Dengang var Gudron beredt til Døden
Language: Danish (Dansk) after the Old Norse (Fornnorræna)
Our translations: ENG FRE
Dengang var Gudrun beredt til Døden,
da sorgful hun sad over Sigurds Lig.
Ej sad hun og græd
og med Hænder slog;
ej hun klynked som andre Kvinder.
Kloge Jarler til hende kom,
varligt de bøjed den haarde Vilje.
Dog kunde Gudrun ikke græde;
saa hun sørged,
som om briste hun skulde.
Text Authorship:
Based on:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Philip Schäfer) , "Once Gudrun was ready for death", copyright © 2004, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "Ce jour là Gudrun était prête à mourir", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Philip Schäfer
This text was added to the website: 2004-05-03
Line count: 10
Word count: 52
Once Gudrun was ready for death
Language: English after the Danish (Dansk)
Once Gudrun was ready for death,
Full of anguish she sat by Sigurd's corpse,
She sat still and did not sob
And did not clap with her hands;
She did not cry like other women do.
Wise earls came to her,
Carefully they sought to alleviate the sorrow.
But Gudrun did not know a tear;
That much she was grieved
As if she was to shatter.
Text Authorship:
Based on:
Based on:
This text was added to the website: 2004-05-03
Line count: 10
Word count: 66
