Frá dauða Sinfjǫtla
© 2023 Edward Pettit, CC BY-NC 4.0 https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0308.15
Frá dauða Sinfjǫtla (Sf.) ‘About Sinfjǫtli’s Death’ is a purely prose passage in R (fol. 26v–27r). It serves as a bridge between the preceding three Helgi-poems and the following poems about Sigurðr, half-brother of Helgi Hundingsbani.
Sf. relates events described more fully in chapters 10 to 13 of VS. Similarities of wording indicate a close relationship between the two accounts.
Synopsis
Sf. begins by introducing three sons of Sigmundr: Sinfjǫtli, Helgi and Hámundr (the first two featured in HH. I and HH. II). Sinfjǫtli slew the brother of his stepmother, Borghildr, over their love of the same woman. For that, Borghildr wanted Sinfjǫtli exiled, but she had to accept compensation from Sigmundr instead.
At her brother’s funeral feast, however, she served Sinfjǫtli poisoned drink three times. The first two times, Sigmundr, who was reputedly wholly immune to poison, drank it for Sinfjǫtli. The third time Sigmundr told his son to strain the drink through his moustache. Sinfjǫtli drank it and died immediately.
Sigmundr carried Sinfjǫtli’s body to a fjord, where an old boatman (Óðinn incognito) offered him passage. Sigmundr put the body in the boat, which was then fully laden. The old man told Sigmundr he would have to walk along the shore, and then vanished.
Sigmundr stayed in Borghildr’s kingdom in Danmǫrk (Denmark) for a long time, before moving to his kingdom in Frakkland (Francia). Then he married Hjǫrdís, daughter of King Eylimi, and they had a son called Sigurðr (the hero of subsequent poems in R). Sigmundr died at the hands of King Hundingr’s sons. Hjǫrdís married Álfr, son of King Hjálprekr, at whose (probably Danish) court Sigurðr grew up.
Sigurðr proved to be the greatest man of all.
Further Reading
Fleck, J., ‘Konr—Óttarr—Geirrøðr: A Knowledge Criterion for Succession to the Germanic Sacred Kingship’, SS 42 (1970), 39–49.
Von See, K., B. La Farge, W. Gerhold, E. Picard and K. Schulz, Kommentar zu den Liedern der Edda, Bd. 5: Heldenlieder (Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter, 2006).
Frá dauða Sinfjǫtla
Sigmundr, Vǫlsungs sonr, var konungr á Frakklandi. Sinfjǫtli var elztr hans sona, annarr Helgi, þriði Hámundr. Borghildr, kona Sigmundar, átti bróður er hét . . . . En Sinfjǫtli, stjúpsonr hennar, ok . . . . báðu einnar konu báðir, ok fyrir þá sǫk drap Sinfjǫtli hann. En er hann kom heim, þá bað Borghildr hann fara á brot, en Sigmundr bauð henni fébœtr, ok þat varð hon at þiggja. En at erfinu bar Borghildr ǫl. Hon tók eitr, mikit horn fullt, ok bar Sinfjǫtla. En er hann sá í hornit, skilði hann at eitr var í, ok mælti til Sigmundar: ‘Gjǫróttr er drykkrinn, ái.’ Sigmundr tók hornit ok drakk af. Svá er sagt at Sigmundr var harðgǫrr at hvárki mátti honum eitr granda útan né innan. En allir synir hans stóðusk eitr á hǫrund útan. Borghildr bar annat horn Sinfjǫtla, ok bað drekka, ok fór allt sem fyrr. Ok enn it þriðja sinn bar hon honum hornit, ok þó ámælisorð með, ef hann drykki eigi af. Hann mælti enn sem fyrr við Sigmund. Hann sagði: ‘Láttu grǫn sía þá, sonr!’ Sinfjǫtli drakk ok varð þegar dauðr.
Sigmundr bar hann langar leiðir í fangi sér ok kom at firði einum mjóvum ok lǫngum, ok var þar skip eitt lítit ok maðr einn á. Hann bauð Sigmundi far of fjǫrðinn. En er Sigmundr bar líkit út á skipit, þá var bátrinn hlaðinn. Karlinn mælti at Sigmundr skyldi fara fyrir innan fjorðinn. Karl hratt út skipinu ok hvarf þegar.
