Poetic EddaNorse MythologyAncient Myth / ComparativeOld NorseSharePoetic Edda 76Bellows - 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›NotesPoetic Edda 76ListenPlay this chapter in spoken English.Save chapterListen to chapter1Prose. Nothing further is known of Heithrek, Borgny or Vilmund. The annotator has added the name of Borgny’s father, but otherwise his material comes from the poem itself. Oddrun, sister of Atli and Brynhild, here appears as proficient in birth-runes (cf. Sigrdrifumol, 8). Regarding her love for Gunnar, Guthrun’s brother, and husband of her sister, Brynhild, cf. Sigurtharkvitha en skamma, 57 and note. 21. Olden tales: this may be merely a stock phrase, or it may really mean that the poet found his story in oral prose tradition. Morningland: the poem’s geography is utterly obscure. “Morningland” is apparently identical with “Hunland” (stanza 4), and yet Oddrun is herself sister of the king of the Huns. Vigfusson tries to make “Mornaland” into “Morva land” and explain it as Moravia. Probably it means little more than a country lying vaguely in the East. With stanza 28 the confusion grows worse. 33. Line 3 (cf. Völundarkvitha, 17) or line 5 (cf. Thrymskvitha, 2), both quoted from older poems, is probably spurious; the manuscript marks line 3 as the beginning of a new stanza. 44. Line 1 in the original appears to have lost its second half. In line 2 the word rendered “has happened” is doubtful. The manuscript does not indicate the speaker of lines 3–4, and a few editors assign them to Borgny herself. 55. The manuscript does not indicate the speakers. For the woman: conjectural; the manuscript has instead: “What warrior now | hath worked this woe?” The manuscript indicates line 3 as beginning a new stanza. Line 5, apparently modeled on line 4 of stanza 13, is probably spurious. 66. Charms: cf. Sigrdrifumol, 8. 77. Hogni’s slayer: obviously Vilmund, but unless he was the one of Atli’s followers who actually cut out Hogni’s heart (cf. Drap Niflunga), there is nothing else to connect him with Hogni’s death. Sijmons emends the line to read “Born of the sister | of Hogni’s slayer.” 88. Regarding Frigg as a goddess of healing cf. Svipdagsmol, 52, note. Regarding Freyja as the friend of lovers cf. Grimnismol, 14, note. A line is very possibly missing from this stanza. 99. The manuscript does not name the speaker. In line 2 the word rendered “earn” is omitted in the manuscript, but nearly all editions have supplied it. Line 5 is clearly either interpolated or out of place. It may be all that is left of a stanza which stood between stanzas 15 and 16, or it may belong in stanza 12. 1010–20. In the manuscript the order is as follows: 12; 13; 14; 15, 3–4; 10; 11; 16; 17; 18; 19, 1–2; 15, 1–2; 19, 3–4; 20. The changes made here, following several of the editions, are: (a) the transposition of stanzas 10–11, which are clearly dialogue, out of the body of the lament to a position just before it; (b) the transposition of lines 1–2 of stanza 15 to their present position from the middle of stanza 19. 1110. The manuscript does not name the speaker; cf. note on stanzas 10–20. 1211. The manuscript does not name the speaker; cf. note on stanzas 10–20. The word rendered “evil” in line 1 is a conjectural addition. Apparently Borgny was present at Atli’s court while the love affair between Oddrun and Gunnar was in progress, and criticised Oddrun for her part in it. A draught, etc.: apparently in reference to a secret meeting of the lovers. 1312. In the manuscript this stanza follows stanza 9; cf. note on stanzas 10–20. No gap is indicated, but something has presumably been lost. Grundtvig supplies as a first line: “The maid her evil | days remembered,” and inserts as a second line line 5 of stanza 9. 1413. The manuscript indicates line 3 as the beginning of a new stanza; many editions combine lines 1–2 with stanza 12 and lines 3–4 with lines 1–2 of stanza 14. The hero: Buthli, father of Oddrun, Atli, and Brynhild. 1514. The manuscript indicates line 3, but not line 1, as the beginning of a new stanza; some editions combine lines 3–4 with lines 3–4 of stanza 15. Making Buthli plan the marriage of Oddrun and Gunnar may be a sheer invention of the poet, or may point to an otherwise lost version of the legend. 