42. Atli summoned his men, | in mail-coats they hastened,
All ready they came, | and between was the courtyard.
Then came they to words, | and full wrathful they were:
"Long since did we plan | how soon we might slay you."

Hogni spake:

43. "Little it matters | if long ye have planned it;
For unarmed do ye wait, | and one have we felled,
We smote him to hell, | of your host was he once."

44. Then wild was their anger | when all heard his words;
Their fingers were swift | on their bowstrings to seize,
Full sharply they shot, | by their shields were they guarded.

45. In the house came the word | how the heroes without
Fought in front of the hall; | they heard a thrall tell it.

[41. Possibly two lines have been lost after line 2.

42. *Note*: Stanza is conformed from Bellows original stanza 39 and stanza 40. It is probable that a considerable passage has been lost between stanzas 39 and 40 (Bellows original stanzas), for the Volsungasaga paraphrase includes a dialogue at this point. The manuscript indicates no gap, and most editions combine stanzas (Bellows original stanzas) 39 and 40 as a single stanza. The prose passage, indicating the substance of what, if any thing, is lost, runs as follows: "'Be welcome among us, and give me that store of gold which is ours by right, the gold that Sigurth had, and that now belongs to Guthrun.' Gunnar said: 'Never shalt thou get that gold, and men of might shalt thou find here, ere we give up our lives, if it is battle thou dost offer us; in truth it seems that thou hast prepared this feast in kingly fashion, and with little grudging toward eagle and wolf."' The demand for the treasure likewise appears in the Nibelungenlied. These two lines, which most editions combine with stanza 39, may be the first or last two of a four-line stanza. The Volsungasaga gives Atli's speech very much as it appears here.

43. The manuscript does not indicate the speaker; Grundtvig adds as a first line: "Then Hogni laughed loud where the slain Vingi lay." Many editors assume the loss of a line somewhere in the stanza. Unarmed: Hogni does not see Atli's armed followers, who are on the other side of the courtyard (stanza 42). One: Vingi.

44. Most editors assume the loss of one line, after either line 1 or line 3.

45. Conformed Stanza Bellows original stanza 43 lines 1-2 to match ON.]

42. Flykkðusk þeir Atli ok fóru í brynjur,
gengu svá görvir, at var garðr milli;
urpusk á orðum allir senn reiðir:
"Fyrr várum fullráða at firra yðr lífi."

Högni kvað:

43. "Á sér þat illa, ef höfðuð áðr ráðit,
en eruð óbúnir, ok höfum einn felldan,
lamðan til heljar, liðs var sá yðvars."

44. Óðir þá urðu, er þat orð heyrðu,
forðuðu fingrum ok fengu í snæri,
skutu skarpliga ok skjöldum hlífðusk.

45. Inn kom þá andspilli, hvat úti drýgðu,
halir fyr höllu, heyrðu þræl segja.