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:
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:
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:
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:
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:
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."
[Prose. Rithil ("Swift-Moving"): Snorri calls the sword Refil ("Serpent").
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 (32-53 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.
34. Some editions turn this speech from the third person into the second, but the manuscript is clear enough.
35. Wolf, etc.: the phrase is nearly equivalent to "there must be fire where there is smoke." The proverb appears else where in Old Norse.]
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Sigurðr kvað:
31. "Hvötum er betra en sé óhvötum
í hildileik hafask;
glöðum er betra en sé glúpnanda,
hvat sem at hendi kemr."
Sigurðr tók Fáfnis hjarta ok steikði á teini. Er hann hugði, at fullsteikt væri ok freyddi
sveitinn ór hjartanu, þá tók hann á fingri sínum ok skynjaði, hvárt fullsteikt væri. Hann brann
ok brá fingrinum í munn sér. En er hjartablóð Fáfnis kom á tungu hánum, ok skilði hann fugls rödd.
Hann heyrði, at igður klökuðu á hrísinu. Igðan kvað:
32. "Þar sitr Sigurðr sveita stokkinn,
Fáfnis hjarta við funa steikir;
spakr þætti mér spillir bauga,
ef hann fjörsega fránan æti."
Önnur kvað:
33. "Þar liggr Reginn, ræðr um við sik,
vill tæla mög, þann er trúir hánum,
berr af reiði röng orð saman,
vill bölvasmiðr bróður hefna."
In þriðja kvað:
34. "Höfði skemmra láti hann inn hára þul
fara til heljar heðan;
öllu gulli þá kná hann einn ráða,
fjölð því er und Fáfni lá."
In fjórða kvað:
35. Horskr þætti mér, ef hafa kynni
ástráð mikit yðvar systra,
hygði hann of sik ok hugin gleddi;
þar er mér ulfs ván, er ek eyru sék."
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