"Hostile Runes"

Sinfiotli, Sigmund’s son, answered, as is also written. Gudmund rode home with the news of invasion. Then Granmar’s sons assembled an army. Many kings came to join them. There was Hogni, Sigrun’s father, and his sons, Bragi and Dag. There was a great battle and all of Granmar’s sons were killed and all of the princes, except for Dag, Hogni’s son, who obtained a truce and swore oaths to the Volsungs. Sigrun went among the slaughtered and found Hodbrodd on the point of death. She said:

25 ‘Sigrun from Sefafell
will not sink into your arms, King Hodbrodd;
ebbing is the life—often the troll-woman’s grey horse-herd*
gets the corpses—of Granmar’s sons.’

Then she met Helgi and was extremely joyful. He said:

26 ‘It was not all good fortune for you, strange creature,*
though I reckon the norns had some part in it;*
this morning at Frekastein
Bragi and Hogni were killed, I was their slayer.

27 ‘And at Styr-cleft King Starkad,
and at Hlebiorg the sons of Hrollaug;
I saw that fiercest-minded of kings
defending his trunk—his head was gone.

28 ‘All the rest of your kinsmen
were lying on the ground, corpses they’d become;
you did not stop the battle, it was fated for you
that you’d be cause of strife among powerful men.’

Then Sigrun wept. He said:

29 ‘Be comforted Sigrun! You’ve been our battle-goddess;
the princes could not struggle against fate.’
‘I’d choose now that those who are gone might live again
and that I could still hold you in my arms.’

Helgi married Sigrun and they had sons. Helgi did not live to old age. Dag, Hogni’s son, sacrificed to Odin for revenge for his father. Odin lent Dag his spear. Dag encountered Helgi, his brother-in-law, at a place called Fetter-grove. He pierced Helgi with the spear and Helgi fell there. And Dag rode to the mountains and told this news to Sigrun:

30 ‘Sister, I am reluctant to tell you of grief,
for I am forced to make my kinswoman weep:
there fell this morning below Fetter-grove
the lord who was the best in the world
and who stood on the necks of chieftains.’

31 ‘May all the oaths which you swore
to Helgi rebound upon you,
by the bright water of Leift
and the cold, wet stone of Unn.

32 ‘May the ship you sail on not go forward,*
though the wind you need has sprung up behind;
may the horse you ride on not go forward,
though you need to escape your enemies.

33 ‘May the sword that you wield never bite for you,
unless it’s whistling above your own head.
Helgi’s death would be avenged on you,
if you were a wolf out in the forest
deprived of wealth and all well-being
and of food, except when you glutted yourself on corpses.’

Dag said:
34 ‘You’re mad, sister! you’re out of your wits,
that you wish this evil fate on your brother;
Odin alone caused all the misfortune,
for he cast hostile runes between kinsmen.

35 ‘Your brother offers you red-gold rings,
all Vandilsve and Vigdal;
take half of our homeland to pay for your loss,
ring-adorned woman, you and your sons.’

36 ‘I shall not sit so happily at Sefafell,
neither early nor at night-time, that I’ll desire to live on;
unless light should shine on the prince’s company,
unless Vigblær should gallop here under the chieftain,
tamed to his gold bridle, and I could welcome the warrior.

37 ‘Helgi so terrified
all his enemies and their kin,
just as panicking goats run before the wolf
down from the mountain filled with fear.

38 ‘So Helgi surpassed the soldiers
like the bright-growing ash beside the thorn-bush
and the young stag, drenched in dew,
who towers above all other animals
and whose horns glow right up to the sky.’

A burial-mound was made for Helgi. And when he came to Valhall Odin asked him to rule over everything with him. Helgi said:

39 ‘Hunding, you shall fetch the foot-bath*
for every man and kindle the fire,
tie up the dogs, watch the horses,
give the pigs slops before you go to sleep.’


- Poetic Edda, Helgakviða Hundingsbana II