Oddrunargratr
Concerning Borgny and Oddrun
A king was named Heithrek, his daughter was named Borgny, and her lover was named Vilmund. Borgny struggled to give birth till Oddrun, who was Attila’s sister and Gunnar’s lover, came to her. This poem is about that story.
[1] I HEARD TELL
in old sagas
that a woman came
to Hunland,
to do what no other woman
on earth could do,
to assist Heithrek’s daughter
in childbirth.
[2] Oddrun, Attila’s sister,
had learned that
this woman had
a hard pregnancy.
She went out
for her horse
in the stable,
set her black saddle on him.
[3] She rode over
the dark swamps,
she came to the high hall,
{320} and there she dismounted.
She took the saddle
from the worn-out horse,
she walked across the hall
to its end,
and then she said
this to the people there:
[4] “What is the news?
What is the latest
that has happened
in the land of the Huns?”
A servant said: “Borgny
is pregnant, and in pain.
She is your friend, Oddrun,
and needs your help.”
[5] Oddrun said, “Who
is the father?
Who caused Borgny
to have this difficulty?”
[6] The servant said, “Vilmund
was the name of her lover;
he spread the warm blankets
for the girl,
hidden from her father
for five winters.”
[7] Nothing more
was said of this.
Oddrun sat gently
at Borgny’s side.
She sang loud,
she sang powerfully,
she sang great spells
for Borgny.
[8] A boy and a girl
were born to Borgny;
two healthy children
{321} for the killer of Hogni.
When their weakened mother
first regained speech,
this is what she said
first of all:
[9] “May all the goddesses,
Freyja and Frigg
and all the others,
help you, Oddrun,
since you have saved
me from death in childbirth.”
[10] Oddrun said,
“I did not come here
because I thought
you were worth my help.
I have sworn that I
will always give help
when it is needed
to those who share
my noble rank,
and I honor my oath.”
[11] Then Oddrun
sat down, and began
to recount the troubles
of her long, sad life:
[12] “I was brought up
in princely halls;
most people were happy
at my father Buthli’s court.
I enjoyed carefree
happiness and wealth
for five joyful years
till my father died.
[13] “The last thing
my father said
before he died
{322} was this:
He said they should provide
a dowry of gold for me,
send me south
to marry Gunnar.
[14] “He said a greater woman
would never be born,
unless fate had some
disaster in store for me.”
[15] Borgny said, “You are mad,
Oddrun, you’re out of your wits,
if you come to me
to speak these words in anger.
I have been like
a devoted cousin to you,
as if we were daughters
of two brothers.”
[16] Oddrun said, “I still
remember what you said
one evening, when I served
a drink to Gunnar.
unmarried woman
would make such a mistake
with a man, except for me.
[17] “While Brynhild
wove in her room,
she had power over
men and lands.
And there was a loud noise—
earth and heaven shook,
when Sigurth came
to her tower.
[18] “He fought a battle
with his excellent sword,
and the tower was broken,
{323} and Brynhild was his.
But the peace
did not last long
before she learned
of all their trickery.
[19] “She devoted herself
to taking revenge,
and we’ve all lived through
enough of the results.
The rumor of it
has traveled the whole world,
everyone knows she went
to Hel alongside Sigurth.
[20] “But I fell
in love with Gunnar.
I loved that warrior
like Brynhild should have.
But our father had given
a helmet to Brynhild,
he said long before
that she would be a Valkyrie.
[21] “They offered
Attila golden rings,
he would get no small price
if he married me to Gunnar.
They offered him
fifteen farms, and even a part
of Fafnir’s treasure, if he
would consent to the marriage.
[22] “But Attila said
he would never accept
money for me
from Gunnar.
I begged my brother
with my head bowed low,
but my love for Gunnar
could not win him over.
{324} [23] “Many of my kinsmen
spoke against me,
they said they had witnessed
our secret meetings.
But my brother Attila
said I had no faults,
he said that I
had done no wrong.
[24] “But you should
never deny such things
before a witness,
not when love is concerned.
[25] “Attila sent
his messengers
through Mirkwood
to spy on me.
And they found us
where they never should have—
they found me and Gunnar
beneath the same blanket.
[26] “We offered
precious rings
to those men,
begged them not to tell Attila.
