Poetic EddaNorse MythologyAncient Myth / ComparativeOld NorseSharePoetic Edda 63Bellows - EnglishMoreVersion - 1 availableBellowsLanguageEnglishEspañol‹Poetic Edda 1Poetic Edda 2Poetic Edda 3Poetic Edda 4Poetic Edda 5Poetic Edda 6Poetic Edda 7Poetic Edda 8Poetic Edda 9Poetic Edda 10Poetic Edda 11Poetic Edda 12Poetic Edda 13Poetic Edda 14Poetic Edda 15Poetic Edda 16Poetic Edda 17Poetic Edda 18Poetic Edda 19Poetic Edda 20Poetic Edda 21Poetic Edda 22Poetic Edda 23Poetic Edda 24Poetic Edda 25Poetic Edda 26Poetic Edda 27Poetic Edda 28Poetic Edda 29Poetic Edda 30Poetic Edda 31Poetic Edda 32Poetic Edda 33Poetic Edda 34Poetic Edda 35Poetic Edda 36Poetic Edda 37Poetic Edda 38Poetic Edda 39Poetic Edda 40Poetic Edda 41Poetic Edda 42Poetic Edda 43Poetic Edda 44Poetic Edda 45Poetic Edda 46Poetic Edda 47Poetic Edda 48Poetic Edda 49Poetic Edda 50Poetic Edda 51Poetic Edda 52Poetic Edda 53Poetic Edda 54Poetic Edda 55Poetic Edda 56Poetic Edda 57Poetic Edda 58Poetic Edda 59Poetic Edda 60Poetic Edda 61Poetic Edda 62Poetic Edda 63Poetic Edda 64Poetic Edda 65Poetic Edda 66Poetic Edda 67Poetic Edda 68Poetic Edda 69Poetic Edda 70Poetic Edda 71Poetic Edda 72Poetic Edda 73Poetic Edda 74Poetic Edda 75Poetic Edda 76Poetic Edda 77Poetic Edda 78Poetic Edda 79Poetic Edda 80Poetic Edda 81Poetic Edda 82Poetic Edda 83Poetic Edda 84Poetic Edda 85Poetic Edda 86›Introductory NotePoetic Edda 63ListenPlay this chapter in spoken English.Save chapterListen to chapter1The First Lay of Guthrun, entitled in the Codex Regius simply Guthrunarkvitha, immediately follows the remaining fragment of the “long” Sigurth lay in that manuscript. Unlike the poems dealing with the earlier part of the Sigurth cycle, the so-called Reginsmol, Fafnismol, and Sigrdrifumol, it is a clear and distinct unit, apparently complete and with few and minor interpolations. It is also one of the finest poems in the entire collection, with an extraordinary emotional intensity and dramatic force. None of its stanzas are quoted elsewhere, and it is altogether probable that the compilers of the Volsungasaga were unfamiliar with it, for they do not mention the sister and daughter of Gjuki who appear in this poem, or Herborg, “queen of the Huns” (stanza 6). 2The lament of Guthrun (Kriemhild) is almost certainly among the oldest parts of the story. The lament was one of the earliest forms of poetry to develop among the Germanic peoples, and I suspect, though the matter is not susceptible of proof, that the lament of Sigurth’s wife had assumed lyric form as early as the seventh century, and reached the North in that shape rather than in prose tradition (cf. Guthrunarkvitha II, introductory note). We find traces of it in the seventeenth Aventiure of the Nibelungenlied, and in the poems of the Edda it dominates every appearance of Guthrun. The two first Guthrun lays (I and II) are both laments, one for Sigurth’s death and the other including both that and the lament over the slaying of her brothers; the lament theme is apparent in the third Guthrun lay and in the Guthrunarhvot. 3In their present forms the second Guthrun lay is undoubtedly older than the first; in the prose following the Brot the annotator refers to the “old” Guthrun lay in terms which can apply only to the second one in the collection. The shorter and “first” lay, therefore, can scarcely have been composed much before the year 1000, and may be somewhat later. The poet appears to have known and made use of the older lament; stanza 17, for example, is a close parallel to stanza 2 of the earlier poem; but whatever material he used he fitted into a definite poetic scheme of his own. And while this particular poem is, as critics have generally agreed, one of the latest of the collection, it probably represents one of the earliest parts of the entire Sigurth cycle to take on verse form. 4Guthrunarkvitha I, so far as the narrative underlying it is concerned, shows very little northern addition to the basic German tradition. Brynhild appears only as Guthrun’s enemy and the cause of Sigurth’s death; the three women who attempt to comfort Guthrun, though unknown to the southern stories, seem to have been rather distinct creations of the poet’s than traditional additions to the legend. Regarding the relations of the various elements in the Sigurth cycle, cf. introductory note to Gripisspo. 5Guthrun sat by the dead Sigurth; she did not weep as other women, but her heart was near to bursting with grief. The men and women came to her to console her, but that was not easy to do. It is told of men that Guthrun had eaten of Fafnir’s heart, and that she understood the speech of birds. This is a poem about Guthrun. 61. Then did Guthrun | think to die, When she by Sigurth | sorrowing sat; Tears she had not, | nor wrung her hands, Nor ever wailed, | as other women. 