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Poetic Edda

64.[1] "Yet one boon  I beg of thee,The last of boons  in my life it is:Let the pyre be built  so broad in the fieldThat room for us all  will ample be,(For us who slain  with Sigurth are.)
65.[2] "With shields and carpets  cover the pyre,..............Shrouds full fair,  and fallen slaves,And besides the Hunnish  hero burn me.
66.[3] "Besides the Hunnish  hero thereSlaves shall burn,  full bravely decked,Two at his head  and two at his feet,A brace of hounds  and a pair of hawks,For so shall all  be seemly done.
67.[4] "Let between us  lie once more

    came in any way connected with the Sigurth cycle (cf. introductory note to Gripisspo).

  1. ↑ Line 5 is very probably spurious.
  2. ↑ The manuscript indicates no gap; a suggested addition runs "Gold let there be,  and jewels bright." Fallen slaves: cf. stanza 66 and 69. Hunnish hero: cf. stanza 4 and note.
  3. ↑ In place of lines 3-4 the manuscript has one line "Two at his head,  and a pair of hawks"; the addition is made from the Volsungasaga paraphrase. The burning or burying of slaves or beasts to accompany their masters in death was a general custom in the North. The number of slaves indicated in this stanza does not tally with the one given in stanza 69, wherefore Vigfusson rejects most of this stanza.
  4. ↑

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