The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún

APPENDIX C

FRAGMENTS OF A HEROIC POEM

OF ATTILA IN OLD ENGLISH

These verses in the old English alliterative metre were composed at some date unknown, but I think it at least very probable that they belong to the same period as all the writings in this book, my father’s earlier years at Oxford after his departure from Leeds.

In content and internal sequence both pieces are closely based on the Old Norse Atlakviða. There is more than one copy of each, with minor progressive improvement. In each case I have appended a translation and a few explanatory notes.

I

This text corresponds to the first eight stanzas of Atlakviða. It is a part of the Norse poem that poses many difficulties and doubts; and it seems conceivable that my father selected it precisely because it is the beginning of the poem, as if at one time he thought to transform it in this way in its entirety. For the corresponding passage in the Lay of Gudrún see pp.265–67, stanzas 37–44.

Ætla Guðhere ar onsende

cenne ridend – Cneofrið hatte –:

com to geardum Gifecan, Guðheres healle;

beornas ymb heorðe beore gefægon.

Druncon dryhtguman on dreorsele,

5

mod miðende meldan sæton;

Huna heteþanc hæleþ ondreordon.

Secg suðlendisc sliþan reorde,

Cneofrið ciegde cuma on healle:

‘Hider on ærende Ætla mec sende

10

geond Wistlawudu wegas uncuðe

mearh ridendne midlbætedne;

het inc gretan wel, Guðhere, beodan

þæt git helmum þeahte to his ham cwomen.

Þær git sceld sculon agan ond sceaft smeðne,

15

helm goldhrodene, Huna mænigo,

sadol seolforweredne, serc scynestan,

blancan betstan bitolhæbbendne,

wæde wealhbeaswe, ond wacne gar.

Cwæþ þæt he giefan wolde inc Gnitanhæðe,

20

weald þone widan on geweald sellan,

ofer giellendne gar ond gylden stefn,

maðmas micle, mearce Dænepes,

ond þæt mære holt – Myrcwudu hatte.’

Ða heafod hylde helm Burgenda,

25

Hagenan sægde: ‘Þa wit hyraþ swelc,

hwæt rædeþ unc se rinc, runbora geonga?

On Gnitanhæðe ic gold ne gefrægn

þæt wit oþres ne ahten efnmicle sped.

Wit seld agon seofon sweordum gefylled,

30

þára sint hiltu gehwilces heawen of golde;

mearh is mín mærest, mece betsta,

helm hwitesta ond hilderand

ahyþed of horde hean Caseres –

þonne ealra Huna an is min betera.’

35

Hagena

‘Hwæt biecnede seo bryd þa heo unc beag sende,

weargloccum wand? wearnunge geteah!

Þy ic wriðen fæste þær wulfes hær

hares hæþstapan on hringe fand,

wylfen, þæs ic wene, bið uncer waþ heonan.’

40

Ætla sent to Guðhere a bold messenger

riding – Cnéofrið was his name:

he came to the courts of Gifeca, to the hall of Guðhere;

about the hearth warriors rejoiced in the ale.

The men of that company drank in the gloomy hall,

5

the

meldan

sat hiding their thoughts;

the warriors feared the hatred of the Huns.

The man from the south cried out with a fell voice,

Cnéofrið, the stranger in the hall:

‘Hither upon an errand Ætla sent me

10

on unknown ways through the Vistula forest

riding the bit-bridled steed;

he bade me greet well you twain, Guðhere, and ask

that you come covered by your helms to his abode.

There you shall have shield and smooth-shaven lance

15

gold-adorned helmet, a great company of Huns,

silvered saddle, coat of mail most shining,

the finest horse that bears a bridle,

clothes of foreign scarlet, and slender spear.

He said that he would give to you Gnitanheath,

20

give into your power the wide woodland,

shrieking spear and golden prow,

great treasures, the abodes of the Dnieper,

and that forest renowned that is called Mirkwood.’

Then the lord of the Burgundians turned his head,

25

to Hagena he spoke: ‘When we hear such things

what does he advise us, the young counsellor?

I have not heard of a gold hoard on Gnitanheath

that we twain did not possess another of as great abundance.

