The complete text
Helreið Brynhildar
Brynhildr’s Ride to Hel
About these two editions
These are complete reading editions of the poem and its accompanying prose, rather than a facsimile of Codex Regius. Bellows sometimes orders, divides, or supplements stanzas differently, so the two editions do not always share stanza numbers. Editorial introductions and footnotes are omitted; follow the source links for that commentary.
Original wording is retained. Obvious transcription errors in stanza numbering have been corrected. Spelling and names differ from the modern retelling.
Tap an underlined name for an explanation. Switch editions above at any time.
Old Norse
Normalized Old Norse · Guðni Jónsson edition · Source ↗
Eftir dauða váru gör bál tvau, annat , ok brann þat fyrr, enn var á öðru brennd, ok var hon í reið þeiri, er guðvefjum var tjölduð. Svá er sagt, at ók með reiðinni á helveg ok fór um tún, þar er gýgr nökkur bjó. Gýgrin kvað:
Stanza 1"Skaltu í gögnum ganga eigi grjóti studda garða mína, betr semði þér borða at rekja heldr en vitja vers annarrar.
Stanza 2Hvat skaltu vitja af Vallandi, hvarfúst höfuð, húsa minna? Þú hefir, gulls, ef þik vita lystir, mild af höndum manns blóð þvegit."
kvað:
Stanza 3"Bregðu eigi mér, brúðr ór steini, þótt ek værak í víkingu; ek mun okkur æðri þykkja, hvars menn eðli okkart kunna."
Gýgrin kvað:
Stanza 4"Þú vart, Buðla dóttir, heilli verstu í heim borin; þú hefir of glatat börnum ok búi þeira brugðit góðu."
kvað:
Stanza 5"Ek mun segja þér svinn ór reiðu vitlaussi mjök, ef þik vita lystir, hvé gerðu mik arfar ástalausa ok eiðrofa.
Stanza 6Hétu mik allir í Hlymdölum Hildi undir hjalmi hverr er kunni.
Stanza 7Annar hét , Auðu bróðir, er véttr engi vildi týja.
Stanza 8Lét hami vára hugfullr konungr átta systra undir eik borit; var ek vetra tolf, ef þik vita lystir, er ek ungum gram eiða seldak.
Stanza 9Þá lét ek gamlan á Goðþjóðu næst heljar ganga; gaf ek ungum sigr Auðu bróður; þar varð mér ofreiðr of þat.
Stanza 10Lauk hann mik skjöldum í Skatalundi rauðum ok hvítum, randir snurtu; þann bað hann slíta svefni mínum, er hvergi lands hræðask kynni.
Stanza 11Lét hann um sal minn sunnanverðan hávan brenna her alls viðar; þar bað hann einn þegn yfir at ríða, þanns mér færði gull, þats und lá.
Stanza 12Reið góðr gullmiðlandi, þars fóstri minn fletjum stýrði; einn þótti hann þar öllum betri víkingr í verðungu.
Stanza 13 við ok unðum í sæing einni, sem hann minn bróðir of borinn væri; hvárki knátti hönd yfir annat átta nóttum okkart leggja.
Stanza 14Því brá mér dóttir, at ek svæfak á armi, þar varð ek þess vís, er ek vildig-a-k, at þau véltu mik í verfangi.
Stanza 15Munu við ofstríð alls til lengi konur ok karlar kvikvir fæðask; við skulum okkrum aldri slíta saman. Sökkstu, gýgjar kyn."
English translation
Henry Adams Bellows · First published 1923 · Source & commentary ↗
After the death of there were made two bale-fires, the one for , and that burned first, and on the other was burned, and she was on a wagon which was covered with a rich cloth. Thus it is told, that went in the wagon on -way, and passed by a house where dwelt a certain giantess. The giantess spake:
Stanza 1"Thou shalt not further | forward fare, My dwelling ribbed | with rocks across; More seemly it were | at thy weaving to stay, Than another's husband | here to follow.
Stanza 2"What wouldst thou have | from here, Fickle of heart, | in this my house? Gold-goddess, now, | if thou wouldst know, Heroes' blood | from thy hands hast washed."
spake:
Stanza 3"Chide me not, woman | from rocky walls, Though to battle once | I was wont to go; Better than thou | I shall seem to be, When men us two | shall truly know."
The giantess spake:
Stanza 4"Thou wast, , | 's daughter, For the worst of evils | born in the world; To death thou hast given | 's children, And laid their lofty | house full low."
spake:
Stanza 5"Truth from the wagon | here I tell thee, Witless one, | if know thou wilt How the heirs of | gave me to be joyless ever, | a breaker of oaths.
Stanza 6" the helmed | in They named me of old, | all they who knew me. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Stanza 7"The monarch bold | the swan-robes bore Of the sisters eight | beneath an oak; Twelve winters I was, | if know thou wilt, When oaths I yielded | the king so young.
Stanza 8"Next I let | the leader of , the old, | go down to hell, And victory brought | to 's brother; For this was 's | anger mighty.
Stanza 9"He beset me with shields | in , Red and white, | their rims o'erlapped; He bade that my sleep | should broken be By him who fear | had nowhere found.
Stanza 10"He let round my hall, | that southward looked, The branches' foe | high-leaping burn; Across it he bade | the hero come Who brought me the gold | that guarded
Stanza 11On rode | the giver of gold, Where my foster-father | ruled his folk; Best of all | he seemed to be, The prince of the Danes, | when the people met.
Stanza 12"Happy we slept, | one bed we had, As he my brother | born had been; Eight were the nights | when neither there Loving hand | on the other laid.
Stanza 13"Yet reproached me, | 's daughter, That I in 's | arms had slept; Then did I hear | what I would were hid, That they had betrayed me | in taking a mate.
Stanza 14"Ever with grief | and all too long Are men and women | born in the world; But yet we shall live | our lives together, and I. | Sink down, Giantess!"