The Poetic Edda · Poem 20
Gripir’s Prophecy
1Gripir was the name of Eylimi’s son, the brother of Hjordis; he ruled over lands and was of all men the wisest and most forward-seeing. Sigurth once was riding alone and came to Gripir’s hall. Sigurth was easy to recognize; he found out in front of the hall a man whose name was Geitir. Then Sigurth questioned him and asked: “Who is it has this dwelling here, Or what do men call the people’s king?”
2Geitir spake: “Gripir the name of the chieftain good Who holds the folk and the firm-ruled land.” Sigurth spake: “Is the king all-knowing now within, Will the monarch come with me to speak? A man unknown his counsel needs, And Gripir fain I soon would find.”
3Geitir spake: “The ruler glad of Geitir will ask Who seeks with Gripir speech to have.”
4Sigurth spake: “Sigurth am I, and Sigmund’s son, And Hjordis the name of the hero’s mother.” Then Geitir went and to Gripir spake: “A stranger comes and stands without; Lofty he is to look upon, And, prince, thyself he fain would see.”
5From the hall the ruler of heroes went, And greeted well the warrior come: “Sigurth, welcome long since had been thine; Now, Geitir, shalt thou Grani take.”
6Then of many things they talked, When thus the men so wise had met.
7Sigurth spake: “To me, if thou knowest, my mother’s brother, Say what life will Sigurth’s be.” Gripir spake: “Of men thou shalt be on earth the mightiest, And higher famed than all the heroes; Free of gold-giving, slow to flee, Noble to see, and sage in speech.”
8Sigurth spake: “Monarch wise, now more I ask; To Sigurth say, if thou thinkest to see, What first will chance of my fortune fair, When hence I go from out thy home?”
9Gripir spake: “First shalt thou, prince, thy father avenge, And Eylimi, their ills requiting; The hardy sons of Hunding thou Soon shalt fell, and victory find.”
10Sigurth spake: “Noble king, my kinsman, say Thy meaning true, for our minds we speak: For Sigurth mighty deeds dost see, The highest beneath the heavens all?”
11Gripir spake: “The fiery dragon alone thou shalt fight That greedy lies at Gnitaheith; Thou shalt be of Regin and Fafnir both The slayer; truth doth Gripir tell thee.”
12Sigurth spake: “Rich shall I be if battles I win With such as these, as now thou sayest; Forward look, and further tell: What the life that I shall lead?”
13Gripir spake: “Fafnir’s den thou then shalt find, And all his treasure fair shalt take; Gold shalt heap on Grani’s back, And, proved in fight, to Gjuki fare.”
14Sigurth spake: “To the warrior now in words so wise, Monarch noble, more shalt tell; I am Gjuki’s guest, and thence I go: What the life that I shall lead?”
15Gripir spake: “On the rocks there sleeps the ruler’s daughter, Fair in armor, since Helgi fell; Thou shalt cut with keen-edged sword, And cleave the byrnie with Fafnir’s killer.”
16Sigurth spake: “The mail-coat is broken, the maiden speaks, The woman who from sleep has wakened; What says the maid to Sigurth then That happy fate to the hero brings?”
17Gripir spake: “Runes to the warrior will she tell, All that men may ever seek, And teach thee to speak in all men’s tongues, And life with health; thou’rt happy, king!”
18Sigurth spake: “Now is it ended, the knowledge is won, And ready I am forth thence to ride; Forward look and further tell: What the life that I shall lead?”
19Gripir spake: “Then to Heimir’s home thou comest, And glad shalt be the guest of the king; Ended, Sigurth, is all I see, No further aught of Gripir ask.”
20Sigurth spake: “Sorrow brings me the word thou sayest, For, monarch, forward further thou seest; Sad the grief for Sigurth thou knowest, Yet nought to me, Gripir, known wilt make.”
21Gripir spake: “Before me lay in clearest light All of thy youth for mine eyes to see; Not rightly can I wise be called, Nor forward-seeing; my wisdom is fled.”
22Sigurth spake: “No man, Gripir, on earth I know Who sees the future as far as thou; Hide thou nought, though hard it be, And base the deeds that I shall do.”
23Gripir spake: “With baseness never thy life is burdened, Hero noble, hold that sure; Lofty as long as the world shall live, Battle-bringer, thy name shall be.”
24Sigurth spake: “Nought could seem worse, but now must part The prince and Sigurth, since so it is; My road I ask,— the future lies open,— Mighty one, speak, my mother’s brother.”
25Gripir spake: “Now to Sigurth all shall I say, For to this the warrior bends my will; Thou knowest well that I will not lie,— A day there is when thy death is doomed.”
26Sigurth spake: “No scorn I know for the noble king, But counsel good from Gripir I seek; Well will I know, though evil awaits, What Sigurth may before him see.”
