Appendix

Excerpts¹ from the Poetic² Edda.
Part of the Second Lay of Helgi Hundings-Bane 53

Helgi wedded⁵ Sigrun, and they begate sons together, but Helgi lived not to be old; for Dag, 54 the son of Hogni, sacrificed to Odin, praying that he might avenge⁶ his father. So Odin lent Dag his spear, and Dag met Helgi, his brother-inlaw, at a place called Fetter-grove⁷, and thrust him through with that spear, and there fell Helgi dead; but Dag rode to Sevafell, and told Sigrun of the news.

DAG:

Loth am I, sister

Of sorrow to tell the,

For by hard need driven

Have I drawn⁸ on the greeting;

This morning fell

In Fetter-grove

The king well deemed

The best in the wide world,

Yea, he who stood

On the necks of the strong.”

SIGRUN:

All oaths once sworn

Shall bite thee sore,

The oaths that to Helgi

Once thou swarest

At the bright white

Water of Lightening, 55

And at the cold rock

That the sea runneth over.

May the ship sweep not on

That should sweep at its swiftest,

Though the wind desired

Behind thee driveth!

May the horse never run

That should run at his most might

When from thy foe’s face

Thou hast most need to flee!

May the sword never bite

That thou drawest from scabbard

But and if round thine head

In wrath¹⁰ it singeth!

Then should meet price be paid

For Helgi’s slaying¹¹

When a wolf thou wert

Out in the wild-wood,

Empty of good things

Empty of gladness,

With no meat for thy mouth

But dead men’s corpses¹⁴!

DAG:

With mad words thou ravest,

Thy wits are gone from thee,

When thou for thy brother

Such ill fate biddest;

Odin alone

Let all this bale loose,

Casting the strife¹⁵-runes

‘Twixt friends and kindred.

Rings of red gold

Will thy brother give thee,

And the stead of Vandil

And the lands of Vigdale;

Have half of the land

For thy sorrow’s healing,

O ring-arrayed sweetling

For thee and thy sons!

SIGRUN:

No more sit I happy

At Sevafell;

At day-dawn, at night

Naught¹⁶ love I my life

Till broad o’er the people

My lord’s light breaketh;

Till his war-horse runneth

Beneath him hither,

Well wont¹⁷ to the gold bit —

Till my king I welcome.

In such wise did Helgi

Deal fear around

To all his foes¹⁸

And all their friends

As when the goat runneth

Before the wolf’s rage

Filled with mad fear

Down from the fell.

As high above all lords

Did Helgi beat him

As the ash-tree’s glory

From the thorn ariseth,

Or as the fawn¹⁹

With the dew-fell sprinkled

Is far above

All other wild things,

As his horns go gleaming

‘Gainst the very heavens.

A barrow was raised above Helgi, but when he came in Valhall, then Odin bade him be lord of all things there, even as he; so Helgi sang —

HELGI:

Now shalt thou, Hunding

For the help of each man

Get ready the foot-bath,

And kindle²⁰ the fire;

The hounds shalt thou bind²¹

And give heed²² to the horses,

Give wash to the swine

Ere to sleep thou goest.

A bondmaid of Sigrun went in the evening-tide by Helgi’s mound²³, and there saw how Helgi rode toward it with a great company; then she sang —

BONDMAID:

It is vain things’ beguilling

That methinks I behold²⁴,

Or the ending of all things,

As ye ride, O ye dead men,

Smiting²⁵ with spurs

Your horses’ sides?

Or may dead warriors²⁶

Wend their ways homeward?

THE DEAD:

No vain things’ beguiling²⁸

Is that thou beholdest,

Nor the ruin of all things;

Though thou lookest upon us,

Though we smite²⁹ with spurs

Our horses’ sides;

Rather dead warriors

May wend their ways homeward.

Then went the bondmaid home, and told Sigrun, and sang —

BONDMAID:

Go out, Sigrun

From Sevafell,

If thou listest to look on

The lord of thy people!

For the mound is uncovered

Thither³⁰ is Helgi come,

And his wounds are bleeding,

But the king thee biddeth

To come and stay

That stream of sorrow.

So Sigrun went into the mound to Helgi, and sang —

SIGRUN:

Now am I as fain

Of this fair meeting,

As are the hungry

Hawks³¹ of Odin,

When they wot of the slaying

Of the yet warm quarry³³,

Or bright with dew

See the day a-dawning.

Ah, I will kiss

My king laid lifeless,

Ere thou castest by

Thy blood-stained byrny.

O Helgi, thy hair

Is thick with death’s rime³⁴,

With the dew of the dead

Is my love all dripping;

Dead-cold are the hands

Of the son of Hogni;

How for thee, O my king,

May I win healing?

HELGI:

Thou alone, Sigrun

Of Sevafell,

Hast so done that Helgi

With grief’s dew drippeth;

O clad in gold

Cruel tears thou weepest,

Bright May of the Southlands,

Or ever thou sleepest;

Each tear in blood falleth

On the breast of thy lord,

Cold wet and bitter-sharp

Swollen³⁶ with sorrow.

Ah, we shall drink

Dear draughts³⁸ and lovely,

Though, we have lost

Both life and lands;

Neither shall any

Sing song of sorrow,

Though in my breast

Be wounds wide to behold:

For now are brides

In the mound abiding³⁹;

Kings’ daughters sit

By us departed.

Bow Sigrun arrayed a bed in the mound, and sang —

SIGRUN:

Here, Helgi, for thee

A bed have I dight,

Kind without woe⁴¹,

O kin⁹ of the Ylfings!

To thy bosom⁴², O king,

Will I come and sleep soft,

As I was wont

When my lord was living.

HELGI:

Now will I call

Naught not to be hoped for

Early or late

At Sevafell,

When thou in the arms

Of a dead man art laid,

White maiden⁴³ of Hogni,

Here in the mound:

And thou yet quick,

O King’s daughter!

Now needs must I ride

On the reddening ways;

My pale horse must tread

The highway aloft;

West must I go

To Windhelm’s bridge

Ere the war-winning crowd

Hall-crower 56 waketh.

So Helgi rode his ways: and the others gat them gone home to the house. But the next night Sigrun bade the bondwoman have heed of the mound. So at nightfall, thenas Sigrun came to the mound, she sang:

SIGRUN:

Here now would he come,

If to come he were minded;

Sigmund’s offspring

From the halls of Odin.

O me the hope waneth

Of Helgi’s coming;

For high on the ash-boughs⁴⁵

Are the ernes abiding,

And all folk drift

Toward the Thing of the dreamland.

BONDMAID:

Be not foolish of heart,

And fare all alone

To the house of the dead,

O Hero’s daughter!

For more strong and dreadful

In the night season

Are all dead warriors

Than in the daylight.

But a little while lived Sigrun, because of her sorrow and trouble. But in old time folk trowed that men should be born again, though their troth be now deemed but an old wife’s dotting. And so, as folk say, Helgi and Sigrun were born again, and at that tide was he called Helgi the Scathe⁴⁸ of Hadding, and she Kara the daughter of Halfdan; and she was a Valkyrie, even as is said in the Lay of Kara.

53 Only that part of the song is given which completes the episodes of Helgi Hunding’s-bane; the earlier part of the song differs little from the Saga⁴⁹.

54 Hogni, the father of Dar and Sigrun, had been slain⁵⁰ by Helgi in battle, and Helgi had given peace to, and taken oaths of Dag.

55 One of the rivers of the under-world.

56 Hall-crower, “Salgofnir”: lit. Hall-gaper, the cock of Valhall.
Part of the Lay of Sigrdrifa 57

Now this is my first counsel,

That thou with thy kin

Be guiltless, guileless ever,

Nor hasty of wrath,

Despite of wrong done —

Unto the dead good that doeth.

Lo the second counsel,

That oath thou swearest never,

But trusty oath and true:

Grim tormenting⁵³

Gripes troth-breakers;

Cursed wretch⁵⁴ is the wolf of vows⁵⁵.

This is my third rede,

That thou at the Thing

Deal not with the fools of folk;

For unwise man

From mouth lets fall

Worser word than well he wotteth.

Yet hard it is

That holding of peace

When men shall deem thee dastard⁵⁶,

Or deem the lie said soothly;

But woeful is home-witness,

Unless right good thou gettest it.

Ah, on another day

Drive the life from out him,

And pay the liar⁵⁸ back for his lying.

Now behold the fourth rede:

If ill witch thee bideth,

Woe-begatting by the way,

Good going further

Rather than guesting,

Though thick night be on thee.

Far-seeing eyes

Need all sons of men

Who wend in wrath to war;

For baleful women

Bide⁵⁹ oft by the highway,

Swords and hearts to soften⁶⁰.

And now the fifth rede:

As fair as thou seest

Brides on the bench abiding,

Let not love’s silver

Rule over thy sleeping;

Draw no woman to kind kissing!

For the sixth thing, I rede

When men sit a-drinking

Amid ale-words and ill-words,

Dead thou naught

With the drunken fight-staves

For wine stealeth wit from many.

Brawling⁶² and drink

Have brought unto men

Sorrow sore oft enow;

Yea, bane unto some,

And to some weary bale;

Many are the griefs of mankind.

For the seventh, I rede thee,

If strife thou raisest

With a man right high of heart,

Better fight a-field

Than burn in the fire

Within thine hall fair to behold.

The eighth rede that I give thee:

Unto all ill look thou,

And hold thine heart from all beguiling;

Draw to thee no maiden,

No man’s wife bewray thou,

Urge them not unto unmeet pleasure.

This is the ninth counsel:

That thou have heed of dead folk

Whereso thou findest them a-field;

Be they sick-dead,

Be they sea-dead,

Or come to ending by war-weapons.

Let bath be made

For such men fordone,

Wash thou hands and feet thereof,

Comb their hair and dry them

Ere the coffin⁶³ has them;

Then bid them sleep full sweetly.

This for the tenth counsel:

That thou give trust never

Unto oaths of foeman’s kin,

Be’st thou bane of his brother,

Or hast thou felled his father;

Wolf in young son waxes,

Though he with gold be gladdened.

For wrong and hatred⁶⁴

Shall rest them never,

Nay⁶⁵, nor sore sorrow.

Both wit and weapons

Well must the king have

Who is fain to be the foremost.

The last rede and eleventh:

Until all ill look thou.

And watch thy friends’ ways ever

Scarce durst I look

For long life for thee, king:

Strong trouble ariseth now already.

57 This continues the first part of the lay given in Chapter XX of the Saga; and is, in fact, the original verse of Chapter xxi.
The Lay Called the Short Lay of Sigurd.

Sigurd of yore,

Sought the dwelling⁶⁶ of Giuki,

As he fared, the young Volsung,

After fight won;

Troth he took

From the two brethren;

Oath swore they betwixt them,

Those bold ones of deed.

A may they gave to him

And wealth manifold,

Gudrun the young,

Giuki’s daughter:

They drank and gave doom⁶⁷

Many days together,

Sigurd the young,

And the sons of Giuki.

Until they wended

For Brynhild’s wooing,

Sigurd a-riding

Amidst their rout⁶⁸;

The wise young Volsung

Who knew of all ways —

Ah! He had wed⁴ her,

Had fate so willed it.

Southlander Sigurd

A naked sword,

Bright, well grinded,

Laid betwixt them;

No kiss he won

From the fair woman,

Nor in arms of his

Did the Hun King hold her,

Since he gat the young maid

For the son of Giuki.

No lack in her life

She wotted of now,

And at her death-day

No dreadful thing

For a shame indeed

Or a shame in seeming;

But about and betwixt

Went baleful fate.

Alone, abroad,

She sat of an evening,

Of full many things

She fall a-talking:

“O for my Sigurd!

I shall have death,

Or my fair, my lovely,

Laid in mine arms.

“For the word once spoken,

I sorrow sorely —

His queen is Gudrun,

I am wed to Gunnar;

The dread⁴⁷ Norns wrought⁶⁹ for us

A long while of woe.”

Oft with heart deep

In dreadful thoughts,

O’er ice-fields and ice-hills

She fared a-night time,

When he and Gudrun

Were gone to their fair bed,

And Sigurd wrapped

The bed-gear round her.

“Ah! Now the Hun King

His queen in arms holdeth,

While love I go lacking,

And all things longed for

With no delight

But in dreadful thought.”

These dreadful things

Thrust her toward murder:

— “Listen, Gunnar,

For thou shalt lose

My wide lands,

Yea, me myself!

Never love I my life,

With thee for my lord —

“I will fare back thither

From whence I came,

To my nighest kin

And those that know me

There shall I sit

Sleeping my life away,

Unless thou slayest

Sigurd the Hun King,

Making thy might more

E’en than his might was!

“Yea, let the son fare

After the father,

And no young wolf

A long while nourish!

For on earth man lieth

Vengeance⁷⁰ lighter⁷¹,

And peace shall be surer

If the son live not.”

Adrad was Gunnar,

Heavy-hearted was he,

And in doubtful mood

Day-long he sat.

For naught he wotted,

Nor might see clearly

What was the seemliest

Of deeds to set hand to;

What of all deeds

Was best to be done:

For he minded the vows

Sworn to the Volsung,

And the sore wrong

To be wrought against Sigurd.

Wavered his mind

A weary while,

No wont it was

Of those days worn by,

That queens should flee

From the realms of their kings.

“Brynhild to me

Is better than all,

The child of Budli

Is the best of women.

Yea, and my life

Will I lay down,

Ere I am twinned

From that woman’s treasure.”

He bade call Hogni

To the place where he bided⁷²;

With all the trust that might be,

Trowed he in him.

“Wilt⁷³ thou bewray Sigurd

For his wealth’s sake?

Good it is to rule

O’er the Rhine’s metal;

And well content

Great wealth to wield⁷⁴,

Biding⁴⁰ in peace

And blissful days.”

One thing alone Hogni

Had for an answer:

“Such doings for us

Are naught seemly to do;

To rend⁷⁶ with sword

Oaths once sworn,

Oaths once sworn,

And troth once plighted⁷⁷.

“Nor know we on mould,

Men of happier days,

The while we four

Rule over the folk;

While the bold in battle,

The Hun King, bides⁷⁸ living.

“And no nobler kin

Shall be known afield,

If our five sons

We long may foster;

Yea, a goodly stem

Shall surely wax.

— But I clearly see

In what wise it standeth,

Brynhild’s sore urging

O’ermuch on thee beareth.

“Guttorm shall we

Get for the slaying,

Our younger brother

Bare of wisdom;

For he was out of

All the oaths sworn,

All the oaths sworn,

And the plighted troth.”

Easy to rouse him

Who of naught recketh!

— Deep stood the sword

In the heart of Sigurd.

There, in the hall,

Gat the high-hearted vengeance;

For he can his sword

At the reckless slayer⁷⁹:

Out at Guttorm

Flew Gram the mighty⁸⁰,

The gleaming steel

From Sigurd’s hand.

Down fell the slayer

Smitten⁸¹ asunder⁸²;

The heavy head

And the hands fell one way,

But the feet and such like

Aback where they stood.

Gudrun was sleeping

Soft in the bed,

Empty of sorrow

By the side of Sigurd:

When she awoke

With all pleasure gone,

Swimming in blood

Of Frey’s beloved.