1615. Lines 1–2 have here been transposed from the middle of stanza 19; cf. note on stanzas 10–20. Wish-maid: a Valkyrie, so called because the Valkyries fullfilled Othin’s wish in choosing the slain heroes for Valhall. The reference to Brynhild as a Valkyrie by no means fits with the version of the story used in stanzas 16–17, and the poet seems to have attempted to combine the two contradictory traditions; cf. Fafnismol, note on stanza 44. In the manuscript stanzas 10–11 follow line 4 of stanza 15. 1716. In stanzas 16–17 the underlying story seems to be the one used in Sigurtharkvitha en skamma (particularly stanzas 32–39), and referred to in Guthrunarkvitha I, 24, wherein Gunnar and Sigurth lay siege to Atli’s city (it here appears as Brynhild’s) and are bought off only by Atli’s giving Brynhild to Gunnar as wife, winning her consent thereto by falsely representing to her that Gunnar is Sigurth. This version is, of course, utterly at variance with the one in which Sigurth wins Brynhild for Gunnar by riding through the ring of flames, and is probably more closely akin to the early German traditions. In the Nibelungenlied Brynhild appears as a queen ruling over lands and peoples. Fafnir’s slayer: Sigurth. 1817. Cf. note on preceding stanza. 1918. Cf. Sigurtharkvitha en skamma, stanzas 64–70. 2019. In the manuscript lines 1–2 of stanza 15 follow line 2, resulting in various conjectural combinations. The manuscript marks line 3 as beginning a new stanza. Rings, etc.: possibly, as Gering maintains, payment offered by Gunnar and Hogni for Brynhild’s death, but more probably, as in stanza 20, Gunnar’s proffered “marriage gold” for the hand of Oddrun. 2120. Grani’s burden: the treasure won by Sigurth from Fafnir; cf. Fafnismol, concluding prose. The manuscript marks line 3 as beginning a new stanza, as also in stanzas 21 and 22. 2223. Murky wood: the forest which divided Atli’s realm from that of the Gjukungs is in Atlakvitha, 3, called Myrkwood. This hardly accords with the extraordinary geography of stanzas 28–29, or with the journey described in Guthrunarkvitha II, 36. 2324. In the manuscript lines 3 and 4 stand in reversed order. 2425. No gap is indicated in the manuscript; some editors assume the loss not only of two lines, but of an additional stanza. Evidently Guthrun has already become Atli’s wife. 2526. If a stanza has been lost after stanza 25, it may well have told of Atli’s treacherous invitation to the Gjukungs to visit him; cf. Drap Niflunga, which likewise tells of the slaying of Hogni and Gunnar (the other). 2627. In the manuscript these three lines follow line 2 of stanza 28. No gap is indicated in the manuscript. In the Volsungasaga Guthrun gives her brother the harp, with which he puts the serpents to sleep. The episode is undoubtedly related to the famous thirtieth Aventiure of the Nibelungenlied, in which Volker plays the followers of Gunther to sleep before the final battle. 2728. In the manuscript the three lines of stanza 27 follow line 2, and line 3 is marked as beginning a new stanza. Geirmund: nothing further is known of him, but he seems to be an ally or retainer of Atli, or possibly his brother. Hlesey: the poet’s geography is here in very bad shape. Hlesey is (or may be) the Danish island of Läsö, in the Kattegat (cf. Harbarthsljoth, 37 and note), and thither he has suddenly transported not only Gunnar’s death-place but Atli’s whole dwelling (cf. stanza 29), despite his previous references to the ride to Hunland (stanzas 3–4) and the “murky wood” (stanza 23). Geirmund’s home, where Oddrun has gone, is separated from Hlesey and Atli’s dwelling by a sound (stanza 29). However, geographical accuracy is seldom to be looked for in heroic epic poetry. 2829. Many editions combine this stanza with lines 3–4 of stanza 28. The sound: cf. note on stanza 28. 2930. The manuscript marks line 3 as beginning a new stanza. Atli’s mother: the Volsungasaga does not follow this version; Gunnar puts all the serpents but one to sleep with his harp playing, “but a mighty and evil adder crawled to him and drove his fangs into him till they reached his heart, and so he died.” It is possible that “Atli” is a scribal error for a word meaning “of serpents.” 3031. Serpents’-bed goddess: woman (i.e., Borgny); “goddess of gold” was a frequent term for a woman, and gold was often called the “serpents’ bed” (cf. Guthrunarkvitha I, 24 and note). 3132. Some editions make line 4 a statement of the poet’s, and not part of Oddrun’s speech. ‹Previous chapterPoetic Edda 75Next chapterPoetic Edda 77›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