Note 29 — The Greenland Lay of Atli

The manuscript marks line 3, and not line 1, as the beginning of a stanza. Rhine, etc.: the stanza shows the blending of three different traditions with regard to the treasure: the German tradition of the gold of the Rhine (cf. Völundarkvitha, 16, and Sigurtharkvitha en skamma, 16), the tradition, likewise German, of the hoard of the Nibelungen (Niflungs), early blended with the first one, and finally the northern tradition of the theft of Andvari’s treasure by Othin, Hönir, and Loki (cf. Reginsmol, 1–9).