From the heroic poems relating to Sigurd and Brynhild—the originals from which the German “Niebelungen-lied” is taken—the following passage is extracted. In it Gudrun, in conversation with Thjodreck, describes her youth before the murder of Sigurd: “A maid was I amongst maidens; my mother reared me lovely in bower. Well loved I my brothers, till me Gjuké apportioned with gold, with gold apportioned and gave me to Sigurd. So raised himself, Sigurd, over the sons of Gjuké, as the green lily above the grass grows; or the high-antlered stag, above other beasts; or the fire-red gold above the silver grey. My brothers were incensed that I should have a husband more illustrious than any. Sleep they could not, nor decide on anything, before they Sigurd had caused to perish. Grangé (Sigurd’s steed) galloped to the Ting (assembly of the people), wild was his neighing, but Sigurd himself was not there. All the horses were covered with sweat, and with blood of the contenders.
“Weeping I went to speak to Grané, the blood sprinkled; of his master I asked him; then hung down Grané mournfully his head, for the creature knew that his lord was not living. Long did I wander, long was I confused in mind before of the Prince I could ask after my King.”
The “Hávamál”—“Odin’s High Song”—displays a shrewd insight into human nature, and contains many maxims, both of a moral and social kind, which one would scarcely expect to find embodied in the heathen ethics of an ancient Scandinavian Scald. The whole poem is here presented to the reader.
HÁVAMÁL.
I.
“In every corner
Carefully look thou
Ere forth thou goest;
For insecure
Is the house when an enemy