Poetic EddaNorse MythologyAncient Myth / ComparativeOld NorseSharePoetic Edda 73Bellows - 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 73ListenPlay this chapter in spoken English.Save chapterListen to chapter1The short Guthrunarkvitha III, entitled in the manuscript simply Guthrunarkvitha, but so numbered in most editions to distinguish it from the first and second Guthrun lays, appears only in the Codex Regius. It is neither quoted nor paraphrased in the Volsungasaga, the compilers of which appear not to have known the story with which it deals. The poem as we have it is evidently complete and free from serious interpolations. It can safely be dated from the first half of the eleventh century, for the ordeal by boiling water, with which it is chiefly concerned, was first introduced into Norway by St. Olaf, who died in 1030, and the poem speaks of it in stanza 7 as still of foreign origin. 2The material for the poem evidently came from North Germany, but there is little indication that the poet was working on the basis of a narrative legend already fully formed. The story of the wife accused of faithlessness who proves her innocence by the test of boiling water had long been current in Germany, as elsewhere, and had attached itself to various women of legendary fame, but not except in this poem, so far as we can judge, to Guthrun (Kriemhild). The introduction of Thjothrek (Theoderich, Dietrich, Thithrek) is another indication of relative lateness, for the legends of Theoderich do not appear to have reached the North materially before the year 1000. On the anachronism of bringing Thjothrek to Atli’s court cf. Guthrunarkvitha II, introductory prose, note, in which the development of the Theoderich tradition in its relation to that of Atli is briefly outlined. 3Guthrunarkvitha III is, then, little more than a dramatic German story made into a narrative lay by a Norse poet, with the names of Guthrun, Atli, Thjothrek, and Herkja incorporated for the sake of greater effectiveness. Its story probably nowhere formed a part of the living tradition of Sigurth and Atli, but the poem has so little distinctively Norse coloring that it may possibly have been based on a story or even a poem which its composer heard in Germany or from the lips of a German narrator. 4Herkja was the name of a serving-woman of Atli’s; she had been his concubine. She told Atli that she had seen Thjothrek and Guthrun both together. Atli was greatly angered thereby. Then Guthrun said: 51. “What thy sorrow, Atli, | Buthli’s son? Is thy heart heavy-laden? | Why laughest thou never? It would better befit | the warrior far To speak with men, | and me to look on.” 62. “It troubles me, Guthrun, | Gjuki’s daughter, What Herkja here | in the hall hath told me, That thou in the bed | with Thjothrek liest, Beneath the linen | in lovers’ guise.” 73. “This shall I | with oaths now swear, Swear by the sacred | stone so white, That nought was there | with Thjothmar’s son That man or woman | may not know. 84. “Nor ever once | did my arms embrace The hero brave, | the leader of hosts; In another manner | our meeting was, When our sorrows we | in secret told. 95. “With thirty warriors | Thjothrek came, Nor of all his men | doth one remain; Thou hast murdered my brothers | and mail-clad men, Thou hast murdered all | the men of my race. 106. “Gunnar comes not, | Hogni I greet not, No longer I see | my brothers loved; My sorrow would Hogni | avenge with the sword, Now myself for my woes | I shall payment win. 117. “Summon Saxi, | the southrons’ king, For he the boiling | kettle can hallow.” Seven hundred | there were in the hall, Ere the queen her hand | in the kettle thrust. 128. To the bottom she reached | with hand so bright, And forth she brought | the flashing stones: “Behold, ye warriors, | well am I cleared Of sin by the kettle’s | sacred boiling.” 139. Then Atli’s heart | in happiness laughed, When Guthrun’s hand | unhurt he saw; “Now Herkja shall come | the kettle to try, She who grief | for Guthrun planned.” 1410. Ne’er saw man sight | more sad than this, How burned were the hands | of Herkja then; In a bog so foul | the maid they flung, And so was Guthrun’s | grief requited. ‹Previous chapterPoetic Edda 72Next chapterPoetic Edda 74›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