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Gripisspo

  Gripir spake:
33.[1] "Tricked by another,  prince, thou art,
And the price of Grimhild's  wiles thou must pay;
Fain of thee  for the fair-haired maid,
Her daughter, she is,  and she drags thee down."

  Sigurth spake:
34. "Might I with Gunnar  kinship make,
And Guthrun win  to be my wife,
Well the hero  wedded would be,
If my treacherous deed  would trouble me not."

  Gripir spake:
35.[2] "Wholly Grimhild  thy heart deceives,
She will bid thee go  and Brynhild woo
For Gunnar's wife,  the lord of the Goths;
And the prince's mother  thy promise shall win."

  1. ↑ Most editions have no comma after line 3, and change the meaning to "Fain of thee  the fair-haired one / For her daughter is." Grimhild: in the northern form of the story Kriemhild, Gunther's sister and Siegfried's wife, becomes Grimhild, mother of Gunnar and Guthrun, the latter taking Kriemhild's place. The Volsungasaga tells how Grimhild gave Sigurth a magic draught which made him utterly forget Brynhild. Edzardi thinks two stanzas have been lost after stanza 33, their remains appearing in stanza 37.
  2. ↑ In the Volsungasaga Grimhild merely advises Gunnar to seek Brynhild for his wife, and to have Sigurth ride with him. Goths: the historical Gunnar (Gundicarius, cf. Introductory Note) was not a Goth, but a Burgundian, but the word "Goth" was applied in the North without much discrimination to the southern Germanic peoples.

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