As its name implies, Brot af Sigurtharkvithu (“Fragment of a Poem about Sigurth”) is incomplete, the result of many of its first pages being torn out of the manuscript. To judge from Volsunga saga, which was written when the lost parts of the poem were available, we are missing a story that goes something like the following: Sigurth did not marry the Valkyrie Sigerdrifa, but instead married Guthrun and pledged brotherhood with her brothers, Gunnar, Hogni, and Gotthorm (this agrees with the poem, st. 17). Afterwards he courted the Valkyrie Brynhild on behalf of his brother-in-law Gunnar (and disguised as him) and even slept in her bed, but he laid a sword between them in bed so as not to betray his brother-in-law’s trust (agreeing with the poem, st. 19). Long after marrying Gunnar, Brynhild became enraged when she learned of the deception, and called for Gunnar and his brothers to kill Sigurth. The youngest brother, Gotthorm, was given a magical potion to drive him into a frenzy in order to commit the deed (suggested in the poem, st. 4). Brynhild seems to have incited Gunnar to kill Sigurth on the pretext that Sigurth would have become more prominent than Gunnar and his brothers, and threatened their possession of their own ancestral kingdom of the Goths (see the poem, st. 7–8).
Judging from the amount of narrative that is missing from the poem, from the physical size of the gap in the manuscript, and from the fact that Sigurtharkvitha en skamma is actually quite long in spite of its name (which translates literally as “The Short Poem of Sigurth,” implying the existence of a longer one), we must infer that this fragment was part of a very long poem. The part that survives is only the very end, telling of the events just before and just after the murder of Sigurth. The killing itself is not directly told; the poem skips from the tense moments before the murder (st. 1–4), to the conversations of Guthrun with her brothers and Brynhild after the murder (st. 5–11), to the surprisingly intimate portraits of guilt-laden grief and rage felt by Gunnar and Brynhild the following night and morning (st. 12–19). At the end of the poem, a prose note acknowledges the existence of different traditions concerning the killing of Sigurth.
Hogni said:
“… WHAT INJURY HAS SIGURTH DONE to you that you would wish to kill that trusty king?”
Gunnar said, “Sigurth has sworn oaths to me, he’s sworn oaths to me, and all of them were lies. He deceived me when he should have kept all his oaths like an honorable man.”
Hogni said, “It’s Brynhild who’s egged you on. She’s made you think about causing such cruel sorrow. She won’t stand for Guthrun to have such a man as Sigurth— and she grows impatient of life with you.”
They cooked wolf-meat, they chopped up snake-meat, they gave wolf-meat to Gotthorm. And thus they made the young man thirst for violence, made him dare to lay hands on the wise Sigurth.
Guthrun, Gjuki’s daughter, stood outside, and seeing her brothers return, she asked them: “Where is Sigurth? Where is my king, who rode out before you, brothers?”
Only Hogni dared give her an answer: “We cut Sigurth apart with swords. Now his gray horse stays near the man’s body.”
Brynhild, Buthli’s daughter, said this to them: “You brothers shall take joy in your weapons and lands. Sigurth would have taken it all for himself, if you’d allowed him to live even a little longer.
“It would have been unwise if you allowed Sigurth to take your father Gjuki’s lands and rule the Goths, when Gjuki has five sons, five princes, all of them fierce fighters.”
Then Brynhild laughed— all the walls echoed— it was the only time she laughed with a whole heart: “You brothers will enjoy your lives and lands a long time, now that you have slain that bold lord of warriors.”
Guthrun, daughter of Gjuki, said this to her: “You speak so many wretched words, Brynhild. Woe awaits Gunnar, the killer of Sigurth— my husband’s brave heart will be avenged.
“Sigurth was killed south of the Rhine; but a raven screamed in the trees up above: ‘Attila will bloody his weapons in you; your broken oaths will destroy you.’”
The evening wore on, and there was much drinking. Everything was discussed that had happened that day, then everyone retreated to bed and fell asleep.
Gunnar alone was awake longer than the others. His feet stirred restlessly, his mind stirred restlessly; the warrior was remembering what the birds said in the woods— what the raven had said, and an eagle, when they rode home.
Brynhild, the Valkyrie, Buthli’s daughter, woke up a little before the sun, and said: “Am I angered or soothed? I don’t know, but I’m troubled. I must speak it aloud, or let it be.”
Everyone was silent when Brynhild spoke up; few could understand her intentions when Brynhild wept, and began to speak about the killing she had asked them to commit:
“Gunnar, I had a nightmare last night: everyone in this hall died, and I slept in a cold bed. But you, fierce warrior, kept walking sadly on, tied up in chains, you entered an enemy’s camp. I foresee that all you Niflungs will lose your power— you cursed oathbreakers.
“Did you forget, Gunnar, when you and Sigurth both blended your blood in a pledge of brotherhood? Now you have repaid all his good with your evil— Sigurth, who let you be the foremost.
“I tested him when that bold man rode to woo me in the circle of flame— I remember how faithfully that noble young man kept his promises.
“That wealthy king laid a sword between us, a killer’s tool decorated with gold. That sword’s blade was hardened in flame and tempered in drops of poison.”
Concerning the Death of Sigurth: This poem tells of the death of Sigurth, and in this version it is told that he was murdered outdoors, but some people say that he was killed in his own bed. But the Germans say that they killed Sigurth out in the forest, and in Guthrunarkvitha II it says that Sigurth and the sons of Gjuki had ridden to a council when Sigurth was killed. But everyone agrees that Gjuki’s sons betrayed his trust, and that Sigurth was killed while unsuspecting and unarmed.