what gift will you give
to accompany my name-giving,
you lovely woman?
I think you know
what everyone’s names are.
But I will not accept my name,
unless I get you as a gift along with it.”
{180} The Valkyrie said:
[8] “I know where there lie
forty-six
swords
in Sigarsholm.
But one of those
shield-breaking blades
is better than the others;
it’s decked with gold.
[9] “There’s a ring in the hilt,
and courage in its middle,
and there’s fear in its point—
fear of the man who wields it.
A blood-colored serpent
decorates the blade;
another serpent bites its tail
on the hilt’s hand-guard.”
A king was named Eylimi; he had a daughter named Svava. She was a Valkyrie who rode on the waves and winds. It was she who gave Helgi his name, and who defended him in many battles afterwards.
Helgi said:
[10] “Hjorvarth, you are not
a wise king,
not a good leader of men,
though you are wise enough.
You’ve burned the halls
of other kings,
who had given you
no provocation.
[11] “But Hrothmar
will come to power,
and own the rings
our people have owned.
That man fears no one
in this life; he thinks
he’ll own our inheritance
when we’re all dead.”
{181} Hjorvarth said he would let Helgi have an army, if Helgi would avenge his mother’s father, King Svafnir. Then Helgi found the sword Svava had told him about, and he and Atli went and killed Hrothmar and did many other great warlike deeds.
Helgi killed the giant Hati where he sat on a hill. Then Helgi and Atli anchored their ships in Hati’s Fjord. Atli stood watch during the first part of the night. Then Hrimgerth, the daughter of Hati, said:
[12] “Who are you men
in Hati’s Fjord?
Your ships are decked
with shields.
You speak boldly;
I think you fear nothing—
tell me the name of your king.”
Atli said:
[13] “He is named Helgi,
but you can’t do any harm
to that fierce man.
There are iron ships
in his fleet; they’re too tough
even for a giant woman.”
[14] “What are you named,”
asked Hrimgerth, “you strong man?
What do people call you?
Your king must trust you,
since he lets you
stand on the fair ship’s prow.”
[15] “I am named Atli,
and I will be fierce against you;
I have great hate of giant women.
I’ve often stood
on a ship’s wet prow,
I’ve often killed witch women.
{182} [16] “And what are you called,
you corpse-hungry sorceress,
you monster? Name your father, too.
You ought to be lying
nine miles below the earth,
with a tree’s roots in you.”
[17] “I am named Hrimgerth,
and my father is Hati,
who I think is the greatest of giants.
He had many women,
all stolen from their homes,
before Helgi killed him.”
[18] “Witch, you’ve been here
by the king’s ships,
you’ve waited in the fjord’s mouth.
You were meaning
to give the king’s men to Ran,
if their spears didn’t kill you first.”
[19] “I think you’ve been
deluded by a dream, Atli:
I see your eyelashes sunk low.
My mother lay in wait
for the king’s ships, and I
drowned Hlothvarth’s sons in the sea.
[20] “And now you would shout, Atli,
if you weren’t a gelding—
now I, Hrimgerth, stretch out my neck.
You have a coward’s heart,
Atli, though I think
you have a handsome voice.”
[21] “A gelding? You’ll think I’m
a stallion if you get to try me,
if I come ashore from my ship.
You’ll have all your bones
broken, if I carry out my threats—
I’ll hang you by your neck, Hrimgerth.”
{183} [22] “Come to land, Atli,
if you have the courage,
and we’ll meet in Varin’s bay.
I’ll straighten out
your ribs, boy,
if you come within my grasp.”
[23] “I won’t leave
till the men wake,
and take over the watch for the king.
I can’t be sure
when you’ll come
to attack our ship, you monster.”
[24] “Wake, Helgi!”
said Hrimgerth. “Pay me back
for when you killed my father—
sleep at my side
for one night,
and I’ll consider the debt paid.”
[25] Helgi said, “Only a hairy beast
would take you, you’re too ugly.
But a giant, a very wise giant,
the worst kind of lava-monster,
lives in Tholley,
and he’d be a good match for you.”
[26] Hrimgerth said, “Helgi,
you’d rather have Svava,
who ruled the sea last night—
that sparkling sea
seemed stronger than I am.
Here the land rises from the sea
and holds your fleet,
and she alone
is the reason
I couldn’t kill your men.”
{184} [27] “Hear me, Hrimgerth,” said Helgi.
“If I’m going to compensate you
for your father, tell me more:
Was it just one lady
who saved my ships,
or were there more of them?”
