Helgakviða Hundingsbana II
The Second Lay of Helgi the Hunding-Slayer

Translation by Lee M. Hollander
of Helgakviða Hundingsbana II
in the Poetic Edda, from which the following is taken.

Introduction

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I

About the Volsungs

King Sigmund, the son of Volsung, had to wife Borghild
from Brálund. They named their son Helgi, after Helgi Hjorvarthsson. He was given to Hagal 4 in fosterage. Hunding was hight a mighty king from whom Hundland 5 has its name. He was a great man of war and had many sons who were out on forays. There was hatred and feud between King Hunding and King Sigmund, and they slew one another's kinsmen. King Sigmund and his kin were hight Volsungs 6 and Ylfings.

Helgi went as a spy in disguise to the hall of King Hunding. Heming,one of the sons of King Hunding, was at home.

Now when Helgi was about to leave, he met a shepherd boy and said:

1

"Say to Heming that Helgi recalleth
whom in byrnie the heroes felled: 7
in the halls had ye the grey hearth-dweller 8
whom King Hunding thought Hamal to be."

Hamal was the name of Hagal's son. King Hunding sent men to Hagal to seek Helgi, and Helgi could not save himself but by putting on the clothes of a bondmaid and turning the millstone. They searched but found Helgi nowhere.

2

9 (Then Blind said thus, ay bent on ill):
"Bright are the eyes of Hagal's bondmaid:
no cotter's quean at the quern who standeth:
the bin breaketh, burst the millstones. 10

3

"A harsh fate hath the hero fettered,
since the bold one now must barley grind;
the hilt rather of hero's sword,
than the mill-handle, that hand befitteth."


Hagal answered and said:

4

"Little wonder that, though throbs the bin,
since queenly maiden the mill-handle turns:
she was wont to ride the welkin above,
and vikingwise wielded the sword; 11

5

"Ere that Helgi her led home as thrall,
(and the mighty maiden at the mill did drudge;) 12
a sister she of Sigar and Hogni,
hence awful the eyes of the Ylfing maid."

Helgi escaped from there and went on a warship. He slew King Hunding and was thereafter called the Hunding-Slayer.


II

One time he lay with his fleet in Bruna Bay and made a cattle raid on land, and his men ate the meat raw. 13 Hogni was the name of a king whose daughter was Sigrún. She became a valkyrie and rode through the air and over the sea. She was Sváva born again.

She rode to Helgi's ships and said:

6

"To the steep shore who steereth the fleet?
Where, ye heroes lies your homestead?
For what bide ye in Bruna Bay?
Whither list ye now to lay your course?"

Helgi said:

7

"This Hamal steers to steep shore the fleet,
the warriors' homestead on Hlés Isle 14 lies;
a good breeze bide we in Bruna Bay,
and east list we to lay our course."

The Valkyrie said:

8

"Where hast, hero, hoisted war shield, 15
or fed Gunn's fowls 16 with fallen men?
Why is thy byrnie with blood besprent,
why, clad in armor, eat ye raw meat?"

Helgi said:

9

"This, last of all did the Ylfing's son
west of the sea, if to wit thee list,
that bears 17 we bound in Braga Grove,
and with sword sated the sib of eagles:
said have I now why my sark is red;
and by strand why little we steak our meat." 18

The Valkyrie said:

10

"Of the fight tell'st thou when fell in battle,
by Helgi's hand, Hunding the king;
clashed ye in combat thy kinsman to avenge:
streamed the blood then o'er the brand's edges."

Helgi said:

11

"How wist thou, woman, that we the men
who in combat clashing their kinsman avenged?
No lack is there of lordly kings' sons
in all like to our kindred."

The Valkyrie said:

12

"Not far was I, young folk-warder,
when yestermorn the mighty king fell;
but Sigmund's son most sly I ween
to hint of that battle with hidden runes. 19

13

"I watched thee eke on warship standing,
on bloody bow, breasting the waves -
they coolly played the keels about.
Now strives the hero to hide him from me,
but to Hogni's daughter is Helgi known."

