NOTES
[[404]]
[1]. The fragment begins with the last words of line 1 (probably line 3 of the stanza). A few editors ascribe this speech to Gunnar and the next to Brynhild; one reconstruction of lines 1–2 on this probably false assumption runs: “Why art thou, Brynhild, [[405]] | daughter of Buthli, / Scheming ill | with evil counsel?” Hogni (German Hagene): brother of Gunnar and Guthrun.
[2]. A few editors ascribe this speech to Brynhild. Gunnar, if the stanza is his, has believed Brynhild’s statement regarding Sigurth’s disloyalty to his blood-brother.
[4]. The Volsungasaga quotes a somewhat different version of this stanza, in which the snake is called “wood-fish” and the third line adds “beer and many things.” Eating snakes and the flesh of beasts of prey was commonly supposed to induce ferocity. Gotthorm: Grimhild’s son, half-brother to Gunnar. He it is who, not having sworn brotherhood with Sigurth, does the killing.
[5]. In the manuscript this stanza stands between stanzas 11 and 12; most editions have made the change here indicated. [[406]]South of the Rhine: the definite localization of the action shows how clearly all this part of the story was recognized in the North as of German origin. Atli (Attila; cf. introductory note to Gripisspo): the Northern version of the story makes him Brynhild’s brother. His marriage with Guthrun, and his slaying of her brothers, are told in the Atli poems. Regarding the manner of Sigurth’s death cf. concluding prose passage and note. Stanza 13 indicates that after stanza 5 a stanza containing the words of an eagle has been lost.
[7]. One line of this stanza, but it is not clear which, seems to have been lost. The gray horse: Grani.
[8]. Some editions set stanzas 8 and 9 after stanza 11; Sijmons marks them as spurious. Buthli: cf. Gripisspo, 19, note.
[9]. Goths: a generic term for any German race; cf. Gripisspo, [[407]]35 and note. Five sons: according to the Volsungasaga Sigurth had only one son, named Sigmund, who was killed at Brynhild’s behest. Sigurtharkvitha en skamma and Guthrunarkvitha II likewise mention only one son. The daughter of Sigurth and Guthrun, Svanhild, marries Jormunrek (Ermanarich).
[12]. The manuscript marks line 4 as the beginning of a new stanza, and a few editions combine it with stanza 13.
[13]. Slayer of hosts: warrior (Gunnar). Raven and eagle: cf. note on stanza 5. [[408]]
[16]. Mogk regards stanzas 16 and 17 as interpolated, but on not very satisfactory grounds. On the death of Gunnar cf. Drap Niflunga.
[17]. No gap is indicated in the manuscript, and some editions attach these two lines to stanza 16. Niflungs: this name (German Nibelungen), meaning “sons of the mist,” seems to have belonged originally to the race of supernatural beings to which the treasure belonged in the German version. It was subsequently extended to include the Gjukungs and their Burgundians. This question, of minor importance in the Norse poems, has evoked an enormous amount of learned discussion in connection with the Nibelungenlied. [[409]]
[18]. Footprints: the actual mingling of blood in one another’s footprints was a part of the ceremony of swearing blood-brotherhood, the oath which Gunnar and Sigurth had taken. The fourth line refers to the fact that Sigurth had won many battles for Gunnar.
[20]. Regarding the sword episode cf. Gripisspo, 41 and note. Wound-staff: sword.
[Prose]. This prose passage has in the manuscript, written in red, the phrase “Of Sigurth’s Death” as a heading; there is no break between it and the prose introducing Guthrunarkvitha I, the heading for that poem coming just before stanza 1. This note is of special interest as an effort at real criticism. The annotator, troubled by the two versions of the story of Sigurth’s death, feels it incumbent on him not only to point the fact out, but to cite the authority of “German men” for the form which appears [[410]]in this poem. The alternative version, wherein Sigurth is slain in bed, appears in Sigurtharkvitha en skamma, Guthrunarhvot, and Hamthesmol, and also in the Volsungasaga, which tells how Gotthorm tried twice to kill Sigurth but was terrified by the brightness of his eyes, and succeeded only after the hero had fallen asleep. That the annotator was correct in citing German authority for the slaying of Sigurth in the forest is shown by the Nibelungenlied and the Thithrekssaga. The “old” Guthrun lay is unquestionably Guthrunarkvitha II. [[411]]