Borgny

Overview

Opening prose calls Borgny Heithrek’s daughter and Vilmund’s lover. After five years of secrecy she suffers in labour and seeks Oddrun; thanks and a quarrel after the birth open onto Oddrun’s own lament. The poem gives no later fate for her.

Key facts

Relationships

• Oddrunhears of her labour

  hears of her labour

• Oddrunrides to aid

  rides to aid

• Vilmundloves in secret

  loves in secret

• Vilmundfathers her children

  fathers her children

• Oddrunhelps with charms

  helps with charms

• Oddrunthanks her aid

  thanks her aid

Story appearances

• The Lament of Oddrun: The Journey and the Failed RescueFigure in the Lament of Oddrun

  Heithrek’s daughter, suffering in difficult labour when Oddrun arrives.

Ancient sources

MythWeave distinguishes ancient-source evidence from later adaptations and modern interpretation.

• Anonymous; translated by Henry Adams Bellows, The Poetic Edda: Oddrunargratr, Introduction, opening prose, and stanzas 1–32: Borgny’s birth, Oddrun and Gunnar, rescue, and lament.