Oddrúnargrátr

Oddrúnargrátr (Od.) ‘Oddrún’s Lament’ is the customary modern editorial title for this poem, being taken from its last line. In R (fol. 38v–39v), the poem’s thirty-four stanzas of fornyrðislag are untitled but preceded by a short prose passage apparently headed Frá Borgnýju ok Oddrúnu ‘About Borgn‎ý and Oddrún’, which introduces the work’s two main characters, both human females.

Despite being of considerable interest for, among other things, introducing new characters, continuing R’s theme of female lamentation, and underlining the societal pressure faced by women who had, or were accused of having, extra-marital liaisons, Od. is one of the least known and least understood poems in the collection. Editors have long tended to change the order of some of its stanzas to produce, in their minds, a more appropriate flow, although, as the Eddic scholar Judy Quinn has since shown, these changes are unjustified.¹ In this edition, therefore, the stanzas are presented in the order in which they appear in R.²

The belief of many previous editors that Od. requires major textual surgery is understandable, however, as the poem is not easy to follow. An immediate hurdle is that although Od. mentions well-known figures from the Vǫlsung-Niflung cycle, including Brynhildr, Sigurðr, Gunnarr, Hǫgni, Atli and Guðrún, its two main characters and their stories are unfamiliar. It is possible that Borgn‎ý, a pregnant woman who could not give birth for years, and Oddrún, the woman who came to her aid, were once the subjects of other Old Norse poems, which were known to the initial audience of Od., but, if so, none has survived. Borgn‎ý appears in no other extant text. Oddrún, whose loving relationship with Gunnarr is thwarted by her brother, Atli, and their mother, Grímildr, is mentioned elsewhere only briefly, in Sg. 58, in a paraphrase of that stanza toward the end of VS 32, and in Dr. This unfamiliarity matters especially because of the poem’s dialogue-based, psychological sophistication, which results in the characters—participants in a complex, conflicted web of personal, familial and dynastic relationships—leaving much unsaid and often merely alluding to past events, sometimes out of chronological sequence.

Of the poem’s two main characters, there is less to say about Borgný. A princess who had been impregnated by a certain Vilmundr, she lay wracked by labour pains in the land of Atli, Oddrún’s brother, but, for reasons unstated, could not give birth. Her predicament was acute, as no one had been able to help her. There exists the possibility that she had been cursed for having an illicit relationship with (or being raped by?) Vilmundr, with the result that she had been secretly in labour—with twins, it turns out—for most of the five years during which she had been in hiding. Understandably, therefore, Borgný says little during the poem, other than to thank Oddrún and express shock that Oddrún had not helped her out of affection, despite their prior closeness. Since Borgný is described as fjǫrsjúka ‘life-sick’ immediately after giving birth, it appears that she then sat exhausted and dying (perhaps from haemorrhage), or at least on the threshold between life and death, having just produced two children the size of normal five-year-olds,³ even as Oddrún proceeded to recount her own sorrows. Given the obscure grudge that Oddrún held for a prior upbraiding by Borgný, it appears significant that Oddrún induced her by strongly chanting only bitra galdra ‘bitter/sharp/incisive incantations’, not healing or soothing ones.

Borgný was possibly subject to a form of magical Caesarean section. Such a practice may also have been conducted in the most significant Old Norse parallel to her condition. In the second chapter of VS, the wife of Rerir Sigason falls pregnant, after supernatural help from Frigg, Óðinn and a valkyrie, but cannot give birth. After six years of pregnancy, realizing she did not have long to live, Rerir’s wife ordered at hana skyldi særa til barnsins ‘that she should be wounded/conjured to the child’.⁴ This was done and she died shortly afterwards. The male child, who had presumably been removed by some type of Caesarean (unless he was simply conjured to burst out), var mikill vexti þá er hann kom til, sem ván var at ‘was great in stature when he came forth, as was to be expected’. He was called Vǫlsungr and he became king of Húnaland, the land where Borgný languished in Od.

If Borgný understandably remains a largely passive figure in Od., she is nevertheless significant as an extreme, legendary reminder of the difficulty and dangers of childbirth, of medieval women’s use of incantations and prayers to assist therrewith,⁵ and of the disgrace associated with extra-marital pregnancy.