So sore her hands

She smote⁸³ together,

That the great-hearted

Gat raised in bed;

— “O Gudrun, weep not

So woefully,

Sweet lovely bride,

For thy brethren live for thee!

“A young child have I

For heritor;

Too young to win forth⁸⁴

From the house of his foes. —

Black deeds and ill

Have they been a-doing,

Evil rede

Have they wrought at last.

“Late, late, rideth with them

Unto the Thing,

Such sister’s son,

Though seven thou bear, —

— But well I wot

Which way all goeth;

Alone wrought Brynhild

This bale against us.

“That maiden loved me

Far before all men,

Yet wrong to Gunnar

I never wrought;

Brotherhood⁸⁵ I heeded⁸⁶

And all bounden oaths,

That none should deem me

His queen’s darling.”

Weary sighed Gudrun,

As the king gat ending,

And so sore her hands

She smote together,

That the cups arow

Rang out therewith,

And the geese cried on high

That were in the homefield.

Then laughed Brynhild

Budli’s daughter,

Once, once only,

From out her heart;

When to her bed

Was borne the sound

Of the sore greeting

Of Giuki’s daughter.

Then, quoth Gunnar,

The king, the hawk³²-bearer,

“Whereas, thou laughest,

O hateful woman,

Glad on thy bed,

No good it betokeneth:

Why lackest thou else

Thy lovely hue⁸⁷?

Feeder of foul⁸⁸ deeds,

Fey do I deem thee,

“Well worthy⁸⁹ art thou

Before all women,

That thine eyes should see

Atli slain of us;

That thy brother’s wounds

Thou shouldest see a-bleeding,

That his bloody⁹⁰ hurts

Thine hands should bind.”

“No man blameth thee, Gunnar,

Thou hast fulfilled death’s measure

But naught Atli feareth

All thine ill will;

Life shall he lay down

Later than ye,

And still bear more might

Aloft than thy might.

“I shall tell thee, Gunnar,

Though well the tale thou knowest,

In what early days

Ye dealt abroad your wrong:

Young was I then,

Worn with no woe,

Good wealth I had

In the house of my brother!

“No mind had I

That a man should have me,

Or ever ye Giukings,

Rode into our garth;

There ye sat on your steeds

Three kings of the people —

— Ah! That that faring

Had never befallen!

“Then spake Atli

To me apart,

And said that no wealth

He would give unto me,

Neither gold nor lands

If I would not be wedded;

Nay, and no part

Of the wealth apportioned⁹¹,

Which in my first days

He gave me duly;

Which in my first days

He counted down.

“Wavered the mind

Within me then,

If to fight I should fall

And the felling of folk,

Bold in Byrny

Because of my brother;

A deed of fame

Had that been to all folk,

But to many a man

Sorrow of mind.

“So I let all sink

Into peace at the last:

More grew I minded

For the mighty treasure,

The red-shining rings

Of Sigmund’s son;

For no man’s wealth else

Would I take unto me.

“For myself had I given

To that great king

Who sat amid gold

On the back of Grani;

Nought⁹² were his eyes

Like to your eyen,

Nor in any wise

Went his visage with yours;

Though ye might deem you

Due kings of men.

“One I loved,

One, and none other,

The gold-decked may

Had no doubtful mind;

Thereof shall Atli

Wot full surely,

When he getteth to know

I am gone to the dead.

“Far be it from me,

Feeble and wavering,

Ever to love

Another’s love —

— Yes shall my woe

Be well avenged⁹³.”

Up rose Gunnar,

The great men’s leader,

And cast his arms

About the queen’s neck;

And all went nigh

One after other,

With their whole hearts

Her heart to turn.

But then all these

From her neck she thrust,

Of her long journey

No man should let her.

Then called he Hogni

To have talk with him;

“Let all folk go

Forth into the hall,

Thine with mine —

— O need sore and mighty! —

To wot if we yet

My wife’s parting may stay.

Till with time’s wearing

Some hindrance⁹⁴ wax.”

One answer Hogni

Had for all;

“Nay, let hard need

Have rule thereover,

And no man let her

Of her long journey!

Never born again,

May she come back thence!

“Luckless she came

To the lap of her mother,

Born into the world

For utter woe,

TO many a man

For heart-whole mourning.”

Upraised he turned

From the talk and the trouble,

To where the gem-field

Dealt out goodly treasure;

As she looked and beheld⁹⁵

All the wealth that she had,

And the hungry bondmaids,

And maids of the hall.

With no good in her heart

She donned her gold byrny,

Ere she thrust the sword point

Through the midst of her body:

On the boister’s far side

Sank she adown,

And, smitten with sword,

Still bethought her of redes.

“Let all come forth

Who are fain the red gold,

Or things less worthy

To win from my hands;

To each one I give

A necklace gilt⁹⁶ over,

Wrought hangings and bed=gear,

And bright woven weed.”

All they kept silence,

And thought what to speak,

Then all at once

Answer gave:

“Full enow are death-doomed⁹⁷,

Fain are we to live yet,

Maids of the hall

All meet work winning.”

“From her wise heart at last

The linen-clad damsel,

The one of few years

Gave forth the word:

“I will that none driven

By hand or by word,

For our sake should lose

Well-loved life.

“Thou on the bones of you

Surely shall burn,

Less dear treasure

At your departing

Nor with Menia’s Meal 58

Shall ye come to see me.”

“Sit thee down, Gunnar,

A word must I say to thee

Of the life’s ruin

Of thy lightsome bride —

— Nor shall thy ship

Swim soft and sweetly

For all that I

Lay life adown.

“Sooner than ye might deem

Shall ye make peace with Gudrun,

For the wise woman

Shall full in the young wife

The hard memory

Of her dead husband.

“There is a may born

Reared by her mother,

Whiter and brighter

Than is the bright day;

She shall be Swanhild,

She shall be Sunbeam.

“Thou shalt give Gudrun

Unto a great one,

Noble, well-praised

Of the world’s folk;

Not with her goodwill⁹⁸,

Or love shalt thou give her;

Yet will Atli

Come to win her,

My very brother,

Born of Budli.

— “Ah! Many a memory

Of how ye dealt with me,

How sorely, how evilly

Ye ever beguiled¹⁰⁰ me,

How all pleasure left me

The while my life lasted! —

“Fain wilt thou be

Oddrun to win,

But thy good liking¹⁰¹

Shall Atli let;

But in secret wise

Shall ye win together,

And she shall love thee

As I had loved thee,

If in such wise

Fare had willed it.

“But with all ill

Shall Atli sting thee,

Into the strait worm-close

Shall he cast thee.

“But no long space

Shall slip away

Ere Atli too

All life shall lose,

Yea, all his weal

With the life of his sons,

For a dreadful bed

Dights Gudrun for him,

From a heart sore laden¹⁰²,

With the sword’s sharp edge.

“More seemly for Gudrun,

Your very sister,

In death to wend after

Her love first wed;

Had but good rede

To her been given,

Or if her heart

Had been like to my heart.

— “Faint my speech groweth —

But for our sake

Ne’er shall she lose

Her life beloved;

The sea shall have her,

High billows bear her

Forth unto Jonakr’s

Fair land of his fathers.

“There shall she bear sons,

Stays of a heritage,

Stays of a heritage,

Jonakr’s sons;

And Swanhild shall she

Send from the land,

That may born of her,

The may born of Sigurd.

“Her shall bite

The rede of Bikki,

Whereas for no good

Wins Jormunrek life;

And so is clean perished

All the kin of Sigurd,

Yea, and more greeting,

And more for Gudrun.

“And now one prayer

Yet pray I of thee —

That last word of mine

Here in the world —

So broad on the field

Be the burg of the dead

That fair space may be left

For us all to lie down,

All those that died

At Sigurd’s death!

“Hang round that burg

Fair hangings and shields,

Web by Gauls woven,

And folk of the Gauls:

There burn the Hun King

Lying beside me.

“But on the other side

Burn by the Hun King

Those who served me

Strewn with treasure;

Two at the head,

And two at the feet,

Two hounds therewith,

And two hawks moreover:

Then is all dealt

With even dealing¹⁰³.

“Lay there amidst us

The right-dight metal,

The sharp-edged steel,

That so lay erst;

When we both together

Into one bed went,

And were called by the name

Of man and wife.

“Never, then, belike

Shall clash behind him

Valhall’s bright door

With rings bedight:

And if my fellowship

Followeth after,

In no wretched wise

Then shall we wend.

“For him shall follow

My five bondmaids,

My eight bondsmen,

No borel folk:

Yea, and my fosterer,

And my father’s dower

That Budli of old days

Gave to his dear child.

“Much have I spoken,

More would I speak,

If the sword would give me

Space for speech;

But my words are waning¹⁰⁴,

My wounds are swelling¹⁰⁵ —

Naught but truth have I told —

— And now make I ending.”

58 “Menia’s Maid” — periphrasis for gold.

THE HELL-RIDE OF BRYNHILD.

After the death of Brynhild were made two bales, one for Sigurd, and that was first burned; but Brynhild was burned on the other, and she was in a chariot hung about with goodly hangings.

And so folk say that Brynhild drave in her chariot down along the way to Hell, and passed by an abode¹⁰⁶ where dwelt a certain giantess, and the giantess spake:—

THE GIANT-WOMAN

“Nay, with my goodwill

Never goest thou

Through this stone-pillared

Stead of mine!

More seemly for thee

To sit sewing the cloth,

Than to go look on

The love of another.

“What dost thou, going

From the land of the Gauls,

O restless head,

To this mine house?

Golden girl, hast thou not,

If thou listest to hearken,

In sweet wise from thy hands

The blood of men washen?”

BRYNHILD

“Nay, blame me naught,

Bride of the rock-hall,

Though I roved a warring

In the days that were;

The higher of us twain

Shall I ever be holden

When of our kind

Men make account.”

THE GIANT-WOMAN

“Thou, O Brynhild,

Budli’s daughter,

Wert the worst ever born

Into the world;

For Giuki’s children

Death hast thou gotten,

And turned to destruction

Their goodly dwelling.”

BRYNHILD

“I shall tell thee

True tale from my chariot,

O thou who naught wottest,

If thou listest to wot;

How for me they have gotten

Those heirs of Giuki,

A loveless life,

A life of lies.

“Hild under helm,

The Hlymdale people,

E’en those who knew me,

Ever would call me.

“The changeful shapes

Of us eight sisters,

The wise king bade

Under oak-tree to bear;

Of twelve winters was I,

If thou listest to wot,

When I sware to the young lord

Oaths of love.

“Thereafter gat I

Mid⁶¹ the folk of the Goths,

For Helmgunnar the old,

Swift journey to Hell,

And gave to Aud’s brother

The young, gain and glory;

Whereof overwrath

Waxed Odin with me.

“So he shut me in shield-wall

In Skata grove,

Red shields and white

Close set around me;

And bade him alone

My slumber¹⁰⁷ to break

Who in no land

Knew how to fear.

“He set round my hall,

Toward the south quarter,

The Bane of all trees

Burning aloft;

And ruled that he only

Thereover should ride

Who should bring me the gold

O’er which Fafnir brooded.

“Then upon Grani rode

The goodly gold-strewer

To where my fosterer

Ruled his fair dwelling.

He who alone there

Was deemed best of all,

The War-lord of the Danes,

Well worthy of men.

“In peace did we sleep

Soft in one bed,

As though he had been

Naught but my brother:

There as we lay

Through eight nights wearing,

No hand in love

On each other we laid.

“Yet thence blamed me, Gudrun,

Giuki’s daughter,

That I had slept

In the arms of Sigurd;

And then I wotted

As I fain had not wotted,

That they had bewrayed me

In my betrothals.

“Ah! For unrest

All too long

Are men and women

Made alive!

Yet we twain together

Shall wear through the ages,

Sigurd and I. —

— Sink adown, O giant-wife!”

FRAGMENTS OF THE LAY OF BRYNHILD

HOGNI SAID:

“What hath wrought Sigurd

Of any wrong-doing

That the life of the famed one

Thou art fain of taking?”

GUNNAR SAID:

“To me has Sigurd

Sworn many oaths,

Sworn many oaths,

And sworn them lying,

And he bewrayed me

When it behoved him

Of all folk to his troth

To be the most trusty.”

HOGNI SAID:

“Thee hath Brynhild

Unto all bale,

And all hate whetted¹⁰⁸,

And a work of sorrow;

For she grudges¹⁰⁹ to Gudrun

All goodly life;

And to thee the bliss⁷⁵

Of her very body.”
*******

Some the wolf roasted,

Some minced¹¹⁰ the worm,

Some unto Guttorm

Gave the wolf-meat,

Or ever they might

In their lust¹¹¹ for murder

On the high king

Lay deadly hand.

Sigurd lay slain

On the south of the Rhine

High from the fair tree

Croaked¹¹² forth the raven¹¹³,

“Ah, yet shall Atli

On you redden edges,

The old oaths shall weigh

On your souls, O warriors.”

Without stood Gudrun,

Giuki’s daughter,

And the first word she said

Was even this word:

“Where then is Sigurd,

Lord of the Warfolk,

Since my kin

Come riding the foremost?

One word Hogni

Had for an answer:

“Our swords have smitten

Sigurd asunder,

And the grey horse hangs drooping¹¹⁴

O’er his lord lying dead.”

Then quoth Brynhild,

Budli’s daughter;

“Good weal shall ye have

Of weapons and lands,

That Sigurd alone

Would surely have ruled

If he had lived

But a little longer.

“Ah, nothing seemly

For Sigurd to rule

Giuki’s house

And the folk of the Goths,

When of him five sons

For the slaying of men,

Eager for battle,

Should have been begotten¹¹⁵!”

Then laughed Brynhild —

Loud rang the whole house —

One laugh only

From out her heart:

“Long shall your bliss be

Of lands and people,

Whereas the famed lord

You have felled to the earth!”

Then spake Gudrun,

Giuki’s daughter;

“Much thou speakest,

Many things fearful,

All grame be on Gunnar

The bane of Sigurd!

From a heart full of hate

Shall come heavy vengeance.”

Forth sped the even

Enow there was drunken,

Full enow was there

Of all soft speech;

And all men got sleep

When to bed they were gotten;

Gunnar only lay waking

Long after all men.

His feet fell he to moving,

Fell to speak to himself

The waster of men,

Still turned in his mind

What on the bough⁴⁶

Those twain would be saying,

The raven and erne,

As they rode their ways homeward.

But Brynhild awoke,

Budli’s daughter,

May of the shield-folk,

A little ere morning:

“Thrust ye on, hold ye back,

— Now all harm is wrought, —

To tell of my sorrow,

Or to let all slip by me?”

All kept silence

After her speaking,

None might know

That woman’s mind,

Or why she must weep

To tell of the work

That laughing once

Of men she prayed.

BRYNHILD SPAKE:

“In dreams, O Gunnar,

Grim things fell on me;

Dead-cold the hall was,

And my bed was a-cold,

And thou, lord, wert riding

Reft of all bliss,

Laden with fetters¹¹⁶

‘Mid the host of thy foemen.”

