Page:Poeticedda00belluoft.djvu/574

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

Poetic Edda

fjord to the land of King Jonak[1]; he took her as wife; their sons were Sorli and Erp and Hamther.[2] There was brought up Svanhild[3], Sigurth's daughter; she was married to the mighty Jormunrek[4]. With him was Bikki[5], who counselled that Randver[6], the king's son, should have her. This[7] Bikki told to the king. The king had Randver hanged, and Svanhild trodden to death under horses' feet. And when Guthrun learned this, she spake with her sons.

    Prose. In the manuscript the prose is headed "Of Guthrun," the title "Guthrunarhvot" preceding stanza 1. The prose introduction is used both by Snorri (Skaldskaparmal, chapter 42) and in the Volsungasaga. It would be interesting to know on what the annotator based this note, for neither Bikki nor Randver is mentioned by name in either the Guthrunarhvot or the Hamthesmol. On the prose notes in general, cf. Reginsmol, introductory note.

    Guthrun: on the slaying of Atli by his wife, Guthrun, Sigurth's widow, cf. Atlamol, 83-86 and notes.

  1. ↑ Jonak: a Northern addition to the legend, introduced to account for Svanhild's half-brothers; the name is apparently of Slavic origin.
  2. ↑ Sorli, Erp, and Hamther: Sorli and Hamther are the Sarus and Ammius of the Jordanes story (cf. introductory note). The Volsungasaga follows this note in making Erp likewise a son of Guthrun, but in the Hamthesmol he is a son of Jonak by another wife.
  3. ↑ Svanhild: cf. Sigurtharkvitha en skamma, 54 and note.
  4. ↑ Jormunrek (Ermanarich): cf. introductory note.
  5. ↑ Bikki: the Sifka or Sibicho of the Gothic legends of Ermanarich, whose evil counsel always brings trouble.
  6. ↑ Randver: in the Volsungasaga Jormunrek sends his son Randver with Bikki to seek Svanhild's hand. On the voyage home Bikki says to Randver: "It were right for you to have so fair a wife, and not such an old man." Randver was much pleased with this advice, "and he spake to her with gladness, and she to him." Thus the story becomes near of kin to those of Tristan and Iseult and Paolo and Francesca.
  7. ↑ According to the Volsungasaga, Bikki told Ermanarich that a guilty love existed between his son and his young wife, and presumably the annotator here meant as much by his vague "this."

[538]

This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.