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Guthrunarkvitha I

Never a better  lord I knew,
And never a woman  worse I found."

10.[1] Grieving could not  Guthrun weep,
Such grief she had  for her husband dead,
And so grim her heart  by the hero's body.

11.[2] Then spake Gollrond,  Gjuki's daughter:
"Thy wisdom finds not,  my foster-mother,
The way to comfort  the wife so young."
She bade them uncover  the warrior's corpse.

12.[3] The shroud she lifted  from Sigurth, laying
His well-loved head  on the knees of his wife:
"Look on thy loved one,  and lay thy lips
To his as if yet  the hero lived."

13. Once alone  did Guthrun look;
His hair all clotted  with blood beheld,
The blinded eyes  that once shone bright,
The hero's breast  that the blade had pierced.

14.[4] Then Guthrun bent,  on her pillow bowed,


  1. Cf. stanza 5 and note. The manuscript abbreviates to first letters.
  2. Gollrond: not elsewhere mentioned. Line 4 looks like an interpolation replacing a line previously lost.
  3. The manuscript indicates line 3 as the beginning of a stanza, and some editors have attempted to follow this arrangement.
  4. Many editors assume the loss of a line from this stanza.

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