“So now all ye,

O House of the Niblungs,

Shall be brought to naught,

O ye oath-breakers!

“Think’st thou not, Gunnar,

How that betid,

When ye let the blood run

Both in one footstep?

With ill reward

Hast thou rewarded

His heart so fain

To be the foremost!

“As well was seen

When he rode his ways,

That king of all worth,

Unto my wooing;

How the host-destroyer

Held to the vows

Sworn beforetime,

Sworn to the young king.

“For his wounding-wand

All wrought with gold,

The king beloved

Laid between us;

Without were its edges

Wrought with fire,

But with venom¹¹⁷-drops

Deep dyed within.”

Thus this song telleth of the death of Sigurd, and setteth forth how that they slew¹¹⁸ him without doors; but some say that they slew him within doors, sleeping in his bed. But the Dutch Folk say that they slew him out in the wood: and so sayeth the ancient song of Gudrun, that Sigurd and the sons of Giuki were riding to the Thing whenas he was slain. But all with one accord say that they bewrayed him in their troth with him, and fell on him as he lay unarrayed and unawares.

THE SECOND OR ANCIENT LAY OF GUDRUN.

Thiodrek the King was in Atli’s house, and had lost there the more part of his men: so there Thiodrek and Gudrun bewailed their troubles one to the other, and she spake and said:—

A may of all mays

My mother reared me

Bright in bower¹²¹;

Well loved I my brethren,

Until that Giuki

With gold arrayed me,

With gold arrayed me,

And gave me to Sigurd.

Such was my Sigurd,

Among the sons of Giuki

As is the green leek¹²²

O’er the low grass waxen,

Or a hart high-limbed

Over hurrying deer,

Or glede-red gold

Over grey silver.

Till me they begrudged¹²³,

Those my brethren,

The fate to have him,

Who was first of all men;

Nor might they sleep,

Nor sit a-dooming,

Ere they let slay¹²

My well-loved Sigurd.

Grani ran to the Thing,

There was clatter¹²⁴ to hear,

But never came Sigurd

Himself thereunto;

All the saddle-girt beasts

With blood were besprinkled,

As faint with the way

Neath the slayers they went.

Then greeting I went

With Grani to talk,

And with tear-furrowed cheeks

I bade him tell all;

But drooping laid Grani,

His head in the grass,

For the steed well wotted

Of his master’s slaying.

A long while I wandered,

Long my mind wavered,

Ere the kings I might ask

Concerning my king.

Then Gunnar hung head,

But Hogni told

Of the cruel slaying

Of my Sigurd:

“On the water’s far side

Lies, smitten to death,

The bane of Guttorm

To the wolves given over.

“Go, look on Sigurd,

On the ways that go southward,

There shalt thou hear

The ernes high screaming,

The ravens¹²⁵ a-croaking

As their meat they crave¹²⁶ for;

Thou shalt hear the wolves howling

Over thine husband.

“How hast thou, Hogni,

The heart to tell me,

Me of joy made empty,

Of such misery¹²⁷?

Thy wretched heart

May the ravens tear

Wide over the world,

With no men mayst thou wend.”

One thing Hogni

Had for answer,

Fallen from his high heart,

Full of all trouble:

“More greeting yet,

O Gudrun, for thee,

If my heart the ravens

Should rend asunder!”

Thence I turned

From the talk and the trouble

To go a leasing 59

What the wolves had left me;

No sigh I made

No smote hands together,

Nor did I wail¹²⁰

As other women

When I sat over

My Sigurd slain.

Night methought it,

And the moonless dark,

When I sat in sorrow

Over Sigurd;

Better than all things

I deemed it would be

If they would let me

Cast my life by,

Or burn me up

As they burn the birch-wood.

From the fell I wandered

Five days together,

Until the high hall

Of Half lay before me;

Seven seasons there

I sat with Thora,

The daughter of Hacon,

Up in Denmark.

My heart to gladden

With gold she wrought

Southland halls

And swans of the Dane-folk;

There had we painted

The chiefs a-playing;

Fair our hands wrought

Folk of the kings.

Red shields we did,

Doughty¹²⁸ knights¹²⁹ of the Huns,

Hosts spear-dight, hosts helm-dight,

All a high king’s fellows;

And the ships of Sigmund

From the land swift sailing;

Heads gilt over

And prows¹³⁰ fair graven.

On the cloth we broidered

That tide of their battling,

Siggeir and Siggar,

South in Fion.

Then heard Grimhild,

The Queen of Gothland,

How I was abiding,

Weighed down with woe;

And she thrust the cloth from her

And called to her sons,

And oft and eagerly

Asked them thereof,

Who for her son

Would their sister atone¹³¹,

Who for her lord slain

Would lay down weregild.

Fain was Gunnar

Gold to lay down

All wrongs to atone for,

And Hogni in likewise;

Then she asked who was fain

Of faring straightly,

The steed to saddle

To set forth the wain,

The horse to back,

And the hawk to fly,

To shoot forth the arrow

From out the yew-bow.

Valdarr the Dane-king

Came with Jarisleif

Eymod the third went

Then went Jarizskar;

In kingly wise

In they wended,

The host of the Longbeards;

Red cloaks had they,

Byrnies short-cut,

Helms strong hammered,

Girt with glaives,

And hair red-gleaming.

Each would give me

Gifts desired,

Gifts desired,

Speech dear to my heart,

If they might yet,

Despite my sorrow,

Win back my trust,

But in them nought I trusted.

Then brought me Grimhild

A beaker to drink of,

Cold and bitter,

Wrong’s memory to quench¹³²;

Made great was that drink

With the might of the earth,

With the death-cold sea

And the blood that Son 60 holdeth.

On that horn’s face were there

All the kin of letters

Cut aright and reddened,

How should I rede them rightly?

The ling-fish long

Of the land of Hadding,

Wheat-ears unshorn,

And wild things’ inwards.

In that mead¹³³ were mingled¹³⁴

Many ills together,

Blood of all the wood,

And brown-burnt acorns¹³⁵;

The black dew of the hearth¹³⁷, 61

And god-doomed dead beasts’ inwards

And the swine’s liver sodden¹³⁸,

For wrongs late done that deadens.

Then waned¹³⁹ my memory

When that was within me,

Of my lord ‘mid the hall

By the iron laid low.

Three kings came

Before my knees

Ere she herself

Fell to speech with me.

“I will give to thee, Gudrun,

Gold to be glad with,

All the great wealth

Of thy father gone from us,

Rings of red gold

And the great hall of Lodver,

And all fair hangings left

By the king late fallen.

“Maids of the Huns

Woven pictures to make,

And work fair in gold

Till thou deem’st thyself glad.

Alone shalt thou rule

O’er the riches of Budli,

Shalt be made great with gold,

And be given to Atli.”

“Never will I

Wend to a husband,

Or wed the brother

Of Queen Brynhild;

Naught it beseems me

With the son of Budli

Kin to bring forth,

Or to live and be merry.”

“Nay, the high chiefs

Reward not with hatred,

For take heed that I

Was the first in this tale!

To thy heart shall it be

As if both these had life,

Sigurd and Sigmund,

When thou hast borne sons.”

“Naught may I, Grimhild,

Seek after gladness,

Nor deem aught hopeful

Of any high warrior²⁷,

Since wolf and raven

Were friends together,

The greedy, the cruel,

O’er great Sigurd’s heart-blood.”

“Of all men that can be

For the noblest of kin

This king have I found,

And the foremost of all;

Him shalt thou have

Till with eld thou art heavy —

Be thou ever unwed,

If thou wilt naught of him!”

“Nay, nay, bid me not

With thy words long abiding

To take unto me

That balefullest kin;

This king shall bid Gunnar

Be stung to his bane,

And shall cut the heart

From out of Hogni.

“Nor shall I leave life

Ere the keen lord,

The eager in sword-play,

My hand shall make end of.”

Grimhild a-weeping

Took up the word then,

When the sore bale she wotted

Awaiting her sons,

And the bane hanging over

Her offspring beloved.

“I will give thee, moreover,

Great lands, many men,

Wineberg and Valberg,

If thou wilt but have them;

Hold them lifelong,

And live happy, O daughter!”

“Then him must I take

From among kingly men,

‘Gainst my heart’s desire,

From the hands of my kinsfolk;

But no joy I look

To have from that lord:

Scarce may my brother’s bane

Be a shield to my sons.”

Soon was each warrior

Seen on his horse,

But the Gaulish women

Into wains were gotten;

Then seven days long

O’er a cold land we rode,

And for seven other

Clove¹⁴⁰ we the sea-waves.

But with the third seven

O’er dry land we wended.

There the gate-wardens¹⁴¹

Of the burg, high and wide,

Unlooked the barriers

Ere the burg-garth we rode to —
*****
*****

Atli woke me

When meseemed I was

Full evil of heart

For my kin dead slain.

“In such wise did the Norns

Wake me or now.” —

Fain was he to know

Of this ill foreshowing —

“That methought, O Gudrun,

Giuki’s daughter,

That thou setst in my heart

A sword wrought for guile⁵¹.”

“For fires tokening I deem it

That dreaming of iron,

But for pride and for lust

The wrath of fair women

Against some bale

Belike, I shall burn thee

For thy solace¹⁴² and healing

Though hateful thou art.”

“In the fair garth methought

Had saplings fallen

E’en such as I would

Should have waxen ever;

Uprooted¹⁴³ were these,

And reddened with blood,

And borne to the bench,

And folk bade me eat of them.

“Methought from my hand then

Went hawks a-flying

Lacking their meat

To the land of all ill;

Methought that their hearts

Mingled with honey,

Swollen with blood

I ate amid sorrow.

“Lo, next two whelps

From my hands I loosened,

Joyless were both,

And both a-howling;

And now their flesh

Became naught but corpses,

Whereof must I eat

But sore against my will.”

“O’er the prey¹⁴⁴ of the fishers

Will folk give doom;

From the bright white fish

The heads will they take;

Within a few nights,

Fey as they are,

A little ere day

Of that draught³⁷ will they eat.”

“Ne’er since lay I down,

Ne’er since would I sleep,

Hard of heart, in my bed:—

That deed have I to do. 62

59 The original has “a vid lesa”. “Leasing” is the word still used for gleaning¹⁴⁵ in many country sides in England.

60 Son was the vessel¹⁴⁶ into which was poured the blood of Quasir, the God of Poetry.

61 This means soot⁵⁷.

62 The whole of this latter part is fragmentary and obscure; there seems wanting to two of the dreams some trivial interpretation¹⁴⁷ by Gudrun, like those given by Hogni to Kostbera in the Saga, of which nature, of course, the interpretation contained in the last stanza¹⁴⁸ but one is, as we have rendered it: another rendering¹⁴⁹, from the different reading of the earlier edition of “Edda” (Copenhagen, 1818) would make this refer much more directly to the slaying of her sons by Gudrun.

THE SONG OF ATLI.

Gudrun, Giuki’s daughter, avenger¹⁵⁰ her brethren, as is told far and wide; first she slew the sons of Atli, and then Atli himself; and she burned the hall thereafter, and all the household with it: and about these matters is this song made:—

In days long gone

Sent Atli to Gunnar

A crafty¹⁵¹ one riding,

Knefrud men called him;

To Giuki’s garth came he,

To the hall of Gunnar,

To the benches gay-dight,

And the gladsome drinking.

There drank the great folk

‘Mid the guileful¹⁵² one’s silence,

Drank wine in their fair hall:

The Huns’ wrath they feared

When Knefrud cried

In his cold voice,

As he sat on the high seat,

That man of the Southland:

“Atli has sent me

Riding swift on his errands

On the bit-griping steed

Through dark woodways unbeaten,

To bid thee, King Gunnar,

Come to his fair bench

With helm well-adorned,

To the house of King Atli.

“Shield shall ye have there

And spears ashen-shafted,

Helms ruddy with gold,

And hosts of the Huns;

Saddle-gear silver gilt,

Shirts red as blood,

The hedge of the warwife,

And horses bit-griping.

“And he saith he will give you

Gnitaheath widespread,

And whistling spears

And prows well-gilded¹⁵³,

Might wealth

With the stead of Danpi,

And that noble wood

Men name the Murkwood.”

Then Gunnar turned head

And spake unto Hogni:

“What rede from thee, high one,

Since such things we hear?

No gold know I

On Gnitaheath,

That we for our parts

Have not portion as great.

“Seven halls we have

Fulfilled of swords,

And hilts of gold

Each sword there has;

My horse is the best,

My blade is the keenest;

Fair my bow o’er the bench is,

Gleams my byrny with gold;

Brightest helm, brightest shield,

From Kiar’s dwelling ere brought —

Better all things I have

Than all things of the Huns.”

HOGNI SAID:

“What mind has our sister

That a ring she hath sent us

In weed of wolves clad?

Bids she not to be wary¹⁵⁴?

For a wolf’s hair I found

The fair ring wreathed about;

Wolf beset¹⁵⁵ shall the way be

If we wend on this errand.”

No sons whetted Gunnar,

Nor none of his kin,

Nor learned men nor wise men,

Nor such as were mighty.

Then spake Gunnar

E’en as a king should speak,

Glorious in mead-hall

From great heart and high:

“Rise up now, Fiornir,

Forth down the benches

Let the gold-cups of great ones

Pass in hands of my good-men!

Well shall we drink wine,

Draughts dear to our hearts,

Though the last of all feasts

In our fair house this be!

“For the wolves shall rule

O’er the wealth of the Niblungs,

With the pine-woods’ wardens

In Gunnar perish:

And the black-felled bears

With fierce teeth shall bite

For the glee of the dog kind,

If again comes not Gunnar.”

Then good men never shamed,

Greeting aloud,

Led the great king of men

From the garth of his home;

And cried the fair son

Of Hogni the king:

“Fare happy, O Lords,

Whereso your hearts lead you!”

Then the bold knights

Let their bit-griping steeds

Wend swift o’er the fells,

Tread the murk-wood unknown,

All the Hunwood was shaking

As the hardy¹⁵⁶ ones fared there;

O’er the green meads they urged

Their steeds shy of the goad¹⁵⁷.

Then Atli’s land saw they;

Great towers and strong,

And the bold men of Bikki,

Aloft on the burg:

The Southland folks’ hall

Set with benches about,

Dight with bucklers well bounden,

And bright white shining shields.

There drank Atli,

The awful Hun king,

Wine in his fair hall;

Without were the warders,

Gunnar’s folk to have heed of,

Lest they had fared thither

With the whistling spear

War to wake ‘gainst the king.

But first came their sister

As they came to the hall,

Both her brethren she met,

With beer little gladdened:

“Bewrayed art thou, Gunnar!

What dost thou great king

To deal war to the Huns?

Go thou swift from the hall!

Better, brother, hadst thou

Fared here in thy byrny

Than with helm gaily¹⁵⁸ dight

Looked on Atli’s great house:

Them hadst sat then in saddle

Through days bright with the sun

Fight to awaken¹⁵⁹

And fair fields to redden:

“O’er the folk fate makes pale

Should the Norn’s tears have fallen,

The shield mays of the Huns

Should have known of all sorrow;

And King Atli himself

To worm-close should be brought;

But now is the worm-close

Kept but for thee.”