But they hurried home
swiftly, eagerly,
and they told Attila
about our forbidden love.
[27] “But they hid the affair
from Guthrun;
she already had guessed
the half of it.
[28] “What a noise we heard
when Gunnar and Hogni came!
They rode their golden-hoofed
horses to Attila’s hall.
{325} The Huns cut out
Hogni’s heart,
and they put Gunnar
in a pit of serpents.
[29] “I was gone
at the time,
I was serving Geirmund
his fill of drink.
But clever Gunnar
played a harp,
he thought I would
come to his aid
,
the noble-born king I loved
thought I’d come to him.
[30] “I was at Hlesey,
but I heard
him playing his harp
with all his war-hardened courage.
I told the serving-girls
to get ready,
I wanted to save the life
of my love, King Gunnar.
[31] “We set sail
over the sea,
we came to where I saw
the home of Attila.
[32] “Then a miserable
mother of vipers
came forth, slithering—
I wish she would rot!
But that snake
bit famous Gunnar
in the heart, before I could come—
I could not help my lover.
[33] “I often wonder,
Borgny, fellow woman,
{326} how I continue
to hold on to life,
since I loved
that madly daring
prince of warriors
like I love my own life.
[34] “Well, you sat, and
you listened while I told you
all the terrible troubles
I and others have endured.
We all live according to
what seems right to us.”
That is the end
of the weeping of Oddrun.
{327} Guthrunarhvot (The Inciting of Guthrun’s Sons)
According to Guthrunarhvot (literally, “The Inciting by Guthrun”), Guthrun attempted to drown herself in the sea after she killed Attila. But instead of dying, she was carried by the waves to the kindgom of Jonaker. Later, when Svanhild, Guthrun’s daughter by Sigurth, was promised in marriage to King Jormunrekk and then killed by him, Guthrun incited her sons by Jonaker to avenge Svanhild, and had a funeral pyre kindled for herself. As usual, the prose introduction is from the manuscript.
Guthrunarhvot
Guthrun walked to the ocean after she killed Attila, and then she went out into the waves and wanted to kill herself, but she could not drown. She was brought by the waves over the fjord to the lands of King Jonaker, and he married her; their sons were Sorli, Erp, and Hamthir. Svanhild, Guthrun’s daughter by Sigurth, also grew up there, and she was promised to the mighty king Jormunrekk. One of Jormunrekk’s advisors was Bikki, who advised the king’s son, Randver, to have his way with the bride. Bikki then told this to the king. The king had Randver hanged, and Svanhild trampled to death by horses. When Guthrun learned of this, she spoke to her sons.
[1] I HEARD
the worst news,
awful words spoken
in heavy sorrow,
when grim Guthrun
incited her sons
with bitter words
to seek vengeance:
[2] “Why are you sitting here,
sleeping away your lives?
Why are you not too sad
to chat happily like this?
You know that Jormunrekk
took your sister,
as young as she was,
{328} and had her trampled to pieces
by horses, some black, some white,
some gray, some tame,
some Gothic,
on a common road.
[3] “You boys are not like
my brother Gunnar,
you are not as brave
as Hogni was.
The two of you
would avenge her,
if you had the bravery
of my brothers,
or the courage
of the Hunnish kings.”
[4] Then the brave
Hamthir spoke:
“You did not praise
Hogni’s courage
when your brothers
woke Sigurth
from his last sleep,
when your blue-and-white
striped bed sheets turned red
in your husband’s blood.
[5] “You achieved vengeance
for both of your brothers
in an awful, cruel way
when you murdered your sons.
Had they lived,
I think we could all
have avenged our sister
on Jormunrekk.
[6] “But bring us the armor
of the Hunnish kings!
You have challenged us
to seek a battle.”
{329} [7] Guthrun, laughing,
gave her sons
the treasures of kings
which she kept in her room.
She brought her sons
long coats of chainmail.
They boldly set themselves
in their saddles.
[8] Then the brave
Hamthir spoke:
“I will never again
come back from battle
and return to Gothic lands,
except as a fallen corpse.
Mother, you’ll drink
at the funeral for us all,
for your sons
and Svanhild alike.”
[9] Guthrun, daughter of
Gjuki, went weeping,
and sat on the road
in sorrow.
