11. "The fiery dragon | alone thou shalt fight
That greedy lies | at Gnitaheith;
Thou shalt be of Regin | and Fafnir both
The slayer; truth | doth Gripir tell thee."

Sigurth spake:

12. "Rich shall I be | if battles I win
With such as these, | as now thou sayest;
Forward look, | and further tell:
What the life | that I shall lead?"

Gripir spake:

13. "Fafnir's den | thou then shalt find,
And all his treasure | fair shalt take;
Gold shalt heap | on Grani's back,
And, proved in fight, | to Gjuki fare."

Sigurth spake:

14. "To the warrior now | in words. so wise,
Monarch noble, | more shalt tell;
I am Gjuki's guest, | and thence I go:
What the life | that I shall lead?"

Gripir spake:

15. "On the rocks there sleeps | the ruler's daughter,
Fair in armor, | since Helgi fell;
Thou shalt cut | with keen-edged sword,
And cleave the byrnie | with Fafnir's killer."

[11. The dragon: Fafnir, brother of the dwarf Regin, who turns himself into a dragon to guard Andvari's hoard; cf. Reginsmol and Fafnismol. Gnitaheith: a relic of the German tradition; it has been identified as lying south of Paderborn.

13. Gjuki: the Norse form of the name Gibeche ("The Giver"). Gjuki is the father of Gunnar, Hogni, and Guthrun, the family which reflects most directly the Burgundian part of [fp. 343] the tradition (cf. Introductory Note). The statement that Sigurth is to go direct from the slaying of Fafnir to Gjuki's hall involves one of the confusions resulting from the dual personality of Brynhild. In the older (and the original South Germanic) story, Sigurth becomes a guest of the Gjukungs before he has ever heard of Brynhild, and first sees her when, having changed forms with Gunnar, he goes to woo her for the latter. In an other version he finds Brynhild before he visits the Gjukungs, only to forget her as the result of the magic-draught administered by Guthrun's mother. Both these versions are represented in the poems of which the author of the Gripisspo made use, and he tried, rather clumsily, to combine them, by having Sigurth go to Gjuki's house, then find the unnamed Valkyrie, and then return to Gjuki, the false wooing following this second visit.

15. Basing his story on the Sigrdrifumol, the poet here tells of Sigurth's finding of the Valkyrie, whom he does not identify with Brynhild, daughter of Buthli (stanza 27), at all. His error in this respect is not surprising, in view of Brynhild's dual identity (cf. Introductory Note, and Fafnismol, 44 and note). Helgi: according to Helreith Brynhildar (stanza 8), with which the author of the Gripisspo was almost certainly familiar, the hero for whose death Brynhild was punished was named Hjalmgunnar. Is Helgi here identical with Hjalmgunnar, or did the author make a mistake? Finnur Jonsson thinks the author regarded Sigurth's Valkyrie as a fourth incarnation of Svava Sigrun-Kara, and wrote Helgi's name in deliberately. Many editors, following Bugge, have tried to reconstruct line 2 so as to get rid of Helgi's name.]

11. "Muntu einn vega
orm inn frána, þann er gráðugr liggr
á Gnitaheiði; þú munt báðum
at bana verða Regin ok Fáfni,
rétt segir Grípir."

Sigurðr kvað:

12. "Auðr mun ærinn, ef ek eflik svá
víg með virðum, sem víst segir;
leið at huga ok lengra seg:
Hvat mun enn vera ævi minnar?"

Grípir kvað:

13. "Þú munt finna Fáfnis bæli
ok upp taka auð inn fagra,
gulli hlæða á Grana bógu;
ríðr þú til Gjúka, gramr vígrisinn."

Sigurðr kvað:

14. "Enn skaltu hilmi í hugaðsræðu,
framlyndr jöfurr, fleira segja.
Gestr em ek Gjúka ok ek geng þaðan,
hvat mun enn vera ævi minnar?"

Grípir kvað:

15. "Sefr á fjalli fylkis dóttir
björt í brynju eftir bana Helga;
þú munt höggva hvössu sverði,
brynju rísta með bana Fáfnis."