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Helgakvitha Hundingsbana I

20.[1] "Yet the hero will come a few nights hence,
..............
Unless thou dost bid him the battle-ground seek,
Or takest the maid from the warrior mighty."

  Helgi spake:
21.[2] "Fear him not,  though Isung he felled,
First must our courage  keen be tried,
Before unwilling  thou fare with the knave;
Weapons will clash,  if to death I come not."

22.[3] Messengers sent  the mighty one then,
By land and by sea,  a host to seek,
Store of wealth  of the water's gleam,
And men to summon,  and sons of men.

23.[4] "Bid them straightway  seek the ships,
And off Brandey  ready to be!"
There the chief waited  till thither were come
Men by hundreds  from Hethinsey.

  1. ↑ No gap indicated in the manuscript; some editors combine the stanza with the fragmentary stanza 21, and others fill in with "And home will carry  Hogni's daughter."
  2. ↑ The manuscript has only lines 1 and 4 with the word "first" of line 2, and does not indicate Helgi as the speaker. The Volsungasaga, which follows this poem pretty closely, expands Helgi's speech, and lines 2-3 are conjectural versifications of the saga's prose. Isung: nothing is known of him beyond the fact, here indicated, that Hothbrodd killed him.
  3. ↑ Water's gleam: gold.
  4. ↑ Brandey ("Brand-Isle"): not mentioned elsewhere. Hethinsey ("Hethin's Isle"): possibly the island of Hiddensee, east of Rügen.

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