimhild had taught them how to do.” The Volsungasaga tells how Sigurth and Gunnar came to Heimir, who told them that to win Brynhild one must ride through the ring of fire which surrounded her hall (cf. the hall of Mengloth in Svipdagsmol). Gunnar tries it, but his horse balks; then he mounts Grani, but Grani will not stir for him. So they change forms, and Sigurth rides Grani through the flames. Oaths: the blood-brotherhood sworn by Sigurth, Gunnar, and Hogni makes it impossible for the brothers to kill him themselves, but they finally get around the difficulty by inducing their half-brother, Gotthorm (cf. Hyndluljoth, 27 and note) to do it. 1539. The last half of line 4 is obscure, and the reading is conjectural. 1641. Something is clearly wrong with stanzas 41–43. In the manuscript the order is 41, 43, 42, which brings two of Gripir’s answers together, followed by two of Sigurth’s questions. Some editors have arranged the stanzas as in this translation, while others have interchanged 41 and 43. In any case, Sigurth in stanza 42 asks about the “three nights” which Gripir has never mentioned. I suspect that lines 3–4 of stanza 41, which are practically identical with lines 3–4 of stanza 23, got in here by mistake, replacing two lines which may have run thus: “With thy sword between, | three nights thou sleepest / With her thou winnest | for Gunnar’s wife.” The subsequent poems tell how Sigurth laid his sword Gram between himself and Brynhild. 1743. The simultaneous weddings of Sigurth and Gunnar form a memorable feature of the German tradition as it appears in the Nibelungenlied, but in the Volsungasaga Sigurth marries Guthrun before he sets off with Gunnar to win Brynhild. 1845. According to the Volsungasaga, Sigurth remembers his oaths to Brynhild almost immediately after his return to Gunnar’s house. Brynhild, on the other hand, knows nothing until the famous quarrel between herself and Guthrun at the bath (another reminiscence of the German story), when she taunts Guthrun with Sigurth’s inferiority to Gunnar, and Guthrun retorts with the statement that it was Sigurth, and not Gunnar, who rode through the flames. 1947. Brynhild tells Gunnar that Sigurth really possessed her during the three nights when he slept by her in Gunnar’s form, thus violating his oath. Here again there is a confusion of two traditions. If Sigurth did not meet Brynhild until after his oath to Gunnar (cf. note on stanza 13), Brynhild’s charge is entirely false, as she herself admits in Helreith Brynhildar. On the other hand, according to the version in which Sigurth finds Brynhild before he meets Gjuki’s sons, their union was not only completed, but she had by him a daughter, Aslaug, whom she leaves in Heimir’s charge before going to become Gunnar’s wife. This is the Volsungasaga version, and thus the statement Brynhild makes to Gunnar, as a result of which Sigurth is slain, is quite true. 2050. Gotthorm: Gunnar’s half-brother, and slayer of Sigurth. 2152. The manuscript has stanzas 52 and 53 in inverse order. ‹Previous chapterPoetic Edda 52Next chapterPoetic Edda 54›Similar passagesBy tradition and source labelFind similarCompare selectedCompare with similarAsk Deep ThoughtSelect passages to search for parallels.Tap any verse to select it, then compare selected passages or ask Deep Thought. Public domain in the United States via Project Gutenberg