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Guthrunarkvitha II

26.[1] "Guthrun, gold  to thee I give,The wealth that once  thy father's was,Rings to have,  and Hlothver's halls,And the hangings all  that the monarch had.
27.[2] "Hunnish women,  skilled in weaving,Who gold make fair  to give thee joy,And the wealth of Buthli  thine shall be,Gold-decked one,  as Atli's wife."
  Guthrun spake:28.[3] "A husband now  I will not have,Nor wife of Brynhild's  brother be;It beseems me not  with Buthli's sonHappy to be,  and heirs to bear."

    fit Atli much better than they do Grimhild, and there is nothing unreasonable in Atli's having come in person, along with his tributary kings, to seek Guthrun's hand. However, the "three kings" may not be Atli's followers at all, but Gunnar, Hogni, and the unnamed third brother possibly referred to in Sigurtharkvitha en skamma, 18.

  1. ↑ Thy father's: So the manuscript, in which case the reference is obviously to Gjuki. But some editions omit the "thy," and if Atli, and not Grimhild, is speaking (cf. note on stanza 25), the reference may be, as in line 3 of stanza 27, to the wealth of Atli's father, Buthli. Hlothver: the northern form of the Frankish name Chlodowech (Ludwig), but who this Hlothver was, beyond the fact that he was evidently a Frankish king, is uncertain. If Atli is speaking, he is presumably a Frankish ruler whose land Atli and his Huns have conquered.
  2. ↑ Cf. note on stanza 25 as to the probable speaker.
  3. ↑ In stanzas 28-32 the dialogue, in alternate stanzas, is clearly between Guthrun and her mother, Grimhild, though the manuscript does not indicate the speakers.

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