The Second Lay of Helgi Hundingsbani
© 2023 Edward Pettit, CC BY-NC 4.0 https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0308.14
About the Vǫlsungar
King Sigmundr, Vǫlsungr’s son, married Borghildr from Brálundr. They called their son Helgi, and [that was] after Helgi Hjǫrvarðsson. Hagall fostered Helgi. There was a powerful king called Hundingr. Hundland is named after him. He was a great warrior and had many sons, who were raiding.
There was strife and hostility between King Hundingr and King Sigmundr. They slew each other’s kinsmen. King Sigmundr and his relatives were called Vǫlsungar and Ylfingar.
Helgi went and reconnoitered King Hundingr’s court in secret. Hœmingr, son of King Hundingr, was at home. And when Helgi went away, then he met a herd-boy and said:
- ‘Say to Hœmingr that Helgi remembers
who, in a mail-coat, the men felled;
you had a grey wolf in your house,
where King Hundingr thought of Hamall!’
Hamall was the name of Hagall’s son. King Hundingr sent men to Hagall to look for Helgi. And Helgi could save himself in no other way than by taking the clothes of a serving maid and going to mill. They searched and did not find Helgi. Then Blindr the ‘harm-wise’ said:
- ‘Sharp are the eyes in Hagall’s slave-girl —
it’s not a churl’s kin who stands at the quern;
the stones are riven, the stand breaks apart before [her]! - ‘Now the ruler has received a harsh fate,
when the leader must mill foreign barley;
a sword-hilt is more seemly for that hand
than a mill-handle-tree!’
Hagall answered and said:
- ‘It means little, even though the mill thunders,
when a king’s maid turns the mill-handle;
she hurried along, higher than the clouds,
and dared to fight as vikings do,
before Helgi held her captive;
she’s the sister of Sigarr and Hǫgni,
which is why the Ylfingar’s girl has terrible eyes!’
Helgi escaped and went to the warships. He felled King Hundingr and thereafter was called Helgi Hundingsbani ‘Hundingr’s Slayer’. He lay with his army in Brunavágar, and there on the shore slew cattle stolen on a raid, and they ate them raw there.
There was a king called Hǫgni. His daughter was Sigrún. She became a valkyrie and rode sky and sea. She was reborn that way. Sigrún rode to Helgi’s ships and said:
- ‘Who lets ships float by the shore?
Where, warriors, do you have homes?
What are you waiting for in Brunavágar?
Where do you want to set a course?’ - ‘Hamall lets ships float by the shore,
we have homes on Hlésey;
we’re awaiting a fair wind in Brunavágar —
we want to set a course eastward!’ - ‘Where, ruler, have you awoken battle
or nourished the goslings of Gunnr’s sisters?
Why is your mail-coat besmirched with blood?
Why, beneath your helms, must you eat raw meat?’ - ‘Most recently, the kinsman of the Ylfingar fought anew
west of the sea, if you want to know,
when I captured bears in Bragalundr
and sated the family of eagles with spear-points. - ‘Now it’s been said, maiden, whence strife came about;
that’s why it was [that], by the sea, I had eaten meat scarcely roasted.’ - ‘You’re declaring a manslaughter! It was before Helgi
that King Hundingr sank down on the field;
a battle began in which you avenged a kinsman,
and blood streamed along Brimir’s edges.’ - ‘How do you know, wise-minded woman,
that they are [those] who avenged a kinsman?
There are many keen sons of a warrior
and similar to our kinsmen.’ - ‘I wasn’t far, army’s point-wise one,
yesterday morning, from the leader’s life’s-end;
yet I reckon Sigmundr’s son [to be] sly,
when he tells war-stories in slaughter-runes! - ‘I saw you once before on longships,
when you settled in the bloody stems
and the drizzle-cool waves sported;
now the descendant of Dagr wants to conceal himself before me,
but Hǫgni’s maiden recognizes Helgi!’
There was a powerful king called Granmarr who lived at Svarinshaugr. He had many sons: Hǫðbroddr, second Guðmundr, third Starkaðr. Hǫðbroddr was at a meeting of kings. He betrothed himself to Sigrún, Hǫgni’s daughter. But when she heard that, she rode with valkyries through sky and over sea to look for Helgi.
Helgi was then at Logafjǫll and had fought with Hundingr’s sons. There he felled Álfr and Eyjólfr, Hjǫrvarðr and Hervarðr, and he was exhausted from battle, and he sat beneath Arasteinn. There Sigrún met him and threw her arms round his neck and kissed him and told him her errand, just as it says in ‘the ancient Vǫlsungakviða [“Lay of the Vǫlsungar”]’:
- Sigrún sought the glad prince,
she sought Helgi’s hand;
she kissed and greeted the king beneath his helm,
then the prince’s heart warmed to the woman. - She said she had loved Sigmundr’s son
with all her heart before she had seen him. - ‘I was betrothed to Hǫðbroddr on a campaign,
but I wanted to have another boar;
yet, marshal, I dread the wrath of kinsmen;
I have broken my father’s dearest wish!’ - Hǫgni’s maid didn’t speak contrary to her feelings;
she said she should have Helgi’s favour.
