Page:Poeticedda00belluoft.djvu/339

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

Helgakvitha Hundingsbana I

  Gothmund spake:42.[1] "Thou didst not father  Fenrir's-wolves,Though older thou art  than all I know;For they gelded thee  in Gnipalund,The giant-women  at Thorsnes once.
43.[2] "Under houses the stepson  of Siggeir lay,Fain of the wolf's cry  out in the woods;Evil came then  all to thy hands,When thy brothers'  breasts thou didst redden,Fame didst thou win  for foulest deeds.
44.[3] "In Bravoll wast thou  Grani's bride,Golden-bitted  and ready to gallop;I rode thee many  a mile, and downDidst sink, thou giantess,  under the saddle."
  Sinfjotli spake:45.[4] "A brainless fellow  didst seem to be,When once for Gollnir  goats didst milk,

  1. Fenrir's-wolves: wolves in general. Thorsnes: "Thor's Cape."
  2. The phrase "under houses," which follows the manuscript, may be an error for "in wolf-caves." Line 3 (or 4) may be an interpolation. The manuscript indicates line 5 as the beginning of a new stanza. Siggeir: cf. stanza 38, note.
  3. Several editions assign this stanza to Sinfjotli instead of to Gothmund. Bravoll ("Field of the Brow"): not elsewhere mentioned in the poems. Grani: Sigurth's horse (cf. Völundarkvitha, 16 and note); Gothmund means that Sinfjotli had turned into a mare, after the fashion of Loki (cf. Grimnismol, 44, note). The meaning of line 4 in the original is uncertain.
  4. A few editions give this stanza to Gothmund. Gollnir:

[303]