81. "1 have seldom slept | since the hour they were slain,
Baleful were my threats, | now I bid thee recall them;
Thou didst say it was morning,-- | too well I remember,--
Now is evening come, | and this question thou askest.
82. "Now both of thy sons | thou hast lost . . . .
. . . . . | as thou never shouldst do;
The skulls of thy boys | thou as beer-cups didst have,
And the draught that I made thee | was mixed with their blood.
83. 'I cut out their hearts, | on a spit I cooked them,
I came to thee with them, | and calf's flesh I called them;
Alone didst thou eat them, | nor any didst leave,
Thou didst greedily bite, | and thy teeth were busy.
84. "Of thy sons now thou knowest; | few suffer more sorrow;
My guilt have I told, | fame it never shall give me."
Atli spake:
85. "Grim wast thou, Guthrun, | in so grievous a deed,
My draught with the blood | of thy boys to mingle;
Thou hast slain thine own kin, | most ill it be seemed thee,
And little for me | twixt my sorrows thou leavest."
[81. Morning: Guthrun refers to Atli's taunt in stanza 64.
82. The manuscript indicates no gap (lines 1-2), and most editions make a single line, despite the defective meter:
"Thy sons hast thou lost | as thou never shouldst lose them." The second part of line 2 is in the original identical
with the second half of line 3 of stanza 80, and may perhaps have been inserted here by mistake. Skulls: it is possible
that line 3 was borrowed from a poem belonging to the Völund tradition (cf. Völundarkvitha, 25 and 37), and the idea
doubtless came from some such source, but probably the poet inserted it in a line of his own composition to give an added
touch of horror. The Volsungasaga follows the Atlamol in including this incident.
83. Some editions add lines 5-4 to stanza 84; Finnur Jonsson marks them as probably spurious.
84. Perhaps these two lines should form part of stanza 78, or perhaps they, rather than lines 3-4 of stanza 83,
are a later addition. A gap of two lines after line 1 has also been conjectured.
85. The manuscript does not indicate the speaker.]
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81. Svaf ek mjök sjaldan, síđans ţeir fellu,
hét ek ţér hörđu, hefi ek ţik nú minntan;
morgin mér sagđir, man ek enn ţann görva,
nú er ok aftann, átt ţú slíkt at frétta.
82. Maga hefir ţú ţinna misst, sem ţú sízt skyldir,
hausa veizt ţú ţeira hafđa at ölskálum,
drýgđa ek ţér svá drykkju, dreyra blett ek ţeira.
83. Tók ek ţeira hjörtu, ok á teini steikđak,
selda ek ţér síđan, sagđak, at kalfs vćri:
einn ţú ţví ollir, ekki réttu leifa,
töggtu tíđliga, trúđir vel jöxlum.
84. Barna veiztu ţinna, biđr sér fár verra;
hlut veld ek mínum, hćlumk ţó ekki."
Atli kvađ:
85. "Grimm vartu, Guđrún, er ţú gera svá máttir,
barna ţinna blóđi at blanda mér drykkju;
snýtt hefir ţú sifjungum, sem ţú sizt skyldir,
mér lćtr ţú ok sjalfum millum ills lítit."
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