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Helgakvitha Hundingsbana II

  Sigrun spake:9. "Of battle thou tellest,  and there was bentHunding the king  before Helgi down;There was carnage when thou  didst avenge thy kin,And blood flowed fast  on the blade of the sword."
  Helgi spake:10.[1] "How didst thou know  that now our kin,Maiden wise,  we have well avenged?Many there are  of the sons of the mightyWho share alike  our lofty race."
  Sigrun spake:11.[2] "Not far was I  from the lord of the folk,Yester morn,  when the monarch was slain;Though crafty the son  of Sigmund, methinks,When he speaks of the fight  in slaughter-runes.
12.[3] "On the long-ship once  I saw thee well,When in the blood-stained  bow thou wast,
  1. ↑ Helgi's meaning in lines 3-4 is that, although he has already declared himself an Ylfing (stanza 8, line 1), there are many heroes of that race, and he does not understand how Sigrun knows him to be Helgi.
  2. ↑ Slaughter-runes: equivocal or deceptive speech regarding the battle. The word "rune" had the meaning of "magic" or "mystery" long before it was applied to the signs or characters with which it was later identified.
  3. ↑ Some editors reject line 3, others line 5. The manuscript omits Helgi's name in line 5, thereby destroying both the sense and the meter. Vigfusson, following his Karuljoth theory (cf.

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