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DRAP NIFLUNGA

The Slaying of The Niflungs

INTRODUCTORY NOTE

It has been already pointed out (introductory note to Reginsmol) that
the compiler of the Eddic collection had clearly undertaken to
formulate a coherent narrative of the entire Sigurth cycle, piecing
together the various poems by means of prose narrative links. To some
extent these links were based on traditions existing outside of the
lays themselves, but in the main the material was gathered from the
contents of the poems. The short prose passage entitled Drap Niflunga,
which in the Codex Regius immediately follows the Helreith Brynhildar,
is just such a narrative link, and scarcely deserves a special
heading, but as nearly all editions separate it from the preceding and
following poems, I have followed their example.

With Sigurth and Brynhild both dead, the story turns to the slaying of
the sons of Gjuki by Atli, Guthrun's second husband, and to a few
subsequent incidents, mostly late incorporations from other narrative
cycles, including the tragic death of Svanhild, daughter of Sigurth
and Guthrun and wife of Jormunrek (Ermanarich), and the exploits of
Hamther, son of Guthrun and her third husband, Jonak. These stories
are told, or outlined, in the two Atli lays, the second and third
Guthrun lays, the Oddrunargratr, the Guthrunarhvot, and the
Hamthesmol. Had the compiler seen fit to put the Atli lays immediately
after the Helreith Brynhildar, he would have needed only a very brief
transitional note to make the course of the story clear, but as the
second Guthrun lay, the next poem in the collection, is a lament
following the death of Guthrun's brothers, some sort of a narrative
bridge was manifestly needed.

Drap Niflunga is based entirely on the poems which follow it in the
collection, with no use of extraneous material. The part of the story
which it summarizes belongs to the semi-historical Burgundian
tradition (cf. introductory note to Gri****po), in many respects
parallel to the familiar narrative of the Nibelungenlied, and, except
in minor details, showing few essentially Northern additions. Sigurth
is scarcely mentioned, and the outstanding episode is the slaying of
Gunnar and Hogni, following their journey to Atli's home.

{p. 448}

__________________

Gunnar and Hogni then took all the gold that Fafnir had had. There was
strife between the Gjukungs and Atli, for he held the Gjukungs guilty
of Brynhild's death. It was agreed that they should give him Guthrun
as wife, and they gave her a draught of forgetfulness to drink before
she would consent to be wedded to Atli. The sons of Atli were Erp and
Eitil, and Svanhild was the daughter of Sigurth and Guthrun. King Atli
invited Gunnar and Hogni to come to him, and sent as messenger Vingi
or Knefröth. Guthrun was aware of treachery, and sent with him a
message in runes that they should not come, and as a token she sent to
Hogni the ring Andvaranaut and tied a wolf's hair in it. Gunnar had
sought Oddrun, Atli's sister, for his wife, but had her not; then he
married Glaumvor, and Hogni's wife was

[Prose. Niflungs: regarding the mistaken application of this name to
the sons of Gjuki, who were Burgundians, cf. Brot, 17 and note.
Draught of forgetfulness: according to the Volsungasaga Grimhild,
Guthrun's mother, administered this, just as she did the similar
draught which made Sigurth forget Brynhild. Erp and Eitil: Guthrun
kills her two sons by Atli as part of her revenge; the annotator here
explains her act further by saying that Guthrun asked her sons to
intercede with their father in favor of Guthrun's brothers, but that
they refused, a detail which he appears to have invented, as it is
found nowhere else. Svanhild: cf. Sigurtharkvitha en skamma, 54 and
note. Vingi or Knefröth: Atlakvitha (stanza 1) calls the messenger
Knefröth; Atlamol (stanza 4) speaks of two messengers, but names only
one of them, Vingi. The annotator has here tried, unsuccessfully, to
combine the two accounts. Andvaranaut: regarding the origin of
Andvari's ring cf. Reginsmol, prose after stanzas 4 and 5 and notes;
Sigurth gave the ring to Guthrun. Here again the annotator is
combining two stories; in Atlakvitha (stanza 8) Guthrun sends a ring
(not Andvaranaut) with a wolf's hair; in Atlamol (stanza 4) she sends
a message written {footnote p. 449} in runes. The messenger obscures
these runes, and Kostbera, Hogni's wife, who attempts to decipher
them, is not clear as to their meaning, though she suspects danger.
Oddrun: cf. Sigurtharkvitha en skamma, 57 and note. Glaumvor: almost
nothing is told of Gunnar's second wife, though she appears frequently
in the Atlamol. Kostbera (or Bera), Hogni's wife, is known only as
skilled in runes. Her brother was Orkning. The sons of Hogni and
Kostbera, according to the Atlamol (stanza 28), were Solar and Snævar;
the third son, Gjuki, named after his grandfather, seems to be an
invention of the annotator's. Adder: according to Oddrunargratr
(stanza 30) Atli's mother assumed this form in order to complete her
son's vengeance.]

{p. 449}

Kostbera; their sons were Solar and Snævar and Gjuki. And when the
Gjukungs came to Atli, then Guthrun be sought her sons to plead for
the lives of both the Gjukungs, but they would not do it. Hogni's
heart was cut out, and Gunnar was cast into the serpent's den. He
smote on the harp and put the serpents to sleep, but an adder stung
him in the liver.

{p. 450}


C,mon Njikky, get to the part where they smoke dope.


You know you want to.