- ‘Pay no heed to Hǫgni’s wrath,
nor the ill feeling of your family!
You must, young maiden, live with me!
You have a family, good [lady], which I don’t fear!’
Helgi then gathered a great fleet of ships and went to Frekasteinn, and heavy storms, dangerous to men, seized them in the sea. Then lightnings came over them, and rays of light shone into the ships. They saw in the sky that nine valkyries were riding, and they recognized Sigrún. Then the storm abated and they came safely to land.
Granmarr’s sons were sitting on a certain cliff when the ships sailed to land. Guðmundr leapt on his horse and rode on reconnaissance to the cliff by the haven. Then the Vǫlsungar lowered the sails. Then Guðmundr said, as is written earlier in Helgakviða ‘Helgi’s Poem’:
‘Who is the marshal who steers this fleet,
and leads a fell force to land?’
Sinfjǫtli, Sigmundr’s son, answered, and that is also written. Guðmundr rode home with news of the army. Then Granmarr’s sons mustered an army. Many kings came there. There was Hǫgni, father of Sigrún, and his sons Bragi and Dagr. There was a great battle, and all of Granmarr’s sons fell and all of their chieftains, except Dagr, Hǫgni’s son, accepted immunity and swore oaths to the Vǫlsungar. Sigrún went among the slain and came upon Hǫðbroddr at the point of death.
She said:
19 [25]. ‘Sigrún from Sevafjǫll will not
sink into your arms, King Hǫðbroddr!
Spent is the life — the grey steeds of a giantess
often get a corpse — of Granmarr’s sons!’
Then she came upon Helgi and was overjoyed.
He said:
20 [26]. ‘You’ve not been given entirely good luck, alien creature,
yet I declare that the Nornir caused this, in part:
there fell this morning at Frekasteinn
Bragi and Hǫgni — I was their slayer.
21 [27]. ‘And at Styrkleifar, King Starkaðr [fell],
and at Hlébjǫrg, Hrollaugr’s sons;
I saw that most grim-minded ruler,
when his trunk fought — his head was gone!
22 [28]. ‘There lie on the earth almost all
of your kinsmen, turned into corpses;
you couldn’t prevent the battle, for you it was decreed
that you were the source of strife for powerful men.’
Then Sigrún wept.
He said:
23 [29]. ‘Comfort yourself, Sigrún! You have been a “Hildr” to us;
Skjǫldungar cannot escape fate!’
‘Now I would choose that those should live, who have passed away,
and I could yet conceal myself in your embrace!’
Guðmundr, Granmarr’s son, said this:
24 [19]. ‘Who is the Skjǫldungr, the one who steers the ships?
He lets a golden battle-standard [fly] before the stem;
it doesn’t seem to me that peace is at the forefront of your voyage;
a battle-redness is cast over the vikings.’
Sinfjǫtli said:
25 [20]. ‘Here Hǫðbroddr can recognize Helgi,
averse to flight, in the middle of the fleet;
he has subjugated to himself
your family’s homeland, the inheritance of the Fjǫrsungar.’
26 [21] ‘Before that [comes about], at Frekasteinn
they shall be reconciled through discussion of the dispute;
it’s time, Hǫðbroddr, to take vengeance,
if we bear the lower part for long!’
27 [22]. ‘Before that, Guðmundr, you’d tend goats,
and scale steep rock-gorges,
have in your hand a hazel stick —
that’s pleasanter for you than Brimir’s judgements!’
28 [23]. ‘For you, Sinfjǫtli, it’s much more seemly
to wage war and to gladden eagles
than to deal in useless words,
even if the warriors deal in hatreds!
29 [24]. ‘Granmarr’s sons don’t seem good to me,
yet it befits princes to speak truly:
they’ve made it clear at Móinsheimar,
that they have the spirit to wield swords;
the warriors are far too brave!’
Helgi married Sigrún and they had sons; Helgi was not old. Dagr, Hǫgni’s son, sacrificed to Óðinn to avenge his father. Óðinn lent Dagr his spear. Dagr found Helgi, his brother-in-law, at the place called Fjǫturlundr. He ran Helgi through with the spear. There Helgi fell. And Dagr rode to the fell and told Sigrún the news:
- ‘I am loath, sister, to tell you of sorrows
as, against my will, I have to make my kinswoman weep:
there fell this morning beneath Fjǫturlundr
a descendant of Buðli, the one who was best in the world
and [who] stood on the necks of warriors.’ - ‘All the oaths shall bite you,
those which you had sworn to Helgi,
by the lustrous water of Leiptr
and by the drizzle-cool stone of Unnr! - ‘May the ship not glide, which glides beneath you,
even if a fair wind lies behind it!
May the steed not run, which runs beneath you,
even if you have to escape your enemies! - ‘May the sword not bite for you, which you brandish,
unless it sing above your own head!
