Page:Poeticedda00belluoft.djvu/354
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
Poetic Edda
(IV)
[1]Helgi then assembled a great sea-host and went to Frekastein[2]. On the sea he met a perilous storm; lightning flashed overhead and the bolts struck the ship. They saw in the air that nine Valkyries were riding, and recognized Sigrun among them. Then the storm abated, and they came safe and sound to land. Granmar's sons sat on a certain mountain as the ships sailed toward the land. Gothmund leaped on a horse and rode for news to a promontory near the harbor; the Volsungs were even then lowering their sails. Then Gothmund said, as is written[3] before in the Helgi lay:
"Who is the king who captains the fleet,And to the land the warriors leads?"
Sinfjotli[4], Sigmund's son, answered him, and that too is written.
Gothmund rode home with his tidings of the host;
- ↑ Prose. The manuscript indicates no division. Here again, the annotator has drawn practically all his information from Helgakvitha Hundingsbana I, which he specifically mentions and even quotes. The only new features are the names of Hogni's sons, Bragi and Dag. Bragi is mentioned in stanza 18, though it is not there stated that he is Hogni's son. Dag, who figures largely in stanzas 28-34, is a puzzle, for the verse never names him, and it is an open question where the annotator got his name.
- ↑ Frekastein: cf. Helgakvitha Hjorvarthssonar, 39 and note.
- ↑ As is written: the two lines are quoted, with a change of two words, from Helgakvitha Hundingsbana I, 33.
- ↑ Sinfjotli: cf. Helgakvitha Hundingsbana I, 6 and note, and stanzas 33-48, in which the whole dialogue is given.
- ↑ Loyalty: apparently the annotator got this bit of information out of stanza 29, in which Sigrun refers to the oaths which her brother had sworn to Helgi.
[318]