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Other documents randomly have
different content
phrase means no more than “men.” [522]

62. Regarding Gunnar’s harp-playing, and his death, cf.

Oddrunargratr, 27–30 and notes, and Atlakvitha, 34. Toes (literally
“sole-twigs”): the Volsungasaga explains that Gunnar’s hands were
bound. Rafters: thus literally, and probably correctly; Gering has an
ingenious but unlikely theory that the word means “harp.”

63. There is some doubt as to the exact meaning of line 2. After this
line two lines may have been lost; Grundtvig adds: “Few braver shall
ever | be found on the earth, / Or loftier men | in the world ever
live.”

64. Wise one: Guthrun. The manuscript marks line 3 as beginning a

new stanza. [523]

65. The manuscript does not indicate the speaker.

66. The manuscript does not name the speaker. The negative in the
first half of line 1 is uncertain, and most editions make the clause
read “Of this guilt I can free myself.” The fairest, etc.: i.e., I have
often failed to do the wise thing.

67. The manuscript does not indicate the speaker. Requital, etc.: it is
not clear just to what Guthrun refers; perhaps she is thinking of
Sigurth’s death, or possibly the poet had in mind his reference to the
slaying of her mother in stanza 53. [524]

68. Line 5 is very probably a later addition, though some editors

question line 3 instead.

69. Guthrun suddenly changes her tone in order to make Atli believe
that she is submissive to his will, and thus to gain time for her
vengeance. Line 2 in the original is thoroughly obscure; it runs
literally: “On the knee goes the fist | if the twigs are taken off.”
Perhaps the word meaning “fist” may also have meant “tree-top,” as
Gering suggests, or perhaps the line is an illogical blending of the
ideas contained in lines 1 and 3.

70. The manuscript indicates line 3 as the beginning of a new

stanza. Two shields, etc.: i.e., Guthrun concealed her hostility
(symbolized by a red shield, cf. Helgakvitha Hundingsbana I, 34) by
a show of friendliness (a white shield). [525]

71. Many editions make a separate stanza of lines 1–2, some of

them suggesting the loss of two lines, and combine lines 3–4 with
lines 1–2 of stanza 72. The manuscript marks both lines 1 and 3 as
beginning stanzas.

72. The manuscript marks line 3 as beginning a new stanza; some

editions make a separate stanza of lines 3–5, while others combine
them with lines 1–2 of stanza 73. Line 2 in the original is clearly
defective, the verb being omitted. The meaning of line 3 is uncertain;
the Volsungasaga paraphrase has: “At evening she took the sons of
King Atli (Erp and Eitil) where they were playing with a block of
wood.” Probably the text of the line as we have it is faulty. Lines 4–5
may possibly have been expanded out of a single line, or line 5 may
be spurious. [526]

73. The manuscript does not name the speakers. It indicates line 3
as beginning a new stanza, in which it is followed by many editions.
The Volsungasaga paraphrases line 4 thus: “But it is shameful for
thee to do this.” Either the text of the line has been changed or the
Volsungasaga compilers misunderstood it. The angry one: Atli.

74. The manuscript indicates line 3 as beginning a new stanza.

75. The manuscript does not name the speaker. [527]

76. Morning: Guthrun refers to Atli’s taunt in stanza 64.

77. The manuscript indicates no gap (lines 1–2), and most editions
make a single line, despite the defective meter: “Thy sons hast thou
lost | as thou never shouldst lose them.” The second part of line 2
is in the original identical with the second half of line 3 of stanza 80,
and may perhaps have been inserted here by mistake. Skulls: it is
possible that line 3 was borrowed from a poem belonging to the
Völund tradition (cf. Völundarkvitha, 25 and 37), and the idea
doubtless came from some such source, but probably the poet
inserted it in a line of his own composition to give an added touch of
horror. The Volsungasaga follows the Atlamol in including this
incident. [528]

78. Some editions add lines 3–4 to stanza 79; Finnur Jonsson marks
them as probably spurious.

79. Perhaps these two lines should form part of stanza 78, or
perhaps they, rather than lines 3–4 of stanza 78, are a later addition.
A gap of two lines after line 1 has also been conjectured.

