36. "I shall sit not happy | at Sevafjoll,
Early or late, | my life to love,
If the light cannot show, | in the leader's band,
Vigblær bearing him | back to his home,
(The golden-bitted; | I shall greet him never.)

37. "Such the fear | that Helgi's foes
Ever felt, | and all their kin,
As makes the goats | with terror mad
Run from the wolf | among the rocks.

38. "Helgi rose | above heroes all
Like the lofty ash | above lowly thorns,
Or the noble stag, | with dew besprinkled,
Bearing his head | above all beasts,
(And his horns gleam bright | to heaven itself.)

A hill was made in Helgi's memory. And when he came to Valhall, then Othin bade him rule over every thing with himself.

Helgi said:

39. A "Thou shalt, Hunding, | of every hero
Wash the feet, | and kindle the fire,
Tie up dogs, | and tend the horses,
And feed the swine | ere to sleep thou goest."

One of Sigrun's maidens went one evening to Helgi's hill, and saw that Helgi rode to the hill with many men, The maiden said:

40. "Is this a dream | that methinks I see,
Or the doom of the gods, | that dead men ride,
And hither spurring | urge your steeds,
Or is home-coming now | to the heroes granted?"

[36. Line 5 may be spurious. Vigblær ("Battle-Breather") Helgi's horse. 38. Line 5 (or possibly line 4) may be spurious. Cf. Guthrunarkvitha I, 17, and Guthrunarkvitha II, 2.

Prose. Valhall, etc.: there is no indication as to where the annotator got this notion of Helgi's sharing Othin's rule. It is most unlikely that such an idea ever found place in any of the Helgi poems, or at least in the earlier ones; probably it was a late development of the tradition in a period when Othin was no longer taken seriously.

39. This stanza apparently comes from an otherwise lost passage containing a contest of words between Helgi and Hunding; indeed the name of Hunding may have been substituted for another one beginning with "H," and the stanza originally have had no connection with Helgi at all. The annotator inserts it here through an obvious misunderstanding, taking it to be Helgi's application of the power conferred on him by Othin.

40. Here begins the final section, wherein Sigrun visits the dead Helgi in his burial hill. Doom of the gods: the phrase "ragna rök" has been rather unfortunately Anglicized into the work "ragnarok" (the Norse term is not a proper name), and rök, "doom," has been confused with rökkr, "darkness," and so translated "dusk of the Gods," or "Götterdämmerung."]

36. "Sitk-a ek svá sæl at Sefafjöllum
ár né of nætr, at ek una lífi,
nema at liði lofðungs ljóma bregði,
renni und vísa Vígblær þinig,
gullbitli vanr, knega ek grami fagna.

37. Svá hafði Helgi hrædda görva
fjándr sína alla ok frændr þeira
sem fyr ulfi óðar rynni
geitr af fjalli geiskafullar.

38. Svá bar Helgi af hildingum
sem ítrskapaðr askr af þyrni
eða sá dýrkalfr döggu slunginn
er efri ferr öllum dýrum
ok horn glóa við himin sjalfan."

Haugr var gjörr eftir Helga. En er hann kom til Valhallar, þá bauð Óðinn honum öllu at ráða með sér.

Helgi kvað:

39. "Þú skalt, Hundingr, hverjum manni
fótlaug geta ok funa kynda,
hunda binda, hesta gæta,
gefa svínum soð, áðr sofa gangir."

Ambótt Sigrúnar gekk um aftan hjá haugi Helga ok sá, at Helgi reið til haugsins með marga menn. Ambótt kvað:

40. "Hvárt eru þat svik ein, er ek sjá þykkjumk,
eða ragnarök, - ríða menn dauðir,
er jóa yðra oddum keyrið -
eða er hildingum heimför gefin?"