Here it is told in this poem about the death of Sigurth, and the story goes here that they slew him out of doors,
but some say that they slew him in the house, on his bed while he was sleeping. But German men say that they killed
him out of doors in the forest; and so it is told in the old Guthrun lay, that Sigurth and Gjuki's sons had ridden
to the council-place, and that he was slain there. But in this they are all agreed, that they deceived him in his
trust of them, and fell upon him when he was lying down and unprepared.
[Prose. This prose passage has in the manuscript, written in red, the phrase "Of Sigurth's Death" as a heading; there is no break between it
and the prose introducing Guthrunarkvitha I, the heading for that poem coming just before stanza 1. This note is of special interest as an
effort at real criticism. The annotator, troubled by the two versions of the story of Sigurth's death, feels it incumbent on him not only to
point the fact out, but to cite the authority of "German men" for the form which appears [fp. 410] in this poem. The alternative version,
wherein Sigurth is slain in bed, appears in Sigurtharkvitha en skamma, Guthrunarhvot, and Hamthesmol, and also in the Volsungasaga, which
tells how Gotthorm tried twice to kill Sigurth but was terrified by the brightness of his eyes, and succeeded only after the hero had fallen
asleep, That the annotator was correct in citing German authority for the slaying of Sigurth in the forest is shown by the Nibelungenlied and
the Thithrekssaga. The "old" Guthrun lay is unquestionably Guthrunarkvitha II.]
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21. Mant-at-tu, Gunnarr, til görva þat,
er þit blóði í spor báðir rennduð;
nú hefir þú hánum þat allt
illu launat, er hann fremstan þik finna vildi.
22. Þá reyndi þat, er riðit hafði
móðigr á vit mín at biðja,
hvé herglötuðr hafði fyrri
eiðum haldit við inn unga gram.
23. Benvönd of lét, brugðinn gulli,
margdýrr konungr á meðal okkar;
eldi váru eggjar útan görvar,
en eitrdropum innan fáðar."
Frá dauða Sigurðar
Hér er sagt í þessi kviðu frá dauða Sigurðar, ok víkr hér svá til sem þeir dræpi hann úti, en sumir segja svá,
at þeir dræpi hann inni í rekkju sinni sofanda. En þýðverskir menn segja svá, at þeir dræpi hann úti í skógi, ok
svá segir í Guðrúnarkviðu inni fornu, at Sigurðr ok Gjúkasynir hefði til þings riðit, þá er hann var drepinn. En
þat segja allir einnig, at þeir sviku hann í tryggð ok vógu at hánum liggjanda ok óbúnum.
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