Page:Poeticedda00belluoft.djvu/380

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

Poetic Edda

Gold shalt heap  on Grani's back,And, proved in fight,  to Gjuki fare."
  Sigurth spake:14. "To the warrior now  in words so wise,Monarch noble,  more shalt tell;I am Gjuki's guest,  and thence I go:What the life  that I shall lead?"
  Gripir spake:15.[1] "On the rocks there sleeps  the ruler's daughter,Fair in armor,  since Helgi fell;Thou shalt cut  with keen-edged sword,And cleave the byrnie  with Fafnir's killer."

    the tradition (cf. Introductory Note). The statement that Sigurth is to go direct from the slaying of Fafnir to Gjuki's hall involves one of the confusions resulting from the dual personality of Brynhild. In the older (and the original South Germanic) story, Sigurth becomes a guest of the Gjukungs before he has ever heard of Brynhild, and first sees her when, having changed forms with Gunnar, he goes to woo her for the latter. In another version he finds Brynhild before he visits the Gjukungs, only to forget her as the result of the magic draught administered by Guthrun's mother. Both these versions are represented in the poems of which the author of the Gripisspo made use, and he tried, rather clumsily, to combine them, by having Sigurth go to Gjuki's house, then find the unnamed Valkyrie, and then return to Gjuki, the false wooing following this second visit.

  1. ↑ Basing his story on the Sigrdrifumol, the poet here tells of Sigurth's finding of the Valkyrie, whom he does not identify with Brynhild, daughter of Buthli (stanza 27), at all. His error in this respect is not surprising, in view of Brynhild's dual identity (cf. Introductory Note, and Fafnismol, 44 and note).

[344]

This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.