Asatru Folk Assembly - January 25, 2024


Guðrúnarkviða I, a reading

Hosted by
Steve McNallen
Mentioned
Sigurd Brynhild Guthrun Narcvitha I. Gyuki I. Friends Guthrun-Narkvitha Sigrfumal Kramhild Brunhild Brothers Lutheran Herberg Golrund Sigurth Sigrth Gunnar Gjoki Brot Gold Bane and 2 more
Brot af Sigurðarkviðu, a reading Sigurðarkviða Hin Skamma, a reading

Episode Stats


Length

12 minutes

Words per minute

116.45

Word count

1,463

Sentence count

73

Harmful content

Misogyny

1

sentences flagged

Hate speech

16

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

The First Lay of Guthrun is one of the finest poems in the entire Sigrth Saga, and is arguably the most emotionally intense and dramatic poem in the whole collection. It tells the story of the tragic death of her husband, Sigurd, and the resulting grief at the loss of her family.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
Hosts, guests, and mentioned names generated with spaCy (en_core_web_sm), reconciled against Wikidata.
00:00:00.000 Guthrun Narcvitha I. The First Lay of Guthrun
00:00:25.000 The first lay of Guthrun, entitled in the Codex Regis, simply Guthrun-Narkvitha, immediately follows the remaining fragment of the long Sigrth lay in that manuscript.
00:00:38.100 Unlike the poems dealing with the earlier part of the Sigrth cycle, the so-called Regensmal, Fafnismal, and Sigrfumal, it is a clear and distinct unit, apparently complete and with few and minor interpolations.
00:00:53.900 It is also one of the finest poems in the entire collection, with an extraordinary emotional intensity and dramatic focus.
00:01:03.980 None of its stanzas are quoted elsewhere, and it is altogether probable that the compilers of the Volsunga Saga were unfamiliar with it,
00:01:12.640 for they do not mention the sister and daughter of Gyoki, who appear in this poem, or Herborg, the Queen of the Huns, stanza 6.
00:01:22.200 The Lament of Guthrum, Kramhild, is almost certainly among the oldest parts of the story.
00:01:30.580 The Lament was one of the earliest forms of poetry to develop among the Germanic peoples,
00:01:35.540 and I suspect, though the matter is not susceptible to proof,
00:01:40.520 that the Lament of Sigurd's wife had assumed lyric form as early as the 7th century
00:01:46.180 and reached the north in that shape rather than in prose tradition.
00:01:51.240 We find traces of it in the 17th century Aventure of the Niberlingoloid and in the poems of the Edda.
00:02:04.780 It dominates every appearance of Guthrum.
00:02:08.700 The two first Guthrum lays, one and two, are both laments, one for Sigurd's death and the other including both that and the lament over the slaying of her brothers.
00:02:20.040 The Lament theme is apparent in the third Guthrun-Lay and in the Guthrun-Archivot.
00:02:27.040 In their present forms, the second Guthrun-Lay is undoubtedly older than the first.
00:02:33.040 In the prose following the Brot, the annotator refers to the old Guthrun-Lay in terms which can apply only to the second one in the collection.
00:02:43.040 The shorter and first lay, therefore, can scarcely have been composed much before year 1000, and may be somewhat later.
00:02:54.040 The poet appears to have known and made use of the older laments. Stanza 17, for an example, is a close parallel to Stanza 2 of the earlier poem.
00:03:06.040 But whatever material he used, he fitted into a definite poetic scheme of his own.
00:03:12.040 And while this particular poem is, as critics have generally agreed, one of the latest in the collection, it probably represents one of the earliest parts of the entire Sigurd's cycle to take on verse form.
00:03:26.660 Guthrun-Arkwittha I, so far as the narrative underlying it is concerned, shows very little northern tradition to the basic German tradition.
00:03:37.480 Brunhild appears only as Guthrun's enemy and the cause of Sigurd's death.
00:03:43.480 The three women who attempt to confront Guthrun, though unknown to the southern stories, seem
00:03:49.480 to have been rather distinct creations of the poets than traditional additions to the
00:03:54.480 legend.
00:03:55.480 Regarding the relations of the various elements in the Sigurd cycle, see introductory note
00:04:01.480 to Grapispa.
00:04:04.480 Guthrun sat by the dead Sigurd.
00:04:12.660 She did not weep as other women, but her heart was near to bursting with grief.
00:04:18.640 The men and women to her to counsel, but that was not easy to do.
00:04:24.980 It is told of men that Guthrun had eaten of Fafnir's heart, and that she understood
00:04:30.400 the speech of birds.
00:04:32.920 This is a poem about Guthrun.
00:04:38.120 Then did Guthrun think to die, When she by Sigurd's sorrowing sat.
00:04:43.800 Tears she had not, nor wrung her hands, Nor ever wailed as other women.
00:04:50.000 To her the warriors wise there came, Longing her heavy woe to lighten.
00:04:56.380 Grieving could not Guthrun weep, So sad her heart it seemed would break.
00:05:03.060 Then the wives of warriors came, Gold adorned that Guthrun sought.
00:05:08.860 Each one then of her own grief spoke The bitterest pain she'd ever borne.
00:05:16.500 Then spake Gjofla, Gjoki's sister, Most joyless of all on earth am I.
