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Guthrunarkvitha I

As little now  as the leaf I am
On the willow hanging;  my hero is dead.

19. "In his seat, in his bed,  I see no more
My heart's true friend;  the fault is theirs,
The sons of Gjuki,  for all my grief,
That so their sister  sorely weeps.

20.[1] "So shall your land  its people lose
As ye have kept  your oaths of yore;
Gunnar, no joy  the gold shall give thee,
(The rings shall soon  thy slayers be,)
Who swarest oaths  with Sigurth once.

21.[2] "In the court was greater  gladness then
The day my Sigurth  Grani saddled,
And went forth Brynhild's  hand to win,
That woman ill,  in an evil hour."

22.[3] Then Brynhild spake,  the daughter of Buthli:
"May the witch now husband  and children want
Who, Guthrun, loosed  thy tears at last,
And with magic today  hath made thee speak."


  1. Line 4 looks like an interpolation (cf. Fafnismol, 9, line 4), but some editors instead have queried line 5. How Guthrun's curse is fulfilled is told in the subsequent poems. That desire for Sigurth's treasure (the gold cursed by Andvari and Loki) was one of the motives for his murder is indicated in Sigurtharkvitha en skamma (stanza 16), and was clearly a part of the German tradition, as it appears in the Nibelungenlied.
  2. Cf. Gripisspo, 35 and note.
  3. Line 1 is abbreviated in the manuscript.

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