Asatru Folk Assembly - January 13, 2024


Helgakviða Hundingsbana I, a reading

Hosted by
Steve McNallen
Mentioned
Helgi Hundingsbane Granmar Gothman Summon Hogni Hothbrod Kvita Hjärvartssonar Kvitha Hundingsbarno Kvitte Hundingsbane Ørván Sund Robin Thee Hundingsbein Hringstathir Spurtwitnir Hurorvarth Hjoreleith Sinfjortli Frekestein Wolsungle Sigarsjol Sinfjolti and 28 more
Bremen Town Musicians (Academy Storytime) Helgakviða Hundingsbana II, a reading

Episode Stats


Length

19 minutes

Words per minute

107.64

Word count

2,091

Sentence count

112

Harmful content

Misogyny

6

sentences flagged

Toxicity

8

sentences flagged

Hate speech

30

sentences flagged


Summary

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

The First Lay of Helge Hundingsbane is one of the latest of the etic poems, and was composed probably not earlier than the second quarter of the 11th century. It presents several unusual characteristics: it is among the few essentially narrative poems in the whole collection, telling a consecutive story in verse, and except for abusive dialogue between Sinfjöltli and Gottmund, which clearly was based on another and older poem, it does so with relatively little use of dialogue. It is, in fact, a ballad, and in the main an exceedingly vigorous one.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
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 The First Slay of Helgi Hundingsbane
00:00:20.000 Helge Kvitte Hundingsbane 1
00:00:25.000 The First Lay of Helge Hundingsbein
00:00:28.300 The general subject of the Helge Lays is considered an introduction to Helge Kvita Hjärvartssonar,
00:00:40.560 and it is needless here to repeat the statements that are made.
00:00:44.760 The First Lay of Helge Hundingsbein is unquestionably one of the latest of the etic poems,
00:00:52.260 and was composed probably not earlier than the second quarter of the 11th century.
00:00:58.180 It presents several unusual characteristics.
00:01:02.480 For one thing, it is among the few essentially narrative poems in the whole collection,
00:01:08.020 telling a consecutive story in verse,
00:01:10.720 and except for abusive dialogue between Sinfjöltli and Gottmund,
00:01:16.740 which clearly was based on another and older poem,
00:01:19.220 it does so with relatively little use of dialogue.
00:01:23.640 It is, in fact, a ballad, and in the main, an exceedingly vigorous one.
00:01:30.520 The annotator who added his prose narrative notes so freely in the other Hedegi poems
00:01:35.980 here found nothing to do.
00:01:38.580 The available evidence indicates that narrative verse was a relatively late development in Old Norse poetry,
00:01:44.940 and it is significant that most of the poems which consist chiefly not of dialogue but of narrative stanzas such as the first Helge Hundingsbein lay and the two Atli lays can safely be dated on the basis of other evidence after the year 1000.
00:02:04.160 The first Helgi Hundingsbenle is again differentiated from most of the Edic poems by the character
00:02:14.040 of its language.
00:02:15.020 It is full of those verbal intricacies which were the delight of the Norse skalds, and
00:02:21.620 which made Snorri's Dictionary of Poetic Phrases an absolute necessity.
00:02:27.180 Many of these I have paraphrased in the translation, some I have simplified or wholly avoided.
00:02:34.160 A singular line will serve to indicate the character of this form and complex diction.
00:02:39.760 Stanza 56, Line 4
00:02:42.720 On the horse of the giantess, the raven's food had.
00:02:47.440 This means simply that wolves, giantesses habitually wrote on wolves,
00:02:51.680 ate the bodies of the dead.
00:02:54.880 Except for its intricacies of diction and the possible loss of a stanza here or there,
00:03:00.240 the poem is comparatively simple.
00:03:02.480 The story belongs, in all its essentials, to the Helgi tradition, with the Volsungsockel
