The Poetic Edda
Page 23
[13] Gunnar was sad
and downtrodden:
he was anxious,
he sat all day,
he knew that he didn’t
at all want to do
the thing he knew
he most had to do,
the thing that would
profit him the most.
But he thought the death
of Sigurth would be bad;
he knew that Sigurth
would be a great loss.
[14] He thought long,
he thought anxiously,
he thought of the shame,
the unprecedented shame
that would be his—
the shame of a man left by his wife.
So he went for advice
to his brother Hogni,
and brought him into his confidence—
there was a faithful friend.
[15] Gunnar said, “I think
Brynhild, daughter of Buthli,
is better than all other women,
she is the pride of all women.
And I would rather
lose my own life
than lose such a treasure
as this wife is to me.
[16] “Do you want to betray
a man, to increase our wealth?
{277} It would be good
to control Sigurth’s treasure.
If we had so much gold,
would our lives
not be happier,
more leisurely?”
[17] Bold Hogni
answered his brother:
“What a shameful deed
you consider!
To break our oaths,
our sworn oaths,
the words we pledged,
with violence!
[18] “I know of no happier
people in all the world,
as long as we brothers
and our father rule the Goths,
and that excellent Hun,
Sigurth, lives with us.
Nor do I know of any
mightier men on earth.
Let us and him
raise our sons together,
let us increase
our good families.
[19] “And yet I know
what lies behind all this:
the ugly jealousy
of Brynhild!”
[20] Gunnar said, “Let us
prepare Gotthorm,
our young brother,
to do the killing.
He was too young to swear
a pledge to Sigurth—
{278} he has no oath to break,
no faithful promises to keep.”
[21] Young Gotthorm
was easily convinced.
His sword pierced Sigurth’s
hard, heroic heart.
[22] The dying Sigurth
rose from his bed;
he threw his sword
at the young man.
His fierce iron blade,
his good sword Gram,
flew shining from his hand,
and cut down Gotthorm.
[23] The boy
was split in two:
his head and hands
fell one way,
his feet and hips
fell another.
[24] Guthrun was asleep,
lying blithely in bed
at Sigurth’s side,
sorrowless and safe.
But she awoke
to the cold death of her hopes,
she awoke in a pool
of her husband’s blood.
[25] She wrung her hands
in uncontrollable sorrow;
but Sigurth rose pridefully,
and he spoke to his wife:
“Don’t weep so sorely,
Guthrun, dear wife!
You’re a young woman—
and your brothers still live.
{279} [26] “Our young son,
my heir, Sigmund,
still lives, but he cannot
flee his enemies’ hall.
And your brothers
have cursed themselves
with sorrow and shame
for this treacherous act.
[27] “But your brothers
will never have such a son
as mine, even if they
have seven sons apiece.
I know exactly
who has engineered this:
it was for Brynhild alone
that they brought you this misery.
[28] “She has more love for me
than for anyone on earth,
but I never gave Gunnar
a reason to think I was untrue.
I respected their marriage,
I respected our oaths.
Let no one ever say
I was his wife’s lover.”
[29] And so Guthrun lost her joy,
and her husband lost his life.
She wrung her hands
in uncontrollable sorrow,
she screamed, and the echo
of her scream echoed far,
and the geese in the field
flew off shrieking.
[30] And Brynhild,
daughter of Buthli,
laughed one time
with all her heart,
when, lying in her bed,
{280} she heard the scream
of Guthrun, Sigurth’s
broken-hearted wife.
[31] King Gunnar
spoke to her grimly:
“You hateful woman,
you aren’t laughing
so happily
about good news.
Why are you so pale,
why do you look so deathly,
you creator of cruelties?
I think you’re near death.
[32] “Will you be
worth it, woman,
when we fight your brother,
Attila, before your eyes?
You will see the wounds
bleed red from your brother,
you will have to tend
to his gruesome injuries.”
[33] “No one is afraid
of you,” said Brynhild.
“I think you’ve committed
your last murder, and Attila
won’t care for your threats.
