Sigurth and Regin went up to the Gnitaheith, and found there the track that
Fafnir made when he crawled to water. Then Sigurth made a great trench across
the path, and took his place therein. When Fafnir crawled from his gold, he
blew out venom, and it ran down from above on Sigurth's head. But when Fafnir
crawled over the trench, then Sigurth thrust his sword into his body to the
heart. Fafnir writhed and struck out with his head and tail. Sigurth leaped
from the trench, and each looked at the other. Fafnir said:
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. "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:
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:
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:
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."
[1. The first line in the original, as here, is unusually long, but dramatically very effective on that account.
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.
4. The manuscript marks line 3 as the beginning of a stanza.
5. Line 4, utterly obscure in the manuscript, is guesswork.]
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Sigurðr ok Reginn fóru upp á Gnitaheiði ok hittu þar slóð Fáfnis, þá er hann skreið til vatns.
Þar gerði Sigurðr gröf mikla á veginum, ok gekk Sigurðr þar í. En er Fáfnir skreið af gullinu,
blés hann eitri, ok hraut þat fyrir ofan höfuð Sigurði. En er Fáfnir skreið yfir gröfina, þá lagði
Sigurðr hann með sverði til hjarta. Fáfnir hristi sik ok barði höfði ok sporði. Sigurðr hljóp ór
gröfinni, ok sá þá hvárr annan. Fáfnir kvað:
1. "Sveinn ok sveinn, hverjum ertu svein of borinn?
Hverra ertu manna mögr, er þú á Fáfni rautt
þinn inn frána mæki? Stöndumk til hjarta hjörr."
Sigurðr dulði nafn síns, fyrir því at þat var trúa þeira í forneskju, at orð feigs manns mætti mikit, ef hann bölvaði óvin sínum með nafni. Hann kvað:
2. "Göfugt dýr ek heiti, en ek gengit hefk
inn móðurlausi mögr, föður ek ákk-a
sem fira synir; æ geng ek einn saman."
Fáfnir kvað:
3. "Veiztu, ef föður né átt-at sem fira synir,
af hverju vastu undri alinn?"
Sigurðr kvað:
4. "Ætterni mitt kveð ek þér ókunnigt vera
ok mik sjalfan it sama; Sigurðr ek heiti,
Sigmundr hét minn faðir, er hefk þik vápnum vegit."
Fáfnir kvað:
5. "Hverr þik hvatti? Hví hvetjask lézt
mínu fjörvi at fara? Inn fráneygi sveinn,
þú áttir föður bitran; óbornum skjór á skeið."
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