Gripir.

21.  Of thy life the early portion lay before me clearest to contemplate.  I am not truly accounted sage, nor of the future prescient:  that which I knew is gone.

Sigurd.

22.  No man I know on the earth’s surface, who greater prescience has than thou, Gripir!  Thou mayest not conceal it, unhappy though it be, or if ill betide my life.

Gripir.

23.  Not with vices will thy life be sullied; let that, noble prince! in thy mind be borne; for while mankind exists, thy name, director of the spear-storm! will be supreme.

Sigurd.

24.  The worst seems to me, that Sigurd is compelled from the king to part in such uncertainty.  Show me the way—­all is decreed before—­great chieftain! if thou wilt, my mother’s brother!

Gripir.

25.  To Sigurd I will now openly tell, since the chieftain me thereto compels:  thou wilt surely find that I lie not.  A certain day is for thy death decreed.

Sigurd.

26.  I would not importune the mighty prince, but rather Gripir’s good counsel have.  Now I fain would know, though grateful it may not be, what prospect Sigurd has lying before him.

Gripir.

27.  There is with Heimir a maiden fair of form, she is by men Brynhild named, daughter of Budli; but the dear king Heimir nurtures the hard-souled damsel.

Sigurd.

28.  What is it to me, although the maiden be of aspect fair? nurtured with Heimir?  That thou, Gripir! must fully declare; for thou foreseest my whole destiny.

Gripir.

29.  She will thee bereave of almost every joy, the fair-faced foster-child of Heimir.  Thou wilt not sleep, nor of affairs discourse, nor men regard; only this maiden thou wilt see.

Sigurd.

30.  What remedy for Sigurd will be applied; tell me that, Gripir! if it seem good to thee.  Shall I obtain the damsel? with dowry purchase the lovely royal daughter?

Gripir.

31.  Ye will each swear unnumbered oaths, solemnly binding, but few will keep.  Hast thou been Giuki’s guest one night, thou wilt have forgotten the fair ward of Heimir.

Sigurd.

32.  How is that, Gripir! explain it to me:  seest thou such fickleness in the king’s mind, that with that maiden I shall my engagement break, whom with my whole heart I thought to love?

Gripir.

33.  Prince! thou wilt be snared in another’s wiles, thou wilt pay the penalty of Grimhild’s craft; the bright-haired maiden, her daughter, she to thee will offer.  This snare for the king she lays.

Sigurd.

34.  Shall I then with Gunnar form relationship, and with Gudrun join in wedlock?  Well wived then the king would be, if the pangs of perjury caused me no pain.

Gripir.

35.  Thee will Grimhild wholly beguile; she will implore thee Brynhild to demand for the hand of Gunnar, king of Goths:  the journey thou wilt forthwith promise to the king’s mother.