80. The manuscript does not indicate the speaker.

81. The manuscript does not indicate the speaker. Lines 1–2 may be
the remains of a separate stanza; Grundtvig adds: “Thou wast
foolish, Atli, | when wise thou didst feel, / Ever the whole | of thy
race did I hate.” The Volsungasaga paraphrase, however, indicates
no gap. Many editions make a separate stanza of lines 3–6, which,
in the Volsungasaga, are paraphrased as a speech of Atli’s. Lines 5–
6 may be spurious. [529]

82. The manuscript does not indicate the speakers. Many editions
make two separate stanzas of the four lines. Another light: a fairly
clear indication of the influence of Christianity; cf. Introductory Note.

83. The manuscript marks line 3 as the beginning of a new stanza.

Hniflung: the Volsungasaga says that “Hogni had a son who was
called Hniflung,” but the name appears to be nothing more than the
familiar “Niflung” applied in general to the sons of Gjuki and their
people. On the spelling cf. note on stanza 44. [530]This son of Hogni
appears in later versions of the story. In the Thithrekssaga he is
called Aldrian, and is begotten by Hogni the night before his death.
Aldrian grows up and finally shuts Attila in a cave where he starves
to death. The poet here has incorporated the idea, which finds no
parallel in the Atlakvitha, without troubling himself to straighten out
the chronology.

84. Line 4 may be in Fornyrthislag, and from another poem.

85. The manuscript marks line 3 as beginning a new stanza. The

Volsungasaga makes line 2 part of Atli’s speech.

86. The manuscript does not name the speakers. It marks line 4 as
the beginning of a new stanza, and many editions follow this
arrangement, in most cases making a stanza of lines 4–5 and line 1
of stanza 87. However, line 1 may well have been interpolated here
from stanza 75. Grundtvig adds after line 3: “His father he avenged,
| and his kinsmen fully.” Some editors assume the loss of one or
two lines after line 5. [531]

87. The manuscript marks line 2 as beginning a new stanza, and

some editions make a stanza out of lines 2–4 and line 1 of stanza
88.

88. The manuscript marks line 2 as the beginning of a stanza, and

many editions make a stanza out of lines 2–4, or combine them with
stanza 89. Some question the genuineness of line 4.

89. Many editions assume a gap of one line after line 3;

[532]Grundtvig adds: “Bit-champing horses | and wheel-wagons
bright.” Line 4 may be spurious. Greater: i.e., the silver which Atli
gave Guthrun was of greater value even than the honor of receiving
such royal gifts.

90. Some editions mark line 3 as spurious or defective. The

manuscript marks line 4 as the beginning of a new stanza. The land,
etc.: there is much obscurity as to the significance of this line. Some
editors omit or question “me,” in which case Atli is apparently
reproaching Guthrun for having incited him to fight with his brothers
to win for himself the whole of Buthli’s land. In stanza 91 Guthrun
denies that she was to blame for Atli’s quarrels with his brothers. The
Volsungasaga reading supports this interpretation. The historical
Attila did actually have his brother, Bleda, killed in order to have the
sole rule. The treasure: Sigurth’s hoard, which Atli claimed as the
brother of Brynhild and husband of Guthrun, Sigurth’s widow, but
which Gunnar and Hogni kept for themselves, with, as Atli here
charges, Guthrun’s connivance. My mother: the only other reference
to Atli’s mother is in Oddrunargratr, 30, wherein she appears as the
adder who stings Gunnar to death, and in the prose passages based
on that stanza. [533]

91. The manuscript does not indicate the speaker. It marks both lines
4 and 5 as beginning new stanzas, but line 5 is presumably an
interpolation. The text of the second half of line 2 is obscure, and
many emendations have been suggested. Ye brothers: cf. note on
stanza 90. Half: i.e., two of Atli’s brothers were killed, the other two
dying in the battle with Gunnar and Hogni; cf. stanza 51.

92. From the land: this maritime expedition of Guthrun and her two
brothers, Gunnar and Hogni (the poet seems to know nothing of her
half-brother, Gotthorm), with Sigurth seems to have been a pure
invention of the poet’s, inserted for the benefit of his Greenland
hearers. Nothing further is reported concerning it.

