Helgakvitha Hundingsbana II: The Second Lay of Helgi Hundingsbane VIII

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

1. Stanza 1 “Say to Hæming | that Helgi knows Whom the heroes | in armor hid; A gray wolf had they | within their hall, Whom King Hunding | Hamal thought.” Hamal was the name of Hagal’s son. King Hunding sent men to Hagal to seek Helgi, and Helgi could not save himself in any other way, so he put on the clothes of a bond-woman and set to work at the mill. They sought Helgi but found him not.
2. Stanza 1 Helgi appears to have stayed with Hunding under the name of Hamal, but now, thinking himself safe, he sends word of who he really is. Hunding: it has been suggested that the compiler may have inserted this name to fit what he thought the story ought to be, in place of Hæming, or even Hadding. If stanzas 1–4 are a fragment of the Karuljoth (Lay of Kara), this latter suggestion is quite reasonable, for in that poem, which we do not possess, but which supplied material for the compilers of the Hromundar saga Greipssonar, Helgi appears as Helgi Haddingjaskati (cf. final prose note). Nothing beyond this one name connects stanzas 1–4 with Hunding. Prose. Hagal: Helgi’s foster-father, who naturally protects him.
3. Stanza 2 Then Blind spake out, | the evil-minded: “Of Hagal’s bond-woman | bright are the eyes; Yon comes not of churls | who stands at the quern; The millstones break, | the boards are shattered.
4. Stanza 2 The manuscript indicates line 2 as the beginning of the stanza, the copyist evidently regarding line 1 as prose. This has caused various rearrangements in the different editions. Blind: leader of the band sent to capture Helgi.
5. Stanza 3 “The hero has | a doom full hard, That barley now | he needs must grind; Better befits | his hand to feel The hilt of the sword | than the millstone’s handle.” Hagal answered and said:
6. Stanza 3 The manuscript marks line 3 as the beginning of a stanza. Barley: the word literally means “foreign grain,” and would afford an interesting study to students of early commerce.
7. Stanza 4 “Small is the wonder | if boards are splintered; By a monarch’s daughter | the mill is turned; Once through clouds | she was wont to ride, And battles fought | like fighting men, (Till Helgi a captive | held her fast; Sister she is | of Sigar and Hogni, Thus bright are the eyes | of the Ylfings’ maid.)” Helgi escaped and went to a fighting ship. He slew King Hunding, and thenceforth was called Helgi Hundingsbane. (II) He lay with his host in Brunavagar, and they had there a strand-slaughtering, and ate the flesh raw. Hogni was the name of a king. His daughter was Sigrun; she was a Valkyrie and rode air and water; she was Svava reborn. Sigrun rode to Helgi’s ship and said:
8. Stanza 4 Possibly two stanzas with one line lost, or perhaps the lines in parenthesis are spurious; each editor has his own guess. Sigar and Hogni: it seems unlikely that Hagal refers to the Hogni who was Sigrun’s father, for this part of the story has nothing whatever to do with Sigrun. As Hagal is, of course, deliberately lying, it is useless to test any part of his speech for accuracy. Prose. No division indicated in the manuscript. Brunavagar (“Bruni’s Sea”): mentioned only in this section. Strand-slaughtering: a killing on the shore of cattle stolen in a raid. Hogni and Sigrun: cf. Helgakvitha Hundingsbana I, 17 and note; the annotator’s notion of Sigrun as the reincarnated Svava (cf. Helgakvitha Hjorvarthssonar, concluding prose note) represents a naive form of scholarship. There is nothing in stanzas 5–12 which clearly identifies Sigrun as a Valkyrie, or which, except for the last line of stanza 12, identifies the speaker as Sigrun. Some editors, therefore, call her simply “the Valkyrie,” while Vigfusson, who thinks this section is also a remnant of the Karuljoth, calls her Kara.
9. Stanza 5 “Who rules the ship | by the shore so steep? Where is the home | ye warriors have? Why do ye bide | in Brunavagar, Or what the way | that ye wish to try?” Helgi spake:
10. Stanza 6 “Hamal’s the ship | by the shore so steep, Our home in Hlesey | do we have; For fair wind bide we | in Brunavagar, Eastward the way | that we wish to try.” Sigrun spake:
11. Stanza 6 The manuscript does not indicate the speakers. Hamal: Helgi’s assumption of this name seems to link this section (stanzas 5–12) with stanza 1. Hlesey (“Island of Hler”—i.e., Ægir, the sea-god): generally identified as the Danish island of Läsö; cf. Harbarthsljoth, 37 and note.
