Fáfnismál: The Lay of Fáfnir

Fáfnismál
The Lay of Fáfnir

Translation by Lee M. Hollander
of Fáfnismál
in the Poetic Edda, from which the following is taken.

Introduction

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Then fared Sigurth home to Hjalprek; but Regin egged on Sigurth to slay Fáfnir. Sigurth and Regin went up to the Gnita Heath and found there the tracks of Fáfnir where it was his wont to go for water. There Sigurth dug a great ditch and hid himself in it. Now when Fáfnir left his lair on the gold, he spewed poison, and it flowed from above on Sigurth's head. But when Fáfnir crept over the ditch, Sigurth thrust his sword into the dragon's heart. Fáfnir shook himself and beat (the ground) with his head and his tail. Sigurth leapt out of the ditch, and then they saw one another.

Fáfnir said:

1

1. "Thou fellow bold, what thy father's kin?
Youth, from what house dost hail?
With Fáfnir's blood thy brand is red;
in my heart standeth thy steal."

Sigurth withheld his name; for it was the belief in olden times that the words of a doomed man had great might, if he cursed his foe by name. 1

He said:

2
"Stag 2 I am hight; homeless I wandered;
I am a motherless man;
no father had I as folks do else:
ever fare I unfriended." 3

3

Fáfnir said:

"If a father thou had'st not as folks do else,
how wast thou, boy, then born?
(Not knowing thy name, though now I die,
I little doubt thou liest.)" 4

4

Sigurth said:

"My forefathers to fame are known, 5
of myself I say the same:
Sigurth thou see'st here, was Sigmund my father;
thou know'st now whose sword smote thee."

5

Fáfnir said:

"Who whetted thee, and why didst wish
to seek, Sigurth, my life? 6
Thou keen-eyed boy, thou had'st bold father,
(such daring deed to do.)" 7

6

Sigurth said:

"My hands did help as my heart did whet,
and eke my bitter brand;
brisk will not be as bearded man 6
who was afraid when fledged."

7

Fáfnir said:

"If haply 'mong kinsmen thou had'st grown up,
thou bold in battle would'st be;
but unfree art, nor thy own master,
and ay are fearful the fettered." 8

8

Sigurth said:

"Since far I am, Fáfnir, from my father's kin
thou scornfully scoffest at me:
no bondsman am I, as babe though taken:
unfettered thou feltest me now."

9

Fáfnir said:

"But words of hate to hear thou weenest;
yet I tell thee this for truth:
the glistening gold and the glow-red hoard,
the rings thy bane will be."

10

Sigurth said:

"For wealth doth wish each wight that's born,
to have till the day of death;
sometime, forsooth, shall each son of man
fare hence to Hel."

11

Fáfnir said:

9 "The norns' doom before the nesses threatens: 10
a fool's fate will be thine;
in the water will drown in the wind who rows:
all spells death to the doomed one."

Sigurth said:

"Say now, Fáfnir, for sage thou art,
and much learned in lore:
which norns 11 are near when need there is
to help mothers give birth to their babes?"

13

Fáfnir said:

"Of unlike issue are the ilks of norns,
nor of the same sib:
of Aesir kin some, of alf kin others,
and some are Dvalin's 12 daughters."

14

Sigurth said:

"Say now, Fáfnir, for sage thou art,
and much learned in lore:
how that holm is hight where the holy gods
and Surt will meet in swordplay?"

15

Fáfnir said:

" 'Tis Oskopnir 13 hight; there all the gods
will unsheath their shining swords;
Bifrost 14 will break, on that bridge when they ride;
their steeds will swim the stream.

16

"With the Helm of Fear 15 I affrighted men
while I lay on the hated hoard;
for the might of all men a match I weened me,
nor e'er worthy foeman found."

17

Sigurth said:

"The Helm of Fear hideth no one,
when bold men bare their swords;
when many are met to match their strength,
'twill be found that foremost is no one." 16

18

Fafnir said:

"I spewed venom as I sprawled on the hoard
of my father's gleaming gold;
(by noon or night no one neared me,
no weapons nor wiles I feared)." 17

19

Sigurth said:

"Thou hateful worm, great hissing thou madest,
on thy gold grimly brooding;
but harder grow the hearts of men
if that helm they have."

20

Fafnir said:

"Hear thou, Sigurth, and heed it well:
ride thou home from hence:
the glistening gold and the glow-red hoard,
the rings thy bane will be." 18

21

Sigurth said:

"Warning thou'st given: now wot that I ride
to the gold hoarded on heath;
but thou, Fafnir, shalt flounder in death
till Hel harbor thee."

22

Fafnir said:

"Regin betrayed me, will betray thee too,
will be the bane of us both;
Fafnir is doomed to die full soon,
greater thy might was than mine."

Regin had taken himself off, the while Sigurth slew Fafnir, and showed himself again when Sigurth was wiping the blood from his sword.

23

He said:

19 "Hail now, Sigurth, thou hast slain Fafnir:
well hast thou won the day;
of all the men on earth that walk
I call thee bravest born."