Then spake Gunnar

Great ‘mid the people:

“Over-late sister

The Niblungs to summon;

A long way to seek

The helping¹⁶⁰ of warriors,

The high lord unshamed,

From the hills of the Rhine!”
*****
*****

Seven Hogni beat down

With his sword sharp-grinded,

And the eighth man he thrust

Amidst of the fire.

Ever so shall famed warrior

Fight with his foemen,

As Hogni fought

For the hand of Gunnar.

But on Gunnar they fell,

And set him in fetters,

And bound hard and fast

That friend of Burgundians;

Then the warrior they asked

If he would buy life,

But life with gold

That king of the Goths.

Nobly spake Gunnar,

Great lord of the Niblungs;

“Hogni’s bleeding heart first

Shall lie in mine hand,

Cut from the breast

Of the bold-riding lord,

With bitter-sharp knife

From the son of the king.”

With guile the great one

Would they beguile⁹⁹,

On the wailing¹⁶¹ thrall¹⁶²

Laid they hand unwares,

And cut the heart

From out of Hjalli,

Laid it bleeding on trencher

And bare it to Gunnar.

“Here have I the heart

Of Hjalli the trembler,

Little like the heart

Of Hogni the hardy:

As much as it trembleth

Laid on the trencher

By the half more it trembled

In the breast of him hidden.”

Then laughed Hogni

When they cut the heart from him,

From the crest-smith yet quick,

Little thought he to quail¹⁶³.

The hard acorn¹³⁶ of thought

From the high king they took,

Laid it bleeding on trencher

And bare it Gunnar.

“Here have I the heart

Of Hogni the hardy,

Little like to the heart

Of Hjalli the trembler.

Howso little it quaketh

Laid here on the dish,

Yet far less it quaked

In the breast of him laid.

“So far mayst thou bide

From men’s eyen, O Atli,

As from that treasure

Thou shalt abide¹⁶⁴!

“Behold in my heart

Is hidden for ever

That hoard¹⁶⁵ of the Niblungs,

Now Hogni is dead.

Doubt threw me two ways

While the twain of us lived,

But all that is gone

Now I live on alone.

“The great Rhine shall rule

O’er the hate-raising treasure,

That gold of the Niblungs,

The seed of the gods:

In the weltering water

Shall that wealth lie a-gleaming,

Or it shine on the hands

Of the children of Huns!”

Then cried Atli,

King of the Hun-folk,

“Drive forth your wains now

The slave is fast bounden.”

And straightly thence

The bit-shaking steeds

Drew the hoard-warden,

The war-god to his death.

Atli the great king,

Rode upon Glaum,

With shields set round about,

And sharp thorns of battle:

Gudrun, bound by wedlock¹⁶⁶

To these, victory made gods of,

Held back her tears

As the hall she ran into.

“Let it fare with thee, Atli,

E’en after thine oaths sworn

To Gunnar fell often;

Yea, oaths sworn of old time,

By the sun sloping southward,

By the high burg of Sigry,

By the fair bed of rest,

By the red ring of Ull!”

Now a host of men

Cast the high king alive

Into a close

Crept o’er within

With most foul worms,

Fulfilled of all venom,

Ready grave to dig

In his doughty heart.

Wrathful-hearted he smote

The harp³⁵ with his hand,

Gunnar laid there alone;

And loud rang the strings¹⁶⁷. —

In such wise ever

Should hardy ring-scatterer

Keep gold from all folk

In the garth of his foeman.

Then Atli would wend

About his wide land,

On his steed brazen¹⁶⁸ shod,

Back from the murder.

Din³ there was in the garth,

All thronged¹⁶⁹ with the horses;

High the weapon-song rose

From men come from the heath.

Out then went Gudrun,

‘Gainst Atli returning,

With a cup gilded over,

To greet the land’s ruler;

“Come, then, and take it,

King glad in thine hall,

From Gudrun’s hands,

For the hell-farers groan¹⁷⁰ not!”

Clashed the beakers of Atli,

Wine-laden on bench,

As in hall there a-gathered,

The Huns fell a-talking,

And the long-bearded eager ones

Entered therein,

From a murk den⁴⁴ new-come,

From the murder of Gunnar.

Then hastened the sweet-faced

Delight of the shield-folk,

Bright in the fair hall,

Wine to bear to them:

The dreadful woman

Gave dainties withal

To the lords pale with fate,

Laid strange word upon Atli:

“The hearts of thy sons

Hast thou eaten, sword-dealer,

All bloody with death

And drenched¹⁷¹ with honey:

In most heavy mood

Brood o’er venison of men!

Drink rich draughts therewith,

Down the high benches send it!

“Never callest thou now

From henceforth to thy knee

Fair Erp or fair Eiril,

Bright-faced with the drink;

Never seest thou them now

Amidmost the seat,

Scattering¹⁷² the gold,

Or shafting¹⁷³ of spears;

Manes trimming duly,

Or driving steeds forth!”

Din arose from the benches,

Dread song of men was there,

Noise ‘mid the fair hangings,

As all Hun’s children wept;

All saving Gudrun,

Who never gat greeting,

For her brethren bear-hardy

For her sweet sons and bright,

The young ones, the simple

Once gotten with Atli.
*****
*****

The seed of gold

Sowed the swan-bright woman,

Rings of red gold

She gave to the house-carls;

Fate let she wax,

Let the bright gold flow forth,

In naught spared that woman

The store-houses’ wealth.

Atli unaware¹¹⁹

Was a-weary with drink;

No weapon had he,

No heeding¹⁷⁴ of Gudrun —

Ah, the pity would be better,

When in soft wise they twain

Would full often embrace

Before the great lords!

To the bed with sword-point

Blood gave she to drink

With a hand fain of death,

And she let the dogs loose:

Then in from the hall-door —

— Up waked the house-carls —

Hot brands she cast,

Gat revenge for her brethren.

To the flame gave she all

Who therein might be found;

Fell adown the old timbers,

Reeked¹⁷⁵ all treasure-houses;

There the shield-mays were burnt,

Their lives’ span brought to naught;

In the fierce fire sank down

All the stead of the Budlungs.

Wide told of is this —

Ne’er sithence in the world,

Thus fared bride clad in byrny

For her brothers’ avenging¹⁷⁶;

For behold, this fair woman

To three kings of the people,

Hath brought very death

Or ever she died!

THE WHETTING¹⁷⁷ OF GUDRUN.

Gudrun went down unto the sea whenas she had slain Atli, and she cast herself therein, for she was fain to end her life: but nowise might she drown. She drave over the firths to the land of King Jonakr, and he wedded her, and their sons were Sorli, and Erp, and Hamdir, and there was Swanhild, Sigurd’s daughter, nourished: and she was given to Jormunrek the Mighty. Now Bikki was a man of his, and gave such counsel to Randver, the king’s son, as that he should take her; and with that counsel were the young folk well content.

Then Bikki told the king, and the king let hang Randver, but bade Swanhild be trodden under horses’ feet. But when Gudrun heard thereof, she spake to her sons —

Words of strife heard I,

Huger than any,

Woeful words spoken,

Sprung from all sorrow,

When Gudrun fierce-hearted

With the grimmest of words

Whetter her sons

Unto the slaying.

“Why are ye sitting here?

Why sleep ye life away?

Why doth it grieve you nought?

Glad words to speak,

Now when your sister —

Young of years was she —

Has Jormunrek trodden

With the treading of horses? —

“Black horses and white

In the highway of warriors;

Grey horses that know

The roads of the Goths. —

“Little like are ye grown

To that Gunnar of old days!

Nought are your hearts

As the heart of Hogni!

Well would ye seek

Vengeance to win

If your mood were in aught

As the mood of my brethren,

Or the hardy hearts

Of the Kings of the Huns!”

Then spake Hamdir,

The high-hearted —

“Little didst thou

Praise Hogni’s doings,

When Sigurd woke

From out of sleep,

And the blue-white bed-gear

Upon thy bed

Grew red with man’s blood —

With the blood of thy mate!

“Too baleful vengeance

Wroughtest thou for thy brethren

Most sore and evil

When thy sons thou slewedst,

Else all we together

On Jormunrek

Had wrought sore vengeance

For that our sister.

“Come, bring forth quickly

The Hun kings’ bright gear,

Since thou has urged us

Unto the sword-Thing!”

Laughing went Gudrun

To the bower of good gear,

Kings’ crested¹⁷⁸ helms

From chests she drew,

And wide-wrought byrnies

Bore to her sons:

Then on their horses

Load laid the heroes.

Then spake Hamdir,

The high-hearted —

“Never cometh again

His mother to see

The spear-god laid low

In the land of the Goths.

That one arvel mayst thou

For all of us drink,

For sister Swanhild,

And us thy sons.”

Greeted Gudrun

Giuki’s daughter;

Sorrowing she went

In the forecourt to sit,

That she might tell,

With cheeks tear-furrowed,

Her weary wail

In many a wise.

“Three fires I knew,

Three hearths¹⁷⁹ I knew,

To three husbands’ houses

Have I been carried;

And better than all

Had been Sigurd alone,

He whom my brethren

Brought to his bane.

“Such sore grief as that

Methought never should be,

Yet more indeed

Was left for my torment⁵²

Then, when the great ones

Gave me to Atli.

“My fair bright boys

I bade unto speech,

Nor yet might I win

Weregild for my bale,

Ere I had hewn off

Those Niblungs’ heads.

“To the sea-strand I went

With the Norns sorely wroth,

For I would thrust from me

The storm of their torment;

But the high billows

Would not drown, but bore me

Forth, till I stepped a-land

Longer to live.

“Then I went a-bed —

— Ah, better in the old days,

This was the third time! —

To a king of the people;

Offspring I brought forth,

Props¹⁸⁰ of a fair house,

Props of a fair house,

Jonakr’s fair sons.

“But around Swanhild

Bond-maidens¹⁸¹ sat,

Her, that of all mine

Most to my heart was;

Such was my Swanhild,

In my hall’s midmost,

As is the sunbeam

Fair to beheld.

“In gold I arrayed her,

And goodly raiment,

Or ever I gave her

To the folk of the Goths.

That was the hardest

Of my heavy woes¹⁸²,

When the bright hair, —

O the bright hair of Swanhild! —

In the mire¹⁸³ was trodden

By the treading of horses.

“This was the sorest,

When my love, my Sigurd,

Reft of glory

In his bed gat ending:

But this the grimmest

When glittering worms

Tore their way

Through the heart of Gunnar.

“But this the keenest

When they cut to the quick

Of the hardy heart

Of the unfeared Hogni.

Of much of bale I mind me,

Of many griefs I mind me;

Why should I sit abiding

Yet more bale and more?

“Thy coal-black horse,

O Sigurd, bridle¹⁸⁴,

The swift on the highway!

O let him speed hither!

Here sitteth no longer

Son or daughter,

More good gifts

To give to Gudrun!

“Mindst thou not, Sigurd,

Of the speech betwixt us,

When on one bed

We both sat together,

O my great king —

That thou wouldst come to me

E’en from the hall of Hell,

I to thee from the fair earth?

“Pile high, O earls

The oaken pile,

Let it be the highest

That ever queen had!

Let the fire burn swift,

My breast with woe laden,

And thaw¹⁸⁵ all my heart,

Hard, heavy with sorrow!”

Now may all earls

Be bettered in mind,

May the grief of all maidens

Ever be minished,

For this tale of sorrow

So told to its ending.

THE LAY OF HAMDIR

Great deeds of bale

In the garth began,

At the sad dawning

The tide of Elves’ sorrow

When day is a-waxing

And man’s grief awaketh,

And the sorrow of each one

The early day quickeneth.

Not now, not now,

Nor yesterday,

But long ago

Has that day worn by,

That ancientest time,

The first time to tell of,

Then, whenas Gudrun,

Born of Giuki,

Whetter her sons

To Swanhild’s avenging.

“Your sister’s name

Was naught but Swanhild,

Whom Jormunrek

With horses has trodden! —

White horses and black

On the war-beaten way,

Grey horses that go

On the roads of the Goths.

“All alone am I now

As in holt is the aspen;

As the fir-tree of boughs,

So of kin am I bare;

As bare of things longed for

As the willow¹⁸⁶ of leaves

When the bough-breaking wind

The warm day endeth.

“Few, sad, are ye left

O kings of my folk!

Yet alone living

Last shreds¹⁸⁷ of my kin!

“Ah, naught are ye grown

As that Gunnar of old days;

Naught are your hearts

As the heart of Hogni!

Well would ye seek

Vengeance to win

If your hearts were in aught

As the hearts of my brethren!”

Then spake Hamdir

The high-hearted:

“Nought hadst thou to praise

The doings of Hogni,

When they woke up Sigurd

From out of slumber,

And in bed thou sat’st up

‘Mid the banes-men’s laughter.

“Then when thy bed=gear,

Blue-white, well woven

By art of craftsmen¹⁸⁸

All swam with thy king’s blood;

The Sigurd died,

O’er his dead corpse¹³ thou sattest,

Not heeding aught gladsome,

Since Gunnar so willed it.

“Great grief for Atli

Gatst thou by Erp’s murder,

And the end of thine Eitil,

But worse grief for thyself.

Good to use sword

For the slaying of others

In such wise that its edge

Shall not turn on ourselves!”

Then well spake Sorli

From a heart full of wisdom:

“No words will I

Make with my mother,

Though both ye twain

Need words belike —

What askest thou, Gudrun,

To let thee go greeting?

“Weep for thy brethren,

Weep for thy sweet sons,

And thy nighest kinsfolk

Laid by the fight-side!

Yea, and thou Gudrun,

May’st greet for us twain

Sitting fey on our steeds

Doomed in far lands to die.”

From the garth forth they went

With hearts full of fury,

Sorli and Hamdir,

The sons of Gudrun,

And they met on the way

The wise in all wiles¹⁸⁹:

“And thou little Erp,

What helping from thee?”

He of alien womb

Spake out in such wise:

“Good help for my kin,

Such as foot gives to foot,

Or flesh-covered hand

Gives unto hand!”

“What helping for foot

That help that foot giveth,

Or for flesh-covered hand

The helping of hand?”

Then spake Erp

Yet once again

Mock spake the prince

As he sat on his steed:

“Fool’s deed to show

The way to a dastard!”

“Bold beyond measure,”

Quoth they, “is the base-born!”

Out from the sheath

Drew they the sheath-steel,

And the glaives’ edges played

For the pleasure of hell;

By the third part they minished

The might that they had,

Their young kin they let lie

A-cold on the earth.

Then their fur-cloaks they shook

And bound fast their swords,

In webs goodly woven

Those great ones were clad;

Young they went o’er the fells

Where the dew was new-fallen

Swift, on steeds of the Huns,

Heavy vengeance to wreak¹⁹⁰.

Forth stretched the ways,

And an ill way they found,

Yea, their sister’s son 63

Hanging slain upon tree —

Wolf-trees by the wind made cold

At the town’s westward¹⁹¹

Loud with cranes’ clatter —

Ill abiding there long!

Din in the king’s hall

Of men merry with drink,

And none might hearken

The horses’ tramping

Or ever the warders

Their great horn winded.

