V.[°] It chanced one day that, etc. Chapters 5 and 6 are mainly taken from the poem Reginsmál of which strophes 13-26 are quoted in our text. Reginsmál is the first poem of a trilogy dealing with the early adventures of Sigurth. The two remaining poems Fáfnismál and Sigrdrifumál are used only in the last two sentences of ch. 6.
Yngvi is a name of the god Frey, from whom the kings of Norway and the early kings of Sweden were believed to have sprung.
Fafnisbani, i.e. 'Slayer of Fafnir.' Cf. ch. 6 infra. See also Völsunga Saga, ch. 18.
The Imperial Power had not, etc. This may mean either the refounding of the Western Empire by Charlemagne, a.d. 800, or possibly the gaining of the Imperial throne by Otto I, King of the Germans, in 962.
VI.[°] Sigurth prepared for battle, etc. An account of this battle is given in Völsunga Saga, ch. 17.
The sea-king's steed. The text has Ræfils hestum, lit. 'Ræfil's horses.' Ræfil was a legendary sea-king. The names of such characters are frequently used in 'kennings' (i.e. poetic circumlocutions) like this.
Hnikar, a name of the god Othin in the Grímnismál (str. 47) and elsewhere.
The Moon's sister. The text has systur Mána, 'Máni's sister,' i.e. the sun. Máni, the old word for the moon, is preserved in Iceland only in a mythological sense, the ordinary word in use for moon being tungl. Máni and Sól (the sun) were brother and sister. See Vafþrúþnismál, str. 23; also Gylfaginning, ch. 11, 12.
Order their array, lit. 'draw up a wedge-shaped column'—a favourite battle-formation, the origin of which was ascribed to Othin. Stumbling is bad luck, etc. So Wilken (gloss. s.v. fyrir, 2.) Vigfússon and Gering transl. 'It is an ill thing to outrun one's luck.'