Oddrún had also had an illicit relationship—the two women’s concealed liaisons with men are central concerns of Od.—but she, by contrast, is a childless, independent, active character who dominates the poem. At least to a modern audience, it comes as something of a shock to realize that, as the sister of Atli, Oddrún is also sister to the imperious Brynhildr, although her forceful characterization befits this status. Unlike her deceased sibling, Oddrún was not destined to be a valkyrie—instead, her role as emergency midwife appears akin to that of the Nornir in Fm. 12—but many of her attributes and actions make it is easy to imagine her as one. Her name, meaning ‘Point Rune’, may associate her with the spheres of warfare and rune-magic, and her serving of drinks to men and knowledge of childbirth-enabling spells would suit a valkyrie.⁶ Furthermore, like a mounted valkyrie, she rode a black steed, on which she lacked no confidence; in one of the poem’s more memorable images, she rides alone into the hall in Húnaland where Borgný lies suffering, dismounting only when she reaches the further end.

In riding forth like a questing hero,⁷ Oddrún was driven by the force of a promise she had made to help everyone in need. What prompted this commitment is not revealed—atonement for some dreadful crime perhaps?—but her return to the land of the Huns, where she was presumably raised with her brother, shows courage. For whereas Atli, angered by Brynhildr’s death, had rejected the Gjúkungar, Oddrún had—in another surprise for a modern audience—secretly loved (and been loved by) Gunnarr, Brynhildr’s husband,⁸ in pursuit of her dying father’s desire that they should marry. Oddrún’s rescue mission to Húnaland, therefore, called up memories of her conflicted past. But it also added a painful new complication in that, by helping Borgný, she brought into the world two children of the man who had killed Hǫgni, Gunnarr’s brother, and who was therefore also allied with those who had killed Gunnarr himself.⁹

At the end of the poem, the grief-stricken Oddrún herself, like Guðrún in Gðr. I, wavers on the boundary between life and death, an empty, transitory woman (Bil). The poem’s final words not only mark the conclusion of her lament but also the passing (genginn) of her sad life, lived long ago.

Synopsis

Oddrún then sat down and began to recount her misfortunes (11 [13]).10 She recalled how she had lived happily in her father’s home for only five years, until he died (12 [14]). Before he died, he had declared that Oddrún should be given in marriage to Gunnar (probably) (13 [15]), and that no nobler maiden would be born—unless fate dictated otherwise (14 [16]).

Borgný then interrupted Oddrún and expressed shock at her hostility, as they had formerly been so close (15 [11]). Oddrún replied that she remembers Borgný once having condemned a time when she had served a drink to Gunnarr (16 [12]).

Oddrún then recalled Brynhildr, who was tricked by Gunnarr and Sigurðr, and who wreaked vengeance and committed suicide as a result (17–19). Oddrún herself got to love Gunnarr, as Brynhildr should have (20), but her father had declared that Brynhildr should become a valkyrie (20 [16]).

The Gjúkungar had offered Atli generous compensation for Brynhildr’s death, and yet more wealth for Oddrún’s hand in marriage (21). Atli refused, but the lovers could not deny their feelings (22). Atli had refused to believe those who told him of their affair (23). Oddrún then advised against underestimating the power of love to drive people to affairs (24), and recalled how Atli had sent messengers to test her, and that they had found her with Gunnarr (25). The pair had tried to buy the messengers’ silence, but the messengers had soon told Atli (26), while sparing Guðrún (now Atli’s wife) knowledge of these matters (27). Oddrún then recalled how Atli had captured Gunnarr and Hǫgni, and had had the latter’s heart cut out and the former placed in a yard full of snakes (28). She had been away at the house of a certain Geirmundr when Gunnarr began to play his harp loudly in the belief that she would come to help him (29). She had arrived on the scene (30–31), but not soon enough to prevent Atli’s mother killing Gunnarr in snake-like fashion (32).

Finally, Oddrún wondered how she still lived, given how much she loved Gunnarr (33), and asserted that everyone lives according to their desires (34).

