"
So now they fell on Hogni even as Atli urged them, and cut the
heart from out of him, but such was the might of his manhood,
that he laughed while he abode that torment, and all wondered at
his worth, and in perpetual memory is it held sithence. (1)
Then they showed it to Gunnar, and he said --
"The mighty heart of Hogni, little like the faint heart of
Hjalli, for little as it trembleth now, less it trembled whenas
in his breast it lay! But now, O Atli, even as we die so shalt
thou die; and lo, I alone wot where the gold is, nor shall Hogni
be to tell thereof now; to and fro played the matter in my mind
whiles we both lived, but now have I myself determined for
myself, and the Rhine river shall rule over the gold, rather than
that the Huns shall bear it on the hands of them."
Then said King Atli, "Have away the bondsman;" and so they did.
But Gudrun called to her men, and came to Atli, and said --
"May it fare ill with thee now and from henceforth, even as thou
hast ill held to thy word with me!"
So Gunnar was cast into a worm-close, and many worms abode him
there, and his hands were fast bound; but Gudrun sent him a harp,
and in such wise did he set forth his craft, that wisely he smote
the harp, smiting it with his foes, and so excellently well he
played, that few deemed they had heard such playing, even when
the hand had done it.
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