No halls had been built in Norway. The writer probably means to contrast the stone halls of his own day with the wooden structures of earlier times.
The Harping of Gunnar, a lost poem. The legend here referred to is told in Völsunga Saga, ch. 37 (and elsewhere), doubtless from an old lay.—'King Attila had Gunnar cast into a pit full of snakes ... and his hands were tied. Guthrún sent him a harp, and he was so skilful in harping that he could play it with his toes; and he harped so well that hardly anyone had ever heard such skilful playing, even with the hand. So beautifully did he play that all the snakes were lulled to sleep except one horrible big adder which crept up to him and stung him to the heart. Thus he perished with great courage.'
Gunnar, the son of Gjúki, is the central figure both of the Norse story and of the German Nibelungenlied, in which he is called Gunther. In reality, he was overthrown and killed by the Huns in 437, after which the Burgundians moved from the Rhine to the district now known as Burgundy.
The Ancient Wiles of Guthrún. It is generally believed that this is the name of another lost heroic poem. But the title may possibly mean The Adventures of Guthrún, in which case the poem referred to may be the well-known Ancient Lay of Guthrún (Guðrúnarkviða hin forna). This latter poem is alluded to in ch. 9 below under the title of Guðrúnarræða.
IV.[°] The Land of the Franks, the Rhineland. As far back as the fifth century the Franks occupied that region—to the north of the Burgundians.
Sigurth the son of Sigmund. The story of Sigurth the Völsung is related in Völsunga Saga.
Hundingsbani, i.e. 'Slayer of Hunding.' See Völsunga Saga, ch. 9.