Further Reading

Fröjmark, A., ‘Childbirth Miracles in Swedish Miracle Collections’, Journal of the History of Sexuality 21 (2012), 297–312, https://doi.org/10.1353/sex.2012.0028  

Harris, J., ‘On Rereading Oddrúnargrátr’, in J. Glauser and P. Hermann, ed., Myth, Magic, and Memory in Early Scandinavian Narrative Culture: Studies in Honour of Stephen A. Mitchell (Turnhout: Brepols, 2021), pp. 63–75, https://doi.org/10.1484/M.AS-EB.5.121333

Högberg, U., E. Iregren, C.-H. Siven and L. Diener, ‘Maternal Deaths in Medieval Sweden: An Osteological and Life Table Analysis’, Journal of Biosocial Science 19 (1987), 495–503, https://doi.org/10.1017/s0021932000017120

Jacobsen, G., ‘Pregnancy and Childbirth in the Medieval North: A Topology of Sources and a Preliminary Study’, Scandinavian Journal of History 9 (1984), 91–111.

Jochens, J., Old Norse Images of Women (Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1996).

Jochens, J., ‘Old Norse Motherhood’, in J. C. Parsons and B. Wheeler, ed., Medieval Mothering (New York: Garland, 1996), pp. 201–22.

Jóhanna Katrín Friðriksdóttir, Valkyrie: The Women of the Viking World (London, 2020), https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350137110

Kreutzer, G., Kindheit und Jugend in der Altnordischen Literatur: Teil I, Schwangerschaft, Geburt und Früheste Kindheit (Münster: Kleinheinrich, 1987).

Mohr, W., ‘Entstehungsgeschichte und Heimat der jüngeren Eddalieder südgermanischen Stoffes’, Zeitschrift für deutsches Altertum 75 (1938), 217–80.

Olley, K., ‘Labour Pains: Scenes of Birth and Becoming in Old Norse Legendary Literature’, Quaestio Insularis: Selected Proceedings of the Cambridge Colloquium in Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic 18 (2018), 46–77.

Quinn, J., ‘Construing Habitus in Eddic Dialogue: The Order of Stanzas in Oddrúnargrátr’, in S. Kramarz-Bein, ed., Neue Ansätze in der Mittelalterphilologie/Nye Veier i middelalderfilologien. Akten der skandinavistischen Arbeitstagung in Münster vom 24.–26.10. 2002 (Frankfurt am Main: Lang, 2005), pp. 83–95.

Quinn, J., ‘The Endless Triangles of Eddic Tragedy: Reading Oddrúnargrátr’, in M. E. Ruggerini, ed., Studi anglo-norreni in onore di John S. McKinnell (Cagliari: CUEC, 2009), pp. 304–26.

Quinn, J., ‘The Realisation of Mythological Design: The Early Generations of the Völsung Dynasty’, in A. Ney, Ármann Jakobsson and A. Lassen, ed., Fornaldarsagaerne. Myter og uirkelighed. Studier i de oldislandske ‘fornaldarsögur Norðurlanda’ (Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum, 2009), pp. 123–42.

Quinn, J., ‘Scenes of Vindication: Three Icelandic Heroic Poems in Relation to the Continental Traditions of Þiðreks saga af Bern and the Nibelungenlied’, in E. Mundal, ed., Medieval Nordic Literature in Its European Context (Oslo: Dreyer, 2015), pp. 78–125.

Rowland, B., and M. Jennings, ‘Medieval Multiple Birth’, Neuphilologische Mitteilungen 81 (1980), 169–73.

Von See, K., B. La Farge, E. Picard, K. Schulz and M. Teichert, Kommentar zu den Liedern der Edda, Bd. 6: Heldenlieder (Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter, 2009).

Frá Borgnýju ok Oddrúnu

Heiðrekr hét konungr. Dóttir hans hét Borgný. Vilmundr hét, sá er var friðill hennar. Hon mátti eigi fœða bǫrn áðr til kom Oddrún, Atla systir. Hon hafði verit unnusta Gunnars, Gjúka sonar. Um þessa sǫgu er hér kveðit.

Oddrúnargrátr

1. ‘Heyrða ek segja   í sǫgum fornum,

hvé mær um kom   til Mornalands;

engi mátti   fyr jǫrð ofan

Heiðreks dóttur   hjálpir vinna.

2. ‘Þat frá Oddrún,   Atla systir,

at sú mær hafði   miklar sóttir;

brá hon af stalli   stjórnbitluðum,

ok á svartan   sǫðul of lagði.

