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of Sigmund, the most famed of all the young men who now are.

Then said the man, “Naught but one thing, certes, do all say of him, that none among the sons of kings may be likened unto him; now fain were I that ye would shorten sail on some of the ships, and take me aboard.”

Then they asked him of his name, and he sang—

Hnikar I hight,
When I gladdened Huginn,
And went to battle,
Bright son of Volsung;
Now may ye call
The carl on the cliff top,
Feng or Fjolnir:
Fain would I with you.

They made for land therewith, and took that man aboard.

Then quoth Sigurd,^[1] as the song says—

 Tell me this, O Hnikar,
 Since full well thou knowest
Fate of Gods, good and ill of mankind,
 What best our hap foresheweth,
 When amid the battle
About us sweeps the sword edge.

Quoth Hnikar—

 Good are many tokens
 If thereof men wotted
When the swords are sweeping:

1. This and verses following were inserted from the Reginsmál by the translators.