71. "No hope shall this give thee, | thy gifts I shall take not,
Requital I spurned | when my sorrows were smaller;
Once grim did I seem, | but now greater my grimness,
There was nought seemed too hard | while Hogni was living.

72. "Our childhood did we have | in a single house,
We played many a game, | in the grove did we grow;
Then did Grimhild give us | gold and necklaces,
Thou shalt ne'er make amends | for my brother's murder,
Nor ever shalt win me | to think it was well.

73. "But the fierceness of men | rules the fate of women,
The tree-top bows low | if bereft of its leaves,
The tree bends over | if the roots are cleft under it;
Now mayest thou, Atli, | o'er all things here rule."

74. Full heedless the warrior | was that he trusted her,
So clear was her guile | if on guard he had been;
But crafty was Guthrun, | with cunning she spake,
Her glance she made pleasant, | with two shields she played.

75. The beer then she brought | for her brothers' death feast,
And a feast Atli made | for his followers dead

[71. The manuscript does not indicate the speaker. Requital, etc.: it is not clear just to what Guthrun refers; perhaps she is thinking of Sigurth's death, or possibly the poet had in mind his reference to the slaying of her mother in stanza 57.

72. Line 5 is very probably a later addition, though some editors question line 3 instead.

73. Guthrun suddenly changes her tone in order to make Atli believe that she is submissive to his will, and thus to gain time for her vengeance. Line 2 in the original is thoroughly obscure; it runs literally: "On the knee goes the fist if the twigs are taken off." Perhaps the word meaning "fist" may also have meant "tree-top," as Gering suggests, or perhaps the line is an illogical blending of the ideas contained in lines 1 and 3.

74. The manuscript indicates line 3 as the beginning of a new stanza, Two shields, etc.: i.e., Guthrun concealed her hostility (symbolized by a red shield, cf. Helgakvitha Hundingsbana I, 34) by a show of friendliness (a white shield).

75. Many editions make a separate stanza of lines 1-2, some of them suggesting the loss of two lines, and combine lines 5-4 with lines 1-2 of stanza 72, The manuscript marks both lines 1 and 3 as beginning stanzas. This stanza has been conformed from Bellows original stanza 71 lines 1-2.]

71. "Ón er ţess engi, ek vil ţví níta;
sleit ek ţá sáttir, er váru sakar minni;
afkár ek áđr ţótta, á mun nú gćđa,
hrćfđa ek um hotvetna, međan Högni lifđi.

72. Alin vit upp várum í einu húsi,
lékum leik margan ok í lundi óxum,
gćddi okkr Grímhildr gulli ok halsmenjum;
bana muntu mér brćđra bćta aldrigi
né vinna ţess ekki, at mér vel ţykki.

73. Kostum drepr kvenna karla ofríki;
í kné gengr hnefi, ef kvistir ţverra;
tré tekr at hníga, ef höggr tág undan;
nú máttu einn, Atli, öllu hér ráđa."

74. Gnótt var grunnýđgi, er gramr ţví trúđi,
sýn var sveipvísi, ef hann sín gćđi;
kröpp var ţá Guđrún, kunni of hug mćla,
létt hon sér gerđi, lék hon tveim skjöldum.

75. Ćxti hon öldrykkjur at erfa brćđr sína,
samr lézk ok Atli at sína gerva.