3. ‘Lét hon mar fara   moldveg sléttan,

unz at hári kom   hǫll standandi,

ok hon inn um gekk   endlangan sal;

svipti hon sǫðli   af svǫngum jó,

ok hon þat orða   alls fyrst um kvað:

4. ‘“Hvat er frægst   á foldu,

eða hvat er hlézt   Húnalands?”

5. ‘“Hverr hefir vísir   vamms um leitat?

6. ‘“Vilmundr heitir,   vinr haukstalda;

hann varði mey   varmri blæju,

fimm vetr alla,   svá hon sinn fǫður leyndi.”

7. ‘Þær, hykk, mæltu   þvígit fleira;

gekk mild fyr kné   meyju at sitja;

ríkt gól Oddrún,   ramt gól Oddrún,

bitra galdra,   at Borgnýju.

8. ‘Knátti mær ok mǫgr   moldveg sporna,

bǫrn þau in blíðu   við bana Hǫgna;

þat nam at mæla   mær fjǫrsjúka,

svá at hon ekki kvað   orð it fyrra:

9. ‘“Svá hjálpi þér   hollar vættir,

Frigg ok Freyja   ok fleiri goð,

sem þú feldir mér   fár af hǫndum!”

10. ‘“Hnékat ek af því   til hjálpar þér,

at þú værir þess   verð aldregi;

hét ek ok efndak,   er ek hinig mælta,

at ek hvívetna   hjálpa skyldak,

þá er ǫðlingar   arfi skiptu.”

11 [13]. ‘Þá nam at setjask   sorgmóð kona,

at telja bǫl   af trega stórum:

12 [14]. ‘“Var ek upp alin   í jǫfra sal —

flestr fagnaði —   at fira ráði;

unða ek aldri   ok eign fǫður

fimm vetr eina,   svá at minn faðir lifði.

13 [15]. ‘“Þat nam at mæla   mál it efsta,

sjá móðr konungr,   áðr hann sylti:

mik bað hann gœða   gulli rauðu

ok suðr gefa   syni Grímildar.

14 [16]. ‘“Kvaða hann ina œðri   alna myndu

mey í heimi,   nema mjǫtuðr spilti.”

15 [11]. ‘“Œr ertu, Oddrún,   ok ørvita,

er þú mér af fári   flest orð of kvað!

En ek fylgðak þér   á fjǫrgynju,

sem vit brœðrum tveim   of bornar værim!”

16 [12]. ‘“Man ek hvat þú   mæltir enn um aptan,

þá er ek Gunnari   gerðak drekku;

slíks dœmi kvaðattu   síðan mundu

meyju verða,   nema mér einni!

17. ‘“Brynhildr í búri   borða rakði;

hafði hon lýði   ok lǫnd um sik;

jǫrð dúsaði   ok upphiminn,

þá er bani Fáfnis   borg um þátti.

18. ‘“Þá var víg vegit   vǫlsku sverði,

ok borg brotin,   sú er Brynhildr átti;

vara langt af því,   heldr válítit,

unz þær vélar   vissi allar.

19. ‘“Þess lét hon harðar   hefndir verða,

svá at vér ǫll hǫfum   ornar raunir;

þat mun á hǫlða   hvert land fara,

er hon lét sveltask   at Sigurði!

20. ‘“En ek Gunnari   gatk at unna,

bauga deili,   sem Brynhildr skyldi;

[16.] en hann Brynhildi   bað hjálm geta;

hana kvað hann óskmey   verða skyldu.

21. ‘“Buðu þeir árla   bauga rauða,

ok brœðr mínum   bœtr ósmár;

bauð hann enn við mér   bú fimmtán,

hliðfarm Grana,   ef hann hafa vildi.

22. ‘“En Atli kvazk   eigi vilja

mund aldregi   at megi Gjúka;

þeygi vit máttum   við munum vinna,

nema ek helt hǫfði   við hringbrota.

23. ‘“Mæltu margir   mínir niðjar,

kvóðusk okkr hafa   orðit bæði;

en mik Atli kvað   eigi myndu

lýti ráða   né lǫst gøra.

24. ‘“En slíks skyli   synja aldri

maðr fyr annan,   þar er munuð deilir!

