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Poetic Edda

The wise nor the wary,  nor the warriors bold.But Gunnar spake forth  as befitted a king,Noble in the beer-hall,  and bitter his scorn:
10.[1] "Stand forth now, Fjornir!  and hither on the floorThe beakers all golden  shalt thou bring to the warriors.....................................
11.[2] "The wolves then shall rule  the wealth of the Niflungs,Wolves aged and grey-hued,  if Gunnar is lost,And black-coated bears  with rending teeth bite,And make glad the dogs,  if Gunnar returns not."

    In line 1 the manuscript has "His comrades did not urge Gunnar," but the name, involving a metrical error, seems to have been inserted through a scribal blunder.

  1. ↑ The manuscript indicates no lacuna, but probably two lines have dropped out, for the Volsungasaga paraphrase runs: "Give us to drink in great cups, for it may well be that this shall be our last feast." Fjornir: Gunnar's cup-bearer.
  2. ↑ Bugge thinks this stanza is spoken by Gunnar's terrified followers; Grundtvig assigns it to Hogni. Apparently, however, Gunnar means that if he and his men are not valiant enough to make the journey and return safely, it matters little what may happen to them. Niflungs: regarding the application of this name to Gunnar's Burgundians cf. Brot, 17 and note. Bears: these "black" bears have been used as arguments against the Greenland origin of the poem. And make glad the dogs: i.e., by giving them corpses to eat, but the phrase in the original is more than doubtful.

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