Then men went forth

To Jormunrek

To tell of the heeding

Of men under helm:

“Give ye good counsel!

Great ones are come hither,

For the wrong of men mighty

Was the may to death trodden.”

“Loud Jormunrek laughed,

And laid hand to his beard,

Nor bade bring his byrny,

But with the wine fighting,

Shook his red locks,

On his white shield sat staring,

And in his hand

Swung the gold cup on high.

“Sweet sight for me

Those twain to set eyes on,

Sorli and Hamdir,

Here in my hall!

Then with bowstrings

Would I bind them,

And hang the good Giukings

Aloft on the gallows¹⁹²!”
*****
*****

Then spake Hrothglod

From off the high steps,

Spake the slim-fingered

Unto her son, —

— For a threat was cast forth

Of what ne’er should fall —

“Shall two men alone

Two hundred Gothfolk

Bind or bear down

In the midst of their burg?”
*****
*****

Strife and din in the hall,

Cups smitten asunder

Men lay low in blood

From the breasts of Goths flowing.

Then spake Hamdir,

The high-hearted:

“Thou cravedst, O king,

From the coming of us,

The sons of one mother,

Amidmost thine hall —

Look on these hands of thine,

Look on these feet of thine,

Cast by us, Jormunrek,

On to the flame!”

Then cried aloud

The high Gods’ kinsman¹⁹³ 64

Bold under byrny, —

Roared he as bears roar;

“Stones to the stout¹⁹⁴ ones

That the spears bite not,

Nor the edges of steel,

These sons of Jonakr!”
*****
*****

QUOTH SORLI:

“Bale, brother, wroughtst thou

By that bag’s 65 opening,

Oft from that bag

Rede of bale cometh!

Heart hast thou, Hamdir,

If thou hadst heart’s wisdom

Great lack in a man

Who lacks wisdom and lore¹⁹⁵!”

HAMDIR SAID:

“Yes, off were the head

If Erp were alive yet,

Our brother the bold

Whom we slew by the way;

The far-famed through the world —

Ah, the fares drave me on,

And the man war made holy,

There must I slay!”

SORLI SAID:

“Unmeet we should do

As the doings of wolves are,

Raising wrong each ‘gainst other

As the dogs of the Norns,

The greedy ones nourished

In waste steads of the world.

In strong wise have we fought,

On Goths’ corpses we stand,

Beat down by our edges,

E’en as ernes on the bough.

Great fame our might winneth,

Die we now, or tomorrow, —

No man lives till eve

Whom the fates doom at morning.”

At the hall’s gable-end

Fell Sorli to earth,

But Hamdir lay low

At the back of the houses.

Now this is called the Ancient Lay of Hamdir.

63 Randver, the son of their sister’s husband.

64 Odin, namely.

65 “Bag”, his mouth.

THE LAMENT¹⁹⁶ OF ODDRUN.

There was a king hight Heidrik, and his daughter was called Borgny, and the name of her lover was Vilmund. Now she might nowise be made lighter of a child she travailed with, before Oddrun, Atil’s sister, came to her, — she who had been the love of Gunnar, Giuki’s son. But of their speech together has this been sung:

I have hear tell

In ancient tales

How a may there came

To Morna-land,

Because no man

On mould abiding

For Heidrik’s daughter

Might win healing.

All that heard Oddrun,

Atil’s sister,

How that the damsel

Had heavy sickness,

So she led from stall

Her bridled¹⁹⁷ steed,

And on the swart one

Laid the saddle.

She made her horse wend

O’er smooth ways of earth,

Until to a high-built

Hall she came;

Then the saddle she had

From the hungry horse,

And her ways wended

In along the wide hall,

And this word first

Spake forth therewith:

“What is most famed,

Afield in Hunland,

Or what may be

Blithest in Hunland?”

QUOTH THE HANDMAID:

“Here lieth Borgny,

Borne down by trouble,

Thy sweet friend, O Oddrun,

See to her helping!”

ODDRUN SAID:

“Who of the lords

Hath laid this grief on her,

Why is the anguish¹⁹⁹

Of Borgny so weary?”

THE HANDMAID SAID:

“He is hight Vilmund,

Friend of hawk-bearers,

He wrapped the damsel

In the warm bed-gear

Five winters long

Without her father’s wotting.”

No more than this

They spake methinks;

Kind sat she down

By the damsel’s knee;

Mightily²⁰⁰ sand Oddrun,

Sharp piercing songs

By Borgny’s side:

Till a maid and a boy

Might tread on the world’s ways,

Blithe¹⁹⁸ babes and sweet

Of Hogni’s bane:

Then the damsel forewearied

The word took up,

The first word of all

That had won from her:

“So may help thee

All helpful things,

Fey and Freyia,

And all the fair Gods,

As thou hast thrust

This torment from me!”

ODDRUN SAID:

“Yet no heart had I

For thy helping,

Since never wert thou

Worthy of helping,

But my word I held to,

That of old was spoken

When the high lords

Dealt out the heritage,

That every soul

I would ever help.”

BORGNY SAID:

“Right mad art thou, Oddrun,

And reft of thy wits,

Whereas thou speakest

Hard words to me

Thy fellow ever

Upon the earth

As of brothers twain,

We had been born.”

ODDRUN SAID:

“Well I mind me yet,

What thou saidst that evening,

Whenas I bore forth

Fair drink for Gunnar;

Such a thing, saidst thou,

Should fall out never,

For any may

Save for me alone.”

Mind had the damsel

Of the weary day

Whenas the high lords

Dealt out the heritage,

And she sat her down,

The sorrowful woman,

To tell of the bale,

And the heavy trouble.

“Nourished was I

In the hall of kings —

Most folk were glad —

‘Mid the council of great ones:

In fair life lived I,

And the wealth of my father

For five winters only,

While yet he had life.

“Such were the last words

That ever he spake,

The king forewearied,

Ere his ways he went;

For be bade folk give me

The gold red-gleaming,

And give me in Southlands

To the son of Grimhild.

“But Brynhild he bade

To the helm to betake her,

And said that Death-chooser

She should become;

And that no better

Might ever be born

Into the world,

If fate would not spoil it.

“Brynhild in bower

Sewed at her broidery,

Folk she had

And fair lands about her;

Earth lay a-sleeping,

Slept the heavens aloft

When Fafnir’s-bane

The burg first saw.

“Then was war waged

With the Welsh-wrought sword

And the burg all broken

That Brynhild owned;

Nor wore long space,

E’en as well might be,

Ere all those wiles

Full well she knew.

“Hard and dreadful

Was the vengeance she drew down,

So that all we

Have woe enow.

Through all lands of the world

Shall that story fare forth

How she did her to death

For the death of Sigurd.

“But therewithal Gunnar

The gold-scatterer

Did I fall to loving

And should have loved him.

Rings of red gold

Would they give to Atli,

Would give to my brother

Things goodly and great.

“Yea, fifteen steads

Would they give for me,

And the load of Grani

To have as a gift;

But then spake Atli,

That such was his will,

Never gift to take

From the sons of Giuki.

“But we in nowise

Might love withstand,

And mine head must I lay

On my love, the ring-breaker;

And many there were

Among my kin,

Who said that they

Had seen us together.

“Then Atli said

That I surely never

Would fall to crime

Or shameful²⁰¹ folly²⁰²:

But now let no one

For any other,

That shame deny

Where love has dealing.

“For Atli sent

His serving-folk

Wide through the murkwood

Proof to win of me,

And thither they came

Where they ne’er should have come,

Where one bed we twain

Had dight betwixt us.

“To those men had we given

Rings of red gold,

Naught to tell

Thereof to Atli,

But straight they hastened

Home to the house,

And all the tale

To Atli told.

‘Whereas from Gudrun

Well they hid it,

Though better by half

Had she have known it.
*****
*****

“Din was there to hear

Of the hoofs²⁰³ gold-shod,

When into the garth

Rode the sons of Giuki.

“There from Hogni

The heart they cut,

But into the worm-close

Cast the other.

There the king, the wise-hearted,

Swept his harp-strings,

For the might king

Had ever mind

That I to his helping

Soon should come.

“But now was I gone

Yet once again

Unto Geirmund,

Good feast to make;

Yet had I hearing,

E’en out from Hlesey,

How of sore trouble

The harp-strings sang.

“So I bade the bondmaids

Be ready swiftly,

For I listed to save

The life of the king,

And we let our ship

Swim over the sound,

Till Atli’s dwelling

We saw all clearly.

Then came the wretch 66

Crawling out,

E’en Atli’s mother,

All sorrow upon her!

A grave gat her sting

In the heart of Gunnar,

So that no helping

Was left for my hero.

“O gold-clad woman,

Full oft I wonder

How I my life

Still hold thereafter,

For methought I loved

That light in battle,

The swift with the sword,

As my very self.

“Thou hast sat and hearkened

As I have told thee

Of many an ill-fate,

Mine and theirs —

Each man liveth

E’en as he may live —

Now hath gone forth

The greeting of Oddrun.”

The End

1 excerpts   

n.摘录，摘要( excerpt的名词复数 )；节选（音乐，电影）片段

参考例句：

• Some excerpts from a Renaissance mass are spatchcocked into Gluck's pallid Don Juan music. 一些文艺复光时期的弥撒的选节被不适当地加入到了格鲁克平淡无味的唐璜音乐中。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He is editing together excerpts of some of his films. 他正在将自己制作的一些电影的片断进行剪辑合成。 来自辞典例句

2 poetic   

adj.富有诗意的，有诗人气质的，善于抒情的

参考例句：

• His poetic idiom is stamped with expressions describing group feeling and thought.他的诗中的措辞往往带有描写群体感情和思想的印记。
• His poetic novels have gone through three different historical stages.他的诗情小说创作经历了三个不同的历史阶段。

3 din   

n.喧闹声，嘈杂声

参考例句：

• The bustle and din gradually faded to silence as night advanced.随着夜越来越深，喧闹声逐渐沉寂。
• They tried to make themselves heard over the din of the crowd.他们力图让自己的声音盖过人群的喧闹声。

4 wed   

v.娶，嫁，与…结婚

参考例句：

• The couple eventually wed after three year engagement.这对夫妇在订婚三年后终于结婚了。
• The prince was very determined to wed one of the king's daughters.王子下定决心要娶国王的其中一位女儿。

5 wedded   

adj.正式结婚的；渴望…的，执著于…的v.嫁，娶，（与…）结婚( wed的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She's wedded to her job. 她专心致志于工作。
• I was invited over by the newly wedded couple for a meal. 我被那对新婚夫妇请去吃饭。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 avenge   

v.为...复仇，为...报仇

参考例句：

• He swore to avenge himself on the mafia.他发誓说要向黑手党报仇。
• He will avenge the people on their oppressor.他将为人民向压迫者报仇。

7 grove   

n.林子，小树林，园林

参考例句：

• On top of the hill was a grove of tall trees.山顶上一片高大的树林。
• The scent of lemons filled the grove.柠檬香味充满了小树林。

8 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

9 kin   

n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的

参考例句：

• He comes of good kin.他出身好。
• She has gone to live with her husband's kin.她住到丈夫的亲戚家里去了。

10 wrath   

n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒

参考例句：

• His silence marked his wrath. 他的沉默表明了他的愤怒。
• The wrath of the people is now aroused. 人们被激怒了。

11 slaying   

杀戮。

参考例句：

• The man mimed the slaying of an enemy. 此人比手划脚地表演砍死一个敌人的情况。
• He is suspected of having been an accomplice in the slaying,butthey can't pin it on him. 他有嫌疑曾参与该杀人案，但他们找不到证据来指控他。

12 slay   

v.杀死，宰杀，杀戮

参考例句：

• He intended to slay his father's murderer.他意图杀死杀父仇人。
• She has ordered me to slay you.她命令我把你杀了。

13 corpse   

n.尸体，死尸

参考例句：

• What she saw was just an unfeeling corpse.她见到的只是一具全无感觉的尸体。
• The corpse was preserved from decay by embalming.尸体用香料涂抹以防腐烂。

14 corpses   

n.死尸，尸体( corpse的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The living soldiers put corpses together and burned them. 活着的战士把尸体放在一起烧了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Overhead, grayish-white clouds covered the sky, piling up heavily like decaying corpses. 天上罩满了灰白的薄云，同腐烂的尸体似的沉沉的盖在那里。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

15 strife   

n.争吵，冲突，倾轧，竞争

参考例句：

• We do not intend to be drawn into the internal strife.我们不想卷入内乱之中。
• Money is a major cause of strife in many marriages.金钱是造成很多婚姻不和的一个主要原因。

16 naught   

n.无，零 [=nought]

参考例句：

• He sets at naught every convention of society.他轻视所有的社会习俗。
• I hope that all your efforts won't go for naught.我希望你的努力不会毫无结果。

17 wont   

adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯

参考例句：

• He was wont to say that children are lazy.他常常说小孩子们懒惰。
• It is his wont to get up early.早起是他的习惯。

18 foes   

敌人，仇敌( foe的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They steadily pushed their foes before them. 他们不停地追击敌人。
• She had fought many battles, vanquished many foes. 她身经百战，挫败过很多对手。

19 fawn   

n.未满周岁的小鹿；v.巴结，奉承

参考例句：

• A fawn behind the tree looked at us curiously.树后面一只小鹿好奇地看着我们。
• He said you fawn on the manager in order to get a promotion.他说你为了获得提拔，拍经理的马屁。

20 kindle   

v.点燃，着火

参考例句：

• This wood is too wet to kindle.这木柴太湿点不着。
• A small spark was enough to kindle Lily's imagination.一星光花足以点燃莉丽的全部想象力。

21 bind   

vt.捆，包扎；装订；约束；使凝固；vi.变硬

参考例句：

• I will let the waiter bind up the parcel for you.我让服务生帮你把包裹包起来。
• He wants a shirt that does not bind him.他要一件不使他觉得过紧的衬衫。

22 heed   

v.注意，留意；n.注意，留心

参考例句：

• You must take heed of what he has told.你要注意他所告诉的事。
• For the first time he had to pay heed to his appearance.这是他第一次非得注意自己的外表不可了。

23 mound   

n.土墩，堤，小山；v.筑堤，用土堆防卫

参考例句：

• The explorers climbed a mound to survey the land around them.勘探者爬上土丘去勘测周围的土地。
• The mound can be used as our screen.这个土丘可做我们的掩蔽物。

24 behold   

v.看，注视，看到

参考例句：

• The industry of these little ants is wonderful to behold.这些小蚂蚁辛勤劳动的样子看上去真令人惊叹。
• The sunrise at the seaside was quite a sight to behold.海滨日出真是个奇景。

25 smiting   

v.猛打，重击，打击( smite的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He set to smiting and overthrowing. 他马上就动手殴打和破坏。 来自辞典例句

26 warriors   

武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• I like reading the stories ofancient warriors. 我喜欢读有关古代武士的故事。
• The warriors speared the man to death. 武士们把那个男子戳死了。

27 warrior   

n.勇士，武士，斗士

参考例句：

• The young man is a bold warrior.这个年轻人是个很英勇的武士。
• A true warrior values glory and honor above life.一个真正的勇士珍视荣誉胜过生命。

