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Helgakvitha Hundingsbana I
6.[1] "In mail-coat stands the son of Sigmund,A half-day old; now day is here;His eyes flash sharp as the heroes' are,He is friend of the wolves; full glad are we."
7.[2] The warrior throng a ruler thought him,Good times, they said, mankind should see;The king himself from battle-press came,To give the prince a leek full proud.
8.[3] Helgi he named him, and Hringstathir gave him,Solfjoll, Snæfjoll, and Sigarsvoll,Hringstoth, Hotun, and Himinvangar,And a blood-snake bedecked to Sinfjotli's brother.
- ↑ Sigmund: the chief link between the Helgi and Sigurth stories. He was the son of Volsung, great-grandson of Othin. His children by his first wife, Borghild, were Helgi and Hamund (belonging to the Helgi cycle); his son by his second wife, Hjordis, was Sigurth. An incestuous connection with his sister, Signy (cf. Wagner's Siegmund and Sieglinde) resulted in the birth of Sinfjotli (cf. Fra Dautha Sinfjotla and note).
- ↑ The king: Sigmund, who gives his son a symbol of the lands which he bestows on him. Regarding the leek, cf. Voluspo, 4; Guthrunarkvitha I, 17, and Sigrdrifumol, 7.
- ↑ Hringstathir ("Ring-Stead"): quite possibly the historical Ringsted, long a possession of the Danish kings, and thus a relic of the old Helgi tradition. Hringstoth may be another form of the same name. Solfjoll ("Sun-Mountain") and Snæfjoll ("Snow-Mountain") are fictitious names. Regarding Sigarsvoll cf. Helgakvitha Hjorvarthssonar, stanzas 8 and 35. Saxo mentions a Danish king named Sigar, and the frequency with which the name appears in the Helgi poems may be taken as a reminiscence of Denmark. Hotun ("High Place"): possibly the village of Tune in Seeland. Himinvangar ("Heaven's Field"): an imaginary place. Blood-snake: a sword. Sinfjotli: cf. note on stanza 6.
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