Page:Poeticedda00belluoft.djvu/471
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Sigurtharkvitha en Skamma
On all her wealth her eyes were gazing,
On the bond-women slain and the slaughtered slaves.
On the bond-women slain and the slaughtered slaves.
47.[1] Her byrnie of gold she donned, and grim
Was her heart ere the point of her sword had pierced it;
On the pillow at last her head she laid,
And, wounded, her plan she pondered o'er.
Was her heart ere the point of her sword had pierced it;
On the pillow at last her head she laid,
And, wounded, her plan she pondered o'er.
48.[2] "Hither I will that my women come
Who gold are fain from me to get;
Necklaces fashioned fair to each
Shall I give, and cloth, and garments bright."
Who gold are fain from me to get;
Necklaces fashioned fair to each
Shall I give, and cloth, and garments bright."
49.[3] Silent were all as so she spake,
And all together answer made:
"Slain are enough; we seek to live,
Not thus thy women shall honor win."
And all together answer made:
"Slain are enough; we seek to live,
Not thus thy women shall honor win."
- ↑ The manuscript marks line 3, and not line 1, as beginning a stanza, and some editions treat lines 3-4 as a separate stanza, or combine them with stanza 48.
- ↑ Brynhild means, as stanzas 49-51 show, that those of her women who wish to win rewards must be ready to follow her in death. The word translated "women" in line 1 is conjectural, but the general meaning is clear enough.
- ↑ In place of "as so she spake" in line 1 the manuscript has
editions treat lines 1-2 as a separate stanza, and combine lines 3-4 with lines 1-2 of stanza 47. Jewel-bearer (literally "land of jewels"): woman, here Brynhild. Bond-women, etc.: in stanza 69 we learn that five female slaves and eight serfs were killed to be burned on the funeral pyre, and thus to follow Sigurth in death.
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