He spake and his harp was with him, and he smote the strings full
      sweet,
    And sang of the host of the Valkyrs, how they ride the battle to meet,
    And the dew from the dear manes drippeth as they ride in the first
      of the sun,
    And the tree-boughs open to meet it when the wind of the dawning is
      done: 
    And the deep dales drink its sweetness and spring into blossoming
      grass,
    And the earth groweth fruitful of men, and bringeth their glory to
      pass.

    Then the wrath ran off from Sigurd, and he left the smithying stead
    While the song yet rang in the doorway:  and that eve to the Kings he
      said: 
    “Will ye do so much for mine asking as to give me a horse to my will? 
    For belike the days shall come, that shall all my heart fulfill,
    And teach me the deeds of a king.”

Then answered King Elf and spake: 
“The stalls of the Kings are before thee to set aside or to take,
And nought we begrudge thee the best.”

                                          Yet answered Sigurd again;
    For his heart of the mountains aloft and the windy drift was fain: 
    “Fair seats for the knees of Kings! but now do I ask for a gift
    Such as all the world shall be praising, the best of the strong and
      the swift
    Ye shall give me a token for Gripir, and bid him to let me choose
    From out of the noble stud-beasts that run in his meadow loose. 
    But if overmuch I have asked you, forget this prayer of mine,
    And deem the word unspoken, and get ye to the wine.”

Then smiled King Elf, and answered:  “A long way wilt thou ride,
To where unpeace and troubles and the griefs of the soul abide,
Yea unto the death at the last:  yet surely shalt thou win
The praise of many a people:  so have thy way herein. 
Forsooth no more may we hold thee than the hazel copse may hold
The sun of the early dawning, that turneth it all unto gold.”

    Then sweetly Sigurd thanked them; and through the night he lay
    Mid dreams of many a matter till the dawn was on the way;
    Then he shook the sleep from off him, and that dwelling of Kings he
      left
    And wended his ways unto Gripir.  On a crag from the mountain reft
    Was the house of the old King builded; and a mighty house it was,
    Though few were the sons of men that over its threshold would pass: 
    But the wild ernes cried about it, and the vultures toward it flew,
    And the winds from the heart of the mountains searched every chamber
      through,
    And about were meads wide-spreading; and many a beast thereon,
    Yea some that are men-folk’s terror, their sport and pasture won.

    So into the hall went Sigurd; and amidst was Gripir set
    In a chair of the sea-beast’s tooth; and his sweeping beard nigh met
    The floor that was green as the ocean, and his gown was of
      mountain-gold,
    And the kingly staff in his hand was knobbed with the crystal cold.