The second of the two poems about Helgi Sigmundsson tells a more complete version of his life, and this includes retelling some events from the first poem. The poem moves swiftly between scenes and can be rather confusing; a summary is called for to ground readers in the basic characters and action of the poem.
Helgi, son of King Sigmund, is fostered by King Hagal. Helgi disguises himself as Hagal’s son Hamal and goes to spy on his father’s enemy King Hunding. After Helgi’s true identity is revealed, he flees back to Hagal. Hunding sends men, including a follower named Blind, to search for him at Hagal’s, but Helgi disguises himself as a slavewoman. Blind notices that this “slavewoman” has unusually fierce eyes, to which Hagal responds that she is a captured Valkyrie. This ruse allows Helgi to escape capture.
Helgi later kills Hunding, and soon thereafter he meets the Valkyrie Sigrun. He pretends to be Hamal once again, but Sigrun recognizes him for who he really is. She tells him that she has been promised by her father Hogni to marry King Hothbrodd, and she asks Helgi to fight Hothbrodd for her hand in marriage.
Helgi sails with a great navy to do battle with Hothbrodd. Upon arriving at his kingdom, Hothbrodd’s brother Guthmund interrogates them from the shore, and becomes embroiled in an exchange of insults with Helgi’s half-brother Sinfjotli. Helgi finally stops the banter by urging them to fight with weapons like men. In the ensuing battle, Helgi kills Hothbrodd as well as many of Hothbrodd’s allies, including his lover Sigrun’s own father and her brother Bragi, though he spares her brother Dag. Helgi and Sigrun are married.
Dag, however, cannot bear to see the killer of his father and brothers alive, and he kills his brother-in-law Helgi with a spear he has borrowed from Odin. The fallen Helgi goes to Valhalla, but returns to his burial mound one night and sleeps with his wife Sigrun there. After his return to Valhalla, Sigrun continues to wait for him but he never comes back, and she dies in her sorrow.
Yet another reincarnation of Helgi is mentioned in the prose note at the end of the poem, with an allusion to a poem called the “Song of Kara.” This poem is now lost.
King Sigmund, son of Volsung, was married to Borghild from Bralund. They named their son Helgi, after Helgi Hjorvarthsson. Hagal fostered Helgi.
There was a powerful king named Hunding; Hundland is named for him. He was a great warrior, and he had many sons who went on raids. There was no peace between King Hunding and King Sigmund, and they feuded. They each killed one another’s kinsmen.
King Sigmund and his kinsmen were called the Volsungs and the Ylfings. Helgi went to the court of King Hunding and spied on him in secret. Heming, the son of King Hunding, was at home. And when Helgi left, he encountered a man named Hjarthar, and Helgi said:
“TELL HEMING that I remember when the armor-clad warriors killed one another. You had a gray wolf within your doors, though King Hunding thought it was Hamal.”
Hamal was the name of a son of Hagal. King Hunding sent men to Hagal to search for Helgi, and Helgi could not save himself in any other way than by putting on a slavewoman’s dress and grinding grain. So they searched for Helgi and did not find him. Then Blind the Crafty said:
“Hagal has a sharp-eyed slavewoman! That’s no commoner’s daughter who’s grinding the grain. She’s splitting the stones, she’s making the grain-basket shake.
“Now you, crafty young prince, must have fallen on hard times, when you’re the one who has to grind the grain. It would befit you better if your hand held a sword-hilt rather than a grindstone.”
Hagal answered:
“It’s not much danger if the grain-basket shakes when my slavegirl moves it. I saw her walking above the clouds, and she dared to fight like a Viking before Helgi put her in chains. She’s a sister of Sigar and Hogni— that’s why this slavegirl of the Ylfings has fierce eyes.”
Helgi escaped and got away on a warship. He killed King Hunding, and afterwards he was called Helgi Hunding-Killer. He went with his army to Brunavagar and raided the beach there and ate raw meat.
Hogni was the name of a king. His daughter was named Sigrun. She was a Valkyrie and rode over wind and sea. She was the reincarnation of Svava. Sigrun rode up to Helgi’s ships and said:
“Who commands these ships at this shore? Warriors, where do you call home? What do you want in Brunavagar? Where have you thought to go afterwards?”
“I am named Hamal,” said Helgi, “and I command these ships. We come from Hlesey. What we want in Brunavagar is a good breeze; we mean to sail east from this place.”
Sigrun said, “King, where have you fought battles? Where have you set a table for the ravens? Why is your armor blood-soaked? Why are you helmeted warriors eating raw meat?”
Helgi said, “The latest news of what I, an Ylfing, have done west of the sea, if you really want to know, is this— I fought bear-like men in Bragalund, I fed the eagles’ nestlings with the point of my spear.
“Now, lady, I’ve told the story of how I came to eat raw meat on my ship.”
“You speak of war,” said Sigrun, “And I know it was Helgi who caused the fall of King Hunding. There was a battle then, you both avenged kinsmen, and blood ran freely on the sword-blades.”