28 beguiling   

adj.欺骗的，诱人的v.欺骗( beguile的现在分词 )；使陶醉；使高兴；消磨（时间等）

参考例句：

• Her beauty was beguiling. 她美得迷人。
• His date was curvaceously beguiling. 他约会是用来欺骗女性的。 来自《简明英汉词典》

29 smite   

v.重击；彻底击败；n.打；尝试；一点儿

参考例句：

• The wise know how to teach,the fool how to smite.智者知道如何教导，愚者知道怎样破坏。
• God will smite our enemies.上帝将击溃我们的敌人。

30 thither   

adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的

参考例句：

• He wandered hither and thither looking for a playmate.他逛来逛去找玩伴。
• He tramped hither and thither.他到处流浪。

31 hawks   

鹰( hawk的名词复数 )； 鹰派人物，主战派人物

参考例句：

• Two hawks were hover ing overhead. 两只鹰在头顶盘旋。
• Both hawks and doves have expanded their conditions for ending the war. 鹰派和鸽派都充分阐明了各自的停战条件。

32 hawk   

n.鹰，骗子；鹰派成员

参考例句：

• The hawk swooped down on the rabbit and killed it.鹰猛地朝兔子扑下来,并把它杀死。
• The hawk snatched the chicken and flew away.老鹰叼了小鸡就飞走了。

33 quarry   

n.采石场；v.采石；费力地找

参考例句：

• Michelangelo obtained his marble from a quarry.米开朗基罗从采石场获得他的大理石。
• This mountain was the site for a quarry.这座山曾经有一个采石场。

34 rime   

n.白霜；v.使蒙霜

参考例句：

• The field was covered with rime in the early morning.清晨地里覆盖着一层白霜。
• Coleridge contributed the famous Rime of the Ancient Mariner.柯勒律治贡献了著名的《老水手之歌》。

35 harp   

n.竖琴；天琴座

参考例句：

• She swept her fingers over the strings of the harp.她用手指划过竖琴的琴弦。
• He played an Irish melody on the harp.他用竖琴演奏了一首爱尔兰曲调。

36 swollen   

adj.肿大的，水涨的；v.使变大，肿胀

参考例句：

• Her legs had got swollen from standing up all day.因为整天站着，她的双腿已经肿了。
• A mosquito had bitten her and her arm had swollen up.蚊子叮了她，她的手臂肿起来了。

37 draught   

n.拉，牵引，拖；一网（饮，吸，阵)；顿服药量，通风；v.起草，设计

参考例句：

• He emptied his glass at one draught.他将杯中物一饮而尽。
• It's a pity the room has no north window and you don't get a draught.可惜这房间没北窗，没有过堂风。

38 draughts   

n. <英>国际跳棋

参考例句：

• Seal (up) the window to prevent draughts. 把窗户封起来以防风。
• I will play at draughts with him. 我跟他下一盘棋吧！

39 abiding   

adj.永久的，持久的，不变的

参考例句：

• He had an abiding love of the English countryside.他永远热爱英国的乡村。
• He has a genuine and abiding love of the craft.他对这门手艺有着真挚持久的热爱。

40 biding   

v.等待，停留( bide的现在分词 )；居住；（过去式用bided）等待；面临

参考例句：

• He was biding his time. 他正在等待时机。 来自辞典例句
• Applications:used in carbide alloy, diamond tools, biding admixture, high-temperature alloy, rechargeable cell. 用作硬质合金，磁性材料，金刚石工具，高温合金，可充电池等。 来自互联网

41 woe   

n.悲哀，苦痛，不幸，困难；int.用来表达悲伤或惊慌

参考例句：

• Our two peoples are brothers sharing weal and woe.我们两国人民是患难与共的兄弟。
• A man is well or woe as he thinks himself so.自认祸是祸，自认福是福。

42 bosom   

n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的

参考例句：

• She drew a little book from her bosom.她从怀里取出一本小册子。
• A dark jealousy stirred in his bosom.他内心生出一阵恶毒的嫉妒。

43 maiden   

n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的

参考例句：

• The prince fell in love with a fair young maiden.王子爱上了一位年轻美丽的少女。
• The aircraft makes its maiden flight tomorrow.这架飞机明天首航。

44 den   

n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室

参考例句：

• There is a big fox den on the back hill.后山有一个很大的狐狸窝。
• The only way to catch tiger cubs is to go into tiger's den.不入虎穴焉得虎子。

45 boughs   

大树枝( bough的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The green boughs glittered with all their pearls of dew. 绿枝上闪烁着露珠的光彩。
• A breeze sighed in the higher boughs. 微风在高高的树枝上叹息着。

46 bough   

n.大树枝，主枝

参考例句：

• I rested my fishing rod against a pine bough.我把钓鱼竿靠在一棵松树的大树枝上。
• Every bough was swinging in the wind.每条树枝都在风里摇摆。

47 dread   

vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧

参考例句：

• We all dread to think what will happen if the company closes.我们都不敢去想一旦公司关门我们该怎么办。
• Her heart was relieved of its blankest dread.她极度恐惧的心理消除了。

48 scathe   

v.损伤；n.伤害

参考例句：

• The child scathe its fingers while playing with a match.那孩子玩火柴时把手指烧伤了。
• He scathe his opponent's honor with rumor.他用谣言破坏对手的名誉。

49 saga   

n.(尤指中世纪北欧海盗的)故事，英雄传奇

参考例句：

• The saga of Flight 19 is probably the most repeated story about the Bermuda Triangle.飞行19中队的传说或许是有关百慕大三角最重复的故事。
• The novel depicts the saga of a family.小说描绘了一个家族的传奇故事。

50 slain   

杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词)

参考例句：

• The soldiers slain in the battle were burried that night. 在那天夜晚埋葬了在战斗中牺牲了的战士。
• His boy was dead, slain by the hand of the false Amulius. 他的儿子被奸诈的阿缪利乌斯杀死了。

51 guile   

n.诈术

参考例句：

• He is full of guile.他非常狡诈。
• A swindler uses guile;a robber uses force.骗子用诈术；强盗用武力。

52 torment   

n.折磨；令人痛苦的东西(人)；vt.折磨；纠缠

参考例句：

• He has never suffered the torment of rejection.他从未经受过遭人拒绝的痛苦。
• Now nothing aggravates me more than when people torment each other.没有什么东西比人们的互相折磨更使我愤怒。

53 tormenting   

使痛苦的，使苦恼的

参考例句：

• He took too much pleasure in tormenting an ugly monster called Caliban. 他喜欢一味捉弄一个名叫凯列班的丑妖怪。
• The children were scolded for tormenting animals. 孩子们因折磨动物而受到责骂。

54 wretch   

n.可怜的人，不幸的人；卑鄙的人

参考例句：

• You are really an ungrateful wretch to complain instead of thanking him.你不但不谢他，还埋怨他，真不知好歹。
• The dead husband is not the dishonoured wretch they fancied him.死去的丈夫不是他们所想象的不光彩的坏蛋。

55 vows   

誓言( vow的名词复数 )； 郑重宣布，许愿

参考例句：

• Matrimonial vows are to show the faithfulness of the new couple. 婚誓体现了新婚夫妇对婚姻的忠诚。
• The nun took strait vows. 那位修女立下严格的誓愿。

56 dastard   

n.卑怯之人，懦夫；adj.怯懦的，畏缩的

参考例句：

• He is nothing but a chicken-hearted dastard.他只是一个胆怯的懦夫。
• "Yes,you pitiful dastard," retorted the lovely damsel.“是的，你这个卑鄙的胆小鬼，”那位美丽的少女反唇相讥。

57 soot   

n.煤烟，烟尘；vt.熏以煤烟

参考例句：

• Soot is the product of the imperfect combustion of fuel.煤烟是燃料不完全燃烧的产物。
• The chimney was choked with soot.烟囱被煤灰堵塞了。

58 liar   

n.说谎的人

参考例句：

• I know you for a thief and a liar!我算认识你了，一个又偷又骗的家伙！
• She was wrongly labelled a liar.她被错误地扣上说谎者的帽子。

59 bide   

v.忍耐；等候；住

参考例句：

• We'll have to bide our time until the rain stops.我们必须等到雨停。
• Bide here for a while. 请在这儿等一会儿。

60 soften   

v.(使)变柔软；(使)变柔和

参考例句：

• Plastics will soften when exposed to heat.塑料适当加热就可以软化。
• This special cream will help to soften up our skin.这种特殊的护肤霜有助于使皮肤变得柔软。

61 mid   

adj.中央的，中间的

参考例句：

• Our mid-term exam is pending.我们就要期中考试了。
• He switched over to teaching in mid-career.他在而立之年转入教学工作。

62 brawling   

n.争吵，喧嚷

参考例句：

• They were arrested for brawling in the street. 他们因在街上打斗而遭到拘捕。
• The officers were brawling commands. 军官们大声地喊口令。

63 coffin   

n.棺材，灵柩

参考例句：

• When one's coffin is covered,all discussion about him can be settled.盖棺论定。
• The coffin was placed in the grave.那口棺材已安放到坟墓里去了。

64 hatred   

n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨

参考例句：

• He looked at me with hatred in his eyes.他以憎恨的眼光望着我。
• The old man was seized with burning hatred for the fascists.老人对法西斯主义者充满了仇恨。

65 nay   

adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者

参考例句：

• He was grateful for and proud of his son's remarkable,nay,unique performance.他为儿子出色的，不，应该是独一无二的表演心怀感激和骄傲。
• Long essays,nay,whole books have been written on this.许多长篇大论的文章，不，应该说是整部整部的书都是关于这件事的。

66 dwelling   

n.住宅，住所，寓所

参考例句：

• Those two men are dwelling with us.那两个人跟我们住在一起。
• He occupies a three-story dwelling place on the Park Street.他在派克街上有一幢3层楼的寓所。

67 doom   

n.厄运，劫数；v.注定，命定

参考例句：

• The report on our economic situation is full of doom and gloom.这份关于我们经济状况的报告充满了令人绝望和沮丧的调子。
• The dictator met his doom after ten years of rule.独裁者统治了十年终于完蛋了。

68 rout   

n.溃退，溃败；v.击溃，打垮

参考例句：

• The enemy was put to rout all along the line.敌人已全线崩溃。
• The people's army put all to rout wherever they went.人民军队所向披靡。

69 wrought   

v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的

参考例句：

• Events in Paris wrought a change in British opinion towards France and Germany.巴黎发生的事件改变了英国对法国和德国的看法。
• It's a walking stick with a gold head wrought in the form of a flower.那是一个金质花形包头的拐杖。

70 vengeance   

n.报复，报仇，复仇

参考例句：

• He swore vengeance against the men who murdered his father.他发誓要向那些杀害他父亲的人报仇。
• For years he brooded vengeance.多年来他一直在盘算报仇。

71 lighter   

n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级

参考例句：

• The portrait was touched up so as to make it lighter.这张画经过润色，色调明朗了一些。
• The lighter works off the car battery.引燃器利用汽车蓄电池打火。

72 bided   

v.等待，停留( bide的过去式 )；居住；等待；面临

参考例句：

• Jack was hurt deeply, and he bided his time for revenge. 杰克受了很深的伤害，他等待着报仇的时机。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Their ready answer suggested that they had long bided that. 他们很爽快的回答表明他们已经等待这个（要求）很久了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

73 wilt   

v.(使)植物凋谢或枯萎；(指人)疲倦，衰弱

参考例句：

• Golden roses do not wilt and will never need to be watered.金色的玫瑰不枯萎绝也不需要浇水。
• Several sleepless nights made him wilt.数个不眠之夜使他憔悴。

74 wield   

vt.行使，运用，支配；挥，使用(武器等)

参考例句：

• They wield enormous political power.他们行使巨大的政治权力。
• People may wield the power in a democracy.在民主国家里，人民可以行使权力。

75 bliss   

n.狂喜，福佑，天赐的福

参考例句：

• It's sheer bliss to be able to spend the day in bed.整天都可以躺在床上真是幸福。
• He's in bliss that he's won the Nobel Prize.他非常高兴，因为获得了诺贝尔奖金。

76 rend   

vt.把…撕开，割裂；把…揪下来，强行夺取

参考例句：

• Her scrams would rend the heart of any man.她的喊叫声会撕碎任何人的心。
• Will they rend the child from his mother?他们会不会把这个孩子从他的母亲身边夺走呢？

77 plighted   

vt.保证，约定（plight的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• They plighted their troth for the rest of their days. 他们俩盟誓结为终身伴侣。 来自辞典例句
• Here and there a raw young lady does think of the friends of her plighted man. 这是阅历不深的的年轻姑娘对她未婚夫的朋友往往会持有的看法。 来自辞典例句

78 bides   

v.等待，停留( bide的第三人称单数 )；居住；（过去式用bided）等待；面临

参考例句：

• He is a man who bides by a bargain. 他是个守信用的人。 来自互联网
• I cherish his because in me it bides. 我爱他的心，因为他在我体内安眠。 来自互联网

79 slayer   

n. 杀人者，凶手

参考例句：

• The young man was Oedipus, who thus unknowingly became the slayer of his own father. 这位青年就是俄狄浦斯。他在不明真相的情况下杀死了自己的父亲。
• May I depend on you to stand by me and my daughters, then, deer-slayer? 如此说来，我可以指望你照料我和女儿了，杀鹿人？

80 mighty   

adj.强有力的；巨大的

参考例句：

• A mighty force was about to break loose.一股巨大的力量即将迸发而出。
• The mighty iceberg came into view.巨大的冰山出现在眼前。

81 smitten   

猛打，重击，打击( smite的过去分词 )

参考例句：

• From the moment they met, he was completely smitten by her. 从一见面的那一刻起，他就完全被她迷住了。
• It was easy to see why she was smitten with him. 她很容易看出为何她为他倾倒。

82 asunder   

adj.分离的，化为碎片

参考例句：

• The curtains had been drawn asunder.窗帘被拉向两边。
• Your conscience,conviction,integrity,and loyalties were torn asunder.你的良心、信念、正直和忠诚都被扯得粉碎了。

83 smote   

v.猛打，重击，打击( smite的过去式 )

参考例句：

• Figuratively, he could not kiss the hand that smote him. 打个比方说，他是不能认敌为友。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• \"Whom Pearl smote down and uprooted, most unmercifully.\" 珠儿会毫不留情地将这些\"儿童\"踩倒，再连根拔起。 来自英汉 - 翻译样例 - 文学

84 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

85 brotherhood   

n.兄弟般的关系，手中情谊

参考例句：

• They broke up the brotherhood.他们断绝了兄弟关系。
• They live and work together in complete equality and brotherhood.他们完全平等和兄弟般地在一起生活和工作。

86 heeded   

v.听某人的劝告，听从( heed的过去式和过去分词 )；变平，使（某物）变平( flatten的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She countered that her advice had not been heeded. 她反驳说她的建议未被重视。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I heeded my doctor's advice and stopped smoking. 我听从医生的劝告，把烟戒了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

