The Guests of Odin Page 12
Sigrun thanked him for all he had done. He married Sigrun and took over the kingdom. They had many sons, but Helgi did not live long. Dag sacrificed to Odin in order to gain revenge and Odin gave him his spear. Dag found Helgi at Fjoturlund and killed him with the spear. Then he rode to the mountains to tell Sigrun what he had done. He cursed her when he gave her his news, and blamed Odin for causing strife. Sigrun mourned her husband’s passing.
When Helgi reached Valhalla, Odin had him rule at his side.
Some time later, Helgi was seen riding to his burial mound with many other dead men. When Sigrun heard of this she went to the mound and found it open, and she spent the night with her dead husband. Although she returned, she lived only a short while longer. In later years, Helgi and Sigrun were reborn, as Helgi Hadding’s Champion and Kara, daughter of Halfdan.
3. Sigmund’s Later Years
Sinfjotli went raiding again, and he found a woman who he wanted to be his wife. The brother of Borghild, Sigmund’s wife, also desired her. The two men met in battle and Sinfjotli killed him. Now he went raiding everywhere, amassing plunder and fame. But when Sinfjotli returned to Sigmund’s kingdom and Borghild learnt what he had done, she asked him to leave the kingdom and never return. Sigmund said, “I will not let Sinfjotli leave.” He offered to give Borghild a wergild for her brother’s death. She told him, “It is your decision.”
Now Borghild arranged her brother’s funeral feast, to which she invited many important people. She served the ale herself, and offered Sinfjotli a large drinking horn, which he rejected, saying, “It is befouled.”
Sigmund took the horn and drank it instead. The queen offered Sinfjotli another drink, taunting him.
He took the horn and said, “This has been mixed with treachery.”
Sigmund took it from him and drank it all down. Again, the queen offered him a poisoned drink, and Sinfjotli recognised it for what it was. By now, Sigmund was drunk, and when Sinfjotli said the drink was poisoned, he replied by telling his son, “Filter it with your moustache, son!”
Angry, Sinfjotli drained the horn and fell dead to the floor.
Sigmund was struck by grief. He took Sinfjotli’s body in his arms and carried it through the woods until he came to a fjord. Here he saw a man in a small boat who asked him if he wanted to cross the fjord. Sigmund agreed, but since the boat was too small for Sigmund and his burden, he put Sinfjotli’s body in it and walked along the fjord shore. Then the boat vanished.
Sigmund went home and he banished Borghild, who died in exile. Sigmund continued to rule his kingdom. He heard that Hjordis, daughter of King Eylimi, was the fairest and wisest of all women, and decided he would marry her.
He went to visit Eylimi, and the king prepared a great banquet when he learnt that Sigmund came in friendship and not war. Now he found that Lyngvi, son of King Hunding was there, and also wanted to marry Hjordis. Eylimi let Hjordis choose between her two suitors, and she chose Sigmund, although he was old in years by now. They remained in Eylimi’s kingdom for some time before returning to Hunland, and Eylimi came with them.
King Lyngvi was angry and he and his brothers Alf and Hring gathered an army. They sailed to Hunland and sent word to Sigmund, who gathered his own army. He sent Hjordis with a bondmaid to hide in the forest. Battle commenced and the two forces fought, but Lyngvi’s army was much larger than Sigmund’s. Sigmund fought valiantly, and he cut Lyngvi’s men down before him until he was bloody to the shoulders. Then an old man with one eye came against Sigmund bearing a spear. Sigmund cut at the spear and his sword broke in two, and the tide of battle turned. Sigmund and his father-in-law Eylimi fell at the head of their army, with most of their men. King Lyngvi seized Sigmund’s kingdom but he could not find Hjordis.
The night after the battle, Hjordis and the bondmaid went among the slain and found Sigmund dying. She asked, “Can you be healed?”
