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Sigurtharkvitha en Skamma

To follow her husband  first in death,If counsel good  to her were given,Or a heart akin  to mine she had.
61.[1] "Slowly I speak,—  but for my sakeHer life, methinks,  she shall not lose;She shall wander over  the tossing waves,To where Jonak rules  his father's realm.
62.[2] "Sons to him  she soon shall bear,Heirs therewith  of Jonak's wealth;But Svanhild far  away is sent,The child she bore  to Sigurth brave.
63.[3] "Bikki's word  her death shall be,For dreadful the wrath  of Jormunrek;So slain is all  of Sigurth's race,And greater the woe  of Guthrun grows.

    included in late paper manuscripts, and has been added in most editions.

  1. ↑ Jonak: this king, known only through the Hamthesmol and the stories which, like this one, are based thereon, is another purely northern addition to the legend. The name is apparently of Slavic origin. He appears solely as Guthrun's third husband and the father of Hamther, Sorli, and Erp (cf. introductory prose to Guthrunarhvot).
  2. ↑ Svanhild: cf. stanza 54 and note.
  3. ↑ Bikki: Svanhild is married to the aged Jormunrek (Ermanarich), but Bikki, one of his followers, suggests that she is unduly intimate with Jormunrek's son, Randver. Thereupon Jormunrek has Randver hanged, and Svanhild torn to pieces by wild horses. Ermanarich's cruelty and his barbarous slaying of his wife and son were familiar traditions long before they be-

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