Asatru Ring Frankfurt & Midgard
Living with the Gods. Living for the Gods. Living
through the Gods.
The
Poetic Edda Online
In the translation of
Bellows
Lays of the Gods
Oddrunargratr
The Lament of Oddrun
Heithrek was the name of
a king, whose daughter was called Borgny. Vilmund was the name of the
man who was her lover. She could not give birth to a child until Oddrun,
Atli's sister, had come to her; Oddrun had been beloved of Gunnar, son
of Gjuki. About this story is the following poem.
1. I have heard it told
in olden tales
How a maiden came to Morningland;
No one of all on earth above
To Heithrek's daughter help could give.
2. This Oddrun learned,
the sister of Atli,
That sore the maiden's sickness was;
The bit-bearer forth from his stall she brought,
And the saddle laid on the steed so black.
3. She let the horse go
o'er the level ground,
Till she reached the hall that loftily rose,
(And in she went from the end of the hall;)
From the weary steed the saddle she took;
Hear now the speech that first she spake:
4. "What news on earth,
. . . . .
Or what has happened in Hunland now?"
A serving-maid spake:
"Here Borgny lies in bitter pain,
Thy friend, and, Oddrun, thy help would find."
Oddrun spake:
5. 'Who worked this woe for the woman thus,
Or why so sudden is Borgny sick?"
The serving-maid
spake:
"Vilmund is he, the heroes' friend,
Who wrapped the woman in bedclothes warm,
(For winters five, yet her father knew not)."
6. Then no more they
spake, methinks;
She went at the knees of the woman to sit;
With magic Oddrun and mightily Oddrun
Chanted for Borgny potent charms.
7. At last were born a
boy and girl,
Son and daughter of Hogni's slayer;
Then speech the woman so weak began,
Nor said she aught ere this she spake:
8. "So may the holy
ones thee help,
Frigg and Freyja and favoring gods,
As thou hast saved me from sorrow now."
Oddrun spake:
9. "I came not hither to help thee thus
Because thou ever my aid didst earn;
I fulfilled the oath that of old I swore,
That aid to all I should ever bring,
(When they shared the wealth the warriors had)."
Borgny spake:
10. "Wild art thou, Oddrun, and witless now,
That so in hatred to me thou speakest;
I followed thee where thou didst fare,
As we had been born of brothers twain."
Oddrun spake:
11. "I remember the evil one eve thou spakest,
When a draught I gave to Gunnar then;
Thou didst say that never such a deed
By maid was done save by me alone."
12. Then the sorrowing
woman sat her down
To tell the grief of her troubles great.
13. "Happy I grew in the hero's hall
As the warriors wished, and they loved me well;
Glad I was of my father's gifts,
For winters five, while my father lived.
14. "These were the
words the weary king,
Ere he died, spake last of all:
He bade me with red gold dowered to be,
And to Grimhild's son in the South be wedded.
15. "But Brynhild the
helm he bade to wear,
A wish-maid bright he said she should be;
For a nobler maid would never be born
On earth, he said, if death should spare her.
16. "At her weaving
Brynhild sat in her bower,
Lands and folk alike she had;
The earth and heaven high resounded
When Fafnir's slayer the city saw.
17. "Then battle was
fought with the foreign swords,
And the city was broken that Brynhild had;
Not long thereafter, but all too soon,
Their evil wiles full well she knew.
18. "Woeful for this
her vengeance was,
As so we learned to our sorrow all;
In every land shall all men hear
How herself at Sigurth's side she slew.
19. "Love to Gunnar
then I gave,
To the breaker of rings, as Brynhild might;
To Atli rings so red they offered,
And mighty gifts to my brother would give.
20. "Fifteen dwellings
fain would he give
For me, and the burden that Grani bore;
But Atli said he would never receive
Marriage gold from Gjuki's son.
21. "Yet could we not
our love o'ercome,
And my head I laid on the hero's shoulder;
Many there were of kinsmen mine
Who said that together us they had seen.
22. "Atli said that
never I
Would evil plan, or ill deed do;
But none may this of another think,
Or surely speak, when love is shared.
23. "Soon his men did
Atli send,
In the murky wood on me to spy;
Thither they came where they should not come,
Where beneath one cover close we lay.
24. "To the warriors
ruddy rings we offered,
That nought to Atli e'er they should say;
But swiftly home they
hastened thence,
And eager all to Atli told.
25. "But close from
Guthrun kept they hid
What first of all she ought to have known.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
26. "Great was the
clatter of gilded hoofs
When Gjuki's sons through the gateway rode;
The heart they hewed from Hogni then,
And the other they cast in the serpents' cave.
27. "The hero wise on
his harp then smote,
. . . . . . . . . .
For help from me in his heart yet hoped
The high-born king, might come to him.
28. "Alone was I gone
to Geirmund then,
The draught to mix and ready to make;
Sudden I heard from Hlesey clear
How in sorrow the strings of the harp resounded.
29. "I bade the
serving-maids ready to be,
For I longed the hero's life to save;
Across the sound the boats we sailed,
Till we saw the whole of Atli's home.
30. "Then crawling the
evil woman came,
Atli's mother-- may she ever rot!
And hard she bit to Gunnar's heart,
So I could not help the hero brave.
31. "Oft have I wondered
how after this,
Serpents'-bed goddess! I still might live,
For well I loved the warrior brave,
The giver of swords, as my very self.
32. "Thou didst see and
listen, the while I said
The mighty grief that was mine and theirs;
Each man lives as his longing wills,--
Oddrun's lament is ended now."
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