Reginsmol: The Ballad of Regin

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

1. Stanza 1 “What is the fish | that runs in the flood, And itself from ill cannot save? If thy head thou wouldst | from hell redeem, Find me the water’s flame.” Andvari spake:
2. Stanza 1 Snorri quotes this stanza. Water’s flame: gold, so called because Ægir, the sea-god, was wont to light his hall with gold.
3. Stanza 2 “Andvari am I, | and Oin my father, In many a fall have I fared; An evil Norn | in olden days Doomed me in waters to dwell.” Loki spake:
4. Stanza 2 Snorri quotes this stanza. The name of the speaker is not given in the manuscripts. Oin: nothing further is known of Andvari’s father. Norn: cf. Voluspo, 20.
5. Stanza 3 “Andvari, say, | if thou seekest still To live in the land of men, What payment is set | for the sons of men Who war with lying words?” Andvari spake:
6. Stanza 3 Stanzas 3–4 may well be fragments of some other poem. Certainly Loki’s question does not fit the situation, and the passage looks like an extract from some such poem as Vafthruthnismol. In Regius the phrase “Loki spake” stands in the middle of line 1.
7. Stanza 4 “A mighty payment | the men must make Who in Vathgelmir’s waters wade; On a long road lead | the lying words That one to another utters.” Loki saw all the gold that Andvari had. But when he had brought forth all the gold, he held back one ring, and Loki took this from him. The dwarf went into his rocky hole and said:
8. Stanza 4 The manuscript does not name the speaker. Vathgelmir (“Raging to Wade”): a river not elsewhere mentioned, but cf. Voluspo, 39. Prose. Snorri says Andvari’s ring had the power to create new gold. In this it resembled Baldr’s ring, Draupnir; cf. Skirnismol, 21 and note.
9. Stanza 5 “Now shall the gold | that Gust once had Bring their death | to brothers twain, And evil be | for heroes eight; Joy of my wealth | shall no man win.” The gods gave Hreithmar the gold, and filled up the otter-skin, and stood it on its feet. Then the gods had to heap up gold and hide it. And when that was done, Hreithmar came forward and saw a single whisker, and bade them cover it. Then Othin brought out the ring Andvaranaut and covered the hair. Then Loki said:
10. Stanza 5 This stanza apparently comes from a different source from stanzas 1–4 (or 1–2 if 3–4 are interpolated) and 6–10; cf. Introductory Note. In the Volsungasaga Andvari lays his curse particularly on the ring. Gust: possibly a name for Andvari himself, or for an earlier possessor of the treasure. Brothers twain: Fafnir and Regin. Heroes eight: the word “eight” may easily have been substituted for something like “all” to make the stanza fit the case; the “eight” in question are presumably Sigurth, Gotthorm, Gunnar, Hogni, Atli, Erp, Sorli and Hamther, all of whom are slain in the course of the story. But the stanza may originally not have referred to Andvari’s treasure at all. Prose. Andvaranaut: “Andvari’s Gem.”
11. Stanza 6 “The gold is given, | and great the price Thou hast my head to save; But fortune thy sons | shall find not there, The bane of ye both it is.” Hreithmar spake:
12. Stanza 6 Snorri quotes this stanza, introducing it, as here, with “Then Loki said” in the prose. Regius omits this phrase, but inserts “said Loki” in line 1.
13. Stanza 7 “Gifts ye gave, | but ye gave not kindly, Gave not with hearts that were whole; Your lives ere this | should ye all have lost, If sooner this fate I had seen.” Loki spake:
14. Stanza 8 “Worse is this | that methinks I see, For a maid shall kinsmen clash; Heroes unborn | thereby shall be, I deem, to hatred doomed.” Hreithmar spake:
15. Stanza 8 The word translated “maid” in line 2 is obscure, and “gold” may be meant. Apparently, however, the reference is to the fight between Sigurth and the sons of Gjuki over Brynhild. The manuscript does not name the speaker, and many editions assign this stanza to Hreithmar.
16. Stanza 9 “The gold so red | shall I rule, methinks, So long as I shall live; Nought of fear | for thy threats I feel, So get ye hence to your homes.” Fafnir and Regin asked Hreithmar for a share of the wealth that was paid for the slaying of their brother, Otr. This he refused, and Fafnir thrust his sword through the body of his father, Hreithmar, while he was sleeping. Hreithmar called to his daughters:
17. Stanza 9 The manuscript includes “said Hreithmar” (abbreviated) in the middle of line 1, and some editors have followed this.
18. Stanza 10 “Lyngheith and Lofnheith, | fled is my life, And mighty now is my need!” Lyngheith spake: “Though a sister loses | her father, seldom Revenge on her brother she brings.” Hreithmar spake:
19. Stanza 10 Hreithmar’s daughters do not appear elsewhere. It has been suggested that originally stanza 10 was followed by one in which Lofnheith lamented her inability to avenge her father, as she was married and had no son.