Then Helgi’s death would be avenged on you,
if you were a wolf out in the woods,
devoid of wealth and of all pleasure,
[if you] had no food, unless you burst [from feeding] on corpses!’
Dagr said:
- ‘You’re mad, sister, and out of your mind,
when you invoke an evil fate for your brother!
Óðinn alone is the cause of all the misfortune,
for he bore strife-runes among relatives! - ‘Your brother offers you red rings,
all Vandilsvé and Vígdalir;
have half our homeland in compensation for the harm,
ring-adorned bride, [you] and your boys!’ - ‘I shan’t sit so happily in Sevafjǫll,
[neither] early nor during the nights, that I shall enjoy life,
unless light should shine on the host of the laudable one,
[and] there should run here, beneath the ruler, Vígblær,
used to a golden bit, [and] I can greet the prince! - ‘So fully had Helgi frightened
all his foes and their kinsmen,
as before a wolf nanny-goats run frenzied
from a fell, full of fright! - ‘So Helgi surpassed [other] warriors,
as nobly shaped ash [surpasses] thorn,
or the deer-calf, drenched in dew,
which walks superior to all [other] beasts,
and whose horns glow against heaven itself!’
A burial-mound was prepared for Helgi. And when he came to Valhǫll, then Óðinn invited him to rule over all with him.
Helgi said:
- ‘You, Hundingr, shall for every man
get a foot-bath and kindle a fire,
tether the hounds, attend to the horses,
give slops to the swine, before going to sleep!’
Sigrún’s serving-woman was walking during the evening by Helgi’s burial-mound, and she saw that Helgi rode to the mound with many men.
The serving-woman said:
- ‘Is it an illusion, that which I seem to see,
or the doom of the powers — dead people riding,
as your steeds are spurred by points —
or has a homeward-journey been granted to the warriors?’ - ‘It’s no illusion, that which you seem to see,
nor the age’s destruction, even though you observe us,
even though we spur our steeds with points —
nor has a homeward journey been granted to the warriors.’
The serving-woman went and said to Sigrún: - ‘Go outside, Sigrún from Sevafjǫll,
if you wish to meet the troop’s protector!
The mound has opened up, Helgi has come!
His battle-traces bleed, the descendant of Dagr asked that you
should staunch his wound-drops!’
Sigrún went into the mound to Helgi and said:
- ‘Now I’m as elated at our meeting
as Óðinn’s ravenous hawks,
when they perceive the slain, warm pieces of meat,
or, dew-glistening, they see daybreak! - ‘I want to kiss the unliving king,
before you cast off your bloody mail-coat!
Your hair, Helgi, is covered with hoar-frost,
the prince is all drenched in slaughter-dew,
drizzle-cool are the hands of Hǫgni’s son-in-law!
How, descendant of Buðli, shall I make you a remedy for this?’ - ‘You alone, Sigrún from Sevafjǫll, are the reason
why Helgi is drenched in harm-dew!
You, gold-adorned, weep grim tears,
sun-bright, southern [lady], before you go to sleep;
each falls bloody on the leader’s breast,
drizzle-cool, searing, swollen with grief! - ‘Well shall we drink costly liquors,
even though we’ve lost love and lands!
No one shall recite a grief-song,
even if one beholds mortal wounds on my breast!
Now brides are buried in the grave-mound,
the women of praiseworthy ones, passed away beside us!’
Sigrún prepared a bed in the burial-mound. - ‘Here, Helgi, I have made a bed for you,
very carefree, kinsman of the Ylfingar;
I want to fall asleep, marshal, in your embrace,
as I would with the living leader!’ - ‘Now I declare nothing to be unexpected,
late or early, at Sevafjǫll,
since you sleep on my unliving arm,
white, in the mound, Hǫgni’s daughter,
and you’re alive, king-born one! - ‘It’s time to ride reddened ways,
to let my fallow steed tread the flight-path;
I must be west of wind-helm’s bridges,
before Salgofnir wakens the victory-people!’
Helgi and his men rode on their way, and the women went home to the farmstead. The following evening, Sigrún had the serving-woman keep watch at the burial-mound. And at sunset, when Sigrún came to the mound, she said:
- ‘He’d have come by now, if he intended to come,
Sigmundr’s son from the halls of Óðinn;
I declare that hopes of the fierce one [coming] here are fading,
when eagles sit on ash-branches
and the whole warrior-host drifts to dream-assemblies. - ‘Don’t be so insane that you go alone,
woman of the Skjǫldungar, to revenant-houses!
All dead enemies become mightier at night,
lady, than during bright days!’
Sigrún was short-lived due to sorrow and anguish. It was a belief in olden times that people were reborn, but that it now called an old wives’ tale. It is declared that Helgi and Sigrún were reborn. He was then called Helgi Haddingjaskaði, and she Kára Hálfdan’s daughter, as is related in Káruljóð ‘Kára’s Song,’ and she was a valkyrie.
* Original text modified by the editor for clarification and ease of reading