Note 34 — The Greenland Lay of Atli

Six Fornyrthislag lines which editors have tried to reconstruct in all sorts of ways. The manuscript marks line 5 as the beginning of a new stanza. Regarding the serpents’ den, Gunnar’s harp-playing, and the manner of his death, cf. Drap Niflunga and Oddrunargratr, 27–30, and notes. In Atlamol, 62, Gunnar plays the harp with his feet, his hands being bound, and some editors change hand in line 4 to “foot.” Lines 5–6 may be interpolated, or, as Bugge maintains, lines 1–4 may have been expanded out of two lines.