20. Stanza 11 “A daughter, woman | with wolf’s heart, bear, If thou hast no son | with the hero brave; If one weds the maid, | for the need is mighty, Their son for thy hurt | may vengeance seek.” Then Hreithmar died, and Fafnir took all the gold. Thereupon Regin asked to have his inheritance from his father, but Fafnir refused this. Then Regin asked counsel of Lyngheith, his sister, how he should win his inheritance. She said:
21. Stanza 11 Apparently an interpolation (cf. Introductory Note). Vigfusson tries to reconstruct lines 2 and 4 to fit the Ljothahattr rhythm, but without much success. Hreithmar urges his daughter, as she has no sons, to bear a daughter who, in turn, will have a son to avenge his great-grandfather. Grundtvig worked out an ingenious theory to fit this stanza, making Sigurth’s grandfather, Eylimi, the husband of Lyngheith’s daughter, but there is absolutely no evidence to support this. The stanza may have nothing to do with Hreithmar.
22. Stanza 12 “In friendly wise | the wealth shalt thou ask Of thy brother, and better will; Not seemly is it | to seek with the sword Fafnir’s treasure to take.” All these happenings did Regin tell to Sigurth. One day, when he came to Regin’s house, he was gladly welcomed. Regin said:
23. Stanza 13 “Hither the son | of Sigmund is come, The hero eager, | here to our hall; His courage is more | than an ancient man’s, And battle I hope | from the hardy wolf.
24. Stanza 13 This and the following stanza may be out of place here, really belonging, together with their introductory prose sentence, in the opening prose passage, following the first sentence describing Regin. Certainly they seem to relate to Regin’s first meeting with Sigurth. Stanzas 13–26, interspersed with prose, are quoted in the Nornageststhattr. Stanzas 13–18 may be the remnants of a lost poem belonging to the Helgi cycle (cf. Introductory Note). Hardy wolf: warrior, i.e., Sigurth.
25. Stanza 14 “Here shall I foster | the fearless prince, Now Yngvi’s heir | to us is come; The noblest hero | beneath the sun, The threads of his fate | all lands enfold.” Sigurth was there continually with Regin, who said to Sigurth that Fafnir lay at Gnitaheith, and was in the shape of a dragon. He had a fear-helm, of which all living creatures were terrified. Regin made Sigurth the sword which was called Gram; it was so sharp that when he thrust it down into the Rhine, and let a strand of wool drift against it with the stream, it cleft the strand asunder as if it were water. With this sword Sigurth cleft asunder Regin’s anvil. After that Regin egged Sigurth on to slay Fafnir, but he said:
26. Stanza 14 Yngvi’s heir: Yngvi was one of the sons of the Danish king Halfdan the Old, and traditionally an ancestor of Helgi (cf. Helgakvitha Hundingsbana I, 57 and note). Calling Sigurth a descendant of Yngvi is, of course, absurd, and the use of this phrase is one of the many reasons for believing that stanzas 13–18 belonged originally to the Helgi cycle. The threads, etc.: another link with Helgi; cf. Helgakvitha Hundingsbana I, 3–4. As Helgi was likewise regarded as a son of Sigmund, stanzas 13–14 would fit him just as well as Sigurth. Prose. Gnitaheith: cf. Gripisspo, 11 and note. Fear-helm: the word “ægis-hjalmr,” which occurs both here and in Fafnismol, suggests an extraordinarily interesting, and still disputed, question of etymology. Gram: according to the Volsungasaga Regin forged this sword from the fragments of the sword given by Othin to Sigmund (cf. Fra Dautha Sinfjotla and note).
27. Stanza 15 “Loud will the sons | of Hunding laugh, Who low did Eylimi | lay in death, If the hero sooner | seeks the red Rings to find | than his father’s vengeance.” King Hjalprek gave Sigurth a fleet for the avenging of his father. They ran into a great storm, and were off a certain headland. A man stood on the mountain, and said:
28. Stanza 15 Regarding the sons of Hunding and Eylimi, father of Sigurth’s mother, all of whom belong to the Helgi tradition, cf. Fra Dautha Sinfjotla and note. Prose. The fleet, and the subsequent storm, are also reminiscent of the Helgi cycle; cf. Helgakvitha Hundingsbana I, 29–31, and II, prose after stanza 16. A man: Othin.
29. Stanza 16 “Who yonder rides | on Rævil’s steeds, O’er towering waves | and waters wild? The sail-horses all | with sweat are dripping, Nor can the sea-steeds | the gale withstand.” Regin answered:
30. Stanza 16 Rævil’s steeds (Rævil was a sea-king, possibly the grandson of Ragnar Lothbrok mentioned in the Hervararsaga), sail-horses and sea-steeds all mean “ships.”
31. Stanza 17 “On the sea-trees here | are Sigurth and I, The storm wind drives us | on to our death; The waves crash down | on the forward deck, And the roller-steeds sink; | who seeks our names?” The Man spake:
32. Stanza 17 Sea-trees and roller-steeds (the latter because ships were pulled up on shore by means of rollers) both mean “ships.”
