Fafnismol: The Ballad of Fafnir

Henry Adams Bellows's notes to his translation (1923; Project Gutenberg #73533).

1. Stanza 1 “Youth, oh, youth! | of whom then, youth, art thou born? Say whose son thou art, Who in Fafnir’s blood | thy bright blade reddened, And struck thy sword to my heart.” Sigurth concealed his name because it was believed in olden times that the word of a dying man might have great power if he cursed his foe by his name. He said:
2. Stanza 1 The first line in the original, as here, is unusually long, but dramatically very effective on that account.
3. Stanza 2 “The Noble Hart | my name, and I go A motherless man abroad; Father I had not, | as others have, And lonely ever I live.” Fafnir spake:
4. Stanza 3 “If father thou hadst not, | as others have, By what wonder wast thou born? (Though thy name on the day | of my death thou hidest, Thou knowest now thou dost lie.)” Sigurth spake:
5. Stanza 3 The names of the speakers do not appear in the manuscript, though they seem originally to have been indicated in the margin for stanzas 3–30. The last two lines of stanza 3 are missing in the manuscript, with no gap indicated, but the Volsungasaga prose paraphrase indicates that something was omitted, and the lines here given are conjecturally reconstructed from this paraphrase.
6. Stanza 4 “My race, methinks, | is unknown to thee, And so am I myself; Sigurth my name, | and Sigmund’s son, Who smote thee thus with the sword.” Fafnir spake:
7. Stanza 4 The manuscript marks line 3 as the beginning of a stanza.
8. Stanza 5 “Who drove thee on? | why wert thou driven My life to make me lose? A father brave | had the bright-eyed youth, For bold in boyhood thou art.” Sigurth spake:
9. Stanza 5 Line 4, utterly obscure in the manuscript, is guesswork.
10. Stanza 6 “My heart did drive me, | my hand fulfilled, And my shining sword so sharp; Few are keen | when old age comes, Who timid in boyhood be.” Fafnir spake:
11. Stanza 7 “If thou mightest grow | thy friends among, One might see thee fiercely fight; But bound thou art, | and in battle taken, And to fear are prisoners prone.” Sigurth spake:
12. Stanza 7 Fafnir here refers to the fact that Hjordis, mother of the still unborn Sigurth, was captured by Alf after Sigmund’s death; cf. Fra Dautha Sinfjotla, note.
13. Stanza 8 “Thou blamest me, Fafnir, | that I see from afar The wealth that my father’s was; Not bound am I, | though in battle taken, Thou hast found that free I live.” Fafnir spake:
14. Stanza 9 “In all I say | dost thou hatred see, Yet truth alone do I tell; The sounding gold, | the glow-red wealth, And the rings thy bane shall be.” Sigurth spake:
15. Stanza 10 “Some one the hoard | shall ever hold, Till the destined day shall come; For a time there is | when every man Shall journey hence to hell.” Fafnir spake:
16. Stanza 11 “The fate of the Norns | before the headland Thou findest, and doom of a fool; In the water shalt drown | if thou row ’gainst the wind, All danger is near to death.” Sigurth spake:
17. Stanza 11 Stanzas 11–15 are probably interpolated, and come from a poem similar to Vafthruthnismol. The headland: Fafnir is apparently quoting proverbs; this one seems to mean that disaster (“the fate of the Norns”) awaits when one rounds the first headland (i.e., at the beginning of life’s voyage, in youth). The third line is a commentary on obstinate rashness. The Volsungasaga paraphrases stanzas 11–15 throughout.
18. Stanza 12 “Tell me then, Fafnir, | for wise thou art famed, And much thou knowest now: Who are the Norns | who are helpful in need, And the babe from the mother bring?” Fafnir spake:
19. Stanza 12 Norns: cf. stanza 13 and note. Sigurth has no possible interest in knowing what Norns are helpful in childbirth, but interpolations were seldom logical.
20. Stanza 13 “Of many births | the Norns must be, Nor one in race they were; Some to gods, others | to elves are kin, And Dvalin’s daughters some.” Sigurth spake:
21. Stanza 13 Snorri quotes this stanza. There were minor Norns, or fates, in addition to the three great Norns, regarding whom cf. Voluspo, 20. Dvalin: chief of the dwarfs; cf. Voluspo, 14.