III

Granmar was the name of a mighty king who dwelled at Svarins Hill. He had many sons. One was hight Hothbrodd, another, Guthmund, and a third, Starkath. At a meeting of kings, Hothbrodd plighted himself to Sigrún, the daughter of King Hogni. 20 But when she heard of that she rode through the air and over the sea with (her) valkyries to seek Helgi. He was then at the Loga Fells and had fought against the sons of Hunding, and there he had felled Álf and Eyolf, Hjorvarth and Hervarth, and was now all wearied with battle, and was seated beneath the Eagle Rock. There Sigrún found him, and flung her arms about his neck and kissed him and told him the tidings, as is told in The Old Lay of the Volsungs.

14

Sought then Sigrún the gladsome sea king,
and hastened Helgi's his hand to grasp,
helmeted king with kiss greeted;
to the maiden turned then his mind the lord.

15

21 Nor hid her heart's wish Hogni's daughter;
said that Helgi's love she would have,
that dear had been, and dwelled in her heart,
to son of Sigmund ere seen by her.

16

Was I given to Hothbrodd before gathered host,
but for other hero my heart did long;
though fear I, king, my kinsmen's wrath,
for thwarted have I the thanes' dearest wish."

Helgi said:

17

Reck thou shalt not of Hogni's wrath,
nor of the ill will of all thy kin;
with me shalt now, young maiden, live;
nor dread I, dear one, thy doughty brothers."

IV

22 Helgi drew together a great fleet and sailed to Freka Stone. At sea a fearful storm arose. Flashes of lightning shone about them and struck the ships. They saw nine valkyries ride aloft and knew again Sigrún. Then the storm fell and they made land unharmed. The sons of Granmar were seated on a cliff when the ships neared land. Guthmund leaped on his horse and rode to a hill by the harbor to find out whose fleet it was. The Volsungs were then
lowering their sails.

Then said Guthmund, as is written above in The Lay of Helgi: 23

"Who the highborn hero, leading
these hosts hither to harry on us?"

Sinfjotli, the son of Sigmund, made answer to him, and that also is written there.

Guthmund rode home with these tidings of war. Then gathered the sons ofGranmar an army. Many came there, and among them Hogni, Sigrún's father, and his sons Bragi and Dag. A great battle followed, and there fell all the sons of Granmar, and all their leaders but only Dag, the son of Hogni. He was given quarter and sware oaths to the Vulsungs. Sigrún went upon the
battlefield and found Hothbrodd nigh unto death.

She said:

18

"Wilt not Sigrún of the Seva Fells,
highborn Hothbrodd, e'er hold in thy arms;
have lost their lives - men's limbs tear now
grey-coated wolves - all of Granmar's sons."

Then found she Helgi and was most glad.

He said:

19

"Not good only was given thee, Sigrún,
ill norns, though, in this had a share:
fell this morning at Freka Stone
Bragi and Hogni - my brands slew them;

20

"And at the Hlé Fells, Hrollaug's sons,
and at the Styr Cliffs, Starkath the king:
of goodly warriors I grimmest ween him -
his body battled albeit headless. 24

21

"On the field have fallen by far the most,
slain by the sword, of Sigrún's kinsmen;
in war hast won great woe only,
since strife didst stir 'mong the sturdy lords."

Then wept Sigrún.

He said:

22

"Take heart, Sigrún, a Hild 25 though thou'st been to us:
avails not fight against fate."

Sigrún said:

"Alive I could wish who are lying dead,
and eke in my arms could fold thee."

V

Thus spoke Guthmund, the son of Granmar:

23

"What king is it these keels who steereth?
His golden banner at the bow floateth,
his proud prows seem no peace to betoken,
a blood-red glow forebodeth war." 26

Sinfjotli said:

24

"Here mayst, Hothbrodd, find Helgi now
in the midst of his fleet, the fearless hero;
the Fjorsung's lands fighting he won him,
all the gold eke which owned thy kin." 27

Guthmund said:

25

"Rather shall, foeman, at Freka Stone
our slaughterous swords settle between us;
'tis time, Hothbrodd, to take revenge,
since by them oft overborne we were."

Sinfjotli said:

26

"Rather shalt, Guthmund, the goat flocks herd,
in clefts of cliffs clambering about,
and hold in thy hand a hazel rod:
that's better for thee than battling with swords."

Helgi said:

27

28 " 'Twere, Sinfjotli, more seeming far
to wield thy sword and sate eagles,
than with words to wage war between you,
though the ring-breakers' wrath is kindled.

28

No good I wait me from Granmar's sons,
yet befits it kings no falsehood to say;
at Móïnsheim right manfully
their wands-of-wounds they wielded boldly."

