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Helreith Brynhildar

Twelve winters I was,  if know thou wilt,When oaths I yielded  the king so young.
8.[1] "Next I let  the leader of Goths,Hjalmgunnar the old,  go down to hell,And victory brought  to Autha's brother;For this was Othin's  anger mighty.
9.[2] "He beset me with shields  in Skatalund,Red and white,  their rims o'erlapped;He bade that my sleep  should broken beBy him who fear  had nowhere found.
10.[3] "He let round my hall,  that southward looked,The branches' foe  high-leaping burn;Across it he bade  the hero comeWho brought me the gold  that Fafnir guarded.
11.[4] "On Grani rode  the giver of gold,

    whose sake Brynhild defied Othin in slaying Hjalmgunnar. Eight: the Nornageststhattr manuscripts have "sisters of Atli" instead of "sisters eight."

  1. Hjalmgunnar: regarding this king of the Goths (the phrase means little) and his battle with Agnar, brother of Autha, cf. Sigrdrifumol, prose after stanza 4. One Nornageststhattr manuscript has "brother of the giantess" in place of "leader of Goths."
  2. Cf. Sigrdrifumol, prose introduction. Skatalund ("Warriors' Grove"): a mythical name; elsewhere the place where Brynhild lay is called Hindarfjoll.
  3. Branches' foe: fire. Regarding the treasure cf. Fafnismol.
  4. This stanza is presumably an interpolation, reflecting a different version of the story, wherein Sigurth meets Brynhild at the home of her brother-in-law and foster-father, Heimir (cf.

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