The Guests of Odin Read online

  The Gjukungs lived in their father’s kingdom south of the Rhine; their father was King Gjuki, their mother Grimhild, their other brothers Guttorm, Gernoz, and Gislher, and their sister was named Gudrun. Hogni was only Gunnar’s half-brother, since Grimhild had once been seduced by an elf when Gjuki was drunk and she slept in her garden.

  Gudrun once told her maidens that she could not find happiness and suffered from bad dreams. One of her women interpreted these dreams to mean she would marry a well-bred man. Gudrun went to Brynhild to ask her for her advice.

  Brynhild received Gudrun hospitably and there was much rejoicing in the hall, but Gudrun remained unhappy. Brynhild tried to amuse her by talking of the deeds of kings.

  Gudrun asked Brynhild, “Who do you deem the best of kings?”

  Brynhild named the sea-king Haki and Hagbard. Gudrun said, “They were slow to avenge their sisters, who Sigar abducted or slew.”

  She asked Brynhild why she had not mentioned Gunnar and Hogni, and the shieldmaiden said, “Another man surpasses them, Sigurd the Volsung, Fafnir’s Bane.”

  Gudrun asked Brynhild to interpret her dreams, and Brynhild prophesied, “Sigurd will come to you, and your mother Grimhild will use her magic to rob Sigurd of his memory of Brynhild and then we will all know grief.” When Brynhild had prophesied all that was to come, Gudrun left with all her women, no happier in mind.

  Sigurd came with Gunnar and Hogni to the Gjukung kingdom, where he was treated hospitably by King Gjuki. Gjuki’s wife Grimhild mixed a mead of forgetfulness and gave it to Sigurd. From that day onwards, he forgot Brynhild. Then Grimhild told her husband, “Sigurd will be the best match for our daughter Gudrun.” The matter was discussed. Sigurd married Gudrun and swore an oath of brotherhood with Gunnar and Hogni.

  The Gjukungs received a challenge from Alfar and Alfarin, the sons of Gandalf, demanding they send him tribute or face invasion. The Gjukungs decided to defend their country and the sons of Gandalf challenged them to battle at a place named Jarnamotha. Sigurd accompanied the Gjukungs to the battle, and when the two armies met, there was fierce fighting.

  Among their opponents was a mighty man who slaughtered everyone who went against him. Gunnar told Sigurd to fight him or else they would be defeated. Sigurd came up to the big man and asked him his name.

  He said, “I am Starkad the Old.”

  Sigurd said, “I have heard tales of you, and few are to your credit.” Starkad asked the name of his challenger, and Sigurd gave it. When he learnt he was facing the slayer of Fafnir, Starkad tried to flee, but Sigurd attacked him, and knocked two of his teeth out with Gram before Starkad left the field.

  Sigurd and the Gjukungs returned to their land. Sigurd gave Gudrun some of Fafnir’s heart to eat and she became grimmer after that. They had a son who they named Sigmund.

  One day Grimhild told Gunnar he should ask for Brynhild’s hand in marriage. She suggested that he took Sigurd with him. Gunnar agreed, and discussed it with Sigurd and his father and brothers. They all encouraged him.

  They rode over mountains and through valleys until they came to King Budli and made their request. Budli was agreeable, on the provision that Brynhild did not refuse, which she might, being excessively proud. They rode to Hlymdale where Heimir received them hospitably. When they explained their errand, he said, “Brynhild should choose her husband.” She lived now in a hall a short way off, and would only marry the man who leapt the wall of fire that surrounded it.

  They found the hall and the fire that encircled it, and the hall’s roof was of gold. When Gunnar spurred his horse towards the fire, it shied away. Sigurd asked him why he drew back and Gunnar told him the horse did not wish to jump over the flames. Sigurd lent him Grani, but Sigurd’s horse would not move unless Sigurd was upon his back. Now they used the magic Grimhild had taught them to change shapes, and Sigurd crossed the flame on Grani wearing Gunnar’s face. The fire rose heavenwards and the earth shook. Sigurd felt as if he was riding into darkness. Then the fire subsided and Sigurd dismounted, then went into Brynhild’s hall.

  Inside he found Brynhild who asked him who he was. He gave his name as Gunnar, son of Gjuki, who wished to marry her.