87 hue   

n.色度；色调；样子

参考例句：

• The diamond shone with every hue under the sun.金刚石在阳光下放出五颜六色的光芒。
• The same hue will look different in different light.同一颜色在不同的光线下看起来会有所不同。

88 foul   

adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规

参考例句：

• Take off those foul clothes and let me wash them.脱下那些脏衣服让我洗一洗。
• What a foul day it is!多么恶劣的天气！

89 worthy   

adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的

参考例句：

• I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
• There occurred nothing that was worthy to be mentioned.没有值得一提的事发生。

90 bloody   

adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染

参考例句：

• He got a bloody nose in the fight.他在打斗中被打得鼻子流血。
• He is a bloody fool.他是一个十足的笨蛋。

91 apportioned   

vt.分摊，分配（apportion的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• They apportioned the land among members of the family. 他们把土地分给了家中各人。
• The group leader apportioned them the duties for the week. 组长给他们分派了这星期的任务。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

92 nought   

n.／adj.无，零

参考例句：

• We must bring their schemes to nought.我们必须使他们的阴谋彻底破产。
• One minus one leaves nought.一减一等于零。

93 avenged   

v.为…复仇，报…之仇( avenge的过去式和过去分词 )；为…报复

参考例句：

• She avenged her mother's death upon the Nazi soldiers. 她惩处了纳粹士兵以报杀母之仇。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Indians avenged the burning of their village on〔upon〕 the settlers. 印第安人因为村庄被焚毁向拓居者们进行报复。 来自《简明英汉词典》

94 hindrance   

n.妨碍，障碍

参考例句：

• Now they can construct tunnel systems without hindrance.现在他们可以顺利地建造隧道系统了。
• The heavy baggage was a great hindrance to me.那件行李成了我的大累赘。

95 beheld   

v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟

参考例句：

• His eyes had never beheld such opulence. 他从未见过这样的财富。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The soul beheld its features in the mirror of the passing moment. 灵魂在逝去的瞬间的镜子中看到了自己的模样。 来自英汉文学 - 红字

96 gilt   

adj.镀金的；n.金边证券

参考例句：

• The plates have a gilt edge.这些盘子的边是镀金的。
• The rest of the money is invested in gilt.其余的钱投资于金边证券。

97 doomed   

命定的

参考例句：

• The court doomed the accused to a long term of imprisonment. 法庭判处被告长期监禁。
• A country ruled by an iron hand is doomed to suffer. 被铁腕人物统治的国家定会遭受不幸的。

98 goodwill   

n.善意，亲善，信誉，声誉

参考例句：

• His heart is full of goodwill to all men.他心里对所有人都充满着爱心。
• We paid ￡10,000 for the shop,and ￡2000 for its goodwill.我们用一万英镑买下了这家商店，两千英镑买下了它的信誉。

99 beguile   

vt.欺骗，消遣

参考例句：

• They are playing cards to beguile the time.他们在打牌以消磨时间。
• He used his newspapers to beguile the readers into buying shares in his company.他利用他的报纸诱骗读者买他公司的股票。

100 beguiled   

v.欺骗( beguile的过去式和过去分词 )；使陶醉；使高兴；消磨（时间等）

参考例句：

• She beguiled them into believing her version of events. 她哄骗他们相信了她叙述的事情。
• He beguiled me into signing this contract. 他诱骗我签订了这项合同。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

101 liking   

n.爱好；嗜好；喜欢

参考例句：

• The word palate also means taste or liking.Palate这个词也有“口味”或“嗜好”的意思。
• I must admit I have no liking for exaggeration.我必须承认我不喜欢夸大其词。

102 laden   

adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的

参考例句：

• He is laden with heavy responsibility.他肩负重任。
• Dragging the fully laden boat across the sand dunes was no mean feat.将满载货物的船拖过沙丘是一件了不起的事。

103 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

104 waning   

adj.（月亮）渐亏的，逐渐减弱或变小的n.月亏v.衰落( wane的现在分词 )；（月）亏；变小；变暗淡

参考例句：

• Her enthusiasm for the whole idea was waning rapidly. 她对整个想法的热情迅速冷淡了下来。
• The day is waning and the road is ending. 日暮途穷。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

105 swelling   

n.肿胀

参考例句：

• Use ice to reduce the swelling. 用冰敷消肿。
• There is a marked swelling of the lymph nodes. 淋巴结处有明显的肿块。

106 abode   

n.住处，住所

参考例句：

• It was ten months before my father discovered his abode.父亲花了十个月的功夫，才好不容易打听到他的住处。
• Welcome to our humble abode!欢迎光临寒舍！

107 slumber   

n.睡眠，沉睡状态

参考例句：

• All the people in the hotels were wrapped in deep slumber.住在各旅馆里的人都已进入梦乡。
• Don't wake him from his slumber because he needs the rest.不要把他从睡眠中唤醒，因为他需要休息。

108 whetted   

v.（在石头上）磨（刀、斧等）( whet的过去式和过去分词 )；引起，刺激（食欲、欲望、兴趣等）

参考例句：

• The little chicks had no more than whetted his appetite. 那几只小鸡只引起了他的胃口。 来自英汉文学 - 热爱生命
• The poor morsel of food only whetted desire. 那块小的可怜的喜糕反而激起了他们的食欲。 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险

109 grudges   

不满，怨恨，妒忌( grudge的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He never grudges money. 他从不吝惜金钱。
• They bear grudges against each other. 他俩有过节儿。

110 minced   

v.切碎( mince的过去式和过去分词 )；剁碎；绞碎；用绞肉机绞（食物，尤指肉）

参考例句：

• He minced over to serve us. 他迈着碎步过来招待我们。
• A young fop minced up to George and introduced himself. 一个花花公子扭扭捏捏地走到乔治面前并作了自我介绍。 来自《简明英汉词典》

111 lust   

n.性(淫)欲；渴(欲)望；vi.对…有强烈的欲望

参考例句：

• He was filled with lust for power.他内心充满了对权力的渴望。
• Sensing the explorer's lust for gold, the chief wisely presented gold ornaments as gifts.酋长觉察出探险者们垂涎黄金的欲念，就聪明地把金饰品作为礼物赠送给他们。

112 croaked   

v.呱呱地叫( croak的过去式和过去分词 )；用粗的声音说

参考例句：

• The crow croaked disaster. 乌鸦呱呱叫预报灾难。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• 'she has a fine head for it," croaked Jacques Three. “她有一个漂亮的脑袋跟着去呢，”雅克三号低沉地说。 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

113 raven   

n.渡鸟，乌鸦；adj.乌亮的

参考例句：

• We know the raven will never leave the man's room.我们知道了乌鸦再也不会离开那个男人的房间。
• Her charming face was framed with raven hair.她迷人的脸上垂落着乌亮的黑发。

114 drooping   

adj. 下垂的，无力的 动词droop的现在分词

参考例句：

• The drooping willows are waving gently in the morning breeze. 晨风中垂柳袅袅。
• The branches of the drooping willows were swaying lightly. 垂柳轻飘飘地摆动。

115 begotten   

v.为…之生父( beget的过去分词 )；产生，引起

参考例句：

• The fact that he had begotten a child made him vain. 想起自己也生过孩子，他得意了。 来自辞典例句
• In due course she bore the son begotten on her by Thyestes. 过了一定的时候，她生下了堤厄斯式斯使她怀上的儿子。 来自辞典例句

116 fetters   

n.脚镣( fetter的名词复数 )；束缚v.给…上脚镣，束缚( fetter的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• They were at last freed from the fetters of ignorance. 他们终于从愚昧无知的束缚中解脱出来。
• They will run wild freed from the fetters of control. 他们一旦摆脱了束缚，就会变得无法无天。 来自《简明英汉词典》

117 venom   

n.毒液，恶毒，痛恨

参考例句：

• The snake injects the venom immediately after biting its prey.毒蛇咬住猎物之后马上注入毒液。
• In fact,some components of the venom may benefit human health.事实上，毒液的某些成分可能有益于人类健康。

118 slew   

v.（使）旋转；n.大量，许多

参考例句：

• He slewed the car against the side of the building.他的车滑到了大楼的一侧，抵住了。
• They dealt with a slew of other issues.他们处理了大量的其他问题。

119 unaware   

a.不知道的，未意识到的

参考例句：

• They were unaware that war was near. 他们不知道战争即将爆发。
• I was unaware of the man's presence. 我没有察觉到那人在场。

120 wail   

vt./vi.大声哀号，恸哭；呼啸，尖啸

参考例句：

• Somewhere in the audience an old woman's voice began plaintive wail.观众席里，一位老太太伤心地哭起来。
• One of the small children began to wail with terror.小孩中的一个吓得大哭起来。

121 bower   

n.凉亭，树荫下凉快之处；闺房；v.荫蔽

参考例句：

• They sat under the leafy bower at the end of the garden and watched the sun set.他们坐在花园尽头由叶子搭成的凉棚下观看落日。
• Mrs. Quilp was pining in her bower.奎尔普太太正在她的闺房里度着愁苦的岁月。

122 leek   

n.韭葱

参考例句：

• He is always confusing wheat with leek.他对麦苗和韭菜总是辨别不清。
• He said the dumplings with the stuffing of pork and leek were his favourite.他说他喜欢吃猪肉韭菜馅的饺子。

123 begrudged   

嫉妒( begrudge的过去式和过去分词 )； 勉强做； 不乐意地付出； 吝惜

参考例句：

• She begrudged her friend the award. 她嫉妒她的朋友获奖。
• Joey, you talk as if I begrudged it to you. 乔艾，你这话竟象是我小气，舍不得给你似的。

124 clatter   

v./n.(使)发出连续而清脆的撞击声

参考例句：

• The dishes and bowls slid together with a clatter.碟子碗碰得丁丁当当的。
• Don't clatter your knives and forks.别把刀叉碰得咔哒响。

125 ravens   

n.低质煤；渡鸦( raven的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Wheresoever the carcase is,there will the ravens be gathered together. 哪里有死尸，哪里就有乌鸦麇集。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A couple of ravens croaked above our boat. 两只乌鸦在我们小船的上空嘎嘎叫着。 来自辞典例句

126 crave   

vt.渴望得到，迫切需要，恳求，请求

参考例句：

• Many young children crave attention.许多小孩子渴望得到关心。
• You may be craving for some fresh air.你可能很想呼吸呼吸新鲜空气。

127 misery   

n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦

参考例句：

• Business depression usually causes misery among the working class.商业不景气常使工薪阶层受苦。
• He has rescued me from the mire of misery.他把我从苦海里救了出来。

128 doughty   

adj.勇猛的，坚强的

参考例句：

• Most of successful men have the characteristics of contumacy and doughty.绝大多数成功人士都有共同的特质：脾气倔强，性格刚强。
• The doughty old man battled his illness with fierce determination.坚强的老人用巨大毅力与疾病作斗争。

129 knights   

骑士； （中古时代的）武士( knight的名词复数 )； 骑士； 爵士； （国际象棋中）马

参考例句：

• stories of knights and fair maidens 关于骑士和美女的故事
• He wove a fascinating tale of knights in shining armour. 他编了一个穿着明亮盔甲的骑士的迷人故事。

130 prows   

n.船首( prow的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The prows of the UNSC ships flared as their magnetic accelerator cannons fired. UNSC战舰的舰首展开，磁力大炮开火了。 来自互联网

131 atone   

v.赎罪，补偿

参考例句：

• He promised to atone for his crime.他承诺要赎自己的罪。
• Blood must atone for blood.血债要用血来还。

132 quench   

vt.熄灭，扑灭；压制

参考例句：

• The firemen were unable to quench the fire.消防人员无法扑灭这场大火。
• Having a bottle of soft drink is not enough to quench my thirst.喝一瓶汽水不够解渴。

133 mead   

n.蜂蜜酒

参考例句：

• He gave me a cup of mead.他给我倒了杯蜂蜜酒。
• He drank some mead at supper.晚饭时他喝了一些蜂蜜酒。

134 mingled   

混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系]

参考例句：

• The sounds of laughter and singing mingled in the evening air. 笑声和歌声交织在夜空中。
• The man and the woman mingled as everyone started to relax. 当大家开始放松的时候，这一男一女就开始交往了。

135 acorns   

n.橡子，栎实( acorn的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Great oaks from little acorns grow. 万丈高楼平地起。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Welcome to my new website!It may not look much at the moment, but great oaks from little acorns grow! 欢迎来到我的新网站。它现在可能微不足道，不过万丈高楼平地起嘛。 来自《简明英汉词典》

136 acorn   

n.橡实，橡子

参考例句：

• The oak is implicit in the acorn.橡树孕育于橡子之中。
• The tree grew from a small acorn.橡树从一粒小橡子生长而来。

137 hearth   

n.壁炉炉床，壁炉地面

参考例句：

• She came and sat in a chair before the hearth.她走过来，在炉子前面的椅子上坐下。
• She comes to the hearth,and switches on the electric light there.她走到壁炉那里，打开电灯。

138 sodden   

adj.浑身湿透的；v.使浸透；使呆头呆脑

参考例句：

• We stripped off our sodden clothes.我们扒下了湿透的衣服。
• The cardboard was sodden and fell apart in his hands.纸板潮得都发酥了，手一捏就碎。

139 waned   

v.衰落( wane的过去式和过去分词 )；（月）亏；变小；变暗淡

参考例句：

• However,my enthusiasm waned.The time I spent at exercises gradually diminished. 然而，我的热情减退了。我在做操上花的时间逐渐减少了。 来自《用法词典》
• The bicycle craze has waned. 自行车热已冷下去了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

140 clove   

n.丁香味

参考例句：

• If tired,smell a whiff of clove oil and it will wake you up.如果疲倦，闻上一点丁香油将令人清醒。
• A sweet-smell comes from roses and clove trees.丁香与玫瑰的香味扑鼻而来。

141 wardens   

n.看守人( warden的名词复数 )；管理员；监察员；监察官

参考例句：

• Air raid wardens in tin hats self-importantly stalked the streets. 空袭民防队员戴着钢盔神气活现地走在街上昂首阔步。 来自辞典例句
• The game wardens tranquillized the rhinoceros with a drugged dart. 猎物保护区管理员用麻醉射器让犀牛静了下来。 来自辞典例句

142 solace   

n.安慰；v.使快乐；vt.安慰(物)，缓和

参考例句：

• They sought solace in religion from the harshness of their everyday lives.他们日常生活很艰难，就在宗教中寻求安慰。
• His acting career took a nosedive and he turned to drink for solace.演艺事业突然一落千丈，他便借酒浇愁。

143 uprooted   

v.把（某物）连根拔起( uproot的过去式和过去分词 )；根除；赶走；把…赶出家园

参考例句：

• Many people were uprooted from their homes by the flood. 水灾令许多人背井离乡。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The hurricane blew with such force that trees were uprooted. 飓风强烈地刮着，树都被连根拔起了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

144 prey   

n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨

参考例句：

• Stronger animals prey on weaker ones.弱肉强食。
• The lion was hunting for its prey.狮子在寻找猎物。

