The Gold Debt (Atlakviða)

Intro

(Atlakviða! Atlakviða!)

He thought the gold would come without the cost...

(Hu-ha!) Sent the invitation — didn't count the loss —

Guðrún read the runes on the ring he tossed —

(Atlakviða!) The warning came — her brothers crossed...

Verse 1 — Guðrún

I had already lost the thing worth losing —

Sigurðr dead — his blood still on the choosing

Of my own kin — the mead-drink — the confusing

Of the gold's curse running through the bruising.

Then Atli sent the word — come feast, come brother —

Gunnarr, Högni — ride south — no bother.

I braided runes into the gift-ring's cover —

Wolf-hair woven through — read it, don't ignore her.

They read it wrong — or wouldn't let it land right —

Honor over warning — rode into the half-light.

I stood at Atli's wall and felt the planned slight —

Every smile in that gold hall was appetite.

I could not stop what the cursed gold was pulling —

Andvari's debt collecting — always culling —

I watched my brothers walk inside — the lulling

Of mead and fire — and the gate-lock's dulling.

Pre-Chorus — both

Gunnarr: they asked for the gold — I laughed in the asking —

Guðrún: I watched the doors close — no unmasking —

(the rune-ring thrown aside...)

Both: the curse of the Niflungar runs past the gold-stashing —

It runs through the blood of everyone it's clasping. (uh!)

Chorus — both

They took the brothers — thought they'd take the hoard (take the hoard!)

Guðrún sharpened something longer than a sword (than a sword!)

Gunnarr played the harp till the last serpent scored (serpent scored!)

Atlakviða — the gold debt gets restored! (Hu-ha!)

Verse 2 — Gunnarr

They cut Högni's heart out — he laughed while they were cutting —

Said: I always wondered — now I see it — nothing

Stops the Niflungar — not the blade, not the gutting —

He died with the laugh still on — I kept it running.

Pit of serpents — hands bound — no capitulating —

I called for the harp — Atli thought humiliating

Was the ask — he sent it — started calculating

What the broken man would play — miscalculating.

I played with my feet — bound — in the cold dark —

Every serpent circling to the strings' remark.

They stilled — the music held them — even in the stark

Of Atli's pit — I held the night — held the spark.

One old serpent — deaf — found my side before morning —

That's the one — I felt it — no mourning —

I'd sent no word of where the gold was storing —

Atli got nothing — that was my last outpouring.

Pre-Chorus — both

Gunnarr: they asked for the gold — I laughed in the asking —

Guðrún: I watched the doors close — no unmasking —

(the rune-ring thrown aside...)

Both: the curse of the Niflungar runs past the gold-stashing —

It runs through the blood of everyone it's clasping. (uh!)

Chorus — both

They took the brothers — thought they'd take the hoard (take the hoard!)

Guðrún sharpened something longer than a sword (than a sword!)

Gunnarr played the harp till the last serpent scored (serpent scored!)

Atlakviða — the gold debt gets restored! (Hu-ha!)

Bridge — trading

Guðrún: I set the table for the feast he'd been requesting —

(the feast...)

Gunnarr's death still fresh — the hall still cresting —

(still cresting...)

I carved the cups from what he'd been investing —

(from the sons...)

Atli drank his bloodline without questioning.

Gunnarr: I heard from Hel what she was doing after —

(she did it...)

The harp still ringing through the death-hall rafter —

(still rings...)

Every serpent-deaf note building to the chapter

Where a sister's grief becomes the gold's last laughter.

Both: She put the blade in Atli while he dreamed —

(in his sleep...)

Burned the gold hall — everything it seemed

(burned it all...)

The curse died in the fire — or so it gleamed —

(Skál to Guðrún! Skál — she paid what it redeemed!)

(The gold burned with the hall — Andvari's debt cleaned!)

Drop — Instrumental

Chorus — both

They took the brothers — thought they'd take the hoard (take the hoard!)

Guðrún sharpened something longer than a sword (than a sword!)

Gunnarr played the harp till the last serpent scored (serpent scored!)

Atlakviða — the gold debt gets restored! (Hu-ha!)

Outro

(Atlakviða! Atlakviða!)

The hall burned before dawn...

(Hu-ha!)

The gold burned with it.

The brothers paid.

Guðrún paid more.

Gunnarr played

until the last serpent

found him.

(That was enough

to take to Hel.)