Drap Niflunga / The Slaying of the Niflungs
本页收录 Henry Adams Bellows 1923 年英译本。Bellows 译本已进入公有领域；本站保留其诗篇导言、英译正文和注释，不收现代中译或现代校勘文本。
Bellows 1923 英译
THE SLAYING OF THE NIFLUNGS
Bellows Introductory Note
It has been already pointed out (introductory note to Reginsmol) that
the compiler of the Eddic collection had clearly undertaken to
formulate a coherent narrative of the entire Sigurth cycle, piecing
together the various poems by means of prose narrative links. To some
extent these links were based on traditions existing outside of the
lays themselves, but in the main the material was gathered from the
contents of the poems. The short prose passage entitled Drap Niflunga,
which in the Codex Regius immediately follows the Helreith Brynhildar,
is just such a narrative link, and scarcely deserves a special heading,
but as nearly all editions separate it from the preceding and following
poems, I have followed their example.
With Sigurth and Brynhild both dead, the story turns to the slaying of
the sons of Gjuki by Atli, Guthrun’s second husband, and to a few
subsequent incidents, mostly late incorporations from other narrative
cycles, including the tragic death of Svanhild, daughter of Sigurth and
Guthrun and wife of Jormunrek (Ermanarich), and the exploits of
Hamther, son of Guthrun and her third husband, Jonak. These stories are
told, or outlined, in the two Atli lays, the second and third Guthrun
lays, the Oddrunargratr, the Guthrunarhvot, and the Hamthesmol. Had the
compiler seen fit to put the Atli lays immediately after the Helreith
Brynhildar, he would have needed only a very brief transitional note to
make the course of the story clear, but as the second Guthrun lay, the
next poem in the collection, is a lament following the death of
Guthrun’s brothers, some sort of a narrative bridge was manifestly
needed.
Drap Niflunga is based entirely on the poems which follow it in the
collection, with no use of extraneous material. The part of the story
which it summarizes belongs to the semi-historical Burgundian tradition
(cf. introductory note to Gripisspo), in many respects parallel to the
familiar narrative of the Nibelungenlied, and, except in minor details,
showing few essentially Northern additions. Sigurth is scarcely
mentioned, and the outstanding episode is the slaying of Gunnar and
Hogni, following their journey to Atli’s home.
Gunnar and Hogni then took all the gold that Fafnir had had. There was
strife between the Gjukungs and Atli, for he held the Gjukungs guilty
of Brynhild’s death. It was agreed that they should give him Guthrun as
wife, and they gave her a draught of forgetfulness to drink before she
would consent to be wedded to Atli. The sons of Atli were Erp and
Eitil, and Svanhild was the daughter of Sigurth and Guthrun. King Atli
invited Gunnar and Hogni to come to him, and sent as messenger Vingi or
Knefröth. Guthrun was aware of treachery, and sent with him a message
in runes that they should not come, and as a token she sent to Hogni
the ring Andvaranaut and tied a wolf’s hair in it. Gunnar had sought
Oddrun, Atli’s sister, for his wife, but had her not; then he married
Glaumvor, and Hogni’s wife was Kostbera; their sons were Solar and
Snævar and Gjuki. And when the Gjukungs came to Atli, then Guthrun
besought her sons to plead for the lives of both the Gjukungs, but they
would not do it. Hogni’s heart was cut out, and Gunnar was cast into
the serpent’s den. He smote on the harp and put the serpents to sleep,
but an adder stung him in the liver.
NOTE
Prose. Niflungs: regarding the mistaken application of this name to the
sons of Gjuki, who were Burgundians, cf. Brot, 17 and note. Draught of
forgetfulness: according to the Volsungasaga Grimhild, Guthrun’s
mother, administered this, just as she did the similar draught which
made Sigurth forget Brynhild. Erp and Eitil: Guthrun kills her two sons
by Atli as part of her revenge; the annotator here explains her act
further by saying that Guthrun asked her sons to intercede with their
father in favor of Guthrun’s brothers, but that they refused, a detail
which he appears to have invented, as it is found nowhere else.
Svanhild: cf. Sigurtharkvitha en skamma, 54 and note. Vingi or
Knefröth: Atlakvitha (stanza 1) calls the messenger Knefröth; Atlamol
(stanza 4) speaks of two messengers, but names only one of them, Vingi.
The annotator has here tried, unsuccessfully, to combine the two
accounts. Andvaranaut: regarding the origin of Andvari’s ring cf.
Reginsmol, prose after stanzas 4 and 5 and notes; Sigurth gave the ring
to Guthrun. Here again the annotator is combining two stories; in
Atlakvitha (stanza 8) Guthrun sends a ring (not Andvaranaut) with a
wolf’s hair; in Atlamol (stanza 4) she sends a message written in
runes. The messenger obscures these runes, and Kostbera, Hogni’s wife,
who attempts to decipher them, is not clear as to their meaning, though
she suspects danger. Oddrun: cf. Sigurtharkvitha en skamma, 57 and
note. Glaumvor: almost nothing is told of Gunnar’s second wife, though
she appears frequently in the Atlamol. Kostbera (or Bera), Hogni’s
wife, is known only as skilled in runes. Her brother was Orkning. The
sons of Hogni and Kostbera, according to the Atlamol (stanza 28), were
Solar and Snævar; the third son, Gjuki, named after his grandfather,
seems to be an invention of the annotator’s. Adder: according to
Oddrunargratr (stanza 30) Atli’s mother assumed this form in order to
complete her son’s vengeance.