VI

Helgi wedded Sigrún and had sons by her. Helgi lived not long, Dag, Hogni's son, sacrificed to Óthin that he should help him avenge his father, and Óthin lent Dag his spear. 29 Dag found Helgi, his sister's husband, in a grove which is hight Fjotur Grove. 30 He ran Helgi through with his spear. Helgi
died.

Dag rode to the Seva Fells and told Sigrún the tidings:

29

"Loath am I, sister, to tell sad tidings;
for unwilling was I to work thee harm: 31
fell this morning by Fjotur Grove
under heaven who was of all heroes best,
and set his foot on sea kings' necks."

Sigrún said:

30

"Shall every one of the oaths strike thee
which to Sigmund's son thou swarest of yore
by light-hued leaping Leiptr's water, 32
and eke by Unn's 33 ice-cold altar.

31

The boat shall budge not which beareth thee,
a fair wind though doth fill its sails;
the steed shall run not thou ridest on,
though fain thy foeman flee thou wouldest!

32

"The sword shall bite not which is bared by thee,
but it sing o'er thyself and smite thee down,
(nor shield shelter but be shattered quickly,) 34
(though sore needed when set upon). 35

33

"Then had I vengeance for Helgi's death,
if a wolf thou wert in the wilderness,
wretchedly roving, and ravenous,
and feed to bursting on foul carrion."

Dag said:

34

"Bereft of reason and raving art thou,
to wish thy brother, such baleful fate:
of all evil is Óthin father:
he strife did stir among stanch kinsmen. 36

35

"Weregild I give thee - red-golden rings,
Vandil's hallowed stead, and Víg Dales also,
half our homeland - for the harm done thee,
Sigrún, sister, and to thy sons."

Sigrún said:

36

"Shall I sadly sit at Seva Fells,
nor late nor early in life be glad
but on lord and liegemen fall light again, 37
and on Vígblær's back he is borne hither,
on gold-bitted steed: would I greet him fondly.

37

"Were filled with fear his foeman all,
their kinsmen eke, cowed by Helgi,
as from the wolf will wildly run
fell-grazing goats aghast with dread.

38

"High among heroes did Helgi stand,
like shapely ash tree 'mong the shrubs and thorns;
or as dew-dripping 38 deer doth tower
above all other beasts of the woodlands:
glow his horns on high to very heaven."

A mound was thrown up over Helgi. But when he came to Valholl, Óthin let him have sway over all things together with himself.

Helgi said:

39

Thou shalt, Hunding, hearth fires kindle,
and wash the feet of every wight;
shalt herd horses and the hounds tether,
give the swine their swill ere to sleep thou goest." 39

VII

The bondmaid said:

40

Is't a dream-sight only my eyes behold,
or the doom of the gods - dead men riding!
With spurs ye urge to speed your horses:
or may the heroes wend home again?"

Helgi said:

41

"No dream-sight only thine eyes behold,
nor world's end is't, though us thou see'st
with spurs urging to speed our horses;
nor may the heroes wend home again." 40

The bondmaid went back and said to Sigrún:

42

"Come out, Sigrún of Seva Fells,
if the folk-warder to find thee list:
Helgi is here, his howe, open;
his wounds do bleed: he begs of thee
to stay the bloody stream from his breast."

Sigrún went into the mound to Helgi and said:

43

"As fain am I to find thee, Helgi,
as Óthin's hawks, 41 hungry for meat,
when war they scent and warm corpses,
and dew besprent the daylight see.

44

"The lifeless king to kiss I list,
ere the bloody byrnie thou unbucklest;
thy hair, Helgi, 'tis hoar with frost,
with dew-of-wounds 42 all wet art thou.
Clammy the hands of Hogni's kinsman; 43
how shall I, hero, find help for that?"

Helgi said:

45

" 'Tis Sigrún's doing, of Seva Fells,
that Helgi drips with the dew-of-sorrow: 42
woman sun-bright, southern. 44 ere to sleep thou goest,
thou ceaseless, sadly salt tears weepest;
falls each one, bloody, on the breast of the king,
icy, festering, full of sorrow.

46

"Is this wondrous wine 45 a welcome drink,
though life and lands be lost for ay;
songs of sadness shall no one sing,
albeit my breast doth bleed with wounds:
now hath my bride into barrow come,
the maid praised of men, to me, the dead!"

