(III)

Atli spake:

16. "Corpse-hungry giantess, | how art thou called?
Say, witch, who thy father was!
Nine miles deeper | down mayst thou sink,
And a tree grow tall on thy bosom."

Hrimgerth spake:

17. "Hrimgerth am I, | my father was Hati,
Of giants the most in might;
Many a woman | he won from her home,
Ere Helgi hewed him down."

Atli spake:

18. "Witch, in front | of the ship thou wast,
And lay before the fjord;
To Ron wouldst have given | the ruler's men,
If a spear had not stuck in thy flesh."

Hrimgerth spake:

19. "Dull art thou, Atli, | thou dreamest, methinks,
The lids lie over thine eyes;
By the leader's ships | my mother lay,
Hlothvarth's sons on the sea I slew.

20. "Thou wouldst neigh, Atli, | but gelded thou art,
See, Hrimgerth hoists her tail;
In thy hinder end | is thy heart, methinks,
Though thy speech is a stallion's cry."

[15. The manuscript does not indicate the speaker. The pun on "Atli" and "atall" (meaning "ill") is untranslatable.

17. The manuscript does not indicate the speaker.

18. From this point to the end the manuscript does not indicate the speakers. Ron: wife of the sea-god Ægir, who draws drowning men into the sea with her net. There is no other reference to the wounding of Hrimgerth.

19. Apparently both Hrimgerth and her mother, Hati's wife, had sought to destroy Helgi's ships, and had actually killed some of his companions, the sons of Hlothvarth, concerning whom nothing more is known. Many editors assume that a stanza containing a speech by Atli has been lost after stanza 19.

20. Apparently Hrimgerth has assumed the form of a mare.]

 



(III)

Atli kvað:

16. Hvé þú heitir, hála nágráðug?
Nefndu þinn, fála, föður;
níu röstum er þú skyldi neðar vera
ok vaxi þér á baðmi barr."

Hrímgerðr kvað:

17. "Hrímgerðr ek heiti, Hati hét minn faðir,
þann vissa ek ámáttkastan jötun;
margar brúðir hann lét frá búi teknar,
unz hann Helgi hjó."

Atli kvað:

18. "Þú vart, hála, fyr hildings skipum
ok látt í fjarðar mynni fyrir;
ræsis rekka er þú vildir Rán gefa,
ef þér kæmi-t í þverst þvari."

Hrímgerðr kvað:

19. "Duliðr ertu nú, Atli, draums kveð ek þér vera,
síga lætr þú brýnn fyr bráar;
móðir mín lá fyrir mildings skipum;
ek drekkða Hlövarðs sonum í hafi.

20. Gneggja myndir þú, Atli, ef þú geldr né værir,
brettir sinn Hrímgerðr hala;
aftarla hjarta, hygg ek, at þitt, Atli, sé,
þótt hafir reina rödd."









 


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