1. There are many who know how of old did men In counsel gather; little good did they get; In secret they plotted, it was sore for them later, And for Gjuki's sons, whose trust they deceived.

2. Fate grew for the princes, to death they were given; Ill counsel was Atli's, though keenness he had;

3. He felled his staunch bulwark, his own sorrow fashioned, Soon a message he sent that his kinsmen should seek him.

4. Wise was the woman, she fain would use wisdom, She saw well what meant all they said in secret; From her heart it was hid how help she might render, The sea they should sail, while herself she should go not.

5. Runes did she fashion, but false Vingi made them, The speeder of hatred, ere to give them he sought; Then soon fared the warriors whom Atli had sent, And to Limafjord came, to the home of the kings.

6. They were kindly with ale, and fires they kindled,

7. They thought not of craft from the guests who had come; The gifts did they take that the noble one gave them, On the pillars they hung them, no fear did they harbor.

8. Forth did Kostbera, wife of Hogni, then come, Full kindly she was, and she welcomed them both; And glad too was Glaumvor, the wife of Gunnar, She knew well to care for the needs of the guests.

9. Then Hogni they asked if more eager he were, Full clear was the guile, if on guard they had been; Then Gunnar made promise, if Hogni would go, And Hogni made answer as the other counseled.

10. Then the famed ones brought mead, and fair was the feast,

11. Full many were the horns, till the men had drunk deep; Then the mates made ready their beds for resting.

12. Wise was Kostbera, and cunning in rune-craft, The letters would she read by the light of the fire; But full quickly her tongue to her palate clave, So strange did they seem that their meaning she saw not.

13. Full soon then his bed came Hogni to seek, The clear-souled one dreamed, and her dream she kept not, To the warrior the wise one spake when she wakened:

14. "Thou wouldst go hence, Hogni, but heed my counsel,—

15. Known to few are the runes,— and put off thy faring; I have read now the runes that thy sister wrote, And this time the bright one did not bid thee to come.

16. "Full much do I wonder, nor well can I see, Why the woman wise so wildly hath written; But to me it seems that the meaning beneath Is that both shall be slain if soon ye shall go. But one rune she missed, or else others have marred it."

17. Hogni: "All women are fearful; not so do I feel, Ill I seek not to find till I soon must avenge it; The king now will give us the glow-ruddy gold; I never shall fear, though of dangers I know."

18. Kostbera: "In danger ye fare, if forth ye go thither,

19. No welcoming friendly this time shall ye find; For I dreamed now, Hogni, and nought will I hide, Full evil thy faring, if rightly I fear.

20. "Thy bed-covering saw I in the flames burning, And the fire burst high through the walls of my home." Hogni: "Yon garment of linen lies little of worth, It will soon be burned, so thou sawest the bed-cover."

21. Kostbera: "A bear saw I enter, the pillars he broke, And he brandished his claws so that craven we were; With his mouth seized he many, and nought was our might, And loud was the tumult, not little it was."

22. Hogni: "Now a storm is brewing, and wild it grows swiftly, A dream of an ice-bear means a gale from the east."

23. Kostbera: "An eagle I saw flying from the end through the house, Our fate must be bad, for with blood he sprinkled us; From the evil I fear that 'twas Atli's spirit."

24. Hogni: "They will slaughter soon, and so blood do we see, Oft oxen it means when of eagles one dreams;

25. True is Atli's heart, whatever thou dreamest." Then silent they were, and nought further they said.

108 more verses…