  Brynhild wavered, telling him, “I am a shieldmaiden and I desire nothing but war and killing.”

  But Sigurd, in Gunnar’s form, reminded her of her oath. Then she received him well and they remained together three nights, sleeping in one bed, although Sigurd laid his sword between them, saying he was fated to celebrate his wedding like this or die. He took Andvari’s ring from her, which he had previously given her, and gave her another ring from Fafnir’s hoard. Then he rode away. Sigurd and Gunnar exchanged shapes again and then rode to Hlymdale and told Heimir what had happened.

  Brynhild travelled home the same day, and spoke to him in private, telling him, “A king named Gunnar came to me through the flames, but when I swore my oath to Sigurd on Hindarfjoll, I had said that only Sigurd could do that, and he was my first husband.” She left Aslaug, her daughter by Sigurd, to be raised by Heimir. The girl was later to marry Ragnar Lodbrok.

  Meanwhile Brynhild went to her father Budli and they rode with Brynhild’s brother Atli to the marriage feast. When the celebration ended, the spell wore off Sigurd and he remembered all his vows to Brynhild, but he said nothing.

  Sometime after her marriage, Brynhild went with Gudrun to bathe in the Rhine. Brynhild waded further out into the water, and Gudrun took this as an affront. When she complained, Brynhild asked, “Why should you be my equal in this anymore than in other matters? My husband rode through fire to win me, while yours was a thrall of Hjalprek.” Gudrun was angry and told Brynhild the truth, and proved it by producing Andvari’s Ring, which Sigurd had taken from her finger.

  Brynhild turned pale and went home without speaking to anyone. When Sigurd went to bed Gudrun asked him, “Why is Brynhild so gloomy when she is married to the man she loves most?” Sigurd questioned this and Gudrun resolved to ask Brynhild who she loved most.

  Going against Sigurd’s wishes, Gudrun asked Brynhild this question the next day, and Brynhild said, “I cannot bear it that you enjoy Sigurd and the dragon’s gold, when Sigurd and I exchanged vows that he later broke.” Then Brynhild took to bed, broken by grief.

  Gunnar came to her but she would not respond to his questions until at last she asked him, “What did you do with the ring I gave you?” She went on to say, “Only Sigurd dared cross the flames, unlike you who paled at the deed.”

  Gunnar accused her of lying, and she wanted to kill him. Hogni put her in fetters, but Gunnar did not want her to live in chains.

  Brynhild told him, “Do not concern yourself with that because never again will I be happy in your house. It was the most grievous sorrow that I did not marry Sigurd.”

  Gudrun asked why her bondmaids were unhappy and they told her that the hall was full of grief.

  Gudrun told Gunnar, “Wake Brynhild and tell her that her grief pains us.”

  Gunnar told her, “I cannot see her.” Finally he went to her but she would say nothing. He asked Hogni to speak with her but he also got no word from the shieldmaiden. Then Gunnar found Sigurd and asked him to speak with Brynhild, but Sigurd was silent.

  Next day Sigurd returned from hunting to meet his wife. He told her, “I am full of foreboding that Brynhild will die.”

  Gudrun said, “Brynhild has now slept seven days.”

  Sigurd thought it more likely that she plotted against them. Gudrun begged him, “Go to Brynhild and try to appease her wrath.”

  Sigurd did as his wife asked but Brynhild was angry to see him, and she told him why. He insisted that he was never her husband, but she said, “I loathe Gunnar and I want to redden a blade with your blood.”

  Sigurd said, “It will not be long before a sword enters my heart, but you will not outlive me long.” He added, “Whenever I have not been under Grimhild’s enchantments, it has always pained me that you were not his wife, but I bore it.”

  Bryn
hild said, “You have taken a long time to say this.”

  Sigurd said frankly, “I wish you were my wife.”

  Brynhild told him, “It is not to be. I will not have two husbands nor will I deceive Gunnar.” She reminded him of how they met on the mountain and exchanged oaths, but now that everything had changed, she did not want to live on.

  Sigurd told her, “I was unable to remember your name. I did not recognise you until you were married, to my deepest sorrow.”

  Brynhild said, “I swore to marry the man who rode through the flames, and I will hold that oath or die.”

  Sigurd said, “I would rather abandon my wife and marry you than let you die.”

  Brynhild told him, “I do not want you or anyone else.” Sigurd went from her, stricken by grief.

