Page:Poeticedda00belluoft.djvu/577
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Guthrunarhvot
"Homeward no more his mother to seeComes the spear-god, fallen mid Gothic folk;One death-draught thou for us all shalt drink,For Svanhild then and thy sons as well."
9. Weeping Guthrun, Gjuki's daughter,Went sadly before the gate to sit,And with tear-stained cheeks to tell the taleOf her mighty griefs, so many in kind.
10. "Three home-fires knew I, three hearths I knew,Home was I brought by husbands three;But Sigurth only of all was dear,He whom my brothers brought to his death.
11.[1] "A greater sorrow I saw not nor knew,Yet more it seemed I must suffer yetWhen the princes great to Atli gave me.
12.[2] "The brave boys I summoned to secret speech;For my woes requital I might not winTill off the heads of the Hniflungs I hewed.
- ↑ Line 1 in the original is of uncertain meaning. Many editors assume the loss of a line after line 1, and some completely reconstruct line 1 on the basis of a hypothetical second line. Princes: Gunnar and Hogni.
- ↑ Some editors assume the loss of one line, or more, before line 1. Hniflungs: Erp and Eitil, the sons of Guthrun and Atli. On the application of the name Niflung (or, as later spelt,
lated here. Spear-god: warrior, i.e., Hamther himself. With this stanza the introductory hvot ("inciting") ends, and stanza 9 introduces the lament which forms the real body of the poem.
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