“How do you know,” said Helgi, “wise lady, that it was Hunding and I who had kinsmen to avenge? There are many fierce sons of kings who are not unlike me and my kinsmen.”
Sigrun said, “War-maker, I was not far away from that killing place yesterday morning. But I think you’re wise, Helgi, son of Sigmund, since you speak of your deeds in riddles.
“I sought you once before, on your longships, when you stood on bloody prows amid the rolling cool waves. Now you want to conceal your name, but I am Hogni’s daughter— I recognize Helgi.”
Granmar was the name of a powerful king who lived at Svarinshaug. He had many sons: The first was named Hothbrodd, the second Guthmund, the third Starkath.
Hothbrodd met with other kings, and Sigrun, daughter of King Hogni, was promised to him. And when she learned this, she rode off with her Valkyries over air and sea to find Helgi. At the time, Helgi was at Logafjoll, where he had fought against the sons of Hunding. He killed Alf and Eyjolf there, as well as Hjorvarth and Havarth. He was in an extreme battle-rage and sat beneath the Eagle-Stone. There Sigrun found him, and she ran into his arms and kissed him and told him her errand, as it is told in the Ancient Poem of the Volsungs:
Sigrun sought the glad king, she sought the king’s hand in her own. She kissed that helmeted king and greeted him, and Helgi took a liking to her.
She said that she’d loved Helgi with all her heart before she had even seen him.
“I was promised,” she said, “to Hothbrodd, but there is another king I would rather have. Warrior, I fear my father’s anger, but I have disobeyed him regardless.”
Sigrun did not speak of her own love, but she said she wanted Helgi’s love.
Helgi said, “Pay no mind to your father’s anger, nor to the ill will of your kinsmen. Young lady, you will live with me! Good lady, I do not fear your family.”
Then Helgi gathered a great navy and sailed to Frekastein, and on this journey they encountered very dangerous weather. There was continual lightning, and it even glowed on the ships. Helgi and his men saw nine Valkyries riding in the air, and they recognized Sigrun. Then the storm abated, and they came safely to land. The sons of Granmar were sitting on a certain hill when the ships sailed up to land. Guthmund leapt up on his horse and rode up to the top of a hill near the harbor. Then the Volsungs took their sails down.
Guthmund, son of Granmar, said:
“Who is the leader of this navy? Who lowers the golden sail upon the prow? I don’t think we can expect peace from this navy; I see a red battle-flag and Vikings.”
Sinfjotli said:
“I think Hothbrodd will recognize Helgi here, in the middle of the fleet— he hates to retreat. He has taken the ancestral lands of your people the Fjorsungs, he’s stolen your inheritance.”
Guthmund said, “First, we should settle our differences at Frekastein. Hothbrodd! It’s time to get vengeance. For a long time we’ve been losing battles.”
Sinfjotli said, “First, Guthmund, you’ll need to watch your goats and climb the steep cliffs. Keep a wooden club in your hand, you’ll do better as a shepherd than a fighter.”
Helgi said, “Sinfjotli, it would be more honorable to make war, to cheer the eagles, than to exchange pointless words, even if you hate one another.
“I have no love for Granmar’s sons, but it’s better for noble men not to lie. We have seen at Moinsheimar that they have the courage to draw swords; these warriors are wise and brave.”
Guthmund rode home and reported on the hostilities. Then the sons of Granmar assembled an army; many kings came to them. Hogni, the father of Sigrun, was there, along with his sons, Bragi and Dag. There was a great battle, and all the sons of Granmar fell as well as all the other chieftains, except Dag, who was granted mercy and who swore an oath to the Volsungs. Sigrun went out on the battlefield afterwards and found Hothbrodd dying. She said:
“King Hothbrodd, I, Sigrun from Sefafjoll, will not kneel to embrace you in my arms. Your life is over, the wolves will get plenty of your and your brothers’ flesh.”
Then she found Helgi, and she was glad. Helgi said:
“Wise woman, not everything has gone as you’d wish. The Norns have some blame. Bragi and Hogni fell today at Frekastein, and I was their killer.
“And I killed Starkath at Styrkleif and the sons of Hrollaug at Hlebjargir. I saw the most warlike of all kings fighting without his arms, and soon without his head.
“Most of your family lies on the battlefield, they’ve become cold corpses. You could not stop that battle; you were destined to cause kings to clash.”
Then Sigrun wept. Helgi spoke once more:
“Be comforted, Sigrun. You’ve been like Hild to us; and not even kings can fight fate.” Sigrun said, “Let all my family fall in battle, if that means I can sleep in your arms.”
Helgi married Sigrun, and they had sons. Helgi was not an old man.