[28] “There were twenty-seven,
though one rode before them all,
a beautiful lady wearing a helmet.
Their mares were stirred up,
dew dripped from their manes
into the deep trenches,
like hail upon the high trees
when the year turns;
I hated all this as I saw it.”
[29] “Look to the east now, Hrimgerth!
I, Helgi, have
kept you talking till your death.
My fleet is saved
on land and on sea,
and my men are spared your terrors.”
[30] “It’s morning, Hrimgerth!
I, Atli, have
kept you talking till your death.
Now you’ll become
just a ridiculous
standing stone in the sea.”
King Helgi was a great warrior. He came to King Eylimi and asked for the hand of his daughter Svava. Helgi and Svava swore their faithfulness to one another, and they loved each other very much. Svava stayed at home with her father, and Helgi went out on raids. Svava was still a Valkyrie, as she had been before.
Helgi’s half-brother Hethin also stayed at home with their father, King Hjorvarth, in Norway.
One time Hethin was away from home alone on a winter evening, and he met a giant woman. She was riding a wolf, and she was using snakes as reins. She offered to accompany Hethin. {185} He refused her, and she said, “You’ll repay this at the feast, when you mak
e your oaths.”
That evening there was a feast, and oaths were sworn. A big boar was brought in, and men laid their hands on it and swore oaths as they drank. Hethin swore that he would take Svava, daughter of Eylimi, his brother Helgi’s lover, but later he regretted this oath so much that he wandered wild roads to the south alone, and eventually he met his brother Helgi. Helgi said:
[31] “Greetings, Hethin!
What news
can you tell me
from Norway?
Young ruler,
why are you in exile?
Why have you come alone
to seek me?”
[32] “A much greater
misfortune has befallen me:
I swore to take
your noble-born
bride, when I made
my oath at the feast.”
[33] “Don’t concern yourself,
Hethin; the oaths
men make while drinking
will always prove true.
A king has challenged me
to a duel, and before three nights
have passed, I must meet him
at the appointed place.
I doubt that I
will survive;
and then it would be good,
if you took Svava.”
[34] “Are you saying, Helgi,
that I still deserve
your good will,
and gifts from you?
{186} It would be more befitting
if you bloodied your sword
in me, than if you gave
your enemy peace.”
Helgi spoke as he did because he suspected he was doomed, and that the troll-woman that Hethin had seen riding the wolf was in fact Helgi’s own guardian spirit, and she had caused Hethin to speak as he had.
There was a king named Alf, son of Hrothmar, and it was he who had challenged Helgi to meet him for a duel on Sigarsvellir before three nights had passed. Then Helgi said:
[35] “That dark
giant woman
rode a wolf,
she offered to go with Hethin—
she knew that I,
Sigerlinn’s son,
would be slain
on Sigarsvellir.”
Then there was a great battle, and Helgi was mortally wounded.
Sigar to ride
to Svava,
Eylimi’s daughter—
he said to tell her
to make haste,
if she wanted to see
Helgi alive.
[37] Sigar said,
“Helgi sent me
to you, Svava,
he gave me a message.
That warrior wants
to see you again,
before the noble man
falls dead of his wounds.”
[38] Svava said,
“What has happened
{187} to Helgi, son of Hjorvarth?
This is a terrible sorrow for me.
But whether he drowned in the sea,
or was torn by a sword,
I’ll pay this back in full
to the man who caused it.”
[39] Sigar said, “Helgi,
the best king under the sun,
fell this morning
at Frekastein.
Alf has
total victory,
although it didn’t
have to end this way.”
[40] Helgi said,
“Welcome, Svava,
this will be our last
meeting in life.
Spread a blanket
beneath my body;
a sword has come
too near my heart.
[41] “I ask you,
Svava, my bride,
if you will heed
my dying words—
that you will sleep
by Hethin,
that you will love
my young brother.”
[42] Svava said,
“Helgi, when you
gave me rings,
I said this:
I said I would never
willingly in my life
{188} put my arms around
another man, if you died.”
[43] “Kiss me, Svava,”
said Hethin.
“I won’t ever return
to Rogheim or Rothulsfjoll,
before I’ve avenged
Helgi, Hjorvarth’s son.
That man was the best
beneath the sun.”
It is said that Helgi and Svava were reincarnated.