We have seven halls filled with swords,

30

the hilts of each of them hewn of gold;

my horse is the most renowned, my sword the best,

my helm the brightest, my battle-shield

plundered from the treasure of the high emperor –

mine alone is better than [those] of all the Huns.’

35

Hagena

‘What did the bride signify when she sent us a ring,

wound it with wolf-hair? She offered us warning!

Fast bound on the ring I found the hair of a wolf,

of the grey heath-roamer:

wolvish, as I think, will be our journey hence.’

40

Notes

1 Ætla, Guðhere: the Old English forms of the Norse names Atli and Gunnar.

2 Cnéofrið: the name of Atli’s messenger in Atlakviða is Knefröðr: see the commentary on the Lay of Gudrún, stanzas 37–48.

3 Gifeca: the Old English form of the Norse name Gjúki, father of Gunnar: see Appendix A, p.340.

5–6 In a lecture on the text of Atlakviða my father took the meaning of the verse at this point to be that there was merriment in the hall among Gunnar’s folk, but the Hunnish envoys sat silent, hiding their thoughts. But his Old English verses may not proceed from this interpretation.

The Old English word melda means one who declares, tells, informs, or betrays. The man in Beowulf who stole the goblet from the dragon’s hoard and led Beowulf and his companions to the lair is called a melda. But I do not know what significance my father gave to the word in this verse.

11 Wistlawudu. This name occurs in the poem Widsith:

ful oft þær wig ne alæg,

þonne Hræda here heardum sweordum

ymb Wistlawudu wergan sceoldon

ealdne eþelstol Ætlan leodum.

‘Seldom was warfare stilled, when the host of the Hrædas [Goths] about the Vistula forest had to defend with their swords their ancient dwelling-place from the people of Attila.’

The reference to Wistlawudu is a vestige of very ancient tradition; for it was about the end of the second century that the Goths departed on a vast south-easterly migration from the Baltic coast and the Vistula valley, and at length settled in the plains to the north of the Black Sea. But in Widsith ‘the Vistula forest’ is thought of as the primeval forest separating the territories of the Goths and the Huns, and is to be equated with Myrkviðr (see the commentary on the Lay of the Völsungs, VII.14 (pp.227–28): in Atlakviða Knefröðr says that he had ridden through Myrkvið inn ókunna, Mirkwood unexplored.

20 Ætla’s offer (following Atlakviða) of ‘Gnitanheath’, where Fáfnir had his lair, as if it were a part of his dominion constitutes a problem to which a number of solutions have been proposed. My father thought it probable that there was an ancient association of Gnitaheiðr with a gold hoard, of which we know nothing, and that this caused it to be attracted to Fáfnir, that is, became later the name of the region where he had his lair and his treasure. I cannot account for the form Gnitanheath.

27 The word runbora seems not to be recorded in Old English, but I take it to mean ‘one who bears run’ in the sense of ‘(secret) counsel’, hence ‘counsellor’, equivalent to the recorded word rædbora of the same meaning.

36 Hagena: Högni.

37 weargloccum ‘wolf’s hair’: in Old English the word wearg was used exclusively of an outlaw or hunted criminal but Norse vargr retained in addition the sense ‘wolf’. From this was derived the name of the Wargs of Middle-earth.

39 The word hæðstapa ‘heath-roamer’ occurs in Beowulf, where it is used of a stag. In Atlakviða the word used is heiðingi, of similar meaning: see the commentary on the Lay of Gudrún, stanzas 37–48, where the verse in the Norse poem is cited.

II

This second text corresponds to verses much further on in Atlakviða, beginning at stanza 24, Hló þá Högni... ‘Then Högni laughed...’ The passage in the Lay of Gudrún is stanzas 127–130.

After line 19 my father evidently rejected a passage from his poem, since it is not repeated in the finished copy. The Old English poem takes up again, and concludes, with Atlakviða stanza 32, Lifanda gram..., ‘the living prince...’

Þa hlog Hagena þe man heortan scear

of cwican cumbolwigan – cwanode lyt;

blodge on beode to his breðer gæf.

