Page:Poeticedda00belluoft.djvu/579

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

Guthrunarhvot

On his couch, of victory robbed, they killed;And grimmest of all when to Gunnar's heartThere crept the bright-hued crawling snakes.

18.^[1] "And keenest of all when they cut the heartFrom the living breast of the king so brave;Many woes I remember, .......................

19.^[2] "Bridle, Sigurth, thy steed so black,Hither let run thy swift-faring horse;Here there sits not son or daughterWho yet to Guthrun gifts shall give.

later interpolations, although the compilers of the Volsungasaga knew them as they stand here. The whole passage depends on the shades of difference in the meanings of the various superlatives: harþastr, "hardest"; sárastr, "sorest"; grimmastr, "grimmest," and hvassastr, "keenest." Snakes: cf. Drap Niflunga.

↑ The king: Hogni; cf. Atlakvitha, 25. The manuscript marks line 3 as beginning a new stanza. Most editors agree that there is a more or less extensive gap after stanza 18, and some of them contend that the original ending of the poem is lost, stanzas 19-21 coming from a different poem, probably a lament closely following Sigurth's death.
↑ The manuscript does not indicate line 1 as beginning a stanza, and it immediately follows the fragmentary line 3 of stanza 18. The resemblance between stanzas 19-21 and stanzas 64-69 of Sigurtharkvitha en skamma suggests that, in some otherwise lost version of the story, Guthrun, like Brynhild, sought to die soon after Sigurth's death. Thy steed: Guthrun's appeal to the dead Sigurth to ride back to earth to meet her is reminiscent of the episode related in Helgakvitha Hundingsbana II, 39-48. The promise mentioned in stanza 20 is spoken of elsewhere only in the Volsungasaga paraphrase of this passage.

[543]

[1] The king: Hogni; cf. Atlakvitha, 25. The manuscript marks line 3 as beginning a new stanza. Most editors agree that there is a more or less extensive gap after stanza 18, and some of them contend that the original ending of the poem is lost, stanzas 19-21 coming from a different poem, probably a lament closely following Sigurth's death.

[Guthrunarhvot_19-2] The manuscript does not indicate line 1 as beginning a stanza, and it immediately follows the fragmentary line 3 of stanza 18. The resemblance between stanzas 19-21 and stanzas 64-69 of Sigurtharkvitha en skamma suggests that, in some otherwise lost version of the story, Guthrun, like Brynhild, sought to die soon after Sigurth's death. Thy steed: Guthrun's appeal to the dead Sigurth to ride back to earth to meet her is reminiscent of the episode related in Helgakvitha Hundingsbana II, 39-48. The promise mentioned in stanza 20 is spoken of elsewhere only in the Volsungasaga paraphrase of this passage.

[1]

[2]