[82]. The manuscript does not indicate the speakers. Many editions make two separate stanzas of the four lines. Another light: a fairly clear indication of the influence of Christianity; cf. Introductory Note.
[83]. The manuscript marks line 3 as the beginning of a new stanza. Hniflung: the Volsungasaga says that “Hogni had a son who was called Hniflung,” but the name appears to be nothing more than the familiar “Niflung” applied in general to the sons of Gjuki and their people. On the spelling cf. note on stanza 44. [[530]]This son of Hogni appears in later versions of the story. In the Thithrekssaga he is called Aldrian, and is begotten by Hogni the night before his death. Aldrian grows up and finally shuts Attila in a cave where he starves to death. The poet here has incorporated the idea, which finds no parallel in the Atlakvitha, without troubling himself to straighten out the chronology.
[84]. Line 4 may be in Fornyrthislag, and from another poem.
[85]. The manuscript marks line 3 as beginning a new stanza. The Volsungasaga makes line 2 part of Atli’s speech.
[86]. The manuscript does not name the speakers. It marks line 4 as the beginning of a new stanza, and many editions follow this arrangement, in most cases making a stanza of lines 4–5 and line 1 of stanza 87. However, line 1 may well have been interpolated here from stanza 75. Grundtvig adds after line 3: “His father he avenged, | and his kinsmen fully.” Some editors assume the loss of one or two lines after line 5. [[531]]
[87]. The manuscript marks line 2 as beginning a new stanza, and some editions make a stanza out of lines 2–4 and line 1 of stanza 88.
[88]. The manuscript marks line 2 as the beginning of a stanza, and many editions make a stanza out of lines 2–4, or combine them with stanza 89. Some question the genuineness of line 4.
[89]. Many editions assume a gap of one line after line 3; [[532]]Grundtvig adds: “Bit-champing horses | and wheel-wagons bright.” Line 4 may be spurious. Greater: i.e., the silver which Atli gave Guthrun was of greater value even than the honor of receiving such royal gifts.
[90]. Some editions mark line 3 as spurious or defective. The manuscript marks line 4 as the beginning of a new stanza. The land, etc.: there is much obscurity as to the significance of this line. Some editors omit or question “me,” in which case Atli is apparently reproaching Guthrun for having incited him to fight with his brothers to win for himself the whole of Buthli’s land. In stanza 91 Guthrun denies that she was to blame for Atli’s quarrels with his brothers. The Volsungasaga reading supports this interpretation. The historical Attila did actually have his brother, Bleda, killed in order to have the sole rule. The treasure: Sigurth’s hoard, which Atli claimed as the brother of Brynhild and husband of Guthrun, Sigurth’s widow, but which Gunnar and Hogni kept for themselves, with, as Atli here charges, Guthrun’s connivance. My mother: the only other reference to Atli’s mother is in Oddrunargratr, 30, wherein she appears as the adder who stings Gunnar to death, and in the prose passages based on that stanza. [[533]]
[91]. The manuscript does not indicate the speaker. It marks both lines 4 and 5 as beginning new stanzas, but line 5 is presumably an interpolation. The text of the second half of line 2 is obscure, and many emendations have been suggested. Ye brothers: cf. note on stanza 90. Half: i.e., two of Atli’s brothers were killed, the other two dying in the battle with Gunnar and Hogni; cf. stanza 51.