24

Sigurth said:

20 "When men are met to match their thews,
who knows who is bravest born?
Full many are brave who brand never reddened
in the blood from foeman's breast."

25

Regin said:

"Glad art, Sigurth, hast slain thy foe,
and driest now Gram on the grass;
my own brother thy brand did slay,
yet had I a hand in his death."

26

Sigurth said:

"Afar thou wert while in Fafnir's blood
I reddened my slaughterous sword;
my strength I strained to strive with the worm,
whilst thou in the heather didst hide."

27

Regin said:

"Long had lived in his lair on heath
that age-old etin, 21
if the sword thou had'st not which myself did make,
the blade which bites so sore."

28

Sigurth said:

"Courage is better than keenest steel,
when bold men bare their brands;
oft beheld I wholehearted swain
with dull sword win his way.

29

"The fearless ay, but the fearful nowise,
will fare the better in fray;
to be glad is better than of gloomy mind,
whether fair or foul betide. 22

30

23 "Thy rede was it that ride I should
over high mountains hither;
Fafnir still held his hoard and life,
had'st thou not egged me on."

Then Regin went up to Fafnir and cut out his heart with the sword which is hight Rithil; and then he drank the blood which flowed from the wound.

31

He said:

"Sit now, Sigurth - I shall sleep the while -
and hold Fafnir's heart o'er the fire;
for this morsel I mean to eat
after gulping this gory drink."

Sigurth took Fafnir's heart and steaked it on a spit. When he thought it was done, and the blood ran foaming out of the heart, he touched it with his finger to see whether it were fully done; he burned himself and stuck his finger in his mouth. But when Fafnir's heartblood touched his tongue, he understood the speech of birds. He overheard some titmice speaking in the bushes.

32

One titmouse said:

"There sits Sigurth, all smeared with blood,
and Fafnir's heart he holds over the fire;
wise would be the war leader
if the hated worm's bright heart he ate."

33

A second said:

"There lies Regin, and racks his brain,
would betray the boy who trusts in him,
and take him to task in tricky ways;
would the base one now his brother avenge."

34

A third said:

"Hew off the head of the hoary wizard!
let him fare to Hel from hence;
then lord art alone of the lustrous gold,
of the heaped hoard of Fafnir."

35

A fourth said:

"Crafty were he and keen of mind,
if ear he gave to us sisters -
took heed for himself and the hawks gladdened: 24
look out for the wolf when his ears ye see!" 25

36

A fifth said:

"Crafty were not the king's offspring - 26
as ought to be armed men's leader -
if he let scot-free escape the brother,
when he Fafnir first felled with the sword."

37

A sixth said:

"Witless were then the warlike hero
if he spared his fell foeman;
Regin lies there who has lied to him:
let him guard against his guile!"

38

A seventh said:

"Cut off the head of the cold etin,
and take his red-gold rings;
of Fafnir's hoard then, on the heath where it lies,
the only owner wilt be." 27

39

Sigurth said:

" 'Tis not written that Regin shall wreak him on me,
and ever be my bane;
for both brothers shall by my hand
full soon fare hence to Hel."

Sigurth hewed off Regin's head. Then he ate Fafnir's heart, and drank the blood of both Regin and Fafnir. 28

40

Then heard Sigurth what the titmice said (further):

"Gather now, Sigurth, the golden rings -
to flinch in fear befits not a king:
a maiden 29 I know, of many most fair,
in golden weeds: a wife for thee.

41

"Green 30 are the paths to Gjuki's hall -
fate doth further the fearless man;
that folk-king hath a fair daughter:
with the gold, Sigurth, mayst thou gain her hand.

42

"A high hall standeth on Hindar Fell, 31
all enfolded is it by fire without;
cunning craftsmen this castle builded
of the glistering gold of rivers.

43

"A valkyrie 32 rests on the rock in sleep,
flickering fire flames about her;
with the sleep-thorn Ygg 33 her erst did prick:
other heroes she felled than he had willed. 34

44

"There mayst thou see the maiden helm-decked
who steered from battle the steed Vingskornir; 35
nor mayst Sigrdrifa 36 from sleep awaken,
that know thou, Skjoldung, 37 but by norns' stern doom."

Sigurth followed Fafnir's tracks till he came upon his lair, and found it open. The doors and doorposts were of iron. Of iron, too, were all posts in the house, and the whole was let into the ground. There found Sigurth a great hoard of gold, and filled two chests with it. He took from thence the Helm of Terror, and a gold byrnie, and the sword Hrotti, 38 and many other things of great worth, and loaded Grani therewith; but the steed would not stir before Sigurth got on his back, too.

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The Poetic Edda
Translated by Lee M Hollander © 1962
ISBN 0-292-76499-5
LCCCN 61-10045
Fifth paperback printing 1994
University of Texas Press
Box 7819, Austin, Texas, 78713-7819

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Notes

1. Similar beliefs are held throughout the world among primitive peoples; see Frazer, The Golden Bough, III, 320 ff.

2. In the original, "noble animal"; but see Helgakviða Hundingsbana II, St. 38.

3. Unless we are to assume that Sigurth deliberately misrepresents, this version is a variance with his princely rearing at Hjalprek's court; but indeed, according to the German story of Sigfrit (also Thidhreks saga, Chap 168), he came to Regin's smithy as a foundling; so that there may be trace of this conception in this and the following stanzas. See also Helgakviða Hundingsbana I.