93. The forest: i.e., men who were outlawed in the conquered land
were restored to their rights—another purely Norse touch. [534]

94. Hun-king: Sigurth, though most illogically so called; cf.

Sigurtharkvitha en skamma, 4 and note. The Volsungasaga
paraphrase of line 2 is so remote as to be puzzling: “It was little to
bear the name of widow.” Perhaps, however, the word “not” fell out
between “was” and “little.”
95. Thing, etc.: here the poet makes Atli into a typical Norse land-
owner, going to the “Thing,” or general law council, to settle his
disputes. Even the compilers of the Volsungasaga could not accept
this, and in their paraphrase changed “Thing” to “battle.” The text of
the second half of line 2 is uncertain. The manuscript leaves a blank
to indicate the gap in line 4; Grundtvig adds: “as beseems not a
king.” [535]

97. The manuscript does not indicate the speaker. Many editors
assume a gap either before or after line 1. A ship: the burial of Norse
chiefs in ships was of frequent occurrence, but the Greenland poet’s
application of the custom to Atli is somewhat grotesque.

98. Heirs, etc.: merely a stock phrase, here quite meaningless, as

Atli’s heirs had all been killed. Long: cf. Guthrunarhvot, introductory
prose. [536]

[Contents]
GUTHRUNARHVOT
 Guthrun’s Inciting
[Contents]

Introductory Note
The two concluding poems in the Codex Regius, the Guthrunarhvot
(Guthrun’s Inciting) and the Hamthesmol (The Ballad of Hamther),
belong to a narrative cycle connected with those of Sigurth, the
Burgundians, and Atli (cf. Gripisspo, introductory note) by only the
slenderest of threads. Of the three early historical kings who
gradually assumed a dominant place in Germanic legend,
Ermanarich, king of the East Goths in the middle of the fourth
century, was actually the least important, even though Jordanes, the
sixth century author of De Rebus Getecis, compared him to
Alexander the Great. Memories of his cruelty and of his tragic death,
however, persisted along with the real glories of Theoderich, a
century and a half later, and of the conquests of Attila, whose lifetime
approximately bridged the gap between Ermanarich’s death and
Theoderich’s birth.

Chief among the popular tales of Ermanarich’s cruelty was one

concerning the death of a certain Sunilda or Sanielh, whom,
according to Jordanes, he caused to be torn asunder by wild horses
because of her husband’s treachery. Her brothers, Sarus and
Ammius, seeking to avenge her, wounded but failed to kill
Ermanarich. In this story is the root of the two Norse poems included
in the Codex Regius. Sunilda easily became the wife as well as the
victim of the tyrant, and, by the process of legend-blending so
frequently observed, the story was connected with the more famous
one of the Nibelungs by making her the daughter of Sigurth and
Guthrun. To account for her brothers, a third husband had to be
found for Guthrun; the Sarus and Ammius of Jordanes are obviously
the Sorli and Hamther, sons of Guthrun and Jonak, of the Norse
poems. The blending of the Sigurth and Ermanarich legends
probably, though not certainly, took place before the story reached
the North, in other words before the end of the eighth century.

Regarding the exact status of the Guthrunarhvot and the

Hamthesmol there has been a great deal of discussion. That they
are closely related is obvious; indeed the first parts of the two poems
are nearly identical in content and occasionally so in actual diction.
The annotator, in his concluding prose note, refers to [537]the second
poem as the “old” ballad of Hamther, wherefore it has been assumed
by some critics that the composer of the Guthrunarhvot used the
Hamthesmol, approximately as it now stands, as the source of part
of his material. The extant Hamthesmol, however, is almost certainly
a patchwork; part of it is in Fornyrthislag (cf. Introduction), including
most of the stanzas paralleled in the Guthrunarhvot, and likewise the
stanza followed directly by the reference to the “old” ballad, while the
rest is in Malahattr. The most reasonable theory, therefore, is that
there existed an old ballad of Hamther, all in Fornyrthislag, from
which the composer of the Guthrunarhvot borrowed a few stanzas as
the introduction for his poem, and which the composer of the extant,
or “new,” Hamthesmol likewise used, though far more clumsily.

The title “Guthrunarhvot,” which appears in the Codex Regius, really

applies only to stanzas 1–8, all presumably borrowed from the “old”
ballad of Hamther. The rest of the poem is simply another Guthrun
lament, following the tradition exemplified by the first and second
Guthrun lays; it is possible, indeed, that it is made up of fragments of
two separate laments, one (stanzas 9–18) involving the story of
Svanhild’s death, and the other (stanzas 19–21) coming from an
otherwise lost version of the story in which Guthrun closely follows
Sigurth and Brynhild in death. In any event the present title is really a
misnomer; the poet, who presumably was an eleventh century
Icelander, used the episode of Guthrun’s inciting her sons to
vengeance for the slaying of Svanhild simply as an introduction to
his main subject, the last lament of the unhappy queen.