Sigmundr konungr dvalðisk lengi í Danmǫrk í ríki Borghildar, síðan er hann fekk hennar. Fór Sigmundr þá suðr í Frakkland, til þess ríkis er hann átti þar. Þá fekk hann Hjǫrdísar, dóttur Eylima konungs. Þeira sonr var Sigurðr. Sigmundr konungr fell í orrostu fyrir Hundings sonum. En Hjǫrdís giptisk þá Álfi, syni Hjálpreks konungs. Óx Sigurðr þar upp í barnæsku.
Sigmundr ok allir synir hans váru langt um fram alla menn aðra um afl ok vǫxt ok hug ok alla atgervi. Sigurðr var þá allra framarstr, ok hann kalla allir menn í fornfrœðum um alla menn fram ok gǫfgastan herkonunga.
About Sinfjǫtli’s Death
Sigmundr, Vǫlsungr’s son, was king in Frakkland.1 Sinfjǫtli was the eldest of his sons, second was Helgi,2 third Hámundr.3 Borghildr, Sigmundr’s wife, had a brother who was called . . . .4 And Sinfjǫtli, her stepson, and . . . .5 they both asked to marry the one woman, and for that reason Sinfjǫtli slew him. And when he6 came home, Borghildr asked him to go away, but Sigmundr offered her compensation, and she had to accept that. But at the funeral feast, Borghildr served ale. She took poison, a great hornful, and brought it to Sinfjǫtli. And when he looked in the horn, he perceived that poison was in it, and he said to Sigmundr: ‘The drink is cloudy, father.’7 Sigmundr took the horn and drained it. It is said that Sigmundr was so strongly made that poison could never hurt him outside or inside. But all his sons withstood poison [only] outside on their skin. Borghildr brought another horn to Sinfjǫtli, and asked him to drink, and everything went as before. And, again, the third time she brought him the horn, but with insulting words with it, if he did not drain it. He spoke again as before with Sigmundr. He8 said: ‘Let your moustache strain it then, son!’ Sinfjǫtli drank and died at once.
Sigmundr carried him a long way in his arms and came to a fjord slender and long, and there was a little ship and a lone man in it. He offered Sigmundr passage over the fjord. But when Sigmundr brought the body out to the ship, then the boat was [fully] laden. The old man said to Sigmundr that he would have to go along the shore inside the fjord. The old man pushed the ship out and vanished at once.9
King Sigmundr stayed a long time in Danmǫrk10 in the kingdom of Borghildr, after he married her. Then Sigmundr went south into Frakkland, to the kingdom that he owned there. Then he married Hjǫrdís,11 daughter of King Eylimi. Their son was Sigurðr.12 King Sigmundr fell in battle before13 Hundingr’s sons. And Hjǫrdís then gave herself in marriage to Álfr,14 son of King Hjálprekr.15 Sigurðr grew up there in his childhood.
Sigmundr and all his sons were far above all other men in strength and stature and courage and all accomplishments. Sigurðr was foremost of all then, and in the ancient traditions all people call him superior to all men and the noblest of army-kings.
Textual Apparatus to Frá dauða Sinfjǫtla
Frá dauða Sinfjǫtla] This heading is rubricated but illegible in the photograph in the facsimile volume of R; the reading is therefore reliant on the transcription therein. Later, paper manuscripts have the title Sinfjötlalok ‘Sinfjǫtli’s End’.
Sigmundr] The first letter is large, inset and rubricated, but faded, in R
Hámundr] R hamundir (with a macron for -un-)
er hét . . . .] R has a black space here
ok . . . .] R has a blank space here
innan] R iN
þó] R þa
1 Francia, kingdom of the Franks.
2 Helgi Hundingsbani, hero of HH. I and HH. II.
3 ‘High Hand/Protection’.
4 The name is missing. This man is also unnamed in the account of these events in VS 10.
5 The name of Helgi’s love-rival is probably missing. VS 10 records that it was a king, Borghildr’s (unnamed) brother, who vied with Sinfjǫtli for a beautiful woman.
6 Sinfjǫtli.
7 Elsewhere, ái means ‘great-grandfather’.
8 Sigmundr.
9 The old boatman was Óðinn in disguise (cf. Hrbl.). Óðinn was sometimes a psychopomp for the best fallen warriors, whom he took to Valhǫll. This episode may reflect a tradition about the divisive waters of death (cf. the River Styx in Greek mythology), across which Sigmundr could not be ferried while alive.
10 Denmark.
11 ‘Sword Lady’.
12 ‘Victory Guardian’.
13 I.e., at the hands of.
14 ‘Elf’ or ‘Noble Wolf’.
15 ‘Help-Powerful One’. VS 12 identifies him as a Danish king.