Chap. xxx. is met by the poem called the "Short Lay of Sigurd",
which, fragmentary apparently at the beginning, gives us
something of Brynhild's awakening wrath and jealousy, the slaying
of Sigurd, and the death of Brynhild herself; this poem we have
translated entire.
The Fragments of the "Lay of Brynhild" are what is left of a poem
partly covering the same ground as this last, but giving a
different account of Sigurd's slaying; it is very incomplete,
though the Sagaman has drawn some incidents from it; the reader
will find it translated in our second part.
But before the death of the heroine we have inserted entire into
the text as chap. xxxi. the "First Lay of Gudrun", the most
lyrical, the most complete, and the most beautiful of all the
Eddaic poems; a poem that any age or language might count among
its most precious possessions.
From this point to the end of the Saga it keeps closely to the
Songs of Edda; in chap. xxxii. the Sagaman has rendered into
prose the "Ancient Lay of Gudrun", except for the beginning,
which gives again another account of the death of Sigurd: this
lay also we have translated.
Pages:
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65