For great are the foes he faces.

[[386]]

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NOTES

[[388]]

[Prose]. The introductory prose follows without break the prose concluding the Fafnismol, the point of division being arbitrary and not agreed upon by all editors. Hindarfjoll: cf. Fafnismol, 42 and note. Franks: this does not necessarily mean that Sigurth was on his way to the Gjukungs’ home, for Sigmund had a kingdom in the land of the Franks (cf. Fra Dautha Sinfjotla). Shields: the annotator probably drew the notion of the shield-tower from the reference in Helreith Brynhildar, 9. The flame-girt tower was not uncommon; cf. Mengloth’s hall in Svipdagsmol. [[389]]

[1]. This stanza, and the two lines included in the prose after stanza 4, and possibly stanza 5 as well, evidently come from a different poem from stanzas 2–4. Lines 3–4 in the original are obscure, though the general meaning is clear.

[Prose] (after stanza 1). In the manuscript stanza 4 stands before this prose note and stanzas 2–3. The best arrangement of the stanzas seems to be the one here given, following Müllenhoff’s suggestion, but the prose note is out of place anywhere. The first sentence of it ought to follow stanza 4 and immediately precede the next prose note; the second sentence ought to precede stanza 5.

[2]. Sons of day: the spirits of light. The daughter of night (Not), according to Snorri, was Jorth (Earth). [[390]]

[Prose] (after stanza 4). Sigrdrifa: on the error whereby this epithet, “victory-bringer,” became a proper name cf. Fafnismol, 44 and note. Hjalmgunnar: in Helreith Brynhildar (stanza 8) he is called a king of the Goths, which means little; of him and his adversary, Agnar, we know nothing beyond what is told here. The two lines quoted apparently come from the same poem as stanza 1; the two first lines of the stanza have been reconstructed from the prose thus: “Hjalmgunnar was one, | the hoary king, / And triumph to him | had Heerfather promised.” A few editions insert in this prose passage stanzas 7–10 of Helreith Brynhildar, which may or may not have belonged originally to this poem. [[391]]