00:05:24.620 Friends five were from me taken, Two daughters then and sisters three,
00:05:30.760 Brothers eight, yet I have lived.
00:05:35.400 Grieving could not Guthrun weep, Such grief she had for her husband dead,
00:05:41.260 And so grim her heart by the hero's body. 0.86
00:05:45.300 Then Herberg spake the queen of the Huns,
00:05:49.900 I have a greater grief to tell, My seven sons in the southern land,
00:05:56.380 And my husband fell in the fight all eight, Father and mother and brothers four,
00:06:02.480 Amid the waves the wind once smote, And the seas crashed through the sides of the ship,
00:06:09.480 The bodies all with my own hands then, I decked for the grave,
00:06:13.960 And the bodies I dead I buried.
00:06:17.700 Then Herborg spake, the queen of the Huns, I have a greater grief to tell, my seven sons
00:06:25.700 in the southern land, and my husband fell in the fight all eight, father and mother 0.93
00:06:32.360 and brothers four, amid the waves the wind once smote, and the seas crashed through the
00:06:39.080 sides of the ship, the bodies all with my own hands then I decked for the grave and
00:06:46.180 the dead I buried. A half-year brought me this to bear, And no one came to comfort me.
00:06:54.940 Then bound I was, and taken in war, A sorrow yet in the same half-year.
00:07:01.640 They bade me deck and bind the shoes Of the wife of the monarch every morn. 0.92
00:07:08.460 In jealous rage her wrath she spake, And beat me oft with heavy blows.
00:07:15.160 Never a better lord I knew, And never a woman worse I found.
00:07:21.940 Grieving could not Guthrun weep, Such grief she had for her husband dead,
00:07:26.840 And so grim her heart by the hero's body.
00:07:32.060 Then spake Golrund, Gukki's daughter, Thy wisdom finds not, my foster mother, 0.68
00:07:40.220 The way to comfort the wife so young.
00:07:44.020 She bade them uncover the warrior's corpse.
00:07:47.680 The shroud she lifted from Sigurd laying His well-loved head on the knees of his wife.
00:07:55.280 Look on thy loved one, and lay thy lips To his as if yet the hero lived.
00:08:02.840 Once alone did Guthrun look, Her hair all clotted with blood beheld.
00:08:08.700 The blinded eyes that once shone bright, The hero's breast that the blade had pierced.
00:08:16.420 Then Guthrun bent on her pillow bowed, Her hair was loosened, her cheek was hot,
00:08:23.500 And the tears like raindrops downward ran.
00:08:28.080 Then Guthrun, daughter of Gyuki, wept, And through her tresses flowed the tears,
00:08:34.920 And from the court came the cry of geese, The bird so fair of the hero's bride.
00:08:42.680 Then Golrun spake the daughter of Gyuki, Never a greater love I knew
00:08:49.180 Than yours among all men on earth. 0.68
00:08:52.600 Nowhere wast happy at home or abroad, Sister mine was Sigurth away. 1.00
00:09:00.860 Lutheran spake. 1.00
00:09:03.740 So was my Sigurd o'er Gukki's sons, As the spearly grown above the grass,
00:09:12.540 Or the jewel bright borne on the band, The precious stone that princes wear. 0.64
00:09:20.680 To the leader of men I loftier seemed, And higher than all of Herian's maids. 0.92
00:09:28.500 As little now as the leaf I am, On the willow hanging my hero is dead. 0.99
00:09:35.920 In his seat, in this bed, I see no more, My heart's true friend. 0.99
00:09:43.340 The fault is theirs, the sons of Gyuki, For all my grief that so their sister sorely 1.00
00:09:50.380 weeps. 1.00
00:09:52.820 So shall your land its people lose, And ye have kept your oaths of yore?
00:09:59.260 Gunnar no joy the gold shall give thee, The ring shall soon thy slayers be,
00:10:07.220 Who swears oaths with Sigurd once.
00:10:09.860 In the court was greater gladness then, The day my Sigurd grani settled,
00:10:17.480 And went forth Brynhild's hand to win, That woman ill in an evil hour. 0.74
00:10:24.980 Then Brynhild spake the daughter of Boothli, May the witch, now husband, and children want,
00:10:33.060 Who Guthrun loosed thy tears at last, And with magic to-day hath made thee speak.
00:10:42.040 Then Goron, daughter of Gukki, spake, Speak not such words, thou hated woman,
00:10:50.040 Bane of the noble thou e'er hast been, Born thou art on an evil wave,
00:10:56.420 Sorrow hast brought seven kings, And many a woman hast loveless maid.
00:11:04.620 Brynhild, daughter of Boothli, spake, Atli is guilty of all the sorrow, son of Boothli
00:11:13.100 and brother of mine.
00:11:15.660 The flame of the snake's bed flashed round the hero, For the journey since full sore
00:11:21.220 have I paid, And ever I seek the sight to forget.
00:11:25.940 By the pillars she stood and gathered her strength, From the eyes of Brynhild, Boothli's daughter,
00:11:34.600 Fire there burned, and venom she breathed, when the wounds she saw on Sigurd then.
00:11:43.720 Guthrun went thence away to a forest in the Waste, and journeyed all the way to Denmark,
00:11:50.380 and was there seven and a half years with Dora, daughter of Hulkan.
00:11:56.260 Brynhild would not live after Sigurd.
00:11:59.180 She had eight of her thralls slain and five serving women. 0.60
00:12:02.820 Then she killed herself with a sword, as is told in The Short Lay of Sigurd. 0.98
00:12:32.820 Amen. 0.90