46. "Well shall we drink | a noble draught,
Though love and lands | are lost to me;
No man a song | of sorrow shall sing,
Though bleeding wounds | are on my breast;
Now in the hill | our brides we hold,
The heroes' loves, | by their husbands dead."

Sigrun made ready a bed in the hill.

47. "Here a bed | I have made for thee, Helgi,
To rest thee from care, | thou kin of the Ylfings;
I will make thee sink | to sleep in my arms,
As once I lay | with the living king."

Helgi spake:

48. "Now do I say | that in Sevafjoll
Aught may happen, | early or late,
Since thou sleepest clasped | in a corpse's arms,
So fair in the hill, | the daughter of Hogni!
(Living thou comest, | a daughter of kings.)

49. "Now must I ride | the reddened ways,
And my bay steed set | to tread the sky;
Westward I go | to wind-helm's bridges,
Ere Salgofnir wakes | the warrior throng."

Then Helgi and his followers rode on their way, and the women went home to the dwelling. Another evening Sigrun bade the maiden keep watch at the hill. And at sunset when Sigrun came to the hill she said:

50. "Now were he come, | if come he might,
Sigmund's son, | from Othin's seat;
Hope grows dim | of the hero's return
When eagles sit | on the ash-tree boughs,
And men are seeking | the meeting of dreams."

The Maiden said:

51. "Mad thou wouldst seem | alone to seek,
Daughter of heroes, | the house of the dead;
For mightier now | at night are all
The ghosts of the dead | than when day is bright."

Sigrun was early dead of sorrow and grief. It was believed in olden times that people were born again, but that is now called old wives' folly. Of Helgi and Sigrun it is said that they were born again; he became Helgi Haddingjaskati, and she Kara the daughter of Halfdan, as is told in the Lay of Kara, and she was a Valkyrie.

[46. Both lines 3-4 and lines 5-6 have been suspected by editors of being interpolated, and the loss of two lines has also been suggested. Brides: the plural here is perplexing. Gering insists that only Sigrun is meant, and translates the word as singular, but both "brides" and "loves" are uncompromisingly plural in the text. Were the men of Helgi's ghostly following likewise visited by their wives? The annotator may have thought so, for in the prose he mentions the "women" returning to the house, al though, of course, this may refer simply to Sigrun and the maid.

48. Line 5 (or possibly line 4) may be interpolated.

49. Wind-helm: the sky; the bridge is Bifrost, the rainbow (cf. Grimnismol, 29). Salgofnir ("Hall-Crower"): the cock Gollinkambi who awakes the gods and warriors for the last battle.

50. Many editors assign this speech to the maid. Line 5 (or 4) may be spurious. Meeting of dreams ("Dream-Thing"'): sleep.

Prose. The attitude of the annotator is clearly revealed by his contempt for those who put any faith in such "old wives' folly" as the idea that men and women could be reborn. As in the case of Helgi Hjorvarthsson, the theory of the hero's rebirth seems to have developed in order to unite around a single Helgi the various stories in which the hero is slain. The Lay of Kara (Karuljoth) is lost, although, as has been pointed out, parts of the Helgakvitha Hundingsbana II may be remnants of it, but we find the main outlines of the story in the Hromundar saga Greipssonar, whose compilers appear to have known the Karuljoth. In the saga Helgi Haddingjaskati (Helgi the Haddings' Hero) is protected by the Valkyrie Kara, who flies over him in the form of a swan (note once more the Valkyrie swan-maiden confusion); but in his fight with Hromund he swings his sword so high that he accidentally gives Kara a mortal wound, where upon Hromund cuts off his head. As this makes the third recorded death of Helgi (once at the hands of Alf, once at those of Dag, and finally in the fight with Hromund), the phenomenon of his rebirth is not surprising. The points of resemblance in all the Helgi stories, including the one told in the lost Karuljoth, are sufficiently striking so that it is impossible not to see in them a common origin, and not to believe that Helgi the son of Hjorvarth, Helgi the son of Sigmund and Helgi the Haddings'-Hero (not to mention various other Helgis who probably figured in songs and stories now lost) were all originally the same Helgi who appears in the early traditions of Denmark.]

46. Vel skulum drekka dýrar veigar,
ţótt misst hafim munar ok landa;
skal engi mađr angrljóđ kveđa,
ţótt mér á brjósti benjar líti;
nú eru brúđir byrgđar í haugi,
lofđa dísir, hjá oss liđnum."

Sigrún bjó sćing í hauginum.

47. "Hér hefi ek ţér, Helgi, hvílu görva
angrlausa mjök, Ylfinga niđr,
vil ek ţér í fađmi, fylkir, sofna
sem ek lofđungi lifnum myndak."

Helgi kvađ:

48. "Nú kveđ ek enskis örvćnt vera
síđ né snimma at Sefafjöllum,
er ţú á armi ólifđum sefr,
hvít, í haugi, Högna dóttir,
ok ertu kvik, in konungborna.

49. Mál er mér at ríđa rođnar brautir,
láta fölvan jó flugstíg trođa;
skal ek fyr vestan vindhjalms brúar,
áđr Salgófnir sigrţjóđ veki."

Ţeir Helgi riđu leiđ sína, en ţćr fóru heim til bćjar. Annan aftan lét Sigrún ambótt halda vörđ á hauginum. En at dagsetri, er Sigrún kom til haugsins, hon kvađ:

50. "Kominn vćri nú, ef koma hygđi,
Sigmundar burr frá sölum Óđins;
kveđ ek grams ţinig grćnask vánir,
er á asklimum ernir sitja
ok drífr drótt öll draumţinga til."

Ambótt kvađ:

51. "Verđu eigi svá ćr, at ein farir,
dís skjöldunga, draughúsa til;
verđa öflgari allir á nóttum
dauđir dolgar, mćr, en um daga ljósa."

Sigrún varđ skammlíf af harmi ok trega. Ţat var trúa í forneskju, at menn vćri endrbornir, en ţat er nú kölluđ kerlingavilla. Helgi ok Sigrún, er kallat, at vćri endrborin. Hét hann ţá Helgi Haddingjaskati, en hon Kára Hálfdanardóttir, svá sem kveđit er í Káruljóđum, ok var hon valkyrja.