25. ‘“Sendi Atli   áru sína

um myrkvan við   mín at freista;

ok þeir kvómu,   þar er þeir koma né skyldut,

þá er breiddu vit   blæju eina.

26. ‘“Buðu vit þegnum   bauga rauða,

at þeir eigi til   Atla segði;

en þeir óliga   Atla sǫgðu

ok hvatliga heim   skunduðu.

27. ‘“En þeir Guðrúnu   gǫrla leyndu,

þvíat hon heldr vita   hálfu skyldi.

28. ‘“Hlymr var at heyra   hófgullinna,

þá er í garð riðu   Gjúka arfar;

þeir ór Hǫgna   hjarta skáru,

en í ormgarð   annan lǫgðu.

29. ‘“Var ek enn farin   einu sinni

til Geirmundar,   gørva drykkju;

nam horskr konungr   hǫrpu sveigja,

þvíat hann hugði mik   til hjálpar sér,

kynríkr konungr,   of koma mundu.

30. ‘“Nam ek at heyra   ór Hléseyju,

hvé þar af stríðum   strengir gullu;

bað ek ambáttir   búnar verða —

vilda ek fylkis   fjǫrvi bjarga!

31. ‘“Létum fljóta   far sund yfir,

unz ek alla sák   Atla garða.

32. ‘“Þá kom in arma   út skævandi,

móðir Atla —   hon skyli morna! —

ok Gunnari   gróf til hjarta,

svá at ek máttigak   mœrum bjarga!

33. ‘“Opt undrumk þat,   hví ek eptir mák,

linnvengis Bil,   lífi halda,

er ek ógnhvǫtum   unna þóttumsk,

sverða deili,   sem sjálfri mér!

34. ‘“Saztu ok hlýddir,   meðan ek sagðak þér

mǫrg ill um skǫp   mín ok þeira;

maðr hverr lifir   at munum sínum!

Nú er um genginn   grátr Oddrúnar!”’

About Borgný and Oddrún

There was a king called Heiðrekr.11 His daughter was called Borgný.12 Vilmundr13 was the name of the one who was her lover. She could not give birth to children until Oddrún,14 Atli’s sister, came to her.15 She¹⁶ had been the sweetheart of Gunnarr, Gjúki’s son. About this tale it is here told.

Oddrún’s Lament

1. ‘I¹⁷ heard tell in ancient tales,

how a maiden¹⁸ came to Mornaland;19

no one on earth was able

to help the daughter of Heiðrekr.20

2. ‘Oddrún, sister of Atli, heard about it,

she swiftly took from the stall a steering-bitted one,21

and laid a saddle on the black one.²²

3. ‘She let the steed journey over the smooth earth-way,²³

until she came to a hall standing high,

and she went inside along the hall’s length;

she whipped the saddle off the lean steed,

and she spoke these words first of all:²⁴

4. ‘“What is most worth mentioning on earth,

or what is most heard about in Húnaland?”25

“Here lies Borgn‎ý, overborne by pains,26

your friend, Oddrún — see if you can help!”27

5. ‘“Which prince has caused this disgrace?²⁸

Why are Borgn‎ý’s sufferings sudden?”29

6. ‘“He’s called Vilmundr, the friend of a warrior;30

he wrapped the maiden³¹ in a warm bed-covering,

for all of five winters, so that she hid it from her father.”

7. ‘They spoke little more than that, I think;³²

the generous one³³ went to sit at the girl’s knee;

Oddrún chanted powerfully, Oddrún chanted strongly,

bitter incantations, for Borgn‎ý.34

8. ‘A girl and a boy were able to tread the earth-way,³⁵

those [were] the happy³⁶ children of Hǫgni’s slayer;37

the life-sick³⁸ girl began to say this,

when she hadn’t said a word before that:

9. ‘“So may kindly female creatures³⁹ help you,

Frigg and Freyja and more gods,

as you made danger fall from my hands!”40

10. ‘“I wasn’t inclined to help you because of this,

that you were ever worthy⁴¹ of it;

I made a promise, and I kept to what I said here,⁴²

that I should help everyone,

as long as⁴³ noblemen distributed inheritances.”⁴⁴

11 [13].⁴⁵ ‘Then the sad-hearted woman⁴⁶ sat herself down,

to recount her misfortunes, out of great misery:⁴⁷

12 [14]. ‘“I was brought up in a hall of boars⁴⁸ —

most welcomed me⁴⁹ — according to men’s counsel;

I enjoyed life and my father’s belongings

for five winters only, as long as my father lived.

