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Poetic Edda

[1]Herkja[2] was the name of a serving-woman of Atli's; she had been his concubine. She told Atli that she had seen Thjothrek[3] and Guthrun both together. Atli was greatly angered thereby. Then Guthrun said:

1. "What thy sorrow, Atli,  Buthli's son?Is thy heart heavy-laden?  Why laughest thou never?It would better befit  the warrior farTo speak with men,  and me to look on."
  Atli spake:2.[4] "It troubles me, Guthrun,  Gjuki's daughter,What Herkja here  in the hall hath told me,That thou in the bed  with Thjothrek liest,Beneath the linen  in lovers' guise."
  Guthrun spake:3.[5] "This shall I  with oaths now swear,Swear by the sacred  stone so white,That nought was there  with Thjothmar's sonThat man or woman  may not know.
  1. ↑ Prose. The annotator derived all the material for this note from the poem itself, except for the reference to Herkja as Atli's former concubine.
  2. ↑ Herkja: the historical Kreka and the Helche of the Nibelungenlied, who there appears as Etzel's (Attila's) first wife.
  3. ↑ Thjothrek: cf. Introductory Note.
  4. ↑ The manuscript omits the names of the speakers throughout.
  5. ↑ Holy stone: just what this refers to is uncertain; it may be identical with the "ice-cold stone of Uth" mentioned in an oath in Helgakvitha Hundingsbana II, 29. Thjothmar's son: the manuscript has simply "Thjothmar." Some editions change it as

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