that he seemed no better
to me than a tomcat.
[19] “Now he will come
for me in a few short nights,
unless you
invite him to battle,
or take me by force
from my father.”
{194} [20] Helgi said, “Do not fear
for Helgi, enemy of Hothbrodd!
There will be a battle
before I fall dead.”
[21] King Helgi
sent messages
by air and sea
to summon an army.
He promised
his men and their sons
that there was plenty
of gold to be won.
[22] He said, “Tell my men
to go straight to their ships,
be ready to sail
out of Brandey!”
The king waited there
till hundreds of men
came to him
from Hethinsey.
[23] His own ships
left their moorings
at the docks of
Stafnsnes, decked with gold.
Helgi asked
Hjorleif then:
“Have you taken count
of our brave men?”
[24] Hjorleif said
to Helgi,
after he began to count
the serpent-headed
ships out of Tronueyri
and the men on them,
as they entered
Orvasund:
{195} [25] “I count one-thousand,
four hundred and forty trusty men,
and still twice as many
of the king’s men
are in Hatun.
I expect a battle.”
[26] The captain
drew the covers back,
woke up
the king’s men
on board
to see the dawning sun,
and the kings
hoisted up
their sails
in Varinsfjord.
[27] Eagles cried,
and swords clashed,
shield struck shield,
Vikings rowed.
That fleet
of kings
traveled swiftly
far from land.
[28] It was like hearing
the hills, or the ocean
breaking apart,
to hear the waves
breaking against
those long ships’ keels.
[29] Helgi commanded them
to raise the sails yet higher;
the waves
of the storm
would not swallow them,
though the shipwreck-god’s
{196} daughters might try
to drown the ships.
[30] But bold Sigrun
protected them,
she flew above
their danger.
With the strength
of Ran in her hand,
she saved the ships
at Gnipalund.
[31] The fleet of
beautiful ships
moored in the evening
at Unavagir,
and then the people
of Svarinshaug
could count their enemies
with worry in their thoughts.
[32] Among them,
half-god Guthmund asked:
“Who is the king
who leads this army
and directs this force
against our land?”
[33] Sinfjotli, Helgi’s brother,
spoke up from his ship
with a red battle-shield
rimmed with gold.
He was a leader of men,
who knew how to answer
and exchange words
with noble men:
[34] “Tonight, when you feed
your pigs, when you throw
some food in your dogs’ bowls,
tell them this:
{197} The Volsungs have come
from out of the east,
eager warriors
from Gnipalund.
[35] “In the middle of the fleet,
Hothbrodd will find
Helgi, a warrior
who is reluctant to flee.
He is a man
who has often fed eagles
while you sat on millstones
kissing slavegirls.”
[36] Guthmund said, “My lord,
you don’t know much
about old stories, if you
mock noble-born men with lies.
You have eaten
dead men’s flesh,
you have killed
your own brothers,
your cold mouth
has often sucked wounds—
you’ve lived, hated by everyone,
in a stone pile.”
[37] Sinfjotli said, “You were
a witch-woman on Varinsey,
a crafty woman,
a teller of lies,
you said
you would never
accept any man as husband—
except me.
[38] “You liar,
you were a Valkyrie—
a fierce, foul female
in Odin’s service.
You self-righteous woman,
{198} you wanted all the men
in Valhalla
to fight over you.
[39] “You and I had
nine wolf-children
on Sagunes;
I was the father of them all.”
[40] Guthmund said,
“You weren’t father
to any wolves,
you’re older than all of them;
and I remember when
some giant women
castrated you
at Gnipalund on Thorsnes.
[41] “You were Siggeir’s stepson,
you slept in the straw at home,
you were used to hearing
wolves cry in the woods outside.
All your misfortune
came to you
when you cut open the chests
of your brothers;
you’ve won a famous name
for your evil deeds.”
[42] Sinfjotli said, “You were
the mare of the stallion Grani at Bravoll,
you wore a gold bit,
and you were used for racing.
I’ve often ridden on you
on downhill races—
you were a tired, skinny mare,
a troll beneath my saddle.
[43] “No one thought you
were any kind of man
when you milked
{199} the goats of Gullnir,
or when you were
the daughter of Imd,
wearing a ratty dress.
Should I say any more?”
[44] Guthmund said,
“I would rather feed
your carcass to the ravens
at Frekastein
than feed your pigs,
or throw food
in your dogs’ bowls.
Let’s exchange sword-blows.”
