27. Then said Hamdir, the great of heart: "Harm didst thou, brother! when thou that mouth didst ope. Oft from that mouth bad counsel comes."
28. "Courage hast thou, Hamdir! if only thou hadst sense: that man lacks much who wisdom lacks.
29. "Off would the head now be, had but Erp lived, our brother bold in fight, whom on the way we slew, that warrior brave—me the Disir instigated—that man sacred to us, whom we resolved to slay.
30. "I ween not that ours should be the wolves' example, that with ourselves we should contend, like the Norns' dogs, that voracious are in the desert nurtured."
31. "Well have we fought, on slaughtered Goths we stand, on those fallen by the sword, like eagles on a branch. Great glory we have gained, though now or to-morrow we shall die. No one lives till eve against the Norns' decree."
33. There fell Sorli, at the mansion's front; but Hamdir sank at the house's back.
This is called the Old Lay of Hamdir.
FOOTNOTES:
[118] See Str. 10, and Ghv. 9, and. Luning, Glossar.
[119] "The Alfar's Lament" is the early dawn, and is in apposition to "early morn," in the following line. The swart Alfar are meant, who were turned to stone if they did not flee from the light of day. This is the best interpretation I can offer of this obscure strophe.