He will live longer
than you, Gunnar,
and he’ll always be stronger.
[34] “I will tell you, Gunnar,
you yourself know this well,
how you and your brothers
were brought to these deeds.
When I was young,
without responsibility,
and wealthy, I lived happily
at my brother Attila’s home.
{281} [35] “I never wished
to marry a husband,
before you sons of Gjuki
rode to our home.
I saw three kings
on horseback—
it would have been better
if you’d stayed at home.
[36] “I promised myself
to the man who sat
on Grani’s back,
loaded with gold.
His brave eyes
were not like yours,
he did not resemble you
in any way.
But still, you all
had the look of kings.
[37] “My brother Attila
told me in private
that I would have no home,
no possessions and no land,
nothing of what
was promised to me,
of the inheritance given
to me in my youth,
unless I allowed myself
to marry a man.
[38] “I doubted
for a long time. I wondered
whether I should be a warrior,
leave corpses on the battlefield,
whether I should wear armor
I would have become
famous all over,
I would have killed
and saddened many men.
{282} [39] “From then on
our peace was destined to end.
I coveted
the treasures of gold,
the precious things
that Sigurth owned.
I did not covet
the wealth of another man.
[40] “I loved only one man,
and never another,
this Valkyrie’s heart
was faithful.
My brother Attila will
know this is true,
when he learns
of my death here.
[41] “He will learn
that his weary sister
would not live with you, a man
I ought not to have married.
And then he will decide
to avenge my sorrows.”
[42] Gunnar rose up,
the king of the Niflungs,
and he embraced
his wife around her neck.
Then, one after another,
he and his household
tried with all their heart
to comfort her.
[43] But Brynhild turned away
from anyone who came to her,
she would not let anyone
dissuade her from killing herself.
[44] Gunnar went to
Hogni and said:
{283} “I want everyone to go to her,
your men and mine,
for there is great need now.
If my wife dies,
more misfortune will come,
and we will be
at the mercy of fate.”
[45] Hogni, his bold brother,
offered him an answer:
“Let no one try to talk her
out of killing herself,
let the cursed woman
never be reborn!
She was the runt
born to her mother,
always destined
to destroy our happiness,
to bring sorrow
to many men’s lives.”
[46] Unsatisfied,
her husband Gunnar
went to where Brynhild
was giving away her wealth.
[47] She searched through
all her belongings,
she killed her maids
and her serving-girls,
she put a suit of armor on.
She was all in a rage,
and finally she put Sigurth’s sword
through her own heart.
[48] She sank down
to the pillow at her side,
and, mortally wounded,
she began to speak:
[49] “Come here,
anyone who wants
{284} to get gold or gifts
from me.
I’ll give you all
fine treasures,
fine jewelry and clothes,
fine tapestries.”
[50] Everyone was silent
when they heard her speak,
till finally they
gave her an answer:
“Enough have died,
we want to live.
Even for serving-girls,
life is more joy than death.”
[51] But the thoughtful
young queen spoke,
clad in linen, and
she made this response:
“I do not wish
for any of you to be killed,
to follow me for my sake,
unwillingly.
[52] “Still, there will be
fewer treasures,
fewer jewels
glowing on your bones,
when your souls
come to Hel with mine.
[53] “Sit down, Gunnar!
I will tell you
how your lovely bride
lost her hope of life.
The ship of your life
is still out at sea,
even if mine
is coming into harbor.
{285} [54] “You and Guthrun
will reconcile sooner
than you expect.
She’ll remarry, and besides
her new husband, she’ll have
memories of her first one.
[55] “She’ll give birth to a girl,
Sigurth’s daughter.
She will be brighter
than the clear daylight sun,
brighter than a ray of sunshine.
Svanhild will be her name.
[56] “You’ll marry Guthrun
to a wealthy man,
but she’ll cause the deaths
of many men.
She will not be
willingly married,
but she will
marry Attila,
son of Buthli,
my own brother.
[57] “I remember so much,
I remember my misfortunes,
how you betrayed me
and caused my sorrow,
how I was deprived of joy
for the rest of my life.
[58] “Soon you will want
to marry my sister,
Oddrun, but Attila
will not marry her to you.
Still the two of you
will meet in secret,
and she will love you
like I should have,
{286} if the two of us
had been truly fated to love.
[59] “Attila will pay you back
with a fierce punishment,
he’ll lock you inside
a suffocating snake-pit.
[60] “But not long after,
it will happen
that Attila himself
will lose his life,
his joy,
and the lives of his sons.
It will be Guthrun
who bloodies their bed
with a sharp blade,
with a vengeful mind.
[61] “It would have been better
for Guthrun to follow
her first husband Sigurth
and die with him.
But she was never
given good advice,
and she did not have
courage like mine.
[62] “I speak in pain now,
but I know that she
will not lose her life
for killing my brother.
The high waves
will carry her
to the lands
of King Jonaker.
[63] “She will have sons
with Jonaker,
and raise Svanhild there.
{287} She will marry off Svanhild,
her daughter
and Sigurth’s.
[64] “The advice of Bikki
will cause Guthrun grief,
when Jormunrekk
kills her daughter Svanhild.
Sigurth’s family
will come to an end
when Guthrun weeps
for its last descendant.
[65] “I will make
one last request,
the last request
of my entire life:
Let my funeral pyre
be high and broad,
let there be
sufficient room
for everyone
who has died with Sigurth.
[66] “Build up the pyre
with tents and shields,
with precious dyed cloths
and foreign treasures.
Let Sigurth, that Hunnish hero,
burn alongside me.
[67] “And at Sigurth’s
other side,
burn my servants,
adorn their bodies with jewels.
Place two of them at his head,
and two of his hawks,
>
then the funeral
will be arranged properly.
{288} [68] “And between him and me,
place the precious blade
of his sharp sword,
just like it lay between us
the last time
he and I shared a bed,
when we pledged
to become husband and wife.
[69] “Do as I say, and
it won’t be as if some man
simply died at his home,
with a single ring to his name.
If he has such
a following with him in Hel,
no one will think
that he died a poor man.
[70] “He’ll be accompanied
by five slavegirls,
and eight slavemen
captured from good families,
all the slavemen given to me
as a young girl by my father;
that was how
Buthli honored his daughter.
[71] “I have spoken a long time,
and I would speak longer,
but the sword in my side
will not give me more time.
My voice fails me,
my wounds sting,
I have spoken the truth,
and now I must die.”
{289} Helreith Brynhildar (Brynhild’s Ride to Hel)
Helreith Brynhildar (“Brynhild’s Ride to Hel”) follows closely on the death of Brynhild in Sigurtharkvitha en skamma, describing Brynhild’s encounters in Hel following her death on Sigurth’s funeral pyre.
Helreith Brynhildar
When Brynhild was dead, they built two funeral pyres. The first was for Sigurth, and it burned first. But Brynhild was placed on another pyre, and her body was on a wagon draped with expensive cloths. It is said that she came driving in this wagon along the road to Hel, and she passed through a farm where a certain giant woman lived. The giant woman said:
[1] “YOU DON’T GET TO
ride through
my rocky lands,
through my pastures.
It would be more fitting
for you to sew a tapestry
than to come here to visit
another woman’s husband.
[2] “Why are you visiting
my home
from the land above,
you two-faced woman?
You have fed
human blood
to the wolves,
cursed by you.”
Brynhild said:
[3] “Don’t scold me,
you bride from the stones,
even if I did once
go on Viking raids.
I think people would say
{290} that I’m the nobler of us two,
if our ancestry
were compared.”
The giant woman said:
[4] “You were Brynhild,
daughter of Buthli,
born into the world
for the worst luck.
You have destroyed
the children of Gjuki,
changed forever
their once-happy home.”
Brynhild said:
[5] “You are unwise,
but I am wise in my wagon.
I will tell you in brief,
if you want to know
how Gjuki’s sons
made me into
a loveless wife
and an oathbreaker.
[6] “Everyone who knew me