31. Across the sound | the boats we sailed,
Till we saw the whole | of Atli's home.

32. "Then crawling the evil | woman came,
Atli's mother-- | may she ever rot!
And hard she bit | to Gunnar's heart,
So I could not help | the hero brave.

33. "Oft have I wondered | how after this,
Serpents'-bed goddess! | I still might live,
For well I loved | the warrior brave,
The giver of swords, | as my very self.

34. "Thou didst see and listen, | the while I said
The mighty grief | that was mine and theirs;
Each man lives | as his longing wills,--
Oddrun's lament | is ended now."

[32. The manuscript marks line 3 as beginning a new stanza. Atli's mother: the Volsungasaga does not follow this version; Gunnar puts all the serpents but one to sleep with his harp playing, "but a mighty and evil adder crawled to him and drove his fangs into him till they reached his heart, and so he died." It is possible that "Atli" is a scribal error for a word meaning "of serpents."

33. Serpents'-bed goddess: woman (i. e., Borgny); "goddess of gold" was a frequent term for a woman, and gold was often called the "serpents' bed" (cf. Guthrunarkvitha I, 24 and note)]

31. Létum fljóta far sund yfir,
unz ek alla sák Atla garða.

32. Þá kom in arma út skævandi
móðir Atla, - hon skyli morna -,
ok Gunnari gróf til hjarta,
svá at ek máttig-a-k mærum bjarga.

33. Oft undrumk þat, hví ek eftir mák,
linnvengis Bil, lífi halda;
er ek ógnhvötum unna þóttumk
sverða deili, sem sjalfri mér.

34. Sattu ok hlýddir, meðan ek sagðak þér
mörg ill of sköp mín ok þeira;
maðr hverr lifir at munum sínum;
nú er of genginn grátr Oddrúnar."