11. From him who spake | I turned me soon,
In the woods to find | what the wolves had left;
Tears I had not, | nor wrung my bands,
Nor wailing went, | as other women,
(When by Sigurth | slain I sat).
12. Never so black | had seemed the night
As when in sorrow | by Sigurth I sat;
The wolves . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Best of all | methought 'twould be
If I my life | could only lose,
Or like to birch-wood | burned might be.
13. From the mountain forth | five days I fared,
Till Hoalf's hall | so high I saw;
14. Seven half-years | with Thora I stayed,
Hokon's daughter, | in Denmark then.
With gold she broidered, | to bring me joy,
Southern halls | and Danish swans;
15. On the tapestry wove we | warrior's deeds,
And the hero's thanes | on our handiwork;
(Flashing shields | and fighters armed,
Sword-throng, helm-throng, | the host of the king).
[11. On lines 3-4 cf. Guthrunarkvitha I, 1. Line 5 is probably spurious.
12. Many editions make one stanza of stanzas 12 and 13, reconstructing line 3; the manuscript shows no gap. Bugge fills out the stanza thus:
"The wolves were howling | on all the ways, / The eagles cried as their food they craved."
12. Cf. note on preceding stanza. Grundtvig suggests as a first line: "Long did I bide, | my brothers awaiting." Many editors reject line 4.
*Note* Stanzas 12 - 15 have been revised to conform to the ON.
13. & 14. The manuscript marks line 3 as beginning a stanza, and many editions combine lines 3-4 with lines 1-2 of stanza 15 Hoalf (or Half): Gering
thinks this Danish king may be identical with Alf, son of King Hjalprek, and second husband of Hjordis, Sigurth's mother (cf. Fra Dautha Sinfjotla
and note), but the name was a common one. Thora and Hokon have not been identified (cf. Guthrunarkvitha I, concluding prose, which is clearly based
on this stanza). A Thora appears in Hyndluljoth, 18, as the wife of Dag, one of the sons of Halfdan the Old, the most famous of Denmark's mythical
kings, and one of her sons is Alf (Hoalf?).
15. The manuscript marks line 3 as the beginning of a stanza. Some editors combine lines 5-6 with lines 1-2 of stanza 16, while others mark them as
interpolated.]
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11. Hvarf ek ein þaðan annspilli frá
á við lesa varga leifar;
gerðig-a ek hjúfra né höndum slá
né kveina um sem konur aðrar,
þá er sat soltin of Sigurði.
12. Nótt þótti mér niðmyrkr vera,
er ek sárla satk yfir Sigurði;
ulfar þóttumk öllu betri,
ef þeir léti mik lífi týna
eða brenndi mik sem birkinn við.
13. Fór ek af fjalli fimm dægr talið,
unz ek höll Halfs háva þekkðak.
14. Sat ek með Þóru sjau misseri,
dætr Hákonar í Danmörku;
hon mér at gamni gullbókaði
sali suðræna ok svani danska.
15. Hafðu vit á skriftum þat er skatar léku,
ok á hannyrðum hilmis þegna,
randir rauðar, rekka Húna,
hjördrótt, hjalmdrótt, hilmis fylgju.
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