The Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga)Norse MythologyLegend / Oral TraditionOld NorseShareThe Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga) Chapter 42Morris & Magnusson (1888) - EnglishMoreVersion - 1 availableMorris & Magnusson (1888)LanguageEnglishEspañol‹The Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga) Chapter 1The Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga) Chapter 2The Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga) Chapter 3The Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga) Chapter 4The Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga) Chapter 5The Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga) Chapter 6The Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga) Chapter 7The Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga) Chapter 8The Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga) Chapter 9The Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga) Chapter 10The Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga) Chapter 11The Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga) Chapter 12The Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga) Chapter 13The Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga) Chapter 14The Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga) Chapter 15The Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga) Chapter 16The Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga) Chapter 17The Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga) Chapter 18The Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga) Chapter 19The Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga) Chapter 20The Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga) Chapter 21The Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga) Chapter 22The Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga) Chapter 23The Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga) Chapter 24The Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga) Chapter 25The Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga) Chapter 26The Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga) Chapter 27The Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga) Chapter 28The Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga) Chapter 29The Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga) Chapter 30The Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga) Chapter 31The Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga) Chapter 32The Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga) Chapter 33The Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga) Chapter 34The Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga) Chapter 35The Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga) Chapter 36The Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga) Chapter 37The Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga) Chapter 38The Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga) Chapter 39The Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga) Chapter 40The Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga) Chapter 41The Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga) Chapter 42The Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga) Chapter 43›Gudrun sends her Sons to avenge SwanhildThe Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga) Chapter 42ListenPlay this chapter in spoken English.Save chapterListen to chapterNow Gudrun heard of the slaying of Swanhild, and spake to her sons, "Why sit ye here in peace amid merry words, whereas Jormunrek hath slain your sister, and trodden her under foot of horses in shameful wise? No heart ye have in you like to Gunnar or Hogni; verily they would have avenged their kinswoman!" Hamdir answered, "Little didst thou praise Gunnar and Hogni, whereas they slew Sigurd, and thou wert reddened in the blood of him, and ill were thy brethren avenged by the slaying of thine own sons: yet not so ill a deed were it for us to slay King Jormunrek, and so hard thou pushest us on to this that we may naught abide thy hard words." Gudrun went about laughing now, and gave them to drink from mighty beakers, and thereafter she got for them great byrnies and good, and all other weed (1) of war. Then spake Hamdir, "Lo now, this is our last parting, for thou shalt hear tidings of us, and drink one grave-ale (2) over us and over Swanhild." But Gudrun went unto her bower, with heart swollen with sorrow, and spake-- "To three men was I wedded, and first to Sigurd Fafnir's-bane, and he was bewrayed and slain, and of all griefs was that the greatest grief. Then was I given to King Atli, and so fell was my heart toward him that I slew in the fury of my grief his children and mine. Then gave I myself to the sea, but the billows thereof cast me out aland, and to this king then was I given; then gave I Swanhild away out of the land with mighty wealth; and lo, my next greatest sorrow after Sigurd, for under horses' feet was she trodden and slain; but the grimmest and ugliest of woes was the casting of Gunnar into the Worm-close, and the hardest was the cutting of Hogni's heart from him. "Ah, better would it be if Sigurd came to meet me, and I went my ways with him, for here bideth now behind with me neither son nor daughter to comfort me. Oh, mindest thou not, Sigurd, the words we spoke when we went into one bed together, that thou wouldst come and look on me; yea, even from thine abiding place among the dead?" And thus had the words of her sorrow an end. ENDNOTE: (1) Weed (A.S. "weodo"), clothing. (2) Grave-ale, burial-feast. ‹Previous chapterThe Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga) Chapter 41Next chapterThe Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga) Chapter 43›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