145 gleaning   

n.拾落穗，拾遗，落穗v.一点点地收集（资料、事实）( glean的现在分词 )；（收割后）拾穗

参考例句：

• At present we're gleaning information from all sources. 目前，我们正从各种渠道收集信息。 来自辞典例句
• His pale gray eyes were gleaning with ferocity and triumph. 他那淡灰色的眼睛里闪着残忍和胜利的光芒。 来自辞典例句

146 vessel   

n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管

参考例句：

• The vessel is fully loaded with cargo for Shanghai.这艘船满载货物驶往上海。
• You should put the water into a vessel.你应该把水装入容器中。

147 interpretation   

n.解释，说明，描述；艺术处理

参考例句：

• His statement admits of one interpretation only.他的话只有一种解释。
• Analysis and interpretation is a very personal thing.分析与说明是个很主观的事情。

148 stanza   

n.（诗）节，段

参考例句：

• We omitted to sing the second stanza.我们漏唱了第二节。
• One young reporter wrote a review with a stanza that contained some offensive content.一个年轻的记者就歌词中包含有攻击性内容的一节写了评论。

149 rendering   

n.表现，描写

参考例句：

• She gave a splendid rendering of Beethoven's piano sonata.她精彩地演奏了贝多芬的钢琴奏鸣曲。
• His narrative is a super rendering of dialect speech and idiom.他的叙述是方言和土语最成功的运用。

150 avenger   

n. 复仇者

参考例句：

• "Tom Sawyer, the Black Avenger of the Spanish Main. “我乃西班牙海黑衣侠盗，汤姆 - 索亚。
• Avenger's Shield-0.26 threat per hit (0.008 threat per second) 飞盾-0.26仇恨每击（0.08仇恨每秒）

151 crafty   

adj.狡猾的，诡诈的

参考例句：

• He admired the old man for his crafty plan.他敬佩老者的神机妙算。
• He was an accomplished politician and a crafty autocrat.他是个有造诣的政治家，也是个狡黠的独裁者。

152 guileful   

adj.狡诈的，诡计多端的

参考例句：

• Being cruel, guileful and unscrupulous, the terrorist committed all manners of crimes including murder and arson. 那个恐怖分子残酷、奸诈、肆无忌惮，杀人放火，无恶不做。 来自互联网

153 gilded   

a.镀金的，富有的

参考例句：

• The golden light gilded the sea. 金色的阳光使大海如金子般闪闪发光。
• "Friends, they are only gilded disks of lead!" "朋友们，这只不过是些镀金的铅饼！ 来自英汉文学 - 败坏赫德莱堡

154 wary   

adj.谨慎的，机警的，小心的

参考例句：

• He is wary of telling secrets to others.他谨防向他人泄露秘密。
• Paula frowned,suddenly wary.宝拉皱了皱眉头，突然警惕起来。

155 beset   

v.镶嵌；困扰，包围

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• The plan was beset with difficulties from the beginning.这项计划自开始就困难重重。

156 hardy   

adj.勇敢的，果断的，吃苦的；耐寒的

参考例句：

• The kind of plant is a hardy annual.这种植物是耐寒的一年生植物。
• He is a hardy person.他是一个能吃苦耐劳的人。

157 goad   

n.刺棒，刺痛物；激励；vt.激励，刺激

参考例句：

• The opposition is trying to goad the government into calling an election.在野反对党正努力激起政府提出选举。
• The writer said he needed some goad because he was indolent.这个作家说他需要刺激，因为他很懒惰。

158 gaily   

adv.欢乐地，高兴地

参考例句：

• The children sing gaily.孩子们欢唱着。
• She waved goodbye very gaily.她欢快地挥手告别。

159 awaken   

vi.醒，觉醒；vt.唤醒，使觉醒，唤起，激起

参考例句：

• Old people awaken early in the morning.老年人早晨醒得早。
• Please awaken me at six.请于六点叫醒我。

160 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

161 wailing   

v.哭叫，哀号( wail的现在分词 )；沱

参考例句：

• A police car raced past with its siren wailing. 一辆警车鸣着警报器飞驰而过。
• The little girl was wailing miserably. 那小女孩难过得号啕大哭。

162 thrall   

n.奴隶；奴隶制

参考例句：

• He treats his wife like a thrall.他把妻子当作奴隶看待。
• He is not in thrall to the media.他不受制于媒体。

163 quail   

n.鹌鹑；vi.畏惧，颤抖

参考例句：

• Cowards always quail before the enemy.在敌人面前，胆小鬼们总是畏缩不前的。
• Quail eggs are very high in cholesterol.鹌鹑蛋胆固醇含量高。

164 abide   

vi.遵守；坚持；vt.忍受

参考例句：

• You must abide by the results of your mistakes.你必须承担你的错误所造成的后果。
• If you join the club,you have to abide by its rules.如果你参加俱乐部，你就得遵守它的规章。

165 hoard   

n./v.窖藏，贮存，囤积

参考例句：

• They have a hoard of food in the basement.地下室里有他们贮藏的食物。
• How many curios do you hoard in your study?你在你书房里聚藏了多少古玩？

166 wedlock   

n.婚姻，已婚状态

参考例句：

• My wife likes our wedlock.我妻子喜欢我们的婚姻生活。
• The Fawleys were not made for wedlock.范立家的人就跟结婚没有缘。

167 strings   

n.弦

参考例句：

• He sat on the bed,idly plucking the strings of his guitar.他坐在床上，随意地拨着吉他的弦。
• She swept her fingers over the strings of the harp.她用手指划过竖琴的琴弦。

168 brazen   

adj.厚脸皮的，无耻的，坚硬的

参考例句：

• The brazen woman laughed loudly at the judge who sentenced her.那无耻的女子冲着给她判刑的法官高声大笑。
• Some people prefer to brazen a thing out rather than admit defeat.有的人不愿承认失败，而是宁肯厚着脸皮干下去。

169 thronged   

v.成群，挤满( throng的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Mourners thronged to the funeral. 吊唁者蜂拥着前来参加葬礼。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The department store was thronged with people. 百货商店挤满了人。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

170 groan   

vi./n.呻吟，抱怨；(发出)呻吟般的声音

参考例句：

• The wounded man uttered a groan.那个受伤的人发出呻吟。
• The people groan under the burden of taxes.人民在重税下痛苦呻吟。

171 drenched   

adj.湿透的；充满的v.使湿透( drench的过去式和过去分词 )；在某人（某物）上大量使用（某液体）

参考例句：

• We were caught in the storm and got drenched to the skin. 我们遇上了暴雨，淋得浑身透湿。
• The rain drenched us. 雨把我们淋得湿透。 来自《简明英汉词典》

172 scattering   

n.[物]散射；散乱，分散；在媒介质中的散播adj.散乱的；分散在不同范围的；广泛扩散的；（选票）数量分散的v.散射(scatter的ing形式)；散布；驱散

参考例句：

• The child felle into a rage and began scattering its toys about. 这孩子突发狂怒，把玩具扔得满地都是。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The farmers are scattering seed. 农夫们在播种。 来自《简明英汉词典》

173 shafting   

n.轴系；制轴材料；欺骗；怠慢

参考例句：

• The center block for shafting alignment is over there. 轴系中心定位块在那里。 来自互联网
• Shafting abnormal vibration fault usually arises after the uprating on turbo-generator unit. 机组增容改造后易发生轴系异常振动。 来自互联网

174 heeding   

v.听某人的劝告，听从( heed的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• This come of heeding people who say one thing and mean another! 有些人嘴里一回事，心里又是一回事，今天这个下场都是听信了这种人的话的结果。 来自辞典例句
• Her dwarfish spouse still smoked his cigar and drank his rum without heeding her. 她那矮老公还在吸他的雪茄，喝他的蔗酒，睬也不睬她。 来自辞典例句

175 reeked   

v.发出浓烈的臭气( reek的过去式和过去分词 )；散发臭气；发出难闻的气味 (of sth)；明显带有（令人不快或生疑的跡象）

参考例句：

• His breath reeked of tobacco. 他满嘴烟臭味。
• His breath reeked of tobacco. 他满嘴烟臭味。 来自《简明英汉词典》

176 avenging   

adj.报仇的，复仇的v.为…复仇，报…之仇( avenge的现在分词 )；为…报复

参考例句：

• He has devoted the past five years to avenging his daughter's death. 他过去5年一心报丧女之仇。 来自辞典例句
• His disfigured face was like some avenging nemesis of gargoyle design. 他那张破了相的脸，活象面目狰狞的复仇之神。 来自辞典例句

177 whetting   

v.（在石头上）磨（刀、斧等）( whet的现在分词 )；引起，刺激（食欲、欲望、兴趣等）

参考例句：

• A battle is coming; the two armies are whetting their swords. 两兵就要交战了，双方都在磨刀霍霍地备战。 来自互联网
• The smell is really whetting my appetite. 这味道真吊胃口。 来自互联网

178 crested   

adj.有顶饰的，有纹章的，有冠毛的v.到达山顶（或浪峰）( crest的过去式和过去分词 )；到达洪峰，达到顶点

参考例句：

• a great crested grebe 凤头䴙䴘
• The stately mansion crested the hill. 庄严的大厦位于山顶。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

179 hearths   

壁炉前的地板，炉床，壁炉边( hearth的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The soldiers longed for their own hearths. 战士想家。
• In the hearths the fires down and the meat stopped cooking. 在壁炉的火平息和肉停止做饭。

180 props   

小道具； 支柱( prop的名词复数 )； 支持者； 道具； （橄榄球中的）支柱前锋

参考例句：

• Rescuers used props to stop the roof of the tunnel collapsing. 救援人员用支柱防止隧道顶塌陷。
• The government props up the prices of farm products to support farmers' incomes. 政府保持农产品价格不变以保障农民们的收入。

181 maidens   

处女( maiden的名词复数 )； 少女； 未婚女子； （板球运动）未得分的一轮投球

参考例句：

• stories of knights and fair maidens 关于骑士和美女的故事
• Transplantation is not always successful in the matter of flowers or maidens. 花儿移栽往往并不成功，少女们换了环境也是如此。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

182 woes   

困境( woe的名词复数 )； 悲伤； 我好苦哇； 某人就要倒霉

参考例句：

• Thanks for listening to my woes. 谢谢您听我诉说不幸的遭遇。
• She has cried the blues about its financial woes. 对于经济的困难她叫苦不迭。

183 mire   

n.泥沼，泥泞；v.使...陷于泥泞，使...陷入困境

参考例句：

• I don't want my son's good name dragged through the mire.我不想使我儿子的名誉扫地。
• He has rescued me from the mire of misery.他把我从苦海里救了出来。

184 bridle   

n.笼头，束缚；vt.抑制，约束；动怒

参考例句：

• He learned to bridle his temper.他学会了控制脾气。
• I told my wife to put a bridle on her tongue.我告诉妻子说话要谨慎。

185 thaw   

v.（使）融化，（使）变得友善；n.融化，缓和

参考例句：

• The snow is beginning to thaw.雪已开始融化。
• The spring thaw caused heavy flooding.春天解冻引起了洪水泛滥。

186 willow   

n.柳树

参考例句：

• The river was sparsely lined with willow trees.河边疏疏落落有几棵柳树。
• The willow's shadow falls on the lake.垂柳的影子倒映在湖面上。

187 shreds   

v.撕碎，切碎( shred的第三人称单数 )；用撕毁机撕毁（文件）

参考例句：

• Peel the carrots and cut them into shreds. 将胡罗卜削皮，切成丝。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I want to take this diary and rip it into shreds. 我真想一赌气扯了这日记。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

188 craftsmen   

n. 技工

参考例句：

• rugs handmade by local craftsmen 由当地工艺师手工制作的小地毯
• The craftsmen have ensured faithful reproduction of the original painting. 工匠保证要复制一幅最接近原作的画。

189 wiles   

n.（旨在欺骗或吸引人的）诡计，花招；欺骗，欺诈( wile的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• All her wiles were to persuade them to buy the goods. 她花言巧语想打动他们买这些货物。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The woman used all her wiles to tempt him into following her. 那女人用尽了自己的诱骗本领勾引着他尾随而去。 来自《用法词典》

190 wreak   

v.发泄；报复

参考例句：

• She had a burning desire to wreak revenge.她复仇心切。
• Timid people always wreak their peevishness on the gentle.怯懦的人总是把满腹牢骚向温和的人发泄。

191 westward   

n.西方，西部；adj.西方的，向西的；adv.向西

参考例句：

• We live on the westward slope of the hill.我们住在这座山的西山坡。
• Explore westward or wherever.向西或到什么别的地方去勘探。

192 gallows   

n.绞刑架，绞台

参考例句：

• The murderer was sent to the gallows for his crimes.谋杀犯由于罪大恶极被处以绞刑。
• Now I was to expiate all my offences at the gallows.现在我将在绞刑架上赎我一切的罪过。

193 kinsman   

n.男亲属

参考例句：

• Tracing back our genealogies,I found he was a kinsman of mine.转弯抹角算起来他算是我的一个亲戚。
• A near friend is better than a far dwelling kinsman.近友胜过远亲。

195 lore   

n.传说；学问，经验，知识

参考例句：

• I will seek and question him of his lore.我倒要找上他，向他讨教他的渊博的学问。
• Early peoples passed on plant and animal lore through legend.早期人类通过传说传递有关植物和动物的知识。

196 lament   

n.悲叹，悔恨，恸哭；v.哀悼，悔恨，悲叹

参考例句：

• Her face showed lament.她的脸上露出悲伤的样子。
• We lament the dead.我们哀悼死者。

197 bridled   

给…套龙头( bridle的过去式和过去分词 )； 控制； 昂首表示轻蔑（或怨忿等）； 动怒，生气

参考例句：

• She bridled at the suggestion that she was lying. 她对暗示她在说谎的言论嗤之以鼻。
• He bridled his horse. 他给他的马套上笼头。

198 blithe   

adj.快乐的，无忧无虑的

参考例句：

• Tonight,however,she was even in a blithe mood than usual.但是，今天晚上她比往常还要高兴。
• He showed a blithe indifference to her feelings.他显得毫不顾及她的感情。

199 anguish   

n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼

参考例句：

• She cried out for anguish at parting.分手时，她由于痛苦而失声大哭。
• The unspeakable anguish wrung his heart.难言的痛苦折磨着他的心。

200 mightily   

ad.强烈地；非常地

参考例句：

• He hit the peg mightily on the top with a mallet. 他用木槌猛敲木栓顶。
• This seemed mightily to relieve him. 干完这件事后，他似乎轻松了许多。

201 shameful   

adj.可耻的，不道德的

参考例句：

• It is very shameful of him to show off.他向人炫耀自己，真不害臊。
• We must expose this shameful activity to the newspapers.我们一定要向报社揭露这一无耻行径。

202 folly   

n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话

参考例句：

• Learn wisdom by the folly of others.从别人的愚蠢行动中学到智慧。
• Events proved the folly of such calculations.事情的进展证明了这种估计是愚蠢的。

203 hoofs   

n.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的名词复数 )v.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The stamp of the horse's hoofs on the wooden floor was loud. 马蹄踏在木头地板上的声音很响。 来自辞典例句
• The noise of hoofs called him back to the other window. 马蹄声把他又唤回那扇窗子口。 来自辞典例句