00:03:09.140 brought in only to the extent of making Helgi the son of Sigmund, and in the introduction
00:03:14.400 of Sinfjötli, son of Sigmund, and his sister Signy, in a passage which has little or nothing
00:03:21.240 to do with the course of the narrative, and which looks like an expansion of the passage
00:03:27.200 from some older poem, perhaps from the old Wolsungle, to which the annotator of the second
00:03:33.580 Helgi Hundingsbeinle refers .
00:03:38.760 There are many proper names, some of which portray the confusion caused by the blending
00:03:43.700 of the two sets of traditions.
00:03:45.920 For example, Helgi appears indiscriminately as Ilfing, which presumably he was before
00:03:53.020 the Wollsung Saga became evolved, and as a Wollsung.
00:03:57.680 Granmar and his sons are called Niflungs in Stanza 50, though they seem to have no connection
00:04:05.140 with this race.
00:04:07.400 The place names have aroused much debate as to locationalization of the action, but while
00:04:14.860 some of them probably reflect actual places, there is no such geographical confusion, and
00:04:20.920 such a profusion of names, which are almost certainly mythical, that it is hard to believe
00:04:26.560 that the poet had any definite locations in mind.
00:04:32.360 Helge Kvitha Hundingsbarno
00:04:39.080 In olden days, when eagles screamed and holy streams from heaven's crags fell, was Helge
00:04:46.300 Then the hero-hearted, Borghild's son, in Braulun born.
00:04:53.440 T'was night in the dwelling, and Norns there came,
00:04:57.120 Who shaped the life of the Lofty One.
00:05:00.340 They bade him most famed of fighters all, and best of princes ever be.
00:05:06.780 Mightily wove they the web of fate, while Braulun towns was trembling all.
00:05:13.620 And there the golden threads they wove, And in the moon's hall fast they made them.
00:05:22.500 East and west the inns they hid, In the middle the hero should have his land,
00:05:30.220 And Nari's kinswoman northward cast, A chain embayed it, firm ever be to be.
00:05:40.260 On sorrow had the Ilfing sun, And grief the bride who the loved one had borne.
00:05:50.600 Quoth raven to raven On treetop resting, seeking for food,
00:05:57.520 There is something I know.
00:06:00.700 In Melkoth stands the son of Sigmund, A half-day old, now day is here.
00:06:10.020 His eyes so sharp as the heroes are, He is friends of the wolves, for glad are we.
00:06:18.900 The warrior throng a ruler thought him, Good times, they said, mankind should see,
00:06:26.180 The king himself from battle pressed Cain, To give the prince a leek full proud.
00:06:33.260 Helgi he named him, and Hringstathir gave him, Sofjol, Snefjol, and Sigarsjol, Hringstoth, 0.87
00:06:45.720 Houghton, and Himenvanger, and a blood snake bedecked to Sinfjolti's brother.
00:06:56.480 Mighty he grew in the midst of his friends, The fair-born elm in fortune's glow.
00:07:04.180 To his comrades' gold he gladly gave, The hero spared not the blood-flecked horde.
00:07:12.600 Short time for war the chieftain waited, When fifteen winters old he was. 0.94
00:07:19.120 Hunding he slew the hardy wight, Who long had ruled o'er lands and men. 0.88
00:07:27.500 Of Sigmund's son the next they sought, Hoard and rings the sons of Hunding. 0.96
00:07:36.400 They bade the prince requital play, For booty stolen and father slain.
00:07:44.600 The prince let not their prayers avail, nor gold for their dead did the kinsmen give.
00:07:52.760 Waiting, he said, was a mighty storm of lance's grey and otan's grimness.
00:07:59.880 The warriors forth to the battle went, the field they chose at Lugafjord.
00:08:06.600 Groti's place, midst foes they broke, Through the isle went hungry vitrear's hounds.
00:08:16.340 The king then sat when he had slain, Ey orf and alf neith the eagle's stone,
