"
Then the king said, "Give us rede thereto, if thou canst."
He said, "Smite them to the death with stones."
In such wise was it done, for the stones flew thick and fast from
every side, and that was the end of their life-days.
And now has come to an end the whole root and stem of the
Giukings. (2)
NOW MAY ALL EARLS
BE BETTERED IN MIND,
MAY THE GRIEF OF ALL MAIDENS
EVER BE MINISHED,
FOR THIS TALE OF TROUBLE
SO TOLD TO ITS ENDING.
ENDNOTES:
(1) Odin; he ends the tale as he began it.
(2) "And now," etc., inserted by translators from the prose
Edda, the stanza at the end from the Whetting of Gudrun.
APPENDIX:
EXCERPTS FROM THE POETIC EDDA.
PART OF THE SECOND LAY OF HELGI HUNDINGS-BANE (1)
Helgi wedded Sigrun, and they begate sons together, but Helgi
lived not to be old; for Dag, (2) the son of Hogni, sacrificed to
Odin, praying that he might avenge his father. So Odin lent Dag
his spear, and Dag met Helgi, his brother-in-law, at a place
called Fetter-grove, and thrust him through with that spear, and
there fell Helgi dead; but Dag rode to Sevafell, and told Sigrun
of the news.
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