Oddrunargratr / Oddrun's Lament
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 LAMENT OF ODDRUN
Bellows Introductory Note
The Oddrunargratr follows Guthrunarkvitha III in the Codex Regius; it
is not quoted or mentioned elsewhere, except that the composer of the
“short” Sigurth lay seems to have been familiar with it. The
Volsungasaga says nothing of the story on which it is based, and
mentions Oddrun only once, in the course of its paraphrase of
Brynhild’s prophecy from the “short” Sigurth lay. That the poem comes
from the eleventh century is generally agreed; prior to the year 1000
there is no trace of the figure of Oddrun, Atli’s sister, and yet the
Oddrunargratr is almost certainly older than the “short” Sigurth lay,
so that the last half of the eleventh century seems to be a fairly safe
guess.
Where or how the figure of Oddrun entered the Sigurth-Atli cycle is
uncertain. She does not appear in any of the extant German versions,
and it is generally assumed that she was a creation of the North,
though the poet refers to “old tales” concerning her. She does not
directly affect the course of the story at all, though the poet has
used effectively the episode of Gunnar’s death, with the implication
that Atli’s vengeance on Gunnar and Hogni was due, at least in part, to
his discovery of Gunnar’s love affair with Oddrun. The material which
forms the background of Oddrun’s story belongs wholly to the German
part of the legend (cf. introductory note to Gripisspo), and is
paralleled with considerable closeness in the Nibelungenlied; only
Oddrun herself and the subsidiary figures of Borgny and Vilmund are
Northern additions. The geography, on the other hand, is so utterly
chaotic as to indicate that the original localization of the Atli story
had lost all trace of significance by the time this poem was composed.
In the manuscript the poem, or rather the brief introductory prose
note, bears the heading “Of Borgny and Oddrun,” but nearly all
editions, following late paper manuscripts, have given the poem the
title it bears here. Outside of a few apparently defective stanzas, and
some confusing transpositions, the poem has clearly been preserved in
good condition, and the beginning and end are definitely marked.
Heithrek was the name of a king, whose daughter was called Borgny.
Vilmund was the name of the man who was her lover. She could not give
birth to a child until Oddrun, Atli’s sister, had come to her; Oddrun
had been beloved of Gunnar, son of Gjuki. About this story is the
following poem.
1. I have heard it told | in olden tales
How a maiden came | to Morningland;
No one of all | on earth above
To Heithrek’s daughter | help could give.
2. This Oddrun learned, | the sister of Atli,
That sore the maiden’s | sickness was;
The bit-bearer forth | from his stall she brought,
And the saddle laid | on the steed so black.
3. She let the horse go | o’er the level ground,
Till she reached the hall | that loftily rose,
(And in she went | from the end of the hall;)
From the weary steed | the saddle she took;
Hear now the speech | that first she spake:
4. “What news on earth, | . . . . . . . .
Or what has happened | in Hunland now?”
A serving-maid spake:
“Here Borgny lies | in bitter pain,
Thy friend, and, Oddrun, | thy help would find.”
Oddrun spake:
5. “Who worked this woe | for the woman thus,
Or why so sudden | is Borgny sick?”
The serving-maid spake:
“Vilmund is he, | the heroes’ friend,
Who wrapped the woman | in bedclothes warm,
(For winters five, | yet her father knew not).”
6. Then no more | they spake, methinks;
She went at the knees | of the woman to sit;
With magic Oddrun | and mightily Oddrun
Chanted for Borgny | potent charms.
7. At last were born | a boy and girl,
Son and daughter | of Hogni’s slayer;
Then speech the woman | so weak began,
Nor said she aught | ere this she spake:
8. “So may the holy | ones thee help,
Frigg and Freyja | and favoring gods,
As thou hast saved me | from sorrow now.”
Oddrun spake:
9. “I came not hither | to help thee thus
Because thou ever | my aid didst earn;
I fulfilled the oath | that of old I swore,
That aid to all | I should ever bring,
(When they shared the wealth | the warriors had).”
Borgny spake:
10. “Wild art thou, Oddrun, | and witless now,
That so in hatred | to me thou speakest;
I followed thee | where thou didst fare,
As we had been born | of brothers twain.”
Oddrun spake:
11. “I remember the evil | one eve thou spakest,
When a draught I gave | to Gunnar then;
Thou didst say that never | such a deed
By maid was done | save by me alone.”
12. Then the sorrowing woman | sat her down
To tell the grief | of her troubles great.
13. “Happy I grew | in the hero’s hall
As the warriors wished, | and they loved me well;
Glad I was | of my father’s gifts,
For winters five, | while my father lived.
14. “These were the words | the weary king,
Ere he died, | spake last of all:
He bade me with red gold | dowered to be,
And to Grimhild’s son | in the South be wedded.
15. “But Brynhild the helm | he bade to wear,
A wish-maid bright | he said she should be;
For a nobler maid | would never be born
On earth, he said, | if death should spare her.
16. “At her weaving Brynhild | sat in her bower,
Lands and folk | alike she had;
The earth and heaven | high resounded
When Fafnir’s slayer | the city saw.
