So Atli and Gudrun were wed, and they rode away together to his country. But his dreams became dark and full of death-omens so that he feared his wife....
Brynhild’s rage broke out and she swore that Gudrun would pay for stealing Sigurd. She added, truly enough, that Sigurd had had to be drugged into loving Gudrun, whereas he’d loved Brynhild first and freely when he fathered Aslaug. Gudrun, furious in her turn, cried out that at least she’d waited until after her wedding to sleep with her man, rather than bearing a bastard.
The king's daughter Gudrun fell deeply and hopelessly in love with their guest; hopelessly, because he spoke constantly of his beloved and betrothed, Brynhild. Queen Grimhild saw her daughter’s grief and took matters into her own hands. She made a potion and dropped it into Sigurd’s drinking horn.
An earlier blog post described how the young hero Sigurd rode through a wall of fire to waken Brynhild, the beautiful armored woman who lay asleep within the enchanted ring. He had been told that she was beautiful and wise. He had not understood how powerful, or how dangerous, she was, or that she suffered under the enmity of Allfather Odin himself.