He said, “I cannot live because Odin wants my death.” He added that she was carrying a son, and asked her to raise him well, and to keep the broken sword. He prophesied that it would be reforged and named Gram, and with it, their son would achieve great deeds. Then he died.
Sigurd the Volsung
1. Sigurd the Volsung
Day broke, and Hjordis saw that many ships had landed. Hjordis and her bondmaid exchanged clothes and she told the thrall to use her name. Vikings came ashore from the ships and searched the battlefield. They found the two women and brought them before their leader, Alf the son of King Hjalprek. He asked them who they were. The bondmaid answered for both, telling them what had happened. At Alf’s request, she led them to the king’s treasury, and the Vikings carried all the gold away to their ships. Alf took the two women with him and they sailed back to his father’s kingdom.
After he had been back a short time, his mother asked him, “Why is it that the fairer of the two women you brought back wears less gold and has poorer clothing?”
Alf said, “I noticed that her manner is not that of a thrall.”
He tested the two women and established that Hjordis was nobler in her upbringing, and when she saw this, she told him the whole story. Alf ask to marry her. Shortly afterwards she gave birth to Sigmund’s son.
They brought the boy before King Hjalprek, who was pleased by the boy’s piercing eyes, and he was sprinkled with water and named Sigurd. He was raised at King Hjalprek’s court, and his mother married Alf.
Sigurd’s foster father was Regin, son of Hreidmar. He taught Sigurd many skills and accomplishments, and also different languages. One day Regin asked Sigurd, “Do you know how much wealth your father owned and who guards it?”
Sigurd told him, “Alf and Hjalprek watch over it.”
Regin asked him, “Do you trust them?”
Sigurd said, “It is better for them to look after it for the moment since they can guard it better than I.”
Regin told Sigurd he acted like a stable boy or a vagrant. Sigurd said, “This is not true, since I can have anything I want.”
Regin told him to ask for a horse, and Sigurd said, “I will do it when I please.”
He went to Hjalprek and Alf and asked for a horse, and Hjalprek told him to take the one he wanted most.
The next day he went to choose his horse. On the way, he met an old man with a long beard who asked him where he was going. Sigurd told him, and asked the man to advise him. They drove the horses into the River Busiltjorn and all but one swam ashore. Sigurd chose the one that remained, who was a grey, young and big. The bearded man told him, “The horse is of the lineage of Sleipnir,” and then vanished. Sigurd named the horse Grani.
Regin criticised Sigurd for his poverty, but he told the boy that he knew where he could gain unparalleled riches. Sigurd asked where this wealth was and who its guardian was. Regin told him that the guardian was Fafnir the Dragon and that he lay upon Gnitaheath. Sigurd had heard of this serpent, and knew that no one dared fight him because he was so huge and fierce.
Regin told him, “He is no bigger than other snakes, or so it would have seemed to your Volsung forefathers.” He scorned Sigurd for showing little of their courage.
Sigurd said, “I have yet to prove myself. Why do you urge me so strongly to fight the dragon?”
Regin replied with the story of the Otter’s Ransom:
There was a man named Hreidmar who had three sons, one named Fafnir, who was big and ferocious, another called Otr, who was a fisherman and took on the shape of an otter during the day, and the third Regin himself, who was a smith.
A dwarf named Andvari lived in a waterfall called Andvari’s Fall where he took on the shape of a pike and caught his food that way. Otr often caught fish in the same waterfall, laying them one by one on the bank. One day, Odin, Loki, and Hoenir were travelling through the world when they came to Andvari’s Falls. Otr had caught himself a salmon and he was lazing on the bank, eating his catch. Loki flung a stone at him and slew the otter. The gods skinned the otter and took the salmon and went on their way.
Loki went to Ran, the sea giantess, and borrowed her net. Then he went upstream to Andvari’s Falls and cast the net to catch the pike. Loki demanded the pike ransom itself with gold. Andvari handed over his entire hoard of gold, except one ring, which he tried to hold back. But Loki seized even this. Angry, the dwarf went into his rock and said that the ring would be the death of its owner, and laid the same curse on the rest of the gold.
