Note 11 — The Greenland Lay of Atli
Henry Adams Bellows translation
Bugge thinks this stanza is spoken by Gunnar’s terrified followers; Grundtvig assigns it to Hogni. Apparently, however, Gunnar means that if he and his men are not valiant enough to make the journey and return safely, it matters little what may happen to them. Niflungs: regarding the application of this name to Gunnar’s Burgundians cf. Brot, 17 and note. Bears: these “black” bears have been used as arguments against the Greenland origin of the poem. And make glad the dogs: i.e., by giving them corpses to eat, but the phrase in the original is more than doubtful.