33. Stanza 18 “Hnikar I was | when Volsung once Gladdened the ravens | and battle gave; Call me the Man | from the Mountain now, Feng or Fjolnir; | with you will I fare.” They sailed to the land, and the man went on board the ship, and the storm subsided. Sigurth spake:
34. Stanza 18 The Volsungasaga quotes this stanza. Hnikar and Fjolnir: Othin gives himself both these names in Grimnismol, 47; Feng (“The Seizer”) does not appear elsewhere. According to the Volsungasaga, no one knew Othin’s name when he came to Volsung’s house and left the sword there for Sigmund.
35. Stanza 19 “Hnikar, say, | for thou seest the fate That to gods and men is given; What sign is fairest | for him who fights, And best for the swinging of swords?” Hnikar spake:
36. Stanza 19 This and the following stanzas are strongly suggestive of the Hovamol, and probably came originally from some such collection.
37. Stanza 20 “Many the signs, | if men but knew, That are good for the swinging of swords; It is well, methinks, | if the warrior meets A raven black on his road.
38. Stanza 21 “Another it is | if out thou art come, And art ready forth to fare, To behold on the path | before thy house Two fighters greedy of fame.
39. Stanza 22 “Third it is well | if a howling wolf Thou hearest under the ash; And fortune comes | if thy foe thou seest Ere thee the hero beholds.
40. Stanza 23 “A man shall fight not | when he must face The moon’s bright sister | setting late; Win he shall | who well can see, And wedge-like forms | his men for the fray.
41. Stanza 23 This stanza is clearly an interpolation, drawn in by the common-sense advice, as distinct from omens, given in the last lines of stanza 22. Moon’s sister: the sun; cf. Vafthruthnismol, 23 and note. Wedge-like: the wedge formation (prescribed anew in 1920 for the United States Army under certain circumstances) was said to have been invented by Othin himself, and taught by him only to the most favored warriors.
42. Stanza 24 “Foul is the sign | if thy foot shall stumble As thou goest forth to fight; Goddesses baneful | at both thy sides Will that wounds thou shalt get.
43. Stanza 24 Goddesses: Norse mythology included an almost limitless number of minor deities, the female ones, both kind and unkind, being generally classed among the lesser Norns.
44. Stanza 25 “Combed and washed | shall the wise man go, And a meal at morn shall take; For unknown it is | where at eve he may be; It is ill thy luck to lose.” Sigurth had a great battle with Lyngvi, the son of Hunding, and his brothers; there Lyngvi fell, and his two brothers with him. After the battle Regin said:
45. Stanza 25 This stanza almost certainly had nothing originally to do with the others in this passage; it may have been taken from a longer version of the Hovamol itself. Prose. Lyngvi: the son of Hunding who killed Sigmund in jealousy of his marriage with Hjordis; cf. Fra Dautha Sinfjotla and note. The Volsungasaga names one brother who was with Lyngvi in the battle, Hjorvarth, and Sigurth kills him as readily as if he had not already been killed long before by Helgi. But, as has been seen, it was nothing for a man to be killed in two or three different ways.
46. Stanza 26 “Now the bloody eagle | with biting sword Is carved on the back | of Sigmund’s killer; Few were more fierce | in fight than his son, Who reddened the earth | and gladdened the ravens.” Sigurth went home to Hjalprek’s house; thereupon Regin egged him on to fight with Fafnir. NOTES Prose. Hjalprek: father of Alf, Sigurth’s step-father; cf. Fra Dautha Sinfjotla, and note. Grani: cf. Gripisspo, 5 and note. Regin (“Counsel-Giver”): undoubtedly he goes back to the smith of the German story; in the Thithrekssaga version he is called Mimir, while Regin is there the name of the dragon (here Regin’s brother, Fafnir). The Voluspo (stanza 12) names a Regin among the dwarfs, and the name may have assisted in making Regin a dwarf here. Hreithmar: nothing is known of him outside of this story. Othin, Hönir and Loki: these same three gods appear in company in Voluspo, 17–18. Andvari’s fall: according to Snorri, who tells this entire story in the Skaldskaparmal, Andvari’s fall was in the world of the dark elves, while the one where Loki killed the otter was not; here, however, the two are considered identical. With his eyes shut: according to Snorri, Otr ate with his eyes shut because he was so greedy that he could not bear to see the food before him diminishing. Ron: wife of the sea-god Ægir, who draws down drowning men with her net; cf. Helgakvitha Hjorvarthssonar, 18 and note. Snorri says that Loki caught the pike with his hands.
47. Stanza 26 Bloody eagle, etc.: the Nornageststhattr describes the manner in which the captured Lyngvi was put to death. “Regin advised that they should carve the bloody eagle on his back. So Regin took his sword and cleft Lyngvi’s back so that he severed his back from his ribs, and then drew out his lungs. So died Lyngvi with great courage.” Prose. In Regius there is no break of any kind between this prose passage and the prose introduction to the Fafnismol (cf. Introductory Note).