12. Stanza 7 “Where hast thou, warrior, | battle wakened, Or gorged the birds | of the sisters of Guth? Why is thy byrnie | spattered with blood, Why helmed dost feast | on food uncooked?” Helgi spake:
13. Stanza 7 Guth: a Valkyrie (cf. Voluspo, 31); the birds of her sisters are the kites and ravens.
14. Stanza 8 “Latest of all, | the Ylfings’ son On the western sea, | if know thou wilt, Captured bears | in Bragalund, And fed the eagles | with edge of sword. Now is it shown | why our shirts are bloody, And little our food | with fire is cooked.” Sigrun spake:
15. Stanza 8 The manuscript indicates line 5 as the beginning of a new stanza; some editors reject lines 1–2, while others make lines 5–6 into a fragmentary stanza. Ylfings: cf. introductory prose and note. Bragalund (“Bragi’s Wood”): a mythical place. Bears: presumably Berserkers, regarding whom cf. Hyndluljoth, 23.
16. Stanza 9 “Of battle thou tellest, | and there was bent Hunding the king | before Helgi down; There was carnage when thou | didst avenge thy kin, And blood flowed fast | on the blade of the sword.” Helgi spake:
17. Stanza 10 “How didst thou know | that now our kin, Maiden wise, | we have well avenged? Many there are | of the sons of the mighty Who share alike | our lofty race.” Sigrun spake:
18. Stanza 10 Helgi’s meaning in lines 3–4 is that, although he has already declared himself an Ylfing (stanza 8, line 1), there are many heroes of that race, and he does not understand how Sigrun knows him to be Helgi.
19. Stanza 11 “Not far was I | from the lord of the folk, Yester morn, | when the monarch was slain; Though crafty the son | of Sigmund, methinks, When he speaks of the fight | in slaughter-runes.
20. Stanza 11 Slaughter-runes: equivocal or deceptive speech regarding the battle. The word “rune” had the meaning of “magic” or “mystery” long before it was applied to the signs or characters with which it was later identified.
21. Stanza 12 “On the long-ship once | I saw thee well, When in the blood-stained | bow thou wast, (And round thee icy | waves were raging;) Now would the hero | hide from me, But to Hogni’s daughter | is Helgi known.” (III) Granmar was the name of a mighty king, who dwelt at Svarin’s hill. He had many sons; one was named Hothbrodd, another Gothmund, a third Starkath. Hothbrodd was in a kings’ meeting, and he won the promise of having Sigrun, Hogni’s daughter, for his wife. But when she heard this, she rode with the Valkyries over air and sea to seek Helgi. Helgi was then at Logafjoll, and had fought with Hunding’s sons; there he killed Alf and Eyolf, Hjorvarth and Hervarth. He was all weary with battle, and sat under the eagle-stone. There Sigrun found him, and ran to throw her arms about his neck, and kissed him, and told him her tidings, as is set forth in the old Volsung lay:
22. Stanza 12 Some editors reject line 3, others line 5. The manuscript omits Helgi’s name in line 5, thereby destroying both the sense and the meter. Vigfusson, following his Karuljoth theory (cf. note on prose following stanza 4), changes Hogni to Halfdan, father of Kara. Prose. The manuscript indicates no division. Most of this prose passage is evidently based on Helgakvitha Hundingsbana I; the only new features are the introduction of Starkath as a third son of Granmar, which is clearly an error based on a misunderstanding of stanza 19, and the reference to the kings’ meeting, based on stanza 15. Kings’ meetings, or councils, were by no means unusual; the North in early days was prolific in kings. For the remaining names, cf. Helgakvitha Hundingsbana I: Granmar, stanza 19; Hothbrodd, stanza 19; Gothmund, stanza 33; Svarin’s hill, stanza 32; Logafjoll, stanza 13; Alf, Eyjolf, Hjorvarth and Hervarth, stanza 14. The old Volsung lay: cf. Introductory Note.
23. Stanza 13 Sigrun the joyful | chieftain sought, Forthwith Helgi’s | hand she took; She greeted the hero | helmed and kissed him, The warrior’s heart | to the woman turned.
24. Stanza 13 Some editions combine lines 3–4, or line 4, with part of stanza 14.