00:08:24.920 Hurorvarth and Hovarth, hunding sons, The kin of the spear-wielder, all had he killed.
00:08:33.880 Then glittered light from Lugafiol, And from the light the flashes leaped.
00:08:42.220 High on their helms on heaven's field, Their burnies all where blood were red, 0.80
00:08:49.640 And from their spears the sparks flew forth.
00:08:54.240 Early then in Wolfwood asked, The mighty king of the southern maid,
00:09:00.640 If with the hero a home would she, Come that night the weapons clashed.
00:09:07.580 Down from her horse sprang Hogni's daughter.
00:09:10.800 The shields were still, and spake to the hero,
00:09:14.740 Other tasks are ours, methinks, Than drinking beer with the breaker of rings.
00:09:21.660 My father has pledged his daughter fair, As bride to Granmar's son so grim.
00:09:29.020 But Helgi, I, once Hothbrod, called, As fine a king as the son of a cat.
00:09:37.120 Yet the hero will come a few nights hence, Unless thou dost bid him the battleground
00:09:44.020 seek, Or takest the maid from the warrior might.
00:09:50.780 Helgi spake, Fear him not, though ye soon he fell.
00:09:57.400 This must our courage keen be tried, Before unwilling thou fare with the knave.
00:10:04.720 Weapons will clash, if to death I come not.
00:10:10.100 Messengers sent the mighty one then, By land and by sea a host to seek,
00:10:16.000 Store of wealth of the waters gleam, And men to summon, and sons of men.
00:10:22.680 Lead them straightway, seek the ships, And off Brondi, ready to be.
00:10:29.400 There the chief waited, till thither were come Men by hundreds from Hethin sea.
00:10:37.580 Soon off Staffensness stood the ships, Fair they glided, and gay with gold.
00:10:44.620 Then Helgi spake to Hjoreleith, asking, Hast thou counted the gallant host?
00:10:52.160 The young king answered the other then, Long were it to tell from Tráunjúr,
00:10:59.980 The long-stemmed ships with the warriors laden, That come from without into Ørván
00:11:06.040 Sund.
00:11:07.040 There are hundreds, twelve, of trusty men, But in Hóten lies the host of the king.
00:11:15.520 Greater by Hóf, I have hope of battle.
00:11:19.660 The ship's tents soon the chieftain struck, And waked the throng of a warrior's awe.
00:11:27.760 The heroes the red of dawn beheld, And on the masts the gallant men
00:11:34.480 Made fast the sails in Varen's fjord.
00:11:39.220 There was beat of oars and clash of iron, Shield smote shield as the ship's folk rowed,
00:11:47.100 Swiftly went the warrior-laden, Fleet of the ruler forth from the land.
00:11:53.880 So did it sound when together the sisters Of Kolga struck with the keel's full-long,
00:12:01.900 As if cliffs were broken with beating surf.
00:12:06.600 Helgi bade Hyr hoist the sails, Nor did the ship's folk shun the waves.
00:12:13.780 So dreadfully did Aegir's daughters Seek the steeds of the sea to sink.
00:12:20.420 But from above did Sigrun brave Aid the men in all their faring.
00:12:26.840 Mightily came from the claws of Ron The leader's sea-beast of Nippeblund.
00:12:34.580 At evening there in Una Vagir Floated the fleet, the bedecked full fair.
00:12:41.440 But they who saw from Svarin's hill, Bitter at heart the host beheld. 0.63
00:12:48.140 Then Gothmund asked, goodly of birth, Who is the monarch who guides the host,
00:12:54.440 And to the lawn the warrior's leads?
00:12:58.320 Sinfjortli answered, and up on an oar, Raised the shield all red with golden rim.
00:13:04.940 A sea centrally was he, skilled to speak, and in words with princes well to strive. 1.00
00:13:12.520 Say tonight when you feed the swine, and send your bitches to seek their swill, then out 0.99
00:13:19.340 of the east have the iflings come, greety for battle, to Nippelund. 0.99
00:13:27.060 There will half-broad Helgi find, in the midst of the fleets and flight he scorns, often 0.62
00:13:34.360 And he has the eagles gorged, Whilst thou at the corn Wirt slave-girls kissing. 0.58