22. Stanza 14 “Tell me then, Fafnir, | for wise thou art famed, And much thou knowest now: How call they the isle | where all the gods And Surt shall sword-sweat mingle?” Fafnir spake:
23. Stanza 14 Surt: ruler of the fire world; the reference is to the last great battle. Sword-sweat: blood.
24. Stanza 15 “Oskopnir is it, | where all the gods Shall seek the play of swords; Bilrost breaks | when they cross the bridge, And the steeds shall swim in the flood.
25. Stanza 15 Oskopnir (“Not-Made”): apparently another name for Vigrith, which is named in Vafthruthnismol, 18, as the final battle-ground. Bilrost (or Bifrost): the rainbow bridge which breaks beneath Surt’s followers; cf. Grimnismol, 29 and note.
26. Stanza 16 “The fear-helm I wore | to afright mankind, While guarding my gold I lay; Mightier seemed I | than any man, For a fiercer never I found.” Sigurth spake:
27. Stanza 16 With this stanza Fafnir returns to the situation. Fear-helm: regarding the “ægis-hjalmr” cf. Reginsmol, prose after stanza 14 and note.
28. Stanza 17 “The fear-helm surely | no man shields When he faces a valiant foe; Oft one finds, | when the foe he meets, That he is not the bravest of all.” Fafnir spake:
29. Stanza 18 “Venom I breathed | when bright I lay By the hoard my father had; (There was none so mighty | as dared to meet me, And weapons nor wiles I feared.)” Sigurth spake:
30. Stanza 18 Lines 3–4 do not appear in the manuscript, and no gap is indicated; they are here conjecturally paraphrased from the prose passage in the Volsungasaga.
31. Stanza 19 “Glittering worm, | thy hissing was great, And hard didst show thy heart; But hatred more | have the sons of men For him who owns the helm.” Fafnir spake:
32. Stanza 20 “I counsel thee, Sigurth, | heed my speech, And ride thou homeward hence; The sounding gold, | the glow-red wealth, And the rings thy bane shall be.” Sigurth spake:
33. Stanza 20 It has been suggested that this stanza is spurious, and that stanza 21 ought to follow stanza 22. Lines 3–4, abbreviated in the manuscript, are identical with lines 3–4 of stanza 9. The Volsungasaga paraphrase in place of these two lines makes Fafnir say: “For it often happens that he who gets a deadly wound yet avenges himself.” It is quite likely that two stanzas have been lost.
34. Stanza 21 “Thy counsel is given, | but go I shall To the gold in the heather hidden; And, Fafnir, thou | with death dost fight, Lying where Hel shall have thee.” Fafnir spake:
35. Stanza 22 “Regin betrayed me, | and thee will betray, Us both to death will he bring; His life, methinks, | must Fafnir lose, For the mightier man wast thou.” Regin had gone to a distance while Sigurth fought Fafnir, and came back while Sigurth was wiping the blood from his sword. Regin said:
36. Stanza 22 The Volsungasaga places its paraphrase of this stanza between those of stanzas 15 and 16.
37. Stanza 23 “Hail to thee, Sigurth! | Thou victory hast, And Fafnir in fight hast slain; Of all the men | who tread the earth, Most fearless art thou, methinks.” Sigurth spake:
38. Stanza 24 “Unknown it is, | when all are together, (The sons of the glorious gods,) Who bravest born shall seem; Some are valiant | who redden no sword In the blood of a foeman’s breast.” Regin spake:
39. Stanza 24 Line 2 is probably spurious, but it is a phrase typical of such poems as Grimnismol or Vafthruthnismol.
40. Stanza 25 “Glad art thou, Sigurth, | of battle gained, As Gram with grass thou cleansest; My brother fierce | in fight hast slain, And somewhat I did myself.” Sigurth spake:
41. Stanza 25 Gram: Sigurth’s sword; cf. Reginsmol, prose after 14.
42. Stanza 26 “Afar didst thou go | while Fafnir reddened With his blood my blade so keen; With the might of the dragon | my strength I matched, While thou in the heather didst hide.” Regin spake:
43. Stanza 26 In the manuscript stanzas 26–29 stand after stanza 31, which fails to make clear sense; they are here rearranged in accordance with the Volsungasaga paraphrase. 28–29. Almost certainly interpolated from some such poem as the Hovamol. Even the faithful Volsungasaga fails to paraphrase stanza 29.
44. Stanza 27 “Longer wouldst thou | in the heather have let Yon hoary giant hide, Had the weapon availed not | that once I forged, The keen-edged blade thou didst bear.” Sigurth spake:
45. Stanza 28 “Better is heart | than a mighty blade For him who shall fiercely fight; The brave man well | shall fight and win, Though dull his blade may be.
