Page:Völsunga Saga (1888).djvu/320

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
262
SONGS FROM THE EDDA.
Then came the wretch[1]
Crawling out,
E’en Atli’s mother,
All sorrow upon her!
A grave gat her sting
In the heart of Gunnar,
So that no helping
Was left for my hero.

“O gold-clad woman,
Full oft I wonder
How I my life
Still hold thereafter,
For methought I loved
That light in battle,
The swift with the sword,
As my very self.

“Thou hast sat and hearkened
As I have told thee
Of many an ill-fate,
Mine and theirs—
Each man liveth
E’en as he may live—
Now hath gone forth
The greeting of Oddrun.”

  1. Atli’s mother took the form of the only adder that was not lulled to sleep by Gunnar’s harp-playing, and who slew him.