The text of the poem in Regius is by no means in good shape, and

editorial emendations have been many and varied, particularly in
interchanging lines between the Guthrunarhvot and the Hamthesmol.
The Volsungasaga paraphrases the poem with such fidelity as to
prove that it lay before the compilers of the saga approximately in its
present form.

[Contents]

Guthrun went forth to the sea after she had slain Atli.
She went out into the sea and fain would drown
herself, but she could not sink. The waves bore her
across the [538]fjord to the land of King Jonak; he took
her as wife; their sons were Sorli and Erp and
Hamther. There was brought up Svanhild, Sigurth’s
daughter; she was married to the mighty Jormunrek.
With him was Bikki, who counselled that Randver,
the king’s son, should have her. This Bikki told to the
king. The king had Randver hanged, and Svanhild
trodden to death under horses’ feet. And when
Guthrun learned this, she spake with her sons. [539]

1. A word-strife I learned, | most woeful of all,

A speech from the fullness | of sorrow spoken,
When fierce of heart | her sons to the fight
Did Guthrun whet | with words full grim.

2. “Why sit ye idle, | why sleep out your lives,

Why grieve ye not | in gladness to speak?
Since Jormunrek | your sister young
Beneath the hoofs | of horses hath trodden,
(White and black | on the battle-way,
Gray, road-wonted, | the steeds of the Goths.)

3. “Not like are ye | to Gunnar of yore,

Nor have ye hearts | such as Hogni’s was;
Vengeance for her | ye soon would have
If brave ye were | as my brothers of old,
Or hard your hearts | as the Hunnish kings’.”

4. Then Hamther spake, | the high of heart:

“Little the deed | of Hogni didst love, [540]
When Sigurth they wakened | from his sleep;
Thy bed-covers white | were red with blood
Of thy husband, drenched | with gore from his
heart.

5. “Bloody revenge | didst have for thy brothers,

Evil and sore, | when thy sons didst slay;
Else yet might we all | on Jormunrek
Together our sister’s | slaying avenge.
6. “. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
The gear of the Hunnish | kings now give us!
Thou hast whetted us so | to the battle of swords.”

7. Laughing did Guthrun | go to her chamber,

The helms of the kings | from the cupboards she
took,
And mail-coats broad, | to her sons she bore them;
On their horses’ backs | the heroes leaped.

8. Then Hamther spake, | the high of heart: [541]

“Homeward no more | his mother to see
Comes the spear-god, fallen | mid Gothic folk;
One death-draught thou | for us all shalt drink,
For Svanhild then | and thy sons as well.”

9. Weeping Guthrun, | Gjuki’s daughter,

Went sadly before | the gate to sit,
And with tear-stained cheeks | to tell the tale
Of her mighty griefs, | so many in kind.

10. “Three home-fires knew I, | three hearths I

knew,
Home was I brought | by husbands three;
But Sigurth only | of all was dear,
He whom my brothers | brought to his death.

11. “A greater sorrow | I saw not nor knew,

Yet more it seemed | I must suffer yet
When the princes great | to Atli gave me.

12. “The brave boys I summoned | to secret

speech;
For my woes requital | I might not win
Till off the heads | of the Hniflungs I hewed.

[542]

13. “To the sea I went, | my heart full sore

For the Norns, whose wrath | I would now escape;
But the lofty billows | bore me undrowned,
Till to land I came, | so I longer must live.

14. “Then to the bed— | of old was it better!—

Of a King of the folk | a third time I came;
Boys I bore | his heirs to be,
Heirs so young, | the sons of Jonak.

15. “But round Svanhild | handmaidens sat,

She was dearest ever | of all my children;
So did Svanhild | seem in my hall
As the ray of the sun | is fair to see.

16. “Gold I gave her | and garments bright,

Ere I let her go | to the Gothic folk;
Of my heavy woes | the hardest it was
When Svanhild’s tresses | fair were trodden
In the mire by hoofs | of horses wild.