00:13:43.280 Gothman spake, Hear, O the ancient, sayings heed,
00:13:48.280 And brings not lies to the nobly-born.
00:13:51.800 Thou hast eaten the entrails of wolves, And of thy brothers the slayer been.
00:13:57.240 Oft wounds to suck, thy cold mouth sought, And lured in rocky dims didst lurk. 0.95
00:14:06.600 Sinfloti spake, A witch in Varen's ire thou wast, 0.99
00:14:12.840 A woman false and lies didst fashion, Of the male-clad heroes thou wouldst have, 0.99
00:14:19.920 No other thou sayest, save sin floaty only. 0.99
00:14:24.520 Of Valkyrie wast thou, lothly witch, Evil and bass in our father's home.
00:14:32.080 The warriors all must ever fight, Women subtle for sake of thee.
00:14:39.680 Nine did we in sogons of wolf-cubs have, I their father was.
00:14:47.420 Othman spake, Thou'st did not father thinnest wolves,
00:14:53.660 The older thou art than all I know, For the gelded thee in nipple-und,
00:15:00.100 The giant woman at Dorisnes was.
00:15:04.880 Under houses the stepson of Sigir lay, Fane of the wolf's cry out in the woods.
00:15:14.200 came then all to thy hands, when thy brother's breasts thou didst redden,
00:15:20.920 fain didst thou win for thou's deeds. In Dravol wast thou granny's bride, golden 0.89
00:15:30.020 bitten and ready to gallop. I rode thee many a mile down, didst sink thou 0.89
00:15:37.640 giantess under the saddle sin floaty spake a brainless fellow dist seem to be when once for 0.96
00:15:47.880 god near goats did smirk and another time when an imp's daughter in rags thou wentest with longer 0.64
00:15:58.520 angle? Gothman spake. Sooner would I, at Thrakasteen, feed the ravens with flesh of thine. Then send 1.00
00:16:09.260 your bitches to seek their swill, or feed the swine. May the fiends take you. Hergi spake. 1.00
00:16:18.220 Better, sin fjolte, thee t'wards be seen 0.76
00:16:22.900 Battle to give, and eagerness to gladden
00:16:26.260 Than vain and empty words to utter
00:16:29.240 Thou ring-breakers oft in speech do wrangle 1.00
00:16:32.680 Could I find not the sons of Granmar
00:16:36.840 But for heroes tis seemly the truth to speak
00:16:40.680 And moin shim meh
00:16:43.040 Prove the men
00:16:44.600 Thy hearts for the wielding of swords they had
00:16:47.960 Mightily, then, they had to run, Sviputh and Svegbuth, to Sorheimar.
00:16:56.540 By dewy dales and chasms dark, Mist's horse shook where the men went by.
00:17:03.400 The king they found at the courtyard gate, and told him the foeman fierce was come.
00:17:10.640 forth stood Hothbrod, helmed for battle, watched the riding of his warriors. 0.96
00:17:17.520 Why are the Niflungs white with fear? 0.70
00:17:23.360 Gothman spake. 0.97
00:17:25.400 Swift keels lie hard by the land, masterings hearts and mighty yards, wealth of shields
00:17:33.760 and well-planned oars.
00:17:36.240 The king's host fair, the earflings haughty, Fifteen bonds to land affaird, but out in
00:17:42.760 Sogan are seven thousand. 0.71
00:17:45.480 An anchor lying off Nippor-Lund, or fire-beast block, are fitted with gold. 0.95
00:17:52.840 There await most of the foeman's men, nor will Helgi long the battle delay. 0.93
00:17:59.300 Both Brun spake.
00:18:00.300 Bid the horses run to the Regan thing, Melnir and Milnir, to Mirkwood now, and Spurtwitnir, 0.98
00:18:09.680 to Sparren's sheath.
00:18:11.680 Leet, no man seek henceforth to sit, who the flame of wounds know where to wield.
00:18:19.880 Summon Hogni, the sons of Hering, Utli and Ingvi, and Arth the old. 0.99
00:18:25.540 They are of battle leather, Against the Volsungs, let us go. 1.00
00:18:32.020 Swift as a storm, They are smote together, 1.00
00:18:35.220 The flashing blades as Frekestein.
00:18:38.360 Ever was Helgi Hunding's slayer, Thirst in a throng where warriors fought.
00:18:44.980 Fierce in battle, slow to fly, Hard the hurt of the hero was.
00:18:55.540 Thank you.