52. Full wide was the fame | of the battle they fought,
'Twas the greatest of deeds | of the sons of Gjuki;
Men say that the Niflungs, | while themselves they were living,
With their swords fought mightily, | mail-coats they sundered,
And helms did they hew, | as their hearts were fearless.

53. All the morning they fought | until midday shone,
(All the dusk as well | and the dawning of day,)
When the battle was ended, | the field flowed with blood;
Ere they fell, eighteen | of their foemen were slain,
By the two sons of Bera | and her brother as well.

54. Then the warrior spake, | and wild was his anger:
"This is evil to see, | and thy doing is all;
Once we were thirty, | we thanes, keen for battle,
Now eleven are left, | and great is our lack.

55. "There were five of us brothers | when Buthli we lost,
Now Hel has the half, | and two smitten lie here;

[51. This stanza is conformed from Bellows original stanza 47 lines 4-5.

52. Line 3 may well be spurious, for it implies that Gunnar and Hogni were killed in battle, whereas they were taken prisoners. Some editors, in an effort to smooth out the inconsistency, change "themselves" in this line to "sound." Line 5 has also been questioned as possibly interpolated. Niflungs: on the spelling of this name in the manuscript and the various editions cf. note on stanza 44.

53. Line 2 is probably an interpolation, and the original apparently lacks a word. There is some obscurity as to the exact meaning of lines 4-5. The two sons of Bera: Snævar and Solar; her brother is Orkning; cf. stanza 31-31.

54. The warrior: Atli. Thirty: perhaps an echo of the "thirty warriors" of Thjothrek (cf. Guthrunarkvitha III, 5). Subtracting the eighteen killed by Snævar, Solar and Orkning (stanza 53), and Vingi, killed by the whole company (stanza 41), we have eleven left, as Atli says, but this does not allow much for the exploits of Gunnar and Hogni, who, by this reckoning, seem to have killed nobody. The explanation probably is that lines 4-5 of stanza 53 are in bad shape.

55. Five brothers: the Volsungasaga speaks of four (not five) sons of Buthli, but names only Atli. Regarding the death of the first two brothers cf. stanza 97 and note. The manuscript marks line 3 as beginning a stanza, and many editions combine lines 3-4 with stanza 56. Some insert lines 2-3 of stanza 56 ahead of lines 3-4 of stanza 55. *Note*: This stanza was conformed from Bellows original stanza 51 lines 1-2 to match the ON.]

52. Þjörku þar gerðu, þeiri var við brugðit,
þat brá of allt annat, er unnu börn Gjúka;
svá kváðu Niflunga, meðan sjalfir lifðu,
skapa sókn sverðum, slítask af brynjur,
höggva svá hjalma sem þeim hugr dygði.

53. Morgin mest vágu, unz miðjan dag líddi,
óttu alla ok öndurðan dag;
fyrr var fullvegit, flóði völlr blóði,
átján áðr fellu, efri þeir urðu.
Beru tveir sveinar ok bróðir hennar.

54. Röskr tók at ræða, þótt hann reiðr væri:
"Illt er um litask, yðr er þat kenna;
várum þrír tigir, þegnar vígligir,
eftir lifum ellifu, ór er þar brunnit.

55. Bæðr várum fimm, er Buðla misstum;
hefir nú Hel halfa, en höggnir tveir liggja.