Introductory Note
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Bellows, Henry Adams
Her shall Atli | hither seek,
(Buthli’s son, | and brother of mine.)
56. “Well I remember | how me ye treated
When ye betrayed me | with treacherous wiles;
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
Lost was my joy | as long as I lived.
[438]
57. “Oddrun as wife | thou fain wouldst win,
But Atli this | from thee withholds;
Yet in secret tryst | ye twain shall love;
She shall hold thee dear, | as I had done
If kindly fate | to us had fallen.
58. “Ill to thee | shall Atli bring,
When he casts thee down | in the den of snakes.
59. “But soon thereafter | Atli too
His life, methinks, | as thou shalt lose,
(His fortune lose | and the lives of his sons;)
Him shall Guthrun, | grim of heart,
With the biting blade | in his bed destroy.
60. “It would better beseem | thy sister fair [439]
To follow her husband | first in death,
If counsel good | to her were given,
Or a heart akin | to mine she had.
61. “Slowly I speak,— | but for my sake
Her life, methinks, | she shall not lose;
She shall wander over | the tossing waves,
To where Jonak rules | his father’s realm.
62. “Sons to him | she soon shall bear,
Heirs therewith | of Jonak’s wealth;
But Svanhild far | away is sent,
The child she bore | to Sigurth brave.
63. “Bikki’s word | her death shall be,
For dreadful the wrath | of Jormunrek;
So slain is all | of Sigurth’s race,
And greater the woe | of Guthrun grows.
[440]
64. “Yet one boon | I beg of thee,
The last of boons | in my life it is:
Let the pyre be built | so broad in the field
That room for us all | will ample be,