"Then upon Grani rode The goodly gold-strewer To where my fosterer Ruled his fair dwelling. He who alone there Was deemed best of all, The War-lord of the Danes, Well worthy of men. "In peace did we sleep Soft in one bed, As though he had been Naught but my brother: There as we lay Through eight nights wearing, No hand in love On each other we laid. "Yet thence blamed me, Gudrun, Giuki's daughter, That I had slept In the arms of Sigurd; And then I wotted As I fain had not wotted, That they had bewrayed me In my betrothals. "Ah! For unrest All too long Are men and women Made alive! Yet we twain together Shall wear through the ages, Sigurd and I.-- --Sink adown, O giant-wife!" FRAGMENTS OF THE LAY OF BRYNHILD HOGNI SAID: "What hath wrought Sigurd Of any wrong-doing That the life of the famed one Thou art fain of taking?" GUNNAR SAID: "To me has Sigurd Sworn many oaths, Sworn many oaths, And sworn them lying, And he bewrayed me When it behoved him Of all folk to his troth To be the most trusty." HOGNI SAID: "Thee hath Brynhild Unto all bale, And all hate whetted, And a work of sorrow; For she grudges to Gudrun All goodly life; And to thee the bliss Of her very body." .......... Some the wolf roasted, Some minced the worm, Some unto Guttorm Gave the wolf-meat, Or ever they might In their lust for murder On the high king Lay deadly hand. Sigurd lay slain On the south of the Rhine High from the fair tree Croaked forth the raven, "Ah, yet shall Atli On you redden edges, The old oaths shall weigh On your souls, O warriors." Without stood Gudrun, Giuki's daughter, And the first word she said Was even this word: "Where then is Sigurd, Lord of the Warfolk, Since my kin Come riding the foremost? One word Hogni Had for an answer: "Our swords have smitten Sigurd asunder, And the grey horse hangs drooping O'er his lord lying dead." Then quoth Brynhild, Budli's daughter; "Good weal shall ye have Of weapons and lands, That Sigurd alone Would surely have ruled If he had lived But a little longer. "Ah, nothing seemly For Sigurd to rule Giuki's house And the folk of the Goths, When of him five sons For the slaying of men, Eager for battle, Should have been begotten!" Then laughed Brynhild-- Loud rang the whole house-- One laugh only From out her heart: "Long shall your bliss be Of lands and people, Whereas the famed lord You have felled to the earth!"