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Poetic Edda

  Sinfjotli spake:39.[1] "A witch in Varin's  isle thou wast,A woman false,  and lies didst fashion;Of the mail-clad heroes  thou wouldst haveNo other, thou saidst,  save Sinfjotli only.
40.[2] "A Valkyrie wast thou,  loathly witch,Evil and base,  in Allfather's home;The warriors all  must ever fight,Woman subtle,  for sake of thee.
41.[3] "............................Nine did we  in SogunesOf wolf-cubs have;  I their father was."

    Sinfjotli killed the two sons of his mother, Signy, and her husband, Siggeir, as part of the vengeance wreaked on Siggeir for the treacherous murder of Sigmund's father, Volsung, and nine of his brothers (cf. Fra Dautha Sinfjotla and note). The manuscript marks line 3 as the beginning of a new stanza.

  1. ↑ Varin's isle: cf. stanza 27 and note, and Helgakvitha Hjorvarthssonar, 22. Reproaching a man with having been a woman and borne children was not uncommon.
  2. ↑ This stanza may be an interpolation in the dialogue passage. Allfather: Othin. We have no information regarding Gothmund's career, but it looks as though Sinfjotli were drawing solely on his imagination for his taunts, whereas Gothmund's insults have a basis in Sinfjotli's previous life.
  3. ↑ No gap indicated in the manuscript; some editors combine the two lines with stanza 40, some regard them as the first instead of the last lines of a separate stanza, and some assume the lacuna here indicated. Sogunes ("Saga's Cape"): of the goddess Saga little is known; cf. Grimnismol, 7.

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