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Poetic Edda

20.[1] "Fifteen dwellings  fain would he give
For me, and the burden  that Grani bore;
But Atli said  he would never receive
Marriage gold  from Gjuki's son.

21. "Yet could we not  our love o'ercome,
And my head I laid  on the hero's shoulder;
Many there were  of kinsmen mine
Who said that together  us they had seen.

22. "Atli said  that never I
Would evil plan,  or ill deed do;
But none may this  of another think,
Or surely speak,  when love is shared.

23.[2] "Soon his men  did Atli send,
In the murky wood  on me to spy;
Thither they came  where they should not come,
Where beneath one cover  close we lay.

24.[3] "To the warriors ruddy  rings we offered,
That nought to Atli  e'er they should say;


    Gering maintains, payment offered by Gunnar and Hogni for Brynhild's death, but more probably, as in stanza 20, Gunnar's proffered "marriage gold" for the hand of Oddrun.

  1. Grani's burden: the treasure won by Sigurth from Fafnir; cf. Fafnismol, concluding prose. The manuscript marks line 3 as beginning a new stanza, as also in stanzas 21 and 22.
  2. Murky wood: the forest which divided Atli's realm from that of the Gjukungs is in Atlakvitha, 3, called Myrkwood. This hardly accords with the extraordinary geography of stanzas 28-29, or with the journey described in Guthrunarkvitha II, 36.

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