31. Then Gunnar, monarch | of men, spake forth:
"Thou dost not laugh, | thou lover of hate,
In gladness there, | or for aught of good;
Why has thy face | so white a hue,
Mother of ill? | Foredoomed thou art.
32. "A worthier woman | wouldst thou have been
If before thine eyes | we had Atli slain;
If thy brother's bleeding | body hadst seen
And the bloody wounds | that thou shouldst End."
Brynhild spake:
33. "None mock thee, Gunnar! | thou hast mightily fought,
But thy hatred little | doth Atli heed;
Longer than thou, | methinks, shall he live,
And greater in might | shall he ever remain.
34. "To thee I say, | and thyself thou knowest,
That all these ills | thou didst early shape;
No bonds I knew, | nor sorrow bore,
And wealth I had | in my brother's home.
35. "Never a husband | sought I to have,
Before the Gjukungs | fared to our land;
Three were the kings | on steeds that came,--
Need of their journey | never there was.
[31. Line 1 may well be a mere expansion of "Gunnar spake." The manuscript
marks line 4 as the beginning of a new stanza, and some editions combine lines 4-5 with stanza 32.
32. This stanza, which all editors have accepted as an integral part of the poem, apparently refers
to the same story represented by stanzas 37-39, which most editors have (I believe mistakenly) marked
as interpolated. As is pointed out in the notes on stanzas 3, 5, 6 and 10, the poet throughout seems
to have accepted the version of the story wherein Gunnar and Sigurth besiege Atli, and are bought off
by the gift of Atli's sister, Brynhild, to Gunnar as wife, her consent being won by Atli's representation
that Gunnar is Sigurth (cf. also Guthrunarkvitha I, 24 and note).
33. The manuscript does not name the speaker, and some editions add a first line: "Then Brynhild, daughter | of Buthli, spake."
34. Cf. stanza 5.
35. Three kings: Gunnar, Hogni, and Sigurth.]
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31. Hitt kvað þá Gunnarr gramr haukstalda:
"Hlær-a þú af því, heiftgjörn kona,
glöð á gólfi, at þér góðs viti.
Hví hafnar þú inum hvíta lit,
feikna fæðir? Hygg ek, at feig séir.
32. Þú værir þess verðust kvenna,
at fyr augum þér Atla hjöggim,
sæir bræðr þínum blóðugt sár,
undir dreyrgar knættir yfir binda."
Brynhildr kvað:
33. "Frýr-a maðr þér engi,
hefir þú fullvegit;
lítt sésk Atli ófu þína;
hann mun ykkar önd síðari
ok æ bera afl it meira.
34. Segja mun ek þér, Gunnarr,
- sjalfr veiztu görla, -
hvé er yðr snemma til saka réðuð;
varð ek til ung né ofþrungin,
fullgædd féi á fleti bróður.
35. Né ek vilda þat, at mik verr ætti,
áðr þér Gjúkungar riðuð at garði,
þrír á hestum þjóðkonungar,
en þeira för þörfgi væri.
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