17. “Then battle was fought | with the foreign swords,
And the city was broken | that Brynhild had;
Not long thereafter, | but all too soon,
Their evil wiles | full well she knew.
18. “Woeful for this | her vengeance was,
As so we learned | to our sorrow all;
In every land | shall all men hear
How herself at Sigurth’s | side she slew.
19. “Love to Gunnar | then I gave,
To the breaker of rings, | as Brynhild might;
To Atli rings | so red they offered,
And mighty gifts | to my brother would give.
20. “Fifteen dwellings | fain would he give
For me, and the burden | that Grani bore;
But Atli said | he would never receive
Marriage gold | from Gjuki’s son.
21. “Yet could we not | our love o’ercome,
And my head I laid | on the hero’s shoulder;
Many there were | of kinsmen mine
Who said that together | us they had seen.
22. “Atli said | that never I
Would evil plan, | or ill deed do;
But none may this | of another think,
Or surely speak, | when love is shared.
23. “Soon his men | did Atli send,
In the murky wood | on me to spy;
Thither they came | where they should not come,
Where beneath one cover | close we lay.
24. “To the warriors ruddy | rings we offered,
That nought to Atli | e’er they should say;
But swiftly home | they hastened thence,
And eager all | to Atli told.
25. “But close from Guthrun | kept they hid
What first of all | she ought to have known.
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
26. “Great was the clatter | of gilded hoofs
When Gjuki’s sons | through the gateway rode;
The heart they hewed | from Hogni then,
And the other they cast | in the serpents’ cave.
27. “The hero wise | on his harp then smote,
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
For help from me | in his heart yet hoped
The high-born king, | might come to him.
28. “Alone was I gone | to Geirmund then,
The draught to mix | and ready to make;
Sudden I heard | from Hlesey clear
How in sorrow the strings | of the harp resounded.
29. “I bade the serving-maids | ready to be,
For I longed the hero’s | life to save;
Across the sound | the boats we sailed,
Till we saw the whole | of Atli’s home.
30. “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.
31. “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.
32. “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.”
Bellows Notes
Prose. Nothing further is known of Heithrek, Borgny or Vilmund. The
annotator has added the name of Borgny’s father, but otherwise his
material comes from the poem itself. Oddrun, sister of Atli and
Brynhild, here appears as proficient in birth-runes (cf. Sigrdrifumol,
8). Regarding her love for Gunnar, Guthrun’s brother, and husband of
her sister, Brynhild, cf. Sigurtharkvitha en skamma, 57 and note.
1. Olden tales: this may be merely a stock phrase, or it may really
mean that the poet found his story in oral prose tradition.
Morningland: the poem’s geography is utterly obscure. “Morningland” is
apparently identical with “Hunland” (stanza 4), and yet Oddrun is
herself sister of the king of the Huns. Vigfusson tries to make
“Mornaland” into “Morva land” and explain it as Moravia. Probably it
means little more than a country lying vaguely in the East. With stanza
28 the confusion grows worse.
3. Line 3 (cf. Völundarkvitha, 17) or line 5 (cf. Thrymskvitha, 2),
both quoted from older poems, is probably spurious; the manuscript
marks line 3 as the beginning of a new stanza.
4. Line 1 in the original appears to have lost its second half. In line
2 the word rendered “has happened” is doubtful. The manuscript does not
indicate the speaker of lines 3–4, and a few editors assign them to
Borgny herself.
5. The manuscript does not indicate the speakers. For the woman:
conjectural; the manuscript has instead: “What warrior now | hath
worked this woe?” The manuscript indicates line 3 as beginning a new
stanza. Line 5, apparently modeled on line 4 of stanza 13, is probably
spurious.
6. Charms: cf. Sigrdrifumol, 8.
7. Hogni’s slayer: obviously Vilmund, but unless he was the one of
Atli’s followers who actually cut out Hogni’s heart (cf. Drap
Niflunga), there is nothing else to connect him with Hogni’s death.
Sijmons emends the line to read “Born of the sister | of Hogni’s
slayer.”
8. Regarding Frigg as a goddess of healing cf. Svipdagsmol, 52, note.
Regarding Freyja as the friend of lovers cf. Grimnismol, 14, note. A
line is very possibly missing from this stanza.
9. The manuscript does not name the speaker. In line 2 the word
rendered “earn” is omitted in the manuscript, but nearly all editions
have supplied it. Line 5 is clearly either interpolated or out of
place. It may be all that is left of a stanza which stood between
stanzas 15 and 16, or it may belong in stanza 12.
10–20. In the manuscript the order is as follows: 12; 13; 14; 15, 3–4;
10; 11; 16; 17; 18; 19, 1–2; 15, 1–2; 19, 3–4; 20. The changes made
here, following several of the editions, are: (a) the transposition of
stanzas 10–11, which are clearly dialogue, out of the body of the
lament to a position just before it; (b) the transposition of lines 1–2
of stanza 15 to their present position from the middle of stanza 19.
10. The manuscript does not name the speaker; cf. note on stanzas
10–20.
11. The manuscript does not name the speaker; cf. note on stanzas
10–20. The word rendered “evil” in line 1 is a conjectural addition.