Sigrún made ready a bed in the mound.

She said:

47

"A bed made I ready for both of us,
'tis free from care, kingly Helgi;
in thy arms will I, atheling, sleep,
as in life, lief one, I would lie with thee."

Helgi said:

48

"No wonder, ween I, will unwonted seem,
sooner or later, at Seva Fells,
since lies with lifeless leader's body
in the howe, Hogni's white-armed daughter -
with the dead the quick, the queenly woman."

49

When morning dawned, Helgi arose and said:

"Along reddening roads to ride I hie me,
on fallow steed aery paths to fly:
to the west shall I of Windhelm's bridge, 47
ere Valholl's warriors wakes Salgofnir." 48

Helgi and his men rode on their way, but Sigrún and her women wended home. On the next evening, Sigrún had a maid watch by the mound.

But when the day was at an end, Sigrún came to the mound and said:

50

"Come had by now, if to come he wished,
the son of Sigmund from the seat of Óthin;
little hope that hither the hero will ride,
now the eagles perch on ash-tree limbs,
and all hosts hie them to the home of dreams." 49

The bondmaid said:

51

The bondmaid said:

" 'Twere folly, lady, to fare alone,
thou Hogni's daughter, to dead man's howe.
All dead men's ghosts do grow more dread
as daylight darkens to dimness of night."

Sigrún lived but a short while longer, for grief and sorrow. It was the belief in olden times that men were born again, but that is now calle a old women's superstition. Helgi and Sigrún are said to have been born again as Helgi Haddingjasati 50 and Kára, the daughter of Hálfdan, as is told in The Lay of Kára. 51 She was a valkyrie.



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The Poetic Edda
Translated by Lee M Hollander © 1962
ISBN 0-292-76499-5
LCCCN 61-10045
Fifth paperback printing 1994
University of Texas Press
Box 7819, Austin, Texas, 78713-7819

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Notes

1. Other favorite themes, such as the death of Brynhild, the fall of the Niflungs, and Guthrún's plaint, also received parallel treatment by two or more poets.

2. Possibly, remnants of the Káruljóð, or "Lay of Kára," mentioned in the Final Prose.

3. In England, in "Sweet William's Ghost"; see Child's The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, II, 226; in Germany, Buger's "Leonore."

4. "The Skilful."

5. Probably invented ad hoc. It is not the same as the Hunland over which Buthli, and after him Atli, held sway

6. Seeing that in the lays Helgi is the kinsman of Sigmund and Sinfjotli, the Collector infers that he is a Volsung. Whether this corresponds to the oldest stratum of the legend is another matter.

7. Helgi's father (?).

8. Kenning for "Wolf": an allusion to the name of Helgi's race, the Ylfings, "Wolfings." Hamal, "Wether."

9. This line is supplied for the last sentence of the Prose. Blind, "the Blinding," "Deceiving One," is the typical name of an evil counsellor.

10. Compare with the situation in Grottasongr.

11. That is, she is a valkyrie.

12. Supplied after Bugge.

13. This barbaric practice of the earlier vikings was condemned in later times.

14. In the Kattegat, between Jutland and Sweden. See Hárbarzljóð, St. 37.

15. See Helgakviða Hundingsbana I, St. 33 and Note 42.

16. Gunn, "Battle," is a valkyrie, her fowls hence the birds of prey - eagles and ravens.

17. Figuratively for "men made captives."

18. He excuses his warriors - they are ravenous after long privations at sea.

19. It was considered part of wisdom in a warrior to conceal his identity. Compare with Fáfnismál, St. 1 ff.

20. With her father's consent. See St. 17.

21. In the original, St. 15 follows St. 16.

22. The following Prose reproduces the contents of Helgakviða Hundingsbana I, Sts. 22 ff.

23. That is, "The First Lay," St. 32.

24. He is identical in name and behavior in death with the Starkath, the son of Stórverk, who figures in Saxo Grammaticus as the typical representative of the Heroic Age, and in the Víkarsbálkr of the Gautreks Saga. The stanza is no doubt a later interpolation.

25. The reference probably is to that famous Hild who was the cause of everlasting combat between her father, King Hogni, and her lover, Hethin, the so-called Battle of the Hjathnings (Skáldskaparmál, Chap. 47). However, the line is doubtful. The entire stanza is probably a later interpolation.

