Helgi Returns to His Grave

Can Sigrun meet Helgi again after his death?

Helgi married Sigrun. Her brother Day borrowed a spear from Odin to avenge their father. With that spear, Day stabbed Helgi to death.

One evening, a woman serving Sigrun saw Helgi and his companions riding back to his burial mound. When Sigrun heard the news, she went inside the grave. Frost clung to Helgi's hair, and his armor was stained with blood. She said she wanted to kiss him first.

Helgi told her that her tears fell like blood upon his chest. Sigrun made a bed inside the grave. She longed to sleep in his arms as she had when he was alive. And so the living wife and her dead husband lay close together.

At last, Helgi said it was time to ride through the sky. He had to leave before the warriors were woken. He departed with his companions. The next evening, Sigrun returned to the grave, but her husband did not appear. Later, she died of grief.

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