[45] Helgi said,
“It would be better
for both of you, Sinfjotli,
to fight, to feed flesh to the eagles,
than to exchange
these pointless words,
even if you hate
each other so immensely.
[46] “Granmar’s sons
seem no good to me,
but it’s appropriate
for nobles to speak truth only.
They showed us
at Moinsheim
that they have the courage
to draw swords.”
[47] Guthmund and his brothers
named Sviputh and Sveggjuth,
to Solheimar,
over valleys wet with dew,
over dark hillsides;
the earth shook
where the men rode.
{200} [48] They met Hothbrodd
at his gate,
they said that Helgi
had come to bring war.
Hothbrodd was there
with a helmet on his head,
he wondered about
the way his brother was riding.
He asked, “Why have you come
with this worried expression?”
[49] Guthmund said,
“Swift ships are here,
sailing ships with
long oars,
carven oars
and many shields,
a great army of kings,
the valorous Volsungs.
[50] “Fifteen armies
are coming up on land;
eight thousand, four hundred
are still out in Sogn.
Blue-black ships,
decorated with gold,
lie at anchor at the gates
of Gnipalund.
That’s where the biggest part
of their armed force is.
Now Helgi will strike
without delay.”
[51] Hothbrodd said,
“Let our saddled horses
run to the battle;
let Sporvitnar run to
Sparinsheith,
and Melnir and Mylnir
to Mirkwood.
Let no man
{201} who can draw a sword
stay behind.
[52] “We’ll invite Hogni
and the sons of Hring,
Atli and Yngvi,
and Alf the Old,
the ones who are
eager for battle,
we’ll show strong resistance
to the Volsungs.”
[53] There was a storm there
when the pale spears
started to fly
at Frekastein.
Helgi,
the killer of Hunding,
was always at the front
when men were fighting.
He was always at the front,
he never thought of fleeing—
that warrior
had a hard heart.
[54] Then the Valkyries
came down from heaven,
they defended their princes,
the roar of war grew greater.
Then Sigrun, the flying
Valkyrie, spoke
as the wolves
began to tear the fallen:
[55] “Hail to you, Helgi,
son of Volsungs—
enjoy these victories,
and live well
now that you
have killed
{202} that unfleeing prince
who killed another.
[56] “Now it’s fitting for you,
King, to take the
golden rings, and take me
to be your powerful wife.
Hail to you, King,
enjoy both
the daughter of Hogni
and the lands of Hringstath,
both the victory and the lands.
Now the battle is done.”
{203} Helgakvitha Hundingsbana II (The Second Poem of Helgi, Killer of Hunding)
The second of the two poems about Helgi Sigmundsson tells a more complete version of his life, and this includes retelling some events from the first poem. The poem moves swiftly between scenes and can be rather confusing; a summary is called for to ground readers in the basic characters and action of the poem.
Helgi, son of King Sigmund, is fostered by King Hagal. Helgi disguises himself as Hagal’s son Hamal and goes to spy on his father’s enemy King Hunding. After Helgi’s true identity is revealed, he flees back to Hagal. Hunding sends men, including a follower named Blind, to search for him at Hagal’s, but Helgi disguises himself as a slavewoman. Blind notices that this “slavewoman” has unusually fierce eyes, to which Hagal responds that she is a captured Valkyrie. This ruse allows Helgi to escape capture.
Helgi later kills Hunding, and soon thereafter he meets the Valkyrie Sigrun. He pretends to be Hamal once again, but Sigrun recognizes him for who he really is. She tells him that she has been promised by her father Hogni to marry King Hothbrodd, and she asks Helgi to fight Hothbrodd for her hand in marriage.
Helgi 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. Helgi finally stops the banter by urging them to fight with weapons like men. In the ensuing battle, Helgi kills Hothbrodd as well as many of Hothbrodd’s allies, including his lover Sigrun’s own father and her brother Bragi, though he spares her brother Dag. Helgi and Sigrun are married.
Dag, however, cannot bear to see the killer of his father and brothers alive, and he kills his brother-in-law Helgi with a spear he has borrowed from Odin. The fallen Helgi goes to Valhalla, but returns to his burial mound one night and sleeps with his wife Sigrun there. After his return to Valhalla, Sigrun continues to wait for him but he never comes back, and she dies in her sorrow.
Yet another reincarnation of Helgi is mentioned in the prose note at the end of the poem, with an allusion to a poem called the “Song of Kara.” This poem is now lost.