26. A red-glowing morning sky betokens carnage, as in "The Sonf of theValkyries" (Darraðarljóð), Njals Saga, Chap. 157.

27. The meaning of the second half of the stanza is obscure. Possibly, Sinfjotli begins to taunt him, "your lands and treasures are as good as won."

28. Identical with Sts. 45-46 of Helgakviða Hundingsbana I.

29. Sigmund also finally succumbs to Óthin's spear (Volsunga Saga, Chap. 11).

30. "Fetter Grove." Probably identical with the one in the land of the Semnones mentioned by Tacitus (Germania Chap. 39): "...est et alia luco reverentia: nemo nisi vinculo ligatus ingreditur."

31. He is forced by the duty of blood revenge.

32. Leiptr is one of the rivers of the nether world (Grímnismál, St. 28). Hence an oath by its water corresponds to the Greeks' swearing by Styx.

33. "The Wave," one of Ægir's daughters. See Guðrúnarkviða III, St. 3, and Atlakviða, St. 33, for mention of the oaths such as those sworn by Dag.

34. Supplied after Bugge's and Grundtvig's suggestion.

35. Supplied by the Translator.

36. See the like statement in Hárbarzljóð, St. 24.

37. That is, unless I see him back in the light of day, alive.

38. At early dawn. See Grímnismál, St. 26. The same simile occurs in Guðrúnarkviða I, St. 18, and Guðrúnarkviða II, St. 2.

39. As Gering observes, the sentiment here expressed is altogether unbecoming Helgi as spoken to a brave foe felled in honorable combat, since it goes straight counter to Northern conception of etiquette. The stanza is probably a fragment of a flyting between Sinfjotli and Hunding before battle.

40. They are not allowed to return "home" to earth, but only for a last stay.

41. The ravens.

42. Kenning for "blood."

43. This is Helgi's status as his daughter's husband.

44. Probably only honorific. See Helgakviða Hundingsbana I, St. 16.

45. We must suppose that Sigrún has brought it for the bridal feast.

46. Added by the Translator.

47. That is, heaven's bridge, Bifrost. See Grímnismál, St. 45.

48. That is, before the cock Salgofnir wakes the einherjar to their daily combat. Vafþrúðnismál, St. 40.

49. That is, when men court sleep?

50. "Prince of the Haddingjar."

51. . Now lost. It was known to the author of the Hrómundar saga Greipssonar.


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Introduction


The same theme as in the preceding poem is here treated in a minor key, and doubtless by another poet, with all stress laid on the loves of Helgi and Sigrún. 1 The result is by far more appealing to the modern taste. It does not seem necessary to assume, with some investigators, that we have here, as in "The Lay of Helgi Hjorvarthsson," a number of fragments pieced
together by the Collector, or a sort of gleaming of various snatches about Helgi which were not utilized in the preceding poems: with the exception ofthe first five stanzas, 2 the twenty-second, the twenty-third through the twenty-eighth, and the thirty-ninth, it is essentially one in idea - centering around the valkyrie's absolute devotion to the hero, a devotion which involved the destruction of her own kin and continued beyond death. If this view is correct - and a study of both style and versification serves but to confirm it - the complete lay must have been one of the glories
of Heroic Song.
As it stands, there are lacunæ, awkwardly bridged by the Collector, who with a maladroit hand mars the continuity by inserting a variation of the flyting between Sinfjotli and Guthmund, oddly enough after referring to it! There are also a few telling but disconnected stanzas from some poem about Helgi's youth (Sts. 1-5).
Even in its present sadly mutilated condition the lay cannot fail to give the impression of simple powers. Its diction is noble and restrained, the treatment worthy of the intrinsic interest. Famous throughout the North, in ancient as in modern times, is Sigrún's terrible curse upon her traitor brother and her proud praise of the splendid hero, hinting at defiant love beyond the grave. Nor has time diminished the deep appeal of the passionate lovers' meeting in the barrow - the first appearance in literature of this romantic theme of so many later ballads. 3 The casual mention by the Collector that the original title of the poem was The Old Lay of the Volsungs may indicate that its composition antedates that
of the other two. Nevertheless it seems best to retain the order of the Collection; especially as the death of the lovers makes a fitting conclusion for the cycle.


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