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Poetic Edda

31.[1] Then Gunnar, monarch  of men, spake forth:"Thou dost not laugh,  thou lover of hate,In gladness there,  or for aught of good;Why has thy face  so white a hue,Mother of ill?  Foredoomed thou art.
32.[2] "A worthier woman  wouldst thou have beenIf before thine eyes  we had Atli slain;If thy brother's bleeding  body hadst seenAnd the bloody wounds  that thou shouldst bind."
  Brynhild spake:33.[3] "None mock thee, Gunnar!  thou hast mightily fought,But thy hatred little  doth Atli heed;Longer than thou,  methinks, shall he live,And greater in might  shall he ever remain.
  1. ↑ Line 1 may well be a mere expansion of "Gunnar spake." The manuscript marks line 4 as the beginning of a new stanza, and some editions combine lines 4-5 with stanza 32.
  2. ↑ This stanza, which all editors have accepted as an integral part of the poem, apparently refers to the same story represented by stanzas 37-39, which most editors have (I believe mistakenly) marked as interpolated. As is pointed out in the notes on stanzas 3, 5, 6 and 10, the poet throughout seems to have accepted the version of the story wherein Gunnar and Sigurth besiege Atli, and are bought off by the gift of Atli's sister, Brynhild, to Gunnar as wife, her consent being won by Atli's representation that Gunnar is Sigurth (cf. also Guthrunarkvitha I, 24 and note).
  3. ↑ The manuscript does not name the speaker, and some editions add a first line: "Then Brynhild, daughter  of Buthli, spake."

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