Part of the Second Lay of Helgi Hunding’s-Bane

HELGI  wedded Sigrun, and they begat sons together, but Helgi lived not to be old; for Dag,  the son of Hogni, sacrificed to Odin, praying that he might avenge his father. So Odin lent Dag his spear, and Dag met Helgi, his brother-in-law, at a place called Fetter-grove, and thrust him through with that spear, and there fell Helgi dead, but Dag rode to Sevafell, and told Sigrun of the news.

Loth am I, sister,
 Of sorrow to tell thee,
 For by hard need driven
 Have I drawn on thee greeting;
 This morning fell
 In Fetter-grove
 The king well deemed
 The best in the wide world,
 Yea, he who stood
 On the necks of the strong.

 SIGRUN

All oaths once sworn
 Shall bite thee sore,
 The oaths that to Helgi
 Once thou swarest
 At the bright white
 Water of Lightening,
 And at the cold rock
 That the sea runneth over.

 May the ship sweep not on
 That should sweep at its swiftest,
 Though the wind desired
 Behind thee driveth!
 May the horse never run
 That should run at his most might
 When from thy foe’s face
 Thou hast most need to flee!

 May the sword never bite
 That thou drawest from scabbard.
 But if round thine head
 In wrath it singeth!

 Then should meet price be paid
 For Helgi’s slaying
 When a wolf thou wert
 Out in the wild-wood,
 Empty of good things,
 Empty of gladness,
 With no meat for thy mouth
 But dead men’s corpses!

 DAG

With mad words thou ravest,
 Thy wits are gone from thee,
 When thou for thy brother
 Such ill fate biddest;
 Odin alone
 Let all this bale loose,
 Casting the strife-runes
 ‘Twixt friends and kindred.

 Rings of red gold
 Will thy brother give thee,
 And the stead of Vandil
 And the lands of Vigdale;
 Have half of the land
 For thy sorrow’s healing,
 O ring-arrayed sweetling
 For thee and thy sons!

 SIGRUN

No more sit I happy
 At Sevafell;
 At day-dawn, at night
 Naught love I my life
 Till broad o’er the people
 My lord’s light breaketh;
 Till his war-horse runneth
 Beneath him hither,
 Well wont to the gold bit —
 Till my king I welcome.

 In such wise did Helgi
 Deal fear around
 To all his foes
 And all their friends
 As when the goat runneth
 Before the wolf’s rage
 Filled with mad fear
 Down from the fell.

 As high above all lords
 Did Helgi bear him
 As the ash-tree’s glory
 From the thorn ariseth,
 Or as the fawn
 With the dew-fall sprinkled
 Is far above
 All other wild things,
 As his horns go gleaming
 ‘Gainst the very heavens.

  A barrow was raised above Helgi, but when he came to Valhall, then Odin bade him be lord of all things there, even as he; so Helgi sang —

      Now shalt thou, Hunding,
 For the help of each man
 Get ready the foot-bath,
 And kindle the fire;
 The hounds shalt thou bind
 And give heed to the horses,
 Give wash to the swine
 Ere to sleep thou goest.
   2
  A bondmaid of Sigrun went in the evening-tide by Helgi’s mound, and there she saw how Helgi rode toward it with a great company; then she sang —
      It is vain things’ beguiling
 That methinks I behold
 Or the ending of all things,
 As ye ride, O ye dead men,
 Smiting with spurs
 Your horses’ sides?
 Or may dead warriors
 Wend their ways homeward?

THE DEAD

No vain things’ beguiling
 Is that thou beholdest
 Nor the ruin of all things;
 Though thou lookest upon us,
 Though we smite with spurs
 Our horses’ sides;
 Rather dead warriors
 May wend their ways homeward.
   3
  Then went the bondmaid home, and told Sigrun, and sang —
      Go out, Sigrun
 From Sevafell,
 If thou listest to look on
 The lord of thy people!
 For the mound is uncovered
 Thither is Helgi come,
 And his wounds are bleeding,
 But the king thee biddeth
 To come and stay
 That stream of sorrow.
   4
  So Sigrun went into the mound to Helgi, and sang —
      Now am I as fain
 Of this fair meeting,
 As are the hungry
 Hawks of Odin,
 When they wot of the slaying
 Of the yet warm quarry,
 Or bright with dew
 See the day a-dawning.

 Ah, I will kiss
 My king laid lifeless,
 Ere thou castest by
 Thy blood-stained byrny.
 O Helgi, thy hair
 Is thick with death’s rime,
 With the dew of the dead
 Is my love all dripping;
 Dead-cold are the hands
 Of the son of Hogni!
 How for thee, O my king,
 May I win healing?

HELGI

Thou alone, Sigrun
 Of Sevafell,
 Hast so done that Helgi
 With grief’s dew drippeth;
 O clad in gold
 Cruel tears thou weepest,
 Bright May of the Southlands,
 Or ever thou sleepest:
 Each tear in blood falleth
 On the breast of thy lord,
 Cold-wet and bitter-sharp
 Swollen with sorrow.

 Ah, we shall drink
 Dear draughts and lovely
 Though we have lost
 Both life and lands;
 Neither shall any
 Sing song of sorrow,
 Though in my breast
 Be wounds wide to behold:
 For now are brides
 In the mound abiding;
 Kings’ daughters sit
 By us departed.
   5
  Now Sigrun arrayed a bed in the mound, and sang:
      Here Helgi, for thee
 A bed have I dight,
 Kind without woe,
 O kin of the Ylfings!
 To thy bosom, O king,
 Will I come and sleep soft,
 As I was wont
 When my lord was living.

HELGI

Now will I call
 Naught not to be hoped for
 Early or late
 At Sevafell,
 When thou in the arms
 Of a dead man art laid,
 White maiden of Hogni,
 Here in the mound:
 And thou yet quick,
 O King’s daughter!

 Now needs must I ride
 On the reddening ways;
 My pale horse must tread
 The highway aloft:
 West must I go
 To Windhelm’s bridge
 Ere the war-winning crowd
 Hall-crower waketh.
   6
  So Helgi rode his ways: and the others gat them gone home to the house. But the next night Sigrun bade the bondwoman have heed of the mound. So at nightfall, whenas Sigrun came to the mound, she sang:
      Here now would he come,
 If to come he were minded;
 Sigmund’s offspring
 From the halls of Odin.
 O me the hope waneth
 Of Helgi’s coming;
 For high on the ash-boughs
 Are the ernes abiding,
 And all folk drift
 Toward the Thing of the dreamland.

THE BONDMAID

Be not foolish of heart,
 And fare all alone
 To the house of the dead,
 O Hero’s daughter!
 For more strong and dreadful
 In the night season
 Are all dead warriors
 Than in the daylight.

But a little while lived Sigrun, because of her sorrow and trouble. But in old time folk trowed that men should be born again, though their troth be now deemed but an old wife’s doting. And so, as folk say, Helgi and Sigrun were born again, and at that tide was he called Helgi the Scathe of Hadding, and she Kara the daughter of Halfdan; and she was a Valkyria, even as is said in the Lay of Kara.