Dag, son of Hogni, sacrified to Odin for vengeance for his father. Odin loaned Dag his own spear. Dag encountered Helgi, his brother-in-law, at the place called Fjoturlund. Dag ran Helgi through with the spear. Helgi fell there, and then Dag rode to the mountains and told Sigrun the news:
“Sister, I regret to tell you this hard news. I have been forced to make my own sister weep. That king who was the best in all the world, who stood on the necks of many fallen enemies, fell today in battle at Fjoturlund.”
Sigrun said, “All your oaths, the oaths you swore to Helgi, the oaths you swore by the sea, and by the cool stone of Unn, will come back to bite you.
“A ship will not sail if you are on it, even if it has the most favorable of winds. A horse will not run if you are on it, even if it could save you from pursuing enemies.
“No sword you draw will cut, unless it cuts your own head off. I would only be avenged for Helgi’s death if you were an outlaw living in the woods, deprived of all your property and all joy. You wouldn’t even eat— unless you caught your own raw meat.”
Dag said:
“You are mad, sister, you are out of your wits, when you speak such curses against your own brother. Odin alone causes all evil, he’s the one who causes war between kin.
“I will offer you golden rings, I will offer you the lands of Vandilsve and Vigdalir. You and your children, well-dressed lady, will own half my home in compensation for your loss.”
Sigrun said, “I will never be so happy at my home in the day or in the night that I will love life, unless I see that king and his army, unless I see Helgi riding his horse Vigblaer with a golden bridle— I would greet him gladly.
“My husband Helgi has frightened all his enemies so much and all his kinsmen, that they are like trembling goats fleeing a wolf on a mountainside.
“Helgi is as high above other kings as a noble ash tree above a thorn, he is like a young stag coated in morning dew, higher than all other beasts, with his horns glowing against the heavens.”
A burial mound was made for Helgi. And when he came to Valhalla, Odin asked him to help him rule everything. Helgi said:
“Hunding, you will be a foot-washer and fire-starter, a dog-walker and a horse’s groom for every man in Valhalla. And don’t forget to feed the pigs before you go to sleep.”
One of Sigrun’s serving-women walked during the evening near Helgi’s burial mound, and she saw Helgi riding toward the mound with a large following of men. The serving-woman said:
“Is this an illusion that I see before me, or has Ragnarok come? I see dead men riding, I see them driving their horses with spurs. Have dead kings been given leave to come home from Valhalla?”
Helgi said, “True, you see us here, driving our horses with spurs, and it is no illusion, nor is it Ragnarok, and neither do we have leave to come home from Valhalla.”
The serving-woman went home and said to Sigrun:
“Go out from your home, Sigrun, if you want to see your king again! His burial mound is open, Helgi has come back, his wounds are bleeding. That lord of men asks that you come and see to his injuries.”
Sigrun went inside Helgi’s burial mound and she said:
“Now I am as happy to see you, husband, as Odin’s eager ravens are when they see fresh, warm corpses, or when, dew-covered, they greet the morning.
“I want to kiss you, my unliving king, before you take your bloody armor off. There’s frost frozen in your hair, Helgi, there’s blood all over your body, my king. Your hands are wet with the cold blood of Hogni’s kin. My lord, how shall I heal you of these things?”
Helgi said, “You alone, Sigrun from Sefafjoll, caused the sad death of your father Hogni. Gold-adorned southern woman, fairer than the sun, you wept bitter tears before you went to sleep; each tear fell bloody over your fierce heart, cold, wet, bloody, burning, twisted with sorrow.
“But I can drink happily of Odin’s good mead even if I have lost my lands and my love. No one will sing a sorrowful song for me, even if I have wounds on my chest— for my wife Sigrun is in my mound, the Valkyrie lies by me, though I am dead.”
Sigrun climbed into his bed in the mound.
Sigrun said, “Helgi, of Ylfing kin, I offer you untroubled rest in this place. I want to sleep in your embrace, as I would in the arms of a living husband.”
Helgi said, “Now I can foresee everything. You will sleep, lovely lady, daughter of Hogni, tonight and tomorrow morning in the arms of a dead man in his mound— and yet you are alive, noble lady.
“Yet still I must ride the warpath, take my pale horse back to Valhalla. I have to be west of Bifrost before the rooster wakes the men in Odin’s hall.”
Helgi and his men rode their way, and Sigrun and her serving-women returned to her home. The next evening Sigrun had a serving-woman keep watch on Helgi’s burial mound. And when Sigrun returned to the mound at sunset, she said:
“My husband, the son of Sigmund, would have come back from Odin’s hall, if he could. But I expect there is little chance of his return when eagles sleep in the trees, and all the people are dreaming.”
A serving-woman said, “Do not be so foolish that you go alone to his burial mound. All the dead are more powerful at night than they are during bright day.”
Sigrun did not live long, because of her sorrow and indifference to life. It was generally believed in ancient times that people were reborn, though this is now called a superstition. Helgi and Sigrun are said to have been reborn. He was then called Helgi, the Sorrow of Hadding, and she was called Kara, Daughter of Halfdan, and she was a Valkyrie, as is told in the Song of Kara.