46. Stanza 29 “Brave men better | than cowards be, When the clash of battle comes; And better the glad | than the gloomy man Shall face what before him lies.
47. Stanza 30 “Thy rede it was | that I should ride Hither o’er mountains high; The glittering worm | would have wealth and life If thou hadst not mocked at my might.” Then Regin went up to Fafnir and cut out his heart with his sword, that was named Rithil, and then he drank blood from the wounds. Regin said:
48. Stanza 30 Something has evidently been lost before this stanza. Sigurth clearly refers to Regin’s reproach when he was digging the trench (cf. note on introductory prose), but the poem does not give such a passage. Prose. Rithil (“Swift-Moving”): Snorri calls the sword Refil (“Serpent”).
49. Stanza 31 “Sit now, Sigurth, | for sleep will I, Hold Fafnir’s heart to the fire; For all his heart | shall eaten be, Since deep of blood I have drunk.” Sigurth took Fafnir’s heart and cooked it on a spit. When he thought that it was fully cooked, and the blood foamed out of the heart, then he tried it with his finger to see whether it was fully cooked. He burned his finger, and put it in his mouth. But when Fafnir’s heart’s-blood came on his tongue, he understood the speech of birds. He heard nut-hatches chattering in the thickets. A nut-hatch said:
50. Stanza 32 “There sits Sigurth, | sprinkled with blood, And Fafnir’s heart | with fire he cooks; Wise were the breaker | of rings, I ween, To eat the life-muscles | all so bright.” A second spake:
51. Stanza 32 That the birds’ stanzas come from more than one source is fairly apparent, but whether from two or from three or more is uncertain. It is also far from clear how many birds are speaking. The manuscript numbers II, III, and IV in the margin with numerals; the Volsungasaga makes a different bird speak each time. There are almost as many guesses as there are editions. I suspect that in the original poem there was one bird, speaking stanzas 34 and 37. Stanza 38 is little more than a repetition of stanza 34, and may well have been a later addition. As for the stanzas in Fornyrthislag (32–33 and 35–36), they apparently come from another poem, in which several birds speak (cf. “we sisters” in stanza 35). This may be the same poem from which stanzas 40–44 were taken, as well as some of the Fornyrthislag stanzas in the Sigrdrifumol.
52. Stanza 33 “There Regin lies, | and plans he lays The youth to betray | who trusts him well; Lying words | with wiles will he speak, Till his brother the maker | of mischief avenges.” A third spake:
53. Stanza 34 “Less by a head | let the chatterer hoary Go from here to hell; Then all of the wealth | he alone can wield, The gold that Fafnir guarded.” A fourth spake:
54. Stanza 34 Some editions turn this speech from the third person into the second, but the manuscript is clear enough.
55. Stanza 35 “Wise would he seem | if so he would heed The counsel good | we sisters give; Thought he would give, | and the ravens gladden, There is ever a wolf | where his ears I spy.” A fifth spake:
56. Stanza 35 Wolf, etc.: the phrase is nearly equivalent to “there must be fire where there is smoke.” The proverb appears elsewhere in Old Norse.
57. Stanza 36 “Less wise must be | the tree of battle Than to me would seem | the leader of men, If forth he lets | one brother fare, When he of the other | the slayer is.” A sixth spake:
58. Stanza 36 Tree of battle: warrior.
59. Stanza 37 “Most foolish he seems | if he shall spare His foe, the bane of the folk; There Regin lies, | who hath wronged him so, Yet falsehood knows he not.” A seventh spake:
60. Stanza 37 Here, as in stanza 34, some editions turn the speech from the third person into the second.
61. Stanza 38 “Let the head from the frost-cold | giant be hewed, And let him of rings be robbed; Then all the wealth | which Fafnir’s was Shall belong to thee alone.” Sigurth spake:
62. Stanza 38 Giant: Regin was certainly not a frost-giant, and the whole stanza looks like some copyist’s blundering reproduction of stanza 34.
63. Stanza 39 “Not so rich a fate | shall Regin have As the tale of my death to tell; For soon the brothers | both shall die, And hence to hell shall go.” Sigurth hewed off Regin’s head, and then he ate Fafnir’s heart, and drank the blood of both Regin and Fafnir. Then Sigurth heard what the nut-hatch said:
64. Stanza 40 “Bind, Sigurth, the golden | rings together, Not kingly is it | aught to fear; I know a maid, | there is none so fair, Rich in gold, | if thou mightest get her.