Apparently Borgny was present at Atli’s court while the love affair
between Oddrun and Gunnar was in progress, and criticised Oddrun for
her part in it. A draught, etc.: apparently in reference to a secret
meeting of the lovers.
12. In the manuscript this stanza follows stanza 9; cf. note on stanzas
10–20. No gap is indicated, but something has presumably been lost.
Grundtvig supplies as a first line: “The maid her evil | days
remembered,” and inserts as a second line line 5 of stanza 9.
13. The manuscript indicates line 3 as the beginning of a new stanza;
many editions combine lines 1–2 with stanza 12 and lines 3–4 with lines
1–2 of stanza 14. The hero: Buthli, father of Oddrun, Atli, and
Brynhild.
14. The manuscript indicates line 3, but not line 1, as the beginning
of a new stanza; some editions combine lines 3–4 with lines 3–4 of
stanza 15. Making Buthli plan the marriage of Oddrun and Gunnar may be
a sheer invention of the poet, or may point to an otherwise lost
version of the legend.
15. Lines 1–2 have here been transposed from the middle of stanza 19;
cf. note on stanzas 10–20. Wish-maid: a Valkyrie, so called because the
Valkyries fullfilled Othin’s wish in choosing the slain heroes for
Valhall. The reference to Brynhild as a Valkyrie by no means fits with
the version of the story used in stanzas 16–17, and the poet seems to
have attempted to combine the two contradictory traditions; cf.
Fafnismol, note on stanza 44. In the manuscript stanzas 10–11 follow
line 4 of stanza 15.
16. In stanzas 16–17 the underlying story seems to be the one used in
Sigurtharkvitha en skamma (particularly stanzas 32–39), and referred to
in Guthrunarkvitha I, 24, wherein Gunnar and Sigurth lay siege to
Atli’s city (it here appears as Brynhild’s) and are bought off only by
Atli’s giving Brynhild to Gunnar as wife, winning her consent thereto
by falsely representing to her that Gunnar is Sigurth. This version is,
of course, utterly at variance with the one in which Sigurth wins
Brynhild for Gunnar by riding through the ring of flames, and is
probably more closely akin to the early German traditions. In the
Nibelungenlied Brynhild appears as a queen ruling over lands and
peoples. Fafnir’s slayer: Sigurth.
17. Cf. note on preceding stanza.
18. Cf. Sigurtharkvitha en skamma, stanzas 64–70.
19. In the manuscript lines 1–2 of stanza 15 follow line 2, resulting
in various conjectural combinations. The manuscript marks line 3 as
beginning a new stanza. Rings, etc.: possibly, as Gering maintains,
payment offered by Gunnar and Hogni for Brynhild’s death, but more
probably, as in stanza 20, Gunnar’s proffered “marriage gold” for the
hand of Oddrun.
20. Grani’s burden: the treasure won by Sigurth from Fafnir; cf.
Fafnismol, concluding prose. The manuscript marks line 3 as beginning a
new stanza, as also in stanzas 21 and 22.
23. Murky wood: the forest which divided Atli’s realm from that of the
Gjukungs is in Atlakvitha, 3, called Myrkwood. This hardly accords with
the extraordinary geography of stanzas 28–29, or with the journey
described in Guthrunarkvitha II, 36.
24. In the manuscript lines 3 and 4 stand in reversed order.
25. No gap is indicated in the manuscript; some editors assume the loss
not only of two lines, but of an additional stanza. Evidently Guthrun
has already become Atli’s wife.
26. If a stanza has been lost after stanza 25, it may well have told of
Atli’s treacherous invitation to the Gjukungs to visit him; cf. Drap
Niflunga, which likewise tells of the slaying of Hogni and Gunnar (the
other).
27. In the manuscript these three lines follow line 2 of stanza 28. No
gap is indicated in the manuscript. In the Volsungasaga Guthrun gives
her brother the harp, with which he puts the serpents to sleep. The
episode is undoubtedly related to the famous thirtieth Aventiure of the
Nibelungenlied, in which Volker plays the followers of Gunther to sleep
before the final battle.
28. In the manuscript the three lines of stanza 27 follow line 2, and
line 3 is marked as beginning a new stanza. Geirmund: nothing further
is known of him, but he seems to be an ally or retainer of Atli, or
possibly his brother. Hlesey: the poet’s geography is here in very bad
shape. Hlesey is (or may be) the Danish island of Läsö, in the Kattegat
(cf. Harbarthsljoth, 37 and note), and thither he has suddenly
transported not only Gunnar’s death-place but Atli’s whole dwelling
(cf. stanza 29), despite his previous references to the ride to Hunland
(stanzas 3–4) and the “murky wood” (stanza 23). Geirmund’s home, where
Oddrun has gone, is separated from Hlesey and Atli’s dwelling by a
sound (stanza 29). However, geographical accuracy is seldom to be
looked for in heroic epic poetry.
29. Many editions combine this stanza with lines 3–4 of stanza 28. The
sound: cf. note on stanza 28.
30. 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.”
31. 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).
32. Some editions make line 4 a statement of the poet’s, and not part
of Oddrun’s speech.