Helgakviða Hundingsbana I

Völsungakviða, Helgakviða Hundingsbana I or the First Lay of Helgi Hundingsbane is an Old Norse poem found in the Poetic Edda. It constitutes one of the Helgi lays together with Helgakviða Hundingsbana II and Helgakviða Hjörvarðssonar.

The locations in the poem have been fervently debated with a Danish school maintaining Danish origins and locations and a Swedish one pointing out that locations (e.g. Brávellir and Brandey) and characters (Ylfings, Högni and Granmarr) place the events in Östergötland and Södermanland. The poem is also ambiguous in attributing Helgi to the Ylfing, Yngling and the Völsung clans, which suggests a merging of originally unrelated traditions.

In the Edda, the poem is a sequel to Helgakviða Hjörvarðssonar whose heroes Helgi Hjörvarðsson and Sváfa are reborn as Helgi Hundingsbane and Sigrún. However, in Codex Regius, it is actually followed by Helgakviða Hjörvarðssonar.

The poem begins in a location called Brálund with the birth of Helgi Hundingbane, the son of Sigmund and Borghild. Norns arrived at the dwelling to shape his future as a hero.

1. Ár var alda,
þat er arar gullu,
hnigu heilög vötn
af Himinfjöllum;
þá hafði Helga
inn hugumstóra
Borghildr borit
í Brálundi.

2. Nótt varð í bæ,
nornir kómu,
þær er öðlingi
aldr of skópu;
þann báðu fylki
frægstan verða
ok buðlunga
beztan þykkja.

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Wikipedia