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Poetic Edda

68.[1] "Our childhood did we have  in a single house,
We played many a game,  in the grove did we grow;
Then did Grimhild give us  gold and necklaces;
Thou shalt ne'er make amends  for my brother's murder,
Nor ever shalt win me  to think it was well.

69.[2] "But the fierceness of men  rules the fate of women,
The tree-top bows low  if bereft of its leaves,
The tree bends over  if the roots are cleft under it;
Now mayest thou, Atli,  o'er all things here rule."

70.[3] Full heedless the warrior  was that he trusted her,
So clear was her guile  if on guard he had been;
But crafty was Guthrun,  with cunning she spake,
Her glance she made pleasant,  with two shields she played.

  1. ↑ Line 5 is very probably a later addition, though some editors question line 3 instead.
  2. ↑ Guthrun suddenly changes her tone in order to make Atli believe that she is submissive to his will, and thus to gain time for her vengeance. Line 2 in the original is thoroughly obscure; it runs literally: "On the knee goes the fist  if the twigs are taken off." Perhaps the word meaning "fist" may also have meant "tree-top," as Gering suggests, or perhaps the line is an illogical blending of the ideas contained in lines 1 and 3.
  3. ↑ The manuscript indicates line 3 as the beginning of a new stanza. Two shields, etc.: i. e., Guthrun concealed her hostility (symbolized by a red shield, cf. Helgakvitha Hundingsbana I, 34) by a show of friendliness (a white shield).

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