17. “The sorest it was | when Sigurth mine [543]

On his couch, of victory | robbed, they killed;
And grimmest of all | when to Gunnar’s heart
There crept the bright-hued | crawling snakes.

18. “And keenest of all | when they cut the heart

From the living breast | of the king so brave;
Many woes I remember, | . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .

19. “Bridle, Sigurth, | thy steed so black,

Hither let run | thy swift-faring horse;
Here there sits not | son or daughter
Who yet to Guthrun | gifts shall give.

[544]

20. “Remember, Sigurth, | what once we said,

When together both | on the bed we sat,
That mightily thou | to me wouldst come
From hell and I | from earth to thee.

21. “Pile ye up, jarls, | the pyre of oak,

Make it the highest | a hero e’er had;
Let the fire burn | my grief-filled breast,
My sore-pressed heart, | till my sorrows melt.”

22. May nobles all | less sorrow know,

And less the woes | of women become,
Since the tale of this | lament is told.

[536]

[Contents]

NOTES
[538]

Prose. In the manuscript the prose is headed “Of Guthrun,” the title
“Guthrunarhvot” preceding stanza 1. The prose introduction is used
both by Snorri (Skaldskaparmal, chapter 42) and in the
Volsungasaga. It would be interesting to know on what the annotator
based this note, for neither Bikki nor Randver is mentioned by name
in either the Guthrunarhvot or the Hamthesmol. On the prose notes
in general, cf. Reginsmol, introductory note. Guthrun: on the slaying
of Atli by his wife, Guthrun, Sigurth’s widow, cf. Atlamol, 83–86 and
notes. Jonak: a Northern addition to the legend, introduced to
account for Svanhild’s half-brothers; the name is apparently of Slavic
origin. Sorli, Erp, and Hamther: Sorli and Hamther are the Sarus and
Ammius of the Jordanes story (cf. introductory note). The
Volsungasaga follows this note in making Erp likewise a son of
Guthrun, but in the Hamthesmol he is a son of Jonak by another
wife. Svanhild: cf. Sigurtharkvitha en skamma, 54 and note.
Jormunrek (Ermanarich): cf. introductory note. Bikki: the Sifka or
Sibicho of the Gothic legends of Ermanarich, whose evil counsel
always brings trouble. Randver: in the Volsungasaga Jormunrek
sends his son Randver with Bikki to seek Svanhild’s hand. On the
voyage home Bikki says to Randver: “It were right for you to have so
fair a wife, and not such an old man.” Randver was much pleased
with this advice, “and he spake to her with gladness, and she to
him.” Thus the story becomes near of kin to those of Tristan and
Iseult and Paolo and Francesca. According to the Volsungasaga,
Bikki told Ermanarich that a guilty love existed between his son and
his young wife, and presumably the annotator here meant as much
by his vague “this.” [539]

1. The poet’s introduction of himself in this stanza is a fairly certain

indication of the relative lateness of the poem.

2. Idle: a guess; a word is obviously missing in the original. The

manuscript marks line 5 as beginning a new stanza, and lines 5–6
may well have been inserted from another part of the “old”
Hamthesmol (cf. Hamthesmol, 3).

3. Gunnar and Hogni: cf. Drap Niflunga. Line 5 may be interpolated.

Hunnish: here used, as often, merely as a generic term for all South
Germanic peoples; the reference is to the Burgundian Gunnar and
Hogni.

4. Hamther: some editions spell the name “Hamthir.” Sigurth, etc.: cf.
Sigurtharkvitha en skamma, 21–24, and Brot, concluding prose. This
stanza has been subjected to many conjectural rearrangements,
[540]some editors adding two or three lines from the Hamthesmol.

5. Bloody: a guess; a word in the original is clearly missing, and the

same is true of all in line 3. Thy sons: i.e., by killing her sons Erp and
Eitil (cf. Atlamol, 72–74) Guthrun deprived Hamther, Sorli, and the
second Erp of valuable allies in avenging Svanhild’s death.
6. The manuscript indicates no gap, but most editors assume the
loss of one, two or even more lines before the two here given.

7. The manuscript indicates line 4 as beginning a new stanza.

8. Line 1, identical with line 1 of stanza 4, may be interpolated

[541]here. Spear-god: warrior, i.e., Hamther himself. With this stanza
the introductory hvot (“inciting”) ends, and stanza 9 introduces the
lament which forms the real body of the poem.

