From the Poetic Edda, translated by Henry Adams Bellows

The Helreið Brynhildar (Old Norse: "Brynhild's Hell-Ride") is the twenty-ninth poem of the Poetic Edda in the Codex Regius ordering. Brynhild is dead — burned on her own pyre after Sigurth's. She rides the Hel-way in a wagon draped in rich cloth, and passes by a house where a giantess blocks her path. The giantess accuses her: you followed another's husband, you washed heroes' blood from your hands, you laid Gjuki's house low. Brynhild answers — not with apology but with the whole story of her life. She was Hild the helmed, a Valkyrie. She defied Othin by granting victory to the wrong king, and for this he condemned her to sleep behind a wall of shields and a ring of fire, to be woken only by the hero who knew no fear. The hero who came was Sigurth. They slept eight nights together and neither touched the other. Then the betrayal: Brynhild was given to another man, and Sigurth was tricked into forgetting her. The poem ends with her final declaration — she and Sigurth will live their lives together — and a command: sink down, Giantess.

The poem is one of the most vivid and powerful in the entire collection, possessing an extraordinary degree of dramatic unity despite its brevity — fourteen stanzas and one prose passage. It is generally dated to the eleventh century, and the concluding stanza betrays Christian influence in its vision of reunion beyond death. Brynhild here is not only a Valkyrie but also a swan-maiden, showing the fusion of traditions characteristic of the later Eddic poems. Only three stanzas refer to the Guthrun-Gunnar strand of the cycle; otherwise the poem is concerned solely with Sigurth's finding the sleeping Valkyrie. It is essentially a Norse creation, involving very few details of the German tradition. With the exception of one probable interpolation (stanza 11) and a lacuna in stanza 6, the poem appears complete and carefully constructed.

This is Henry Adams Bellows' translation from The Poetic Edda (New York: The American-Scandinavian Foundation, 1923). The translation was verified against the sacred-texts.com digitised edition, transcribed from the original 1923 printed text.

Introductory Note

The little Helreith Brynhildar immediately follows the "short" Sigurth lay in the Codex Regius, being linked to it by the brief prose note; the heading, "Brynhild's Ride on Hel-Way," stands just before the first stanza. The entire poem, with the exception of stanza 6, is likewise quoted in the Nornageststhattr. Outside of one stanza (No. 11), which is a fairly obvious interpolation, the poem possesses an extraordinary degree of dramatic unity, and, certain pedantic commentators notwithstanding, it is one of the most vivid and powerful in the whole collection. None the less, it has been extensively argued that parts of it belonged originally to the so-called Sigrdrifumol. That it stands in close relation to this poem is evident enough, but it is difficult to believe that such a masterpiece of dramatic poetry was ever the result of mere compilation. It seems more reasonable to regard the Helreith, with the exception of stanza 11 and allowing for the loss of two lines from stanza 6, as a complete and carefully constructed unit, based undoubtedly on older poems, but none the less an artistic creation in itself.

The poem is generally dated as late as the eleventh century, and the concluding stanza betrays Christian influence almost unmistakably. It shows the confusion of traditions manifest in all the later poems; for example, Brynhild is here not only a Valkyrie but also a swan-maiden. Only three stanzas have any reference to the Guthrun-Gunnar part of the story; otherwise the poem is concerned solely with the episode of Sigurth's finding the sleeping Valkyrie. Late as it is, therefore, it is essentially a Norse creation, involving very few of the details of the German cycle (cf. introductory note to Gripisspo).

Brynhild's Hell-Ride

After the death of Brynhild there were made two bale-fires, the one for Sigurth, and that burned first, and on the other was Brynhild burned, and she was on a wagon which was covered with a rich cloth. Thus it is told, that Brynhild went in the wagon on Hel-way, and passed by a house where dwelt a certain giantess.

The giantess spake:

"Thou shalt not further | forward fare,
My dwelling ribbed | with rocks across;
More seemly it were | at thy weaving to stay,
Than another's husband | here to follow.

"What wouldst thou have | from Valland here,
Fickle of heart, | in this my house?
Gold-goddess, now, | if thou wouldst know,
Heroes' blood | from thy hands hast washed."

Brynhild spake:

"Chide me not, woman | from rocky walls,
Though to battle once | I was wont to go;
Better than thou | I shall seem to be,
When men us two | shall truly know."

The giantess spake:

"Thou wast, Brynhild, | Buthli's daughter,
For the worst of evils | born in the world;
To death thou hast given | Gjuki's children,
And laid their lofty | house full low."

Brynhild spake:

"Truth from the wagon | here I tell thee,
Witless one, | if know thou wilt
How the heirs of Gjuki | gave me to be
joyless ever, | a breaker of oaths.

"Hild the helmed | in Hlymdalir
They named me of old, | all they who knew me.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"The monarch bold | the swan-robes bore
Of the sisters eight | beneath an oak;
Twelve winters I was, | if know thou wilt,
When oaths I yielded | the king so young.

"Next I let | the leader of Goths,
Hjalmgunnar the old, | go down to hell,
And victory brought | to Autha's brother;
For this was Othin's | anger mighty.

"He beset me with shields | in Skatalund,
Red and white, | their rims o'erlapped;
He bade that my sleep | should broken be
By him who fear | had nowhere found.

"He let round my hall, | that southward looked,
The branches' foe | high-leaping burn;
Across it he bade | the hero come
Who brought me the gold | that Fafnir guarded

On Grani rode | the giver of gold,
Where my foster-father | ruled his folk;
Best of all | he seemed to be,
The prince of the Danes, | when the people met.

"Happy we slept, | one bed we had,
As he my brother | born had been;
Eight were the nights | when neither there
Loving hand | on the other laid.

"Yet Guthrun reproached me, | Gjuki's daughter,
That I in Sigurth's | arms had slept;
Then did I hear | what I would were hid,
That they had betrayed me | in taking a mate.

"Ever with grief | and all too long
Are men and women | born in the world;
But yet we shall live | our lives together,
Sigurth and I. | Sink down, Giantess!"

Colophon

The Helreið Brynhildar ("Brynhild's Hell-Ride") is the twenty-ninth poem of the Poetic Edda in the Codex Regius ordering — fourteen stanzas and one prose passage of extraordinary dramatic power. The poem's structure is a confrontation: a giantess blocks the dead Valkyrie's path to Hel, and Brynhild answers not with sorrow or contrition but with the full account of her life — from the stolen swan-robes to the wall of fire, from the eight chaste nights with Sigurth to the betrayal that ended in death for them both. The concluding stanza's vision of reunion beyond death carries the unmistakable influence of Christianity upon an otherwise purely Norse creation.

Translated by Henry Adams Bellows, The Poetic Edda (New York: The American-Scandinavian Foundation, 1923). Digitised text from sacred-texts.com.

Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.

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