Guthrun sat by the dead Sigurth; she did not weep as other women,
but her heart was near to bursting with grief. The men and women
came to her to console her, but that was not easy to do. It is told
of men that Guthrun had eaten of Fafnir's heart, and that she under
stood the speech of birds. This is a poem about Guthrun.
1. Then did Guthrun | think to die,
When she by Sigurth | sorrowing sat;
Tears she had not, | nor wrung her hands,
Nor ever wailed, | as other women.
Gunnar spake:
2. To her the warriors | wise there came,
Longing her heavy | woe to lighten;
Grieving could not | Guthrun weep,
So sad her heart, | it seemed, would break.
3. Then the wives | of the warriors came,
Gold-adorned, | and Guthrun sought;
Each one then | of her own grief spoke,
The bitterest pain | she had ever borne.
4. Then spake Gjaflaug, | Gjuki's sister:
"Most joyless of all | on earth am I;
Husbands five | were from me taken,
(Two daughters then, | and sisters three,)
Brothers eight, | yet I have lived."
5. Grieving could not | Guthrun weep,
Such grief she had | for her husband dead,
And so grim her heart | by the hero's body.
[Prose. The prose follows the concluding prose of the Brot without indication of a break, the heading standing immediately before stanza 1.
Fafnir's heart: this bit of information is here quite without point, and it is nowhere else stated that Guthrun understood the speech of birds.
In the Volsungasaga it is stated that Sigurth gave Guthrun some of Fafnir's heart to eat, "and thereafter she was much grimmer than before,
and wiser."
1. This stanza seems to be based on Guthrunarkvitha II, 11-12.
4. Gjaflaug: nothing further is known of this aunt of Guthrun, or of the many relatives whom she has lost. Very likely she is an invention of
the poet's, for it seems improbable that other wise all further trace of her should have been lost. Line 4 has been marked by many editors as
spurious.
5. Some editors assume the loss of a line, after either line 1 or line 3. I prefer to believe that here and in stanza 10 the poet knew exactly
what he was doing, and that both stanzas are correct.]
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Guðrún sat yfir Sigurði dauðum. Hon grét eigi sem aðrar konur, en hon var búinn til at springa af harmi. Til gengu
bæði konur ok karlar at hugga hana, en þat var eigi auðvelt. Þat er sögn manna, at Guðrún hefði etit af Fáfnis hjarta
ok hon skilði því fugls rödd. - Þetta er enn kveðit um Guðrúnu:
1. Ár var, þats Guðrún gerðisk at deyja,
er hon sat sorgfull yfir Sigurði;
gerði-t hon hjúfra né höndum slá,
né kveina um sem konur aðrar.
2. Gengu jarlar alsnotrir fram,
þeir er harðs hugar hana löttu;
þeygi Guðrún gráta mátti,
svá var hon móðug, mundi hon springa.
3. Sátu ítrar jarla brúðir,
gulli búnar, fyr Guðrúnu;
hvar sagði þeira sinn oftrega,
þann er bitrastan of beðit hafði.
4. Þá kvað Gjaflaug, Gjúka systir:
"Mik veit ek á moldu munarlausasta;
hefi ek fimm vera forspell beðit,
tveggja dætra, þriggja systra,
átta bræðra, þó ek ein lifi."
5. Þeygi Guðrún gráta mátti,
svá var hon móðug at mög dauðan
ok harðhuguð of hrör fylkis.
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