Þa se gar-niflung Guðhere spræc:

‘Her is me heorte Hagenan frecnan,

5

ungelic heortan eargan Hellan;

bifaþ heo lythwon nu on beode liþ,

efne swa lyt bifode þa on breoste læg.

Swa scealtu, Ætla, ealdum maðmum,

leohte life samod beloren weorðan! ;

Her æt anum me is eal gelang

hord Niflunga, nu Hagena ne leofað:

a me twegra wæs tweo on mode;

untweo is me, nu ic ana beom.

Rin sceal rædan readum golde

15

wrohtweccendum, wealcende flod

entiscum yrfe Ealdniflunga;

blican on burnan beagas wundene,

nealles on handum Huna bearna!’

*

Leod lifigendne on locan setton

20

Huna mænigo. Hringbogan snicon,

wyrmas gewriðene wagum on innan.

Slog þa Guðhere gramhycgende

hearpan on heolstre. Hringde, dynede,

streng wið fingre. Stefn ut becwom

25

heaðotorht hlynnan þurh harne stan

feondum on andan. Swa sceal folccyning

gold guðfrea wið gramum healdan.

Then Hagena laughed when they cut out the heart

from the living warrior – little did he wail;

on a dish, bleeding, to his brother they gave it.

Then spoke Guðhere, the spear-Niflung:

‘Here I have the heart of Hagena the brave,

5

unlike the heart of the craven Hella;

little does it quake now it lies on the dish,

even so little did it quake when it lay in the breast.

So shall you, Ætla, be deprived

of the old treasures, of light and life together;

10

to me alone belongs

all the hoard of the Niflungs, now Hagena lives not.

One of twain, ever was there doubt in my mind;

no doubt have I, now I am alone.

The Rhine shall rule the red gold

15

that stirs men to strife, the rolling flood [shall rule]

the heritage of the old Niflungs, come from giants.

The twisted rings shall gleam in the river

and by no means adorn the hands of the

children of the Huns.’

*

The living king they set in a fenced place,

20

the host of the Huns. Serpents were creeping,

coiled snakes within the walls,

but Guðhere wrathful-hearted struck

the harp in his hiding-place. Rang, resounded,

string against finger. His voice came

25

clear as a war-cry through the grey rock

in rage against his enemies. So shall a king of the people,

a warlike lord, guard his gold against foes.

Notes

2 The element cumbol in the compound word cumbolwiga meant an ensign, a banner.

4 gar-niflung. In earlier forms of this passage my father wrote gimneoflung here, at line 12 hord Neoflunga, and at line 17 Ealdneoflunga. I cannot account for these forms of the name, but in any case in the final text he returned to Niflung, Niflunga. In the earlier forms (only) he wrote the word gar ‘spear’ against gim ‘jewel’ in gimneoflung; but since the verse in Atlakviða has Mærr kvað þat Gunnarr, geir-Niflungr (‘Glorious Gunnar spoke, the spear-Niflung’) I have adopted this.

6 Hella: in Atlakviða and in the Lay of Gudrún the name of the thrall is Hjalli.

17 entiscum yrfe. This puzzling line depends on a very debatable verse in Atlakviða, in which the word áskunna ‘of divine race’ precedes arfi Niflunga ‘the heritage of the Niflungs’. In his comments on this my father seems to have favoured áskunna Niflunga ‘the Niflungs of divine race’, while admitting that it is not clear what was meant by this, rather than taking it with arfi, saying that ‘it is very dubious if one can speak of a hoard as being “of divine race”.’

In his Old English version he wrote first here óscund yrfe (where óscund means ‘of divine race, divine’, the word ós being the etymological equivalent of Norse áss, plural æsir), then changed it to the adjective entisc (and subsequently entiscum) ‘giant, of giants’ from the noun ent (from which was derived the name of the Ents of Middle-earth). In a subsequent copy he wrote óscund in the margin against entisc, as if still uncertain.

25–26 It is notable that almost exactly the same words

stefn in becom

heaðotorht hlynnan under harne stan

appear in Beowulf lines 2552–3, where they are used of Beowulf’s great cry of challenge at the approach of the dragon.