65. Stanza 40 Neither the manuscript nor any of the editions suggest the existence of more than one bird in stanzas 40–44. It seems to me, however, that there are not only two birds, but two distinct stories. Stanzas 40–41 apply solely to Guthrun, and suggest that Sigurth will go straight to Gunnar’s hall. Stanzas 42–44, on the other hand, apply solely to Brynhild, and indicate that Sigurth will find her before he visits the Gjukungs. The confusion which existed between these two versions of the story, and which involved a fundamental difference in the final working out of Brynhild’s revenge, is commented on in the note on Gripisspo, 13. In the present passage it is possible that two birds are speaking, each reflecting one version of the story; it seems even more likely that one speech or the other (40–41 or 42–44) reflects the original form of the narrative, the other having been added, either later or from another poem. In the Volsungasaga the whole passage is condensed into a few words by one bird: “Wiser were it if he should then ride up on Hindarfjoll, where Brynhild sleeps, and there would he get much wisdom.” The Guthrun-bird does not appear at all.
66. Stanza 41 “Green the paths | that to Gjuki lead, And his fate the way | to the wanderer shows; The doughty king | a daughter has, That thou as a bride | mayst, Sigurth, buy.” Another spake:
67. Stanza 41 Gjuki: father of Gunnar and Guthrun: cf. Gripisspo, 13 and note.
68. Stanza 42 “A hall stands high | on Hindarfjoll, All with flame | is it ringed without; Warriors wise | did make it once Out of the flaming | light of the flood.
69. Stanza 42 Hindarfjoll: “Mountain of the Hind.” Light of the flood: gold; cf. Reginsmol, 1 and note.
70. Stanza 43 “On the mountain sleeps | a battle-maid, And about her plays | the bane of the wood; Ygg with the thorn | hath smitten her thus, For she felled the fighter | he fain would save.
71. Stanza 43 Battle-maid: Brynhild, here clearly defined as a Valkyrie. Bane of the wood: fire. Ygg: Othin; cf. Grimnismol, 53. The thorn: a prose note in Sigrdrifumol calls it “sleep-thorn.” The fighter: the story of the reason for Brynhild’s punishment is told in the prose following stanza 4 of Sigrdrifumol.
72. Stanza 44 “There mayst thou behold | the maiden helmed, Who forth on Vingskornir | rode from the fight; The victory-bringer | her sleep shall break not, Thou heroes’ son, | so the Norns have set.” Sigurth rode along Fafnir’s trail to his lair, and found it open. The gate-posts were of iron, and the gates; of iron, too, were all the beams in the house, which was dug down into the earth. There Sigurth found a mighty store of gold, and he filled two chests full thereof; he took the fear-helm and a golden mail-coat and the sword Hrotti, and many other precious things, and loaded Grani with them, but the horse would not go forward until Sigurth mounted on his back. NOTES Prose. The prose follows the concluding prose passage of the Reginsmol without any interruption; the heading “Of Fafnir’s Death” is written in the manuscript very faintly just before stanza 1. Gnitaheith: cf. Gripisspo, 11 and note. Fafnir: Regin’s brother: cf. Reginsmol, prose after stanza 14. Venom: in the Volsungasaga it was the blood, and not the venom, that poured down on Sigurth’s head. Sigurth was much worried about this danger, and before he dug the trench asked Regin what would happen if the dragon’s blood overcame him. Regin thereupon taunted him with cowardice (Sigurth refers to this taunt in stanza 30, but the stanza embodying it has disappeared). After Sigurth had dug his trench, an old man (Othin, of course) appeared and advised him to dig other trenches to carry off the blood, which he did, thereby escaping harm.
73. Stanza 44 Vingskornir: Brynhild’s horse, not elsewhere mentioned. Victory-bringer: the word thus translated is in the original “sigrdrifa.” The compiler of the collection, not being familiar with this word, assumed that it was a proper name, and in the prose following stanza 4 of the Sigrdrifumol he specifically states that this was the Valkyrie’s name. Editors, until recently, have followed him in this error, failing to recognize that “sigrdrifa” was simply an epithet for Brynhild. It is from this blunder that the so-called Sigrdrifumol takes its name. Brynhild’s dual personality as a Valkyrie and as the daughter of Buthli has made plenty of trouble, but the addition of a second Valkyrie in the person of the supposed “Sigrdrifa” has made still more. Prose. There is no break in the manuscript between the end of this prose passage and the beginning of the one introducing the Sigrdrifumol: some editors include the entire prose passage with one poem or the other. Hrotti; “Thruster.”