{204} Helgakvitha Hundingsbana II
King Sigmund, son of Volsung, was married to Borghild from Bralund. They named their son Helgi, after Helgi Hjorvarthsson. Hagal fostered Helgi.
There was a powerful king named Hunding; Hundland is named for him. He was a great warrior, and he had many sons who went on raids. There was no peace between King Hunding and King Sigmund, and they feuded. They each killed one another’s kinsmen.
King Sigmund and his kinsmen were called the Volsungs and the Ylfings. Helgi went to the court of King Hunding and spied on him in secret. Heming, the son of King Hunding, was at home. And when Helgi left, he encountered a man named Hjarthar, and Helgi said:
[1] “TELL HEMING
that I remember
when the armor-clad warriors
killed one another.
You had a gray wolf
though King Hunding
thought it was Hamal.”
Hamal was the name of a son of Hagal. King Hunding sent men to Hagal to search for Helgi, and Helgi could not save himself in any other way than by putting on a slavewoman’s dress and grinding grain. So they searched for Helgi and did not find him. Then Blind the Crafty said:
[2] “Hagal has a
sharp-eyed slavewoman!
That’s no commoner’s daughter
who’s grinding the grain.
She’s splitting the stones,
she’s making the grain-basket shake.
[3] “Now you, crafty young prince,
must have fallen on hard times,
when you’re the one
who has to grind the grain.
It would befit you better
{205} if your hand
held a sword-hilt
rather than a grindstone.”
Hagal answered:
[4] “It’s not much danger
if the grain-basket shakes
when my slavegirl
moves it.
I saw her walking
above the clouds,
and she dared to fight
like a Viking
before Helgi
put her in chains.
She’s a sister
of Sigar and Hogni—
that’s why this slavegirl
of the Ylfings has fierce eyes.”
Helgi escaped and got away on a warship. He killed King Hunding, and afterwards he was called Helgi Hunding-Killer. He went with his army to Brunavagar and raided the beach there and ate raw meat.
Hogni was the name of a king. His da
ughter was named Sigrun. She was a Valkyrie and rode over wind and sea. She was the reincarnation of Svava. Sigrun rode up to Helgi’s ships and said:
[5] “Who commands
these ships at this shore?
Warriors, where do you
call home?
What do you want
in Brunavagar?
Where have you thought
to go afterwards?”
[6] “I am named Hamal,”
said Helgi, “and I
command these ships.
We come from Hlesey.
What we want in Brunavagar
{206} is a good breeze;
we mean to sail east
from this place.”
[7] Sigrun said, “King,
where have you fought battles?
Where have you set
a table for the ravens?
Why is your armor
blood-soaked?
Why are you helmeted warriors
eating raw meat?”
[8] Helgi said, “The latest news
of what I, an Ylfing,
have done west of the sea,
if you really want to know, is this—
I fought bear-like men
in Bragalund,
I fed the eagles’ nestlings
with the point of my spear.
[9] “Now, lady, I’ve told
the story of how
I came to eat raw meat
on my ship.”
[10] “You speak of war,”
said Sigrun, “And I know
it was Helgi who caused
the fall of King Hunding.
There was a battle then,
you both avenged kinsmen,
and blood ran freely
on the sword-blades.”
[11] “How do you know,”
said Helgi, “wise lady,
that it was Hunding and I
who had kinsmen to avenge?
There are many fierce
{207} sons of kings
who are not unlike
me and my kinsmen.”
[12] Sigrun said, “War-maker,
I was not far away
from that killing place
yesterday morning.
But I think you’re wise,
Helgi, son of Sigmund,
since you speak
of your deeds in riddles.
[13] “I sought you once before,
on your longships,
when you stood on
bloody prows
amid the rolling
cool waves.
Now you want
to conceal your name,
but I am Hogni’s daughter—
I recognize Helgi.”
Granmar was the name of a powerful king who lived at Svarinshaug. He had many sons: The first was named Hothbrodd, the second Guthmund, the third Starkath.
Hothbrodd met with other kings, and Sigrun, daughter of King Hogni, was promised to him. And when she learned this, she rode off with her Valkyries over air and sea to find Helgi. At the time, Helgi was at Logafjoll, where he had fought against the sons of Hunding. He killed Alf and Eyjolf there, as well as Hjorvarth and Havarth. He was in an extreme battle-rage and sat beneath the Eagle-Stone. There Sigrun found him, and she ran into his arms and kissed him and told him her errand, as it is told in the Ancient Poem of the Volsungs: