[14]. The manuscript marks line 3 as beginning a stanza, and many editions combine lines 3–4 with lines 1–2 of stanza 15. Hoalf (or Half): Gering thinks this Danish king may be identical with Alf, son of King Hjalprek, and second husband of Hjordis, Sigurth’s mother (cf. Fra Dautha Sinfjotla and note), but the name was a common one. Thora and Hokon have not been identified (cf. Guthrunarkvitha I, concluding prose, which is clearly based on this stanza). A Thora appears in Hyndluljoth, 18, as the wife of Dag, one of the sons of Halfdan the Old, the most famous of Denmark’s mythical kings, and one of her sons is Alf (Hoalf?). [[455]]
[15]. The manuscript marks line 3 as the beginning of a stanza. Some editors combine lines 5–6 with lines 1–2 of stanza 16, while others mark them as interpolated.
[16]. Some editions combine lines 3–4 with stanza 17. Sigmund: Sigurth’s father, who here appears as a sea-rover in Guthrun’s tapestry. Sigar: named in Fornaldar sögur II, 10, as the father of Siggeir, the latter being the husband of Sigmund’s twin sister, Signy (cf. Fra Dautha Sinfjotla). Fjon: this name, referring to the Danish island of Fünen, is taken from the Volsungasaga paraphrase as better fitting the Danish setting of the stanza than the name in Regius, which is “Fife” (Scotland).
[17]. No gap is indicated in the manuscript, and most editions combine these two lines either with lines 3–4 of stanza 16, with lines 1–2 of stanza 18, or with the whole of stanza 18. Line 2 [[456]]has been filled out in various ways. The Volsungasaga paraphrase indicates that these two lines are the remains of a full stanza, the prose passage running: “Now Guthrun was somewhat comforted of her sorrows. Then Grimhild learned where Guthrun was now dwelling.” The first two lines may be the ones missing. Gothic: the term “Goth” was used in the North without much discrimination to apply to all south-Germanic peoples. In Gripisspo, 35, Gunnar, Grimhild’s son, appears as “lord of the Goths.”
[18]. The manuscript marks line 3 as the beginning of a stanza. Grimhild is eager to have amends made to Guthrun for the slaying of Sigurth and their son, Sigmund, because Atli has threatened war if he cannot have Guthrun for his wife.
[19]. Lines 5–6 are almost certainly interpolations, made by a scribe with a very vague understanding of the meaning of the stanza, which refers simply to the journey of the Gjukungs to bring their sister home from Denmark.
[20]. Lines 1–2 are probably interpolated, though the Volsungasaga includes the names. Some one apparently attempted to [[457]]supply the names of Atli’s messengers, the “long-beard men” of line 4, who have come to ask for Guthrun’s hand. Some commentators assume, as the Volsungasaga does, that these messengers went with the Gjukungs to Denmark in search of Guthrun, but it seems more likely that a transitional stanza has dropped out after stanza 19, and that Guthrun received Atli’s emissaries in her brothers’ home. Long-beards: the word may actually mean Langobards or Lombards, but, if it does, it is presumably without any specific significance here. Certainly the names in the interpolated two lines do not fit either Lombards or Huns, for Valdar is identified as a Dane, and Jarizleif and Jarizskar are apparently Slavic. The manuscript indicates line 5 as beginning a new stanza.
[21]. Each: the reference is presumably to Gunnar and Hogni, and perhaps also Grimhild. I suspect that this stanza belongs before stanza 20.
[22]. Stanzas 22–25 describe the draught of forgetfulness which Grimhild gives Guthrun, just as she gave one to Sigurth (in one version of the story) to make him forget Brynhild. The draught does not seem to work despite Guthrun’s statement in stanza 25 (cf. stanza 30), for which reason Vigfusson, not unwisely, places stanzas 22–25 after stanza 34. Blood of swine: cf. Hyndluljoth, 39 and note. [[458]]
[23]. The Volsungasaga quotes stanzas 23–24. Heather-fish: a snake. Haddings’ land: the world of the dead, so called because, according to Saxo Grammaticus, the Danish king Hadingus once visited it. It is possible that the comma should follow “heather-fish,” making the “ear uncut” (of grain) come from the world of the dead.