  When he entered the hall, Gunnar asked him if Brynhild could speak now. Sigurd told him that she could, and Gunnar went to see her. He asked her, “Why are you so unhappy? How can you be cured of your sorrow?”

  Brynhild told him, “I do not want to live because Sigurd betrayed me, and betrayed you no less, when he came to my bed. I foresee the death of Sigurd, or of Gunnar, or of myself.”

  Then she went out and sat by the wall of her chamber, lamenting grievously, saying that everything was hateful to her if she could not have Sigurd. Gunnar came to her again and she told him, “You will lose everything, power, wealth, life and wife unless you kill Sigurd and his son.”

  Gunnar was distressed by this. He spoke to Hogni about it. Hogni advised him against killing Sigurd but Gunnar said they would urge their brother Guttorm to do it. He told Brynhild, “Rise and be happy!”

  But she said, “We will not share the same bed until Sigurd is dead.”

  Gunnar decided that it would be justifiable to kill Sigurd for taking Brynhild’s maidenhead. They slaughtered a snake and a wolf and cooked the flesh, then fed this to Guttorm to make him grimmer by nature, and offered him gold and power if he would kill Sigurd.

  Next morning Guttorm went to Sigurd’s chamber but when he saw the man he had come to kill lying next to his sister, he turned and went. He came back again later, and Sigurd’s eyes blazed so fiercely that Guttorm lost his courage again. But the third time he went, Sigurd was asleep, and Guttorm drew his sword and stabbed Sigurd so deeply the blade entered the bed beneath him. Sigurd awoke, tore the sword from the wound, and flung it at Guttorm, cutting him in half.

  Gudrun woke drenched in blood and she began to sob. Sigurd rose up on the pillow and told her, “Do not weep. Your brothers still live.”

  He said, “Brynhild brought this about. I never failed Gunnar or gave him cause to want to work my death.” Then he died.

  Gudrun moaned as he died, and Brynhild heard this, and she laughed at her sobs. Gunnar found her laughing and said, “This is not because you are happy. You are a monster and fated to die, and you deserve to see your brother murdered before your eyes.”

  Brynhild said, “I wish to die.”

  Gunnar tried to persuade her against it, but Hogni said, “She should not be discouraged.”

  Now Brynhild took a great deal of gold and said she would give it out to anyone who wished for it. Then she took a sword and stabbed herself beneath her arm, and lay back on her bed. She prophesied the fate of the Gjukungs and particularly Gudrun. Then she asked Gunnar to build a pyre and place herself upon it beside Sigurd with two men at his head, two at his feet and two hawks. A drawn sword should be laid between them. Gunnar did as she had asked, placing Sigurd on the top of the pyre with his three-year-old son who Brynhild had had killed, and Guttorm’s body. When the pyre was ablaze, Brynhild laid herself upon it and she died there. Her body burned alongside Sigurd.

  All who heard of this said that no one equal to Sigurd remained, and that never again would a man of his kind be born. His name will never be forgotten in the northern lands as long as the world endures.

  Grief-stricken, Gudrun fled into the woods where she wandered alone until she came to the hall of King Half. She remained in Denmark with Thora, Hakon’s daughter, for three and a half years, weaving a tapestry showing Sigmund’s fleet sailing, and another showing the battle between Sigar and Siggeir.

  When Grimhild learnt where Gudrun had gone, she sent her sons to speak with her. They did so, arriving in great splendour, and although she trusted none of them, she forgot all this when she drank a potion prepared by Grimhild. Then Grimhild persuaded her to leave King Half’s hall and to marry Atli, who had asked for Gudrun’s hand in marriage when he heard of Sigurd’s death.

  But still she mourned Sigurd’s death.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Gavin Chappell was born in northern England and lives near Liverpool. After studying English at the University of Wales, he has since worked variously as a business analyst and a college lecturer. He is the author of numerous short stories, articles, poems and several books.

  * * *

  [1] See next chapter.

  [2] Balder was Odin’s favourite son, murdered due to the wiles of the evil god Loki. When his son’s corpse lay upon the pyre, Odin whispered something in its ear. What he whispered was a mystery to all but Odin.

  [3] See previous chapter.

  [4] See the chapter on Haki and Hagbard.

  [5] See next chapter.