Introductory Note
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Bellows, Henry Adams
Of the wife of the monarch | every morn.
9. “In jealous rage | her wrath she spake,
And beat me oft | with heavy blows; [415]
Never a better | lord I knew,
And never a woman | worse I found.”
10. Grieving could not | Guthrun weep,
Such grief she had | for her husband dead,
And so grim her heart | by the hero’s body.
11. Then spake Gollrond, | Gjuki’s daughter:
“Thy wisdom finds not, | my foster-mother,
The way to comfort | the wife so young.”
She bade them uncover | the warrior’s corpse.
12. The shroud she lifted | from Sigurth, laying
His well-loved head | on the knees of his wife:
“Look on thy loved one, | and lay thy lips
To his as if yet | the hero lived.”
13. Once alone | did Guthrun look;
His hair all clotted | with blood beheld,
The blinded eyes | that once shone bright,
The hero’s breast | that the blade had pierced.
14. Then Guthrun bent, | on her pillow bowed, [416]
Her hair was loosened, | her cheek was hot,
And the tears like raindrops | downward ran.
15. Then Guthrun, daughter | of Gjuki, wept,
And through her tresses | flowed the tears;
And from the court | came the cry of geese,
The birds so fair | of the hero’s bride.
16. Then Gollrond spake, | the daughter of Gjuki:
“Never a greater | love I knew
Than yours among | all men on earth;
Nowhere wast happy, | at home or abroad,
Sister mine, | with Sigurth away.”
Guthrun spake:
17. “So was my Sigurth | o’er Gjuki’s sons
As the spear-leek grown | above the grass,
Or the jewel bright | borne on the band,
The precious stone | that princes wear.
18. “To the leader of men | I loftier seemed
And higher than all | of Herjan’s maids; [417]
As little now | as the leaf I am