J. Tolkien - The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún

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

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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

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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.

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1

All texts and materials by J.R.R. Tolkien © The Tolkien Trust 2009, except for those derived from The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien

© The J.R.R. Tolkien Copyright Trust 1981, from Morgoth’s Ring

© The J.R.R. Tolkien Copyright Trust 1993 and

The Peoples of Middle-earth © The J.R.R. Tolkien Copyright Trust 1996

Foreword, Introduction, Commentaries, Appendices and all other materials © C.R. Tolkien 2009

Illustrations © Bill Sanderson 2009

and Tolkien ®are registered trade marks of The J.R.R. Tolkien Estate Limited

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ISBN 978-0-00-731723-3

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EPub Edition © APRIL 2009 ISBN: 978-0-007-32307-4

Works by J.R.R. Tolkien

THE HOBBIT

LEAF BY NIGGLE

ON FAIRY-STORIES

FARMER GILES OF HAM

THE HOMECOMING OF BEORHTNOTH

THE LORD OF THE RINGS

THE ADVENTURES OF TOM BOMBADIL

THE ROAD GOES EVER ON (WITH DONALD SWANN)

SMITH OF WOOTTON MAJOR

Works published posthumously

SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT, PEARL AND SIR ORFEO

THE FATHER CHRISTMAS LETTERS

THE SILMARILLION

PICTURES BY J.R.R. TOLKIEN

UNFINISHED TALES

THE LETTERS OF J.R.R. TOLKIEN

FINN AND HENGEST

MR BLISS

THE MONSTERS AND THE CRITICS & OTHER ESSAYS

ROVERANDOM

THE CHILDREN OF HÚRIN

THE LEGEND OF SIGURD AND GUDRÚN

The History of Middle-earth – by Christopher Tolkien

I THE BOOK OF LOST TALES, PART ONE

II THE BOOK OF LOST TALES, PART TWO

III THE LAYS OF BELERIAND

IV THE SHAPING OF MIDDLE-EARTH

V THE LOST ROAD AND OTHER WRITINGS

VI THE RETURN OF THE SHADOW

VII THE TREASON OF ISENGARD

VIII THE WAR OF THE RING

IX SAURON DEFEATED

X MORGOTH’S RING

XI THE WAR OF THE JEWELS

XII THE PEOPLES OF MIDDLE-EARTH

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