She counted,
with tear-streaked cheeks,
the many varieties
of her life’s sorrows:
[10] “I’ve had three homes,
three hearths,
three husbands
who took me home.
And of all of them,
Sigurth was the best,
the one who was killed
by my own brothers.
[11] “I was made to forget
my heavy sorrows,
but nonetheless
{330} I was greatly offended
when my brothers
married me to Attila.
[12] “I called to my bold
young sons in secret.
I never did any worse evil
than when I cut off
the heads
of my own heirs.
[13] “I walked to the sea,
I hated the Norns,
I wanted to throw off
what they had in store for me.
But the high waves
lifted me, never drowning me,
took me to a new land
where I lived yet longer.
[14] “So for the third time
I shared the bridal bed
with a king. But I liked it
better the first time.
I had his children,
I gave birth to his heirs,
boys to inherit
after Jonaker.
[15] “Lady-servants
sat around Svanhild,
and I loved her most
of all my children.
Svanhild seemed to me
like a beautiful
ray of sunlight
come into my home.
[16] “I gave her gold
and precious clothes,
before I sent her as a wife
{331} to King Jormunrekk,
and of all my sorrows
the very worst is
when I think of
Svanhild’s fine hair
trampled into the mud
under horses’ hooves.
[17] “And my bitterest memory
is of when my brothers
robbed Sigurth of victory,
and killed him in our bed.
And my grimmest
is the memory of Gunnar
bitten to death
by shimmering-scaled serpents,
and my most painful
is the memory of Hogni,
that boldest of kings,
with his heart cut out
while he still lived.
[18] “I remember so much grief.
Oh, Sigurth, mount up
on your white horse!
Ride to me he
re
on swift-footed Grani!
I sit here without
a daughter or daughter-in-law
who could comfort
me with good gifts.
[19] “Do you remember, Sigurth,
what we said to one another,
sitting together, the two of us,
on the bed we shared?
My brave husband,
we swore that either you
would come back to me from Hel,
or else I would join you there.
{332} [20] “Now, noble men,
build a high funeral pyre
out of oak wood, stoke it
till the flames reach the sky!
Let fire burn
my sob-wracked chest,
let flame melt the sorrows
that choke my heart.
[21] “Let any noble man
think his bad luck is better,
let any well-bred lady
say her sorrows aren’t so bad,
when they have heard
all my misfortune told!”
{333} Hamthismal (The Tale of Hamthir)
Hamthismal (“Words of Hamthir”) tells much the same story as Guthrunarhvot, with some differences of detail. Guthrun encourages Hamthir and Sorli, her sons by Jonaker, to avenge their halfsister Svanhild (her daughter by Sigurth) on Jormunrekk, a king of the Goths. The boys ride off to do the deed, accompanied by their half-brother Erp (son of Jonaker and a concubine). Hamthir and Sorli kill Erp before they reach their destination, misunderstanding his cryptic promise of help. Hamthir and Sorli fight well against the Goths, and even cut Jormunrekk’s arms and legs off, but Jormunrekk finally instructs his men to stone them to death, since he knows the sons of Guthrun are impervious to iron and steel. The two brothers regret killing Erp then, as he would have decapitated Jormunrekk (a stanza may be missing in which Erp was assigned this specific duty).
Hamthismal, the last poem in the Codex Regius and the end of the story of the Volsungs, is also one of the oldest and most difficult of the Eddic poems, so much so that its medieval copyists may have misunderstood parts of it. Some stanzas appear to be out of order, and at times it appears that the wrong speaker has been specified in the text—especially in stanzas 26–30, which the text gives to the impulsive Hamthir, but which appear to have been originally meant to be Sorli’s (and which I have translated as Sorli’s words).
Hamthismal
[1] BURIED BENEATH THE EARTH
are horrible sorrows,
the desperate things
that make the elves weep.
Early in the morning,
everything that has caused
someone unhappiness
will be remembered anew.
{334} [2] It was not recently,
it was not yesterday—
this happened
a long, long time ago.
Few things were so long ago,
that this wasn’t twice as long ago,
when Guthrun, daughter of Gjuki,
incited her young sons
to avenge
her daughter Svanhild.
[3] “Your sister
named Svanhild—
Jormunrekk had her