27Gripir spake: “A maid in Heimir’s home there dwells, Brynhild her name to men is known, Daughter of Buthli, the doughty king, And Heimir fosters the fearless maid.”
28Sigurth spake: “What is it to me, though the maiden be So fair, and of Heimir the fosterling is? Gripir, truth to me shalt tell, For all of fate before me thou seest.”
29Gripir spake: “Of many a joy the maiden robs thee, Fair to see, whom Heimir fosters; Sleep thou shalt find not, feuds thou shalt end not, Nor seek out men, if the maid thou seest not.”
30Sigurth spake: “What may be had for Sigurth’s healing? Say now, Gripir, if see thou canst; May I buy the maid with the marriage-price, The daughter fair of the chieftain famed?”
31Gripir spake: “Ye twain shall all the oaths then swear That bind full fast; few shall ye keep; One night when Gjuki’s guest thou hast been, Will Heimir’s fosterling fade from thy mind.”
32Sigurth spake: “What sayst thou, Gripir? give me the truth, Does fickleness hide in the hero’s heart? Can it be that troth I break with the maid, With her I believed I loved so dear?”
33Gripir spake: “Tricked by another, prince, thou art, And the price of Grimhild’s wiles thou must pay; Fain of thee for the fair-haired maid, Her daughter, she is, and she drags thee down.”
34Sigurth spake: “Might I with Gunnar kinship make, And Guthrun win to be my wife, Well the hero wedded would be, If my treacherous deed would trouble me not.”
35Gripir spake: “Wholly Grimhild thy heart deceives, She will bid thee go and Brynhild woo For Gunnar’s wife, the lord of the Goths; And the prince’s mother thy promise shall win.”
36Sigurth spake: “Evil waits me, well I see it, And gone is Sigurth’s wisdom good, If I shall woo for another to win The maiden fair that so fondly I loved.”
37Gripir spake: “Ye three shall all the oaths then take, Gunnar and Hogni, and, hero, thou; Your forms ye shall change, as forth ye fare, Gunnar and thou; for Gripir lies not.”
38Sigurth spake: “How meanest thou? Why make we the change Of shape and form as forth we fare? There must follow another falsehood Grim in all ways; speak on, Gripir!”
39Gripir spake: “The form of Gunnar and shape thou gettest, But mind and voice thine own remain; The hand of the fosterling noble of Heimir Now dost thou win, and none can prevent.”
40Sigurth spake: “Most evil it seems, and men will say Base is Sigurth that so he did; Not of my will shall I cheat with wiles The heroes’ maiden whom noblest I hold.”
41Gripir spake: “Thou dwellest, leader lofty of men, With the maid as if thy mother she were; Lofty as long as the world shall live, Ruler of men, thy name shall remain.”
42Sigurth spake: “Shall Gunnar have a goodly wife, Famed among men,— speak forth now, Gripir! Although at my side three nights she slept, The warrior’s bride? Such ne’er has been.”
43Gripir spake: “The marriage draught will be drunk for both, For Sigurth and Gunnar, in Gjuki’s hall; Your forms ye change, when home ye fare, But the mind of each to himself remains.”
44Sigurth spake: “Shall the kinship new thereafter come To good among us? Tell me, Gripir! To Gunnar joy shall it later give, Or happiness send for me myself?”
45Gripir spake: “Thine oaths remembering, silent thou art, And dwellest with Guthrun in wedlock good; But Brynhild shall deem she is badly mated, And wiles she seeks, herself to avenge.”
46Sigurth spake: “What may for the bride requital be, The wife we won with subtle wiles? From me she has the oaths I made, And kept not long; they gladdened her little.”
47Gripir spake: “To Gunnar soon his bride will say That ill didst thou thine oath fulfill, When the goodly king, the son of Gjuki, With all his heart the hero trusted.”
48Sigurth spake: “What sayst thou, Gripir? give me the truth! Am I guilty so as now is said, Or lies does the far-famed queen put forth Of me and herself? Yet further speak.”
49Gripir spake: “In wrath and grief full little good The noble bride shall work thee now; No shame thou gavest the goodly one, Though the monarch’s wife with wiles didst cheat.”
50Sigurth spake: “Shall Gunnar the wise to the woman’s words, And Gotthorm and Hogni, then give heed? Shall Gjuki’s sons, now tell me, Gripir, Redden their blades with their kinsman’s blood?”
51Gripir spake: “Heavy it lies on Guthrun’s heart, When her brothers all shall bring thee death; Never again shall she happiness know, The woman so fair; ’tis Grimhild’s work.”
52Sigurth spake: “Now fare thee well! our fates we shun not; And well has Gripir answered my wish; More of joy to me wouldst tell Of my life to come if so thou couldst.”
53Gripir spake: “Ever remember, ruler of men, That fortune lies in the hero’s life; A nobler man shall never live Beneath the sun than Sigurth shall seem.”