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Poetic Edda

'Twere good to have  the gold of the Rhine,And all the hoard  in peace to hold,And waiting fortune  thus to win."
17. Few the words  of Hogni were:"Us it beseems not  so to do,To cleave with swords  the oaths we swore,The oaths we swore  and all our vows.
18.[1] "We know no mightier  men on earthThe while we four  o'er the folk hold sway,And while the Hunnish  hero lives,Nor higher kinship  the world doth hold.
19.[2] "If sons we five  shall soon beget,Great, methinks,  our race shall grow;

    stanza 14 at the beginning of stanza 16, Gering marks line 4 as probably spurious; others reject both lines 3 and 4 as mere repetitions. Rhine: the Rhine, the sands of which traditionally contained gold, was apparently the original home of the treasure of the Nibelungs, converted in the North to Andvari's treasure (cf. Reginsmol, 1-9). That greed for Sigurth's wealth was one of the motives for his slaying is indicated likewise in Guthrunarkvitha I, 20, and in the German versions of the story.

  1. ↑ We four: if line 1 of stanza 19 is spurious, or the reference therein to "five" is a blunder, as may well be the case, then the "four" are Sigurth and the three brothers, Gunnar, Hogni, and Gotthorm. But it may be that the poet had in mind a tradition which, as in the Thithrekssaga, gave Gjuki a fourth son, in which case the "four" refers only to the four Gjukungs. Hunnish hero: Sigurth; cf. stanza 4 and note. Some editions put line 4 between lines 1 and 2. Some add lines 1-2 of stanza 19 to stanza 18, marking them as spurious.
  2. ↑ We five: see note on preceding stanza. Some editors mark

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