The Dráp Niflunga is a short prose section in the Poetic Edda

Poetic Edda

The Poetic Edda is a collection of Old Norse poems primarily preserved in the Icelandic mediaeval manuscript Codex Regius. Along with Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda, the Poetic Edda is the most important extant source on Norse mythology and Germanic heroic legends, and from the early 19th century...

between Helreið Brynhildar

Helreið Brynhildar

Helreið Brynhildar or Brynhild's Hel-Ride is a short Old Norse poem that is found in the Poetic Edda. Most of the poem is also quoted in Norna-Gests þáttr....

and Guðrúnarkviða II

Guðrúnarkviða II

Guðrúnarkviða II, The Second Lay of Gudrún, or Guðrúnarkviða hin forna, The Old Lay of Gudrún is probably the oldest poem of the Sigurd cycle, according to Henry Adams Bellows....

. Henry Adams Bellows

Henry Adams Bellows

Henry Adams Bellows was a lawyer, state legislator, and jurist born in Rockingham, Vermont. He was elected to the New Hampshire House of Representatives from Littleton, New Hampshire in 1839. He was subsequently elected again to the House from Concord, New Hampshire in 1856–1857, and served as...

 notes in his commentary that the purpose of the section is to serve as a narrative link between the poems.

In the preceding sections, both Sigurd

Sigurd

Sigurd is a legendary hero of Norse mythology, as well as the central character in the Völsunga saga. The earliest extant representations for his legend come in pictorial form from seven runestones in Sweden and most notably the Ramsund carving Sigurd (Old Norse: Sigurðr) is a legendary hero of...

 and Brynhildr

Brynhildr

Brynhildr is a shieldmaiden and a valkyrie in Norse mythology, where she appears as a main character in the Völsunga saga and some Eddic poems treating the same events. Under the name Brünnhilde she appears in the Nibelungenlied and therefore also in Richard Wagner's opera cycle Der Ring des...

 have died and this section deals with how Brynhild's brother Atli

Atli

-Characters:* Atli, one of the names of the Norse god Thor* Atli in the Völsunga saga, believed to be a romanticized version of Attila the Hun* Atli Buðlason* Atli Hringsson* Atli Iðmundsson* Atli the Slender, a 9th-century earl of Sogn, Norway-Poetry:...

 becomes Gudrun

Gudrun

Gudrun is a major figure in the early Germanic literature centered on the hero Sigurd, son of Sigmund. She appears as Kriemhild in the Nibelungenlied and as Gutrune in Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen.-Norse mythology:...

's second husband and with how Atli avenges Brynhild's death by slaying Gudrun's brothers Gunnar

Gunther

Gunther is the German name of a semi-legendary king of Burgundy of the early 5th century...

 and Hogni

Hagen (legend)

Hagen or Högni is a Burgundian warrior in tales about the Burgundian kingdom at Worms. Hagen is often identified as a brother or half-brother of King Gunther .In the Nibelungenlied, he is called Hagen of Tronje...

.

Storyline

This is Henry Adams Bellows' translation of the section: