25. Then said Brynhild, Budli's daughter: "Atli my brother, Budli's offspring, is the sole cause of all the evil;
26. When in the hall of the Hunnish folk, with the king we beheld the fire of the serpent's bed.[80] Of that journey, I have paid the penalty, that sight I have ever rued."
27. She by a column stood, the wood violently clasped. From the eyes of Brynhild, Budli's daughter, fire gleamed forth; venom she snorted, when she beheld the wounds of Sigurd.
Gudrun then went away to the forest and deserts, and travelled to Denmark, where she stayed seven half-years with Thora, Hakon's daughter. Brynhild would not outlive Sigurd. She caused her eight thralls and five female slaves to be killed, and then slew herself with a sword, as it is related in the "Sigurdarkvida in Skemma" (the Short Lay of Sigurd).
FOOTNOTES:
[79] Power of speech.
[80] A periphrasis for gold.
BRYNHILD'S HEL-RIDE.
After Brynhild's death two piles were made, one for Sigurd, which was the first burnt; but Brynhild was burnt afterwards, and she was in a chariot, which was hung with precious tapestry; so that it was said that Brynhild drove in a chariot on the way to Hel, and passed through a place in which a giantess dwelt. The giantess said: