Fragments of the Lay of Brynhild

      HOGNI SAID

What hath wrought Sigurd
 Of any wrong-doing
 That the life of the famed one
 Thou art fain of taking?

 GUNNAR SAID

To me has Sigurd
 Sworn many oaths,
 Sworn many oaths,
 And sworn them lying,
 And he bewrayed me
 When it behoved him
 Of all folk to his troth
 To be the most trusty.

 HOGNI SAID

Thee hath Brynhild
 Unto all bale,
 And all hate whetted,
 And a work of sorrow;
 For she grudges to Gudrun
 All goodly life;
 And to thee the bliss
 Of her very body.

 Some the wolf roasted,
 Some minced the worm,
 Some unto Guttorm
 Gave the wolf-meat,
 Or ever they might
 In their lust for murder
 On the high king
 Lay deadly hand.

 Sigurd lay slain
 On the south of the Rhine.
 High from the fair tree
 Croaked forth the raven,
 “Ah, yet shall Atli
 On you redden edges,
 The old oaths shall weigh
 On your souls, O warriors.”

 Without stood Gudrun,
 Giuki’s daughter,
 And the first word she said
 Was even this word:
 “Where then is Sigurd,
 Lord of the Warfolk,
 Since my kin
 Come riding the foremost?”

 One word Hogni
 Had for an answer:
 “Our swords have smitten
 Sigurd asunder,
 And the grey horse hangs drooping
 O’er his lord lying dead.”

 Then quoth Brynhild,
 Budli’s daughter;
 “Good weal shall ye have
 Of weapons and lands,
 That Sigurd alone
 Would surely have ruled
 If he had lived
 But a little longer.

 “Ah, nothing seemly
 For Sigurd to rule
 Giuki’s house
 And the folk of the Goths,
 When of him five sons
 For the slaying of men,
 Eager for battle
 Should have been begotten!”

 Then laughed Brynhild —
 Loud rang the whole house —
 One laugh only
 From out her heart:
 “Long shall your bliss be
 Of lands and people,
 Whereas the famed lord
 You have felled to the earth!”

 Then spake Gudrun,
 Giuki’s daughter;
 “Much thou speakest,
 Many things fearful,
 All grame be on Gunnar
 The bane of Sigurd!
 From a heart full of hate
 Shall come heavy vengeance.”

 Forth sped the even
 Enow there was drunken,
 Full enow was there
 Of all soft speech;
 And all men got sleep
 When to bed they were gotten;
 Gunnar only lay waking
 Long after all men.

 His feet fell he to moving,
 Fell to speak to himself
 The waster of men,
 Still turned in his mind
 What on the bough
 Those twain would be saying,
 The raven and erne,
 As they rode their ways homeward.

 But Brynhild awoke,
 Budli’s daughter,
 May of the shield-folk,
 A little ere morning:
 “Thrust ye on, hold ye back,
 — Now all harm is wrought, —
 To tell of my sorrow,
 Or to let all slip by me?”

 All kept silence
 After her speaking,
 None might know
 That woman’s mind,
 Or why she must weep
 To tell of the work
 That laughing once
 Of men she prayed.

 BRYNHILD SPAKE

In dreams, O Gunnar,
 Grim things fell on me;
 Dead-cold the hall was,
 And my bed was a-cold,
 And thou, lord, wert riding
 Reft of all bliss,
 Laden with fetters
 ‘Mid the host of thy foemen.

 So now all ye,
 O House of the Niblungs,
 Shall be brought to naught,
 O ye oath-breakers!

 Think’st thou not, Gunnar,
 How that betid,
 When ye let the blood run
 Both in one footstep?
 With ill reward
 Hast thou rewarded
 His heart so fain
 To be the foremost!

 As well was seen
 When he rode his ways,
 That king of all worth,
 Unto my wooing;
 How the host-destroyer
 Held to the vows
 Sworn beforetime,
 Sworn to the young king.

 For his wounding-wand
 All wrought with gold,
 The king beloved
 Laid between us;
 Without were its edges
 Wrought with fire,
 But with venom-drops
 Deep dyed within.
   1
  Thus this song telleth of the death of Sigurd, and setteth forth how that they slew him without doors; but some say that they slew him within doors, sleeping in his bed. But the Dutch Folk say that they slew him out in the wood: and so sayeth the ancient song of Gudrun, that Sigurd and the sons of Giuki were riding to the Thing whenas he was slain. But all with one accord say that they bewrayed him in their troth with him, and fell on him as he lay unarrayed and unawares.