Note 49 — The First Lay of Helgi Hundingsbane

Here the scene shifts to the shore among Hothbrodd’s followers. Sviputh and Sveggjuth (“Swift” and “Lithe”): horses’ names. Mist’s horse: the Valkyrie’s name is the same as the English word “mist,” and the “horse” on which the mist rides is the earth. The two lines in parenthesis may be interpolated, or line 5 may begin a new stanza, as the manuscript indicates.