13 [15]. ‘“He spoke this speech at the last,⁵⁰

that exhausted king,⁵¹ before he expired:

he ordered that I be endowed with red gold

and given to a son of Grímildr52 in the south.

14 [16]. ‘“He said that no maiden would be born nobler

in the world, unless fate should spoil [matters].”

15 [11]. ‘“You’re mad, Oddrún, and out of your mind,53

since you addressed most [of those] words to me out of hostility!⁵⁴

But I accompanied you on earth,⁵⁵

as if we two were born of two brothers!”⁵⁶

16 [12]. ‘“I remember what you also said one evening,

when I was getting a drink⁵⁷ ready for Gunnarr;

from a maiden, except from me alone!58

17. ‘”Brynhildr wove tapestry-borders59 in her bower;

she had people and lands about her;

earth and sky above resounded(?),⁶⁰

when Fáfnir’s slayer61 perceived the stronghold.

18. ‘“Then war was waged with a foreign sword,⁶²

and the stronghold broken [into], that which Brynhildr owned;

until she was aware of all those tricks.63

19. ‘”For this, she had harsh deeds of vengeance brought about,

of which we’ve all had enough experiences;⁶⁴

[word of] it will travel to every land of men,

that she killed herself⁶⁵ on account of Sigurðr!

20. ‘“But I got to cherish Gunnarr,

dealer of arm-rings, as Brynhildr ought;

[16.] but he66 ordered that a helm be got for Brynhildr;

he said that she should be a ‘wish-maiden.’67

21. ‘“They⁶⁸ offered red arm-rings early,⁶⁹

and to my brother⁷⁰ no small recompense;⁷¹

he⁷² also offered fifteen farms for me,

the side-burden of Grani,73 if he⁷⁴ would have it.

22. ‘“But Atli said he would never want75

a bride-price⁷⁶ from Gjúki’s boys;

not at all could we two77 resist our desires,

but [rather] I held⁷⁸ my head against the ring-breaker.⁷⁹

23. ‘“Many of my kinsmen talked,

themselves said that we had both been [together];

but Atli said that I would not

24. ‘“But one should never dispute that another

is capable of such,⁸⁰ where love plays a part!

25. ‘“Atli sent his envoys

through the murky wood81 to test me;

and they came to where they should not have come,

when we⁸² both spread a single bed-cover.

26. ‘“We both offered the thanes⁸³ red rings,

so that they might not speak to Atli;

but they spoke excitedly to Atli

27. ‘“But they concealed [matters] from Guðrún completely,

because she should have been doubly hurt.84

28. ‘“The din of golden-hoofed ones⁸⁵ was to be heard,

when Gjúki’s heirs86 rode into the courtyard;⁸⁷

they⁸⁸ cut the heart from Hǫgni,

and laid the other89 in a snake-yard.

29. ‘“I’d just gone that one time

to Geirmundr,90 to get a drink⁹¹ ready;

the wise king⁹² began to pluck his harp,

because the kin-powerful king thought

I would come to help him.

30. ‘“I began to hear from Hlésey,93

how the strings⁹⁴ there yelled⁹⁵ from strifes;⁹⁶

I commanded my maidservants to get ready —

I wanted to save the marshal’s life!

31. ‘“We let the ship float over the sound,⁹⁷

until I saw all of Atli’s courts.

32. ‘“Then the wretched one came darting out,

Atli’s mother98 — may she moulder away! —

and she dug into Gunnarr, to the heart,

so that I couldn’t save the glorious one!99

33. ‘“I often wonder this — how, afterwards, I,

Bil100 of the snake-pillow,¹⁰¹ can hold onto life,

when it seemed to me that I loved the terrifyingly bold one,

the dealer of swords,¹⁰² as myself!

34. ‘“You’ve sat and listened while I told you

many an evil thing about my fate and theirs;

Now Oddrún’s lament has reached its end!”’103

Textual Apparatus to Oddrúnargrátr