11. Line 1 in the original is of uncertain meaning. Many editors

assume the loss of a line after line 1, and some completely
reconstruct line 1 on the basis of a hypothetical second line. Princes:
Gunnar and Hogni.

12. Some editors assume the loss of one line, or more, before line 1.
Hniflungs: Erp and Eitil, the sons of Guthrun and Atli. On the
application of the name Niflung (or, as later spelt, [542]Hniflung) to
the descendants of Gjuki, Guthrun’s father, cf. Brot, 17, note.

13. Norns: the fates; cf. Voluspo, 8 and note.

14. The manuscript omits the first half of line 4.

16. Some editors assume a gap of two lines after line 2, and make a
separate stanza of lines 3–5; Gering adds a sixth line of his own
coining, while Grundtvig inserts one between lines 3 and 4. The
manuscript indicates line 5 as beginning a new stanza.

17. The manuscript does not indicate line 1 as beginning a stanza

(cf. note on stanza 16). Stanzas 17 and 18 are very likely [543]later
interpolations, although the compilers of the Volsungasaga knew
them as they stand here. The whole passage depends on the
shades of difference in the meanings of the various superlatives:
harþastr, “hardest”; sárastr, “sorest”; grimmastr, “grimmest,” and
hvassastr, “keenest.” Snakes: cf. Drap Niflunga.
18. The king: Hogni; cf. Atlakvitha, 25. The manuscript marks line 3
as beginning a new stanza. Most editors agree that there is a more
or less extensive gap after stanza 18, and some of them contend
that the original ending of the poem is lost, stanzas 19–21 coming
from a different poem, probably a lament closely following Sigurth’s
death.

19. The manuscript does not indicate line 1 as beginning a stanza,

and it immediately follows the fragmentary line 3 of stanza 18. The
resemblance between stanzas 19–21 and stanzas 64–69 of
Sigurtharkvitha en skamma suggests that, in some otherwise lost
version of the story, Guthrun, like Brynhild, sought to die soon after
Sigurth’s death. Thy steed: Guthrun’s appeal to the dead Sigurth to
ride back to earth to meet her is reminiscent of the episode related in
Helgakvitha Hundingsbana II, 39–48. The promise mentioned in
stanza 20 is spoken of elsewhere only in the Volsungasaga
paraphrase of this passage. [544]

21. Perhaps something has been lost between stanzas 20 and 21, or
possibly stanza 21, while belonging originally to the same poem as
stanzas 19 and 20, did not directly follow them. Sore-pressed: a
guess; a word seems to have been omitted in the original.

22. Words of the poet’s, like stanza 1, and perhaps constituting a

later addition. Many editors assume the loss of a line after line 3. The
meaning, of course, is that the poet hopes the story of Guthrun’s
woes will make all other troubles seem light by comparison. [545]

[Contents]
HAMTHESMOL
 The Ballad of Hamther
[Contents]

Introductory Note
The Hamthesmol, the concluding poem in the Codex Regius, is on
the whole the worst preserved of all the poems in the collection. The
origin of the story, the relation of the Hamthesmol to the
Guthrunarhvot, and of both poems to the hypothetical “old”
Hamthesmol, are outlined in the introductory note to the
Guthrunarhvot. The Hamthesmol as we have it is certainly not the
“old” poem of that name; indeed it is so pronounced a patchwork that
it can hardly be regarded as a coherent poem at all. Some of the
stanzas are in Fornyrthislag, some are in Malahattr, one (stanza 29)
appears to be in Ljothahattr, and in many cases the words can be
adapted to any known metrical form only by liberal emendation. That
any one should have deliberately composed such a poem seems
quite incredible, and it is far more likely that some eleventh century
narrator constructed a poem about the death of Hamther and Sorli
by piecing together various fragments, and possibly adding a
number of Malahattr stanzas of his own.

It has been argued, and with apparently sound logic, that our extant
Hamthesmol originated in Greenland, along with the Atlamol. In any
case, it can hardly have been put together before the latter part of
the eleventh century, although the “old” Hamthesmol undoubtedly
long antedates this period. Many editors have attempted to pick out
the parts of the extant poem which were borrowed from this older
lay, but the condition of the text is such that it is by no means clear
even what stanzas are in Fornyrthislag and what in Malahattr. Many