{189} Helgakvitha Hundingsbana I (The First Poem of Helgi, Killer of Hunding)
The Helgi of the next two poems is the son of the hero Sigmund and his wife Borghild. This, the first of these two poems, begins with Helgi’s birth, which is attended by the Norns (goddess-like figures who determine fate). The Norns predict Helgi will be famous and rule a wide kingdom; a raven also predicts his success as a warrior. Helgi lives up to these expectations and kills King Hunding while he is still only fifteen years old. He refuses to compensate Hunding’s sons for their father’s loss, and he kills them in a subsequent battle.
After this battle, he sees Valkyries in the sky, and he desires Sigrun, their leader. She tells him, however, that she has been promised by her father Hogni to marry King Hothbrodd. She asks Helgi to fight him for her hand in marriage, which Helgi eagerly agrees to do. He sails with a great navy to do battle with Hothbrodd. Upon arriving at his kingdom, Hothbrodd’s brother Guthmund interrogates them from the shore, and becomes embroiled in an exchange of insults with Helgi’s half-brother Sinfjotli (this exchange comprises st. 32–44). Helgi finally stops the banter by entreating them to fight with weapons like men. Helgi and Sinfjotli win the ensuing battle, and Sigrun congratulates Helgi, telling him he has won Hothbrodd’s lands as well as her hand in marriage.
Helgakvitha Hundingsbana I
Here begins the poem of the Volsungs, the poem about Helgi, the killer of Hunding and Hothbrodd:
[1] IT WAS IN ANCIENT DAYS
when eagles cried,
and holy waters fell
from the mountains of heaven.
Then Helgi,
the bold man,
was born to Borghild
in Bralund.
{190} [2] It was night in the house
when the Norns came in,
the ones who make fate
for the noble-born.
They said the boy
would be a very famous king,
he would be considered
the best of all rulers.
[3] They decided his fate
with their power,
when they broke the walls
of Bralund.
They had bands
made of gold;
they laid them down
under the night-time sky.
[4] They hid their ends
in the east and west,
to show the borders
of the lands this king would rule.
One of the Norns
hid the third end
in the north; she said
it would hold forever.
[5] One thing grieved
Sigmund, Helgi’s father,
and his wife
Borghild, Helgi’s mother.
One raven said
to another raven,
“I know something:
[6] “Sigmund’s young son
will wear armor!
He’s just a day old;
his first day has just dawned.
But he has sharp eyes
{191} like a war-king;
that boy’s a friend of wolves—
we’ll be happy and well-fed!”
[7] The boy grew up
and was warlike at a young age;
they said he was already
reckoned as a man.
King Sig
mund himself
returned from battle
to give the young prince
a worthy sword.
[8] Sigmund named him Helgi,
and gave him lands—
Solfjoll, Snofjoll,
Sigarsvellir, Hringstath,
Hringstoth, Hatun,
and Himinvangar—
young Helgi
held a ready sword.
[9] Then the young king
began to grow up,
a noble tree
in the company of his kinsmen.
He paid his men
in gold—he was no miser
with the loot
from his campaigns.
[10] He did not have long
to wait for battle.
When the young man
was just fifteen years old,
he killed the brave
King Hunding,
who had ruled lands
and men a long time.
{192} [11] But the sons of Hunding
sent him a message,
they demanded compensation
in the form of money.
They had much to avenge—
Helgi had killed their father,
and taken
much wealth.
[12] Helgi paid them
nothing of what they asked;
he would not compensate them
for the loss of their father.
Instead he called for
stormy weather,
for a rain of gray spears
and the wrath of Odin.
[13] Those kings
rode to battle;
the battle was held
at Logafjoll.
They broke the peace
of King Frothi’s time;
Odin’s wolves
did not go hungry.
[14] Helgi rested
after he killed them
beneath Arastein—
Alf and Eyjolf,
Hjorvarth and Havarth,
all the sons of Hunding.
He destroyed the whole
family of that warrior.
[15] Then light shone
from Logafjoll,
and in those lights
he saw lightning.
He saw Valkyries
{193} wearing helmets
in the high heavens;
their armor was bloody,
and banners waved
from their spears.
[16] Right away
King Helgi asked
those armed women,
those southern Valkyries,
if they would go home
with the warriors
that night.
Battle raged all around.
[17] And Sigrun,
daughter of Hogni,
said to that king from her horse
as the battle died down:
“I think we have
other business
than drinking beer
with warriors tonight.
[18] “My father
promised me
to Hothbrodd,
the grim son of Granmar.
But I tell you, Helgi,
I said to that good king