4. Supplied after the paraphrase in the Volsunga saga, Chap. 18.

5. After Cederschiold: the original, "unknown," does not agree with Fáfnir's knowing Sigmund (St. 5 below) and the circumstances of Sigurth's birth.

6. The text here is corrupt, the translation of the line hence purely conjectural.

7. The Translator's emendation of this corrupt line. See Scandinavian Studies, VII (1932), 280-287.

8. On this and the following stanzas, see "Frá dauða Sinfjotla," Note 5.

9. This stanza, as well as several others following, seems to have belonged originally to some collection of didactic sayings like Hávamál.

10. The 'windy nesses' threaten the unwary sailor with destruction.

11. Evidently not the fate-goddesses (Völuspá, Note 17) but minor divinities, the fairies of folklore. After describing these, Snorri adds (Gylfaginning, Chap. 14), "yet are there other norns who come to every child that is born, to shape its fate, and these are sprung from the gods; but others are of the race of alfs; and still others, of the dwarfs." Wereupon a version of St. 13 is quoted.

12. A dwarf. See Dvergatal, St. 14.

13. Probably identical with the Vigrith of Vafþrúðnismál, St. 18.

14. See Grímnismál, St. 45. The bridge breaks down under the hosts of Muspelheim, "and their horses must swim over the great rivers." (Gylfaginning, Chap. 12).

15. See Reginsmál Prose after St. 14.

16. Compare with Hávamál, St. 64.

17. Supplied by the Translator after the paraphrase in the Volsunga saga, Chap. 18.

18. These stanzas would seem to belong more properly after St. 9.

19. In the following stanzas, Sigurth modestly replies to Regin's fulsome praise, but claims for himself full share of both praise and blame for slaying Fafnir. Regin, with an eye on the hoard, admits that it would not have been done but for his egging on, but maintains that it could not have been done but for the wondrous sword he had fashioned.

20. The order of Stanzas 26-31 is changed here, following Mullenhoff.

21. Both Regin and Fafnir are originally of the giant race.

22. Compare with "Hávamál," St. 15.

23. It has been suggested that a stanza is lacking before St. 30 in which Regin reiterated his charge of St. 25. Indeed, words to this effect are found in the Volsunga saga, Chap. 19.

24. By furnishing another carcass.

25. Icelandic proverb: Regin's speech has been suspicious. Compare with Ex ungue leonem.

26. Sigurth.

27. Grundtvig suggested that the bird chorus has three voices only. The calmer stanzas (in fornyrdhislag) he would assign to the first and second titmice (Sts. 32 and 35 to one and Sts. 33 and 36 to the other); whereas the excited advice of stanzas 34, 37, 38 (in ljodhahattr) would represent the third. Bugge pointed out that the suggestion would seem to be corroborated by the wood carving on the portals of the old Hyllestad Church, Norway, representing the scene, where only three birds are seen.

28. There is a widely spread belief among primitive peoples that the drinking of the blood, or eating of certain vital parts, of the slain animal or foe will transfer to the slayer the powers that resided in them.

29. Guthrun, the daughter of Gjuki.

30. That is, "pleasant."

31. "Fell of the Hind."

32. Brynhild.

33. Othin. See Grimnismal, St. 54.

34. See Sigrdrifumal, Sts. 4 ff, and Helreidh Brynhildar, Sts. 8 ff.

35. Brynhild's steed.

36. Most likely, another name for "valkyrie" (meaning, probably, "Giver of Victory"). It was misunderstood by the Collector as the name of a second valkyrie, a supposition which is altogether uncalled for. As to the confusion produced, see Gripisspa, Note 1.

37. "Descendant of Skjold," the mythical progenitor of the royal race of Denmark. Here used in a general sense for "hero". See Helgakvidha Hundingsbana I, Sts. 49 and 55.

38. Compare with Hrunting, Beowulf's sword.

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Introduction

Though set off in the original by a different---and not very appropriate---title (Fra daudha Fafnis, "Of Fáfnir's Death"), this poem is, both in matter and manner, unquestionably a continuation of the preceding lay; therefore, here too, it is a matter of dispute whether we are dealing with a number of fragments of diverse origin joined together by the Prose of the Collector, or whether the whole was planned thus. The unsuitableness of several stanzas in the dialogue between Sigurth and Fáfnir, and the unusual change from ljodhahattr to fornyrdhislag in the middle of the bird chorus certainly lend color to the former assumption.
Aesthetically considered, no one portion of the lay is satisfactory to the modern taste; yet the total impression is pleasing, thanks no doubt to the poetic glamor thrown over it by the story of young Sigurth.
The poem is found in its entirety only in the Codex Regius, but pieces from the gnomic portions are quoted in a number of sources, attesting its popularity. The paraphrase of it in the Volsunga saga is a particularly close one. Owing to the diversity of contents it is particularly difficult to assign a date.

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