72. To her the warriors | wise there came, Longing her heavy | woe to lighten; Grieving could not | Guthrun weep, So sad her heart, | it seemed, would break. 83. Then the wives | of the warriors came, Gold-adorned, | and Guthrun sought; Each one then | of her own grief spoke, The bitterest pain | she had ever borne. 94. Then spake Gjaflaug, | Gjuki’s sister: “Most joyless of all | on earth am I; Husbands five | were from me taken, (Two daughters then, | and sisters three,) Brothers eight, | yet I have lived.” 105. Grieving could not | Guthrun weep, Such grief she had | for her husband dead, And so grim her heart | by the hero’s body. 116. Then Herborg spake, | the queen of the Huns: “I have a greater | grief to tell; My seven sons | in the southern land, And my husband, fell | in fight all eight. (Father and mother | and brothers four Amid the waves | the wind once smote, And the seas crashed through | the sides of the ship.) 127. “The bodies all | with my own hands then I decked for the grave, | and the dead I buried; A half-year brought me | this to bear; And no one came | to comfort me. 138. “Then bound I was, | and taken in war, A sorrow yet | in the same half-year; They bade me deck | and bind the shoes Of the wife of the monarch | every morn. 149. “In jealous rage | her wrath she spake, And beat me oft | with heavy blows; Never a better | lord I knew, And never a woman | worse I found.” 1510. Grieving could not | Guthrun weep, Such grief she had | for her husband dead, And so grim her heart | by the hero’s body. 1611. Then spake Gollrond, | Gjuki’s daughter: “Thy wisdom finds not, | my foster-mother, The way to comfort | the wife so young.” She bade them uncover | the warrior’s corpse. 1712. The shroud she lifted | from Sigurth, laying His well-loved head | on the knees of his wife: “Look on thy loved one, | and lay thy lips To his as if yet | the hero lived.” 1813. Once alone | did Guthrun look; His hair all clotted | with blood beheld, The blinded eyes | that once shone bright, The hero’s breast | that the blade had pierced. 1914. Then Guthrun bent, | on her pillow bowed, Her hair was loosened, | her cheek was hot, And the tears like raindrops | downward ran. 2015. Then Guthrun, daughter | of Gjuki, wept, And through her tresses | flowed the tears; And from the court | came the cry of geese, The birds so fair | of the hero’s bride. 2116. Then Gollrond spake, | the daughter of Gjuki: “Never a greater | love I knew Than yours among | all men on earth; Nowhere wast happy, | at home or abroad, Sister mine, | with Sigurth away.” 2217. “So was my Sigurth | o’er Gjuki’s sons As the spear-leek grown | above the grass, Or the jewel bright | borne on the band, The precious stone | that princes wear. 2318. “To the leader of men | I loftier seemed And higher than all | of Herjan’s maids; As little now | as the leaf I am On the willow hanging; | my hero is dead. 2419. “In his seat, in his bed, | I see no more My heart’s true friend; | the fault is theirs, The sons of Gjuki, | for all my grief, That so their sister | sorely weeps. 2520. “So shall your land | its people lose As ye have kept | your oaths of yore; Gunnar, no joy | the gold shall give thee, (The rings shall soon | thy slayers be,) Who swarest oaths | with Sigurth once. 2621. “In the court was greater | gladness then The day my Sigurth | Grani saddled, And went forth Brynhild’s | hand to win, That woman ill, | in an evil hour.” 2722. Then Brynhild spake, | the daughter of Buthli: “May the witch now husband | and children want Who, Guthrun, loosed | thy tears at last, And with magic today | hath made thee speak.” 2823. Then Gollrond, daughter | of Gjuki, spake: “Speak not such words, | thou hated woman; Bane of the noble | thou e’er hast been, (Borne thou art | on an evil wave, Sorrow hast brought | to seven kings,) And many a woman | hast loveless made.” 2924. Then Brynhild, daughter | of Buthli, spake: “Atli is guilty | of all the sorrow, (Son of Buthli | and brother of mine,) When we saw in the hall | of the Hunnish race The flame of the snake’s bed | flash round the hero; (For the journey since | full sore have I paid, And ever I seek | the sight to forget.)” 3025. By the pillars she stood, | and gathered her strength, From the eyes of Brynhild, | Buthli’s daughter, Fire there burned, | and venom she breathed, When the wounds she saw | on Sigurth then. 31Guthrun went thence away to a forest in the waste, and journeyed all the way to Denmark, and was there seven half-years with Thora, daughter of Hokon. Brynhild would not live after Sigurth. She had eight of her thralls slain and five serving-women. Then she killed herself with a sword, as is told in the Short Lay of Sigurth. ‹Previous chapterPoetic Edda 62Next chapterPoetic Edda 64›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