The three gods gave the gold to Hreidmar, covering the skin with it, but Odin kept back the ring. Hreidmar inspected the otter skin and said that one whisker was still uncovered. Odin took the ring from his finger and covered the whisker with it. Loki taunted Hreidmar with the curse on the gold and the gods departed.
Fafnir killed his father and concealed the body, then took all the gold and went out into the wilderness where he transformed into a dragon and lay upon the gold. Regin journeyed through the world for many years until he became smith to King Hjalprek.
Sigurd demanded Regin make a sword for him so he could do great deeds and kill the dragon. Regin forged a sword and gave it to Sigurd, who tested it by striking the anvil with the blade, which broke. He flung down the remaining shards and told Regin to make a better sword.
Regin made another sword and gave it to Sigurd, who tested it like the first, with the same result. Sigurd told Regin, “You are as deceitful as yours ancestors.”
He went to his mother, who greeted him, and they drank together. Sigurd asked her to give him the broken sword of his father. She did so; he took it to Regin and told him to make a sword worthy of the shards. Regin grew angry and went to his forge. He made a sword from the fragments of Gram, and drew it from the forge where it seemed that flames leapt on its edges. He took it to Sigurd and dared the boy to break it. Sigurd took the sword and hacked at the anvil with it, cutting the metal block straight through. Then he went to the river and dropped a tuft of wool into it, and placed the sword in the water downstream from the tuft. The sword cut the wool in two. Sigurd went home thinking he had a good blade.
Regin told him, “You must go and fight Fafnir now.”
Sigurd told him, “First, I will seek vengeance for my father’s death.”
Sigurd went to Alf and Hjalprek and asked them, “Give me ships and crews to search out the sons of Hunding and let them know that not all the Volsungs were dead.” Hjalprek provided a large fleet with a great dragonship for Sigurd.
2. Sigurd’s Revenge
They set sail. After a few days met a storm, which some said had been stirred up by the witchcraft of Hunding’s sons. As they passed a craggy headland, a man called out to the ships and asked the name of their leader. A crewman told him it was Sigurd the Volsung, and the man said, “His renown had spread far.” He asked to join them and told them he was called Fjolnir.
After they took him on board the storm subsided and they sailed on to Hundland, the kingdom of Hunding’s sons. They harried and pillaged far and wide, and soon King Lyngvi got word of the coming of Sigurd the Volsung.
Lyngvi gathered an army and went out to fight Sigurd. The battle was fierce and many men died. It went on a long time. Then Sigurd charged past the banners, holding Gram in his hand. Warriors fled before him, and no one could withstand him. Then he met the sons of Hunding and Sigurd cut Lyngvi in half, and then slew his brother Hjorvard, then the rest of the sons of Hunding, and the greater part of the army was slaughtered. Then they found that Fjolnir had vanished, and many believed him to be Odin.
Sigurd returned home with glory and plunder, and the kings prepared a banquet to welcome him. Regin came to Sigurd and reminded him of Fafnir. Sigurd said he would fulfil his promise.
3. Sigurd and Fafnir
Sigurd and Regin rode to Gnitaheath and they came to the track along which Fafnir would crawl to drink from the river.
Sigurd complained, “You said that Fafnir is nothing more than a snake, but it is now clear that he is much larger.”
Regin advised Sigurd to dig a ditch in the middle of the path and sit in it, and when the serpent crawled to drink, to stab him in the heart through the soft underbelly. Sigurd asked, “What will happen if the dragon’s blood falls on me?” Regin evaded the question and accused him of cowardice.
Regin departed hastily. Sigurd rode on to the heath. He dug a ditch in the middle of Fafnir’s path, but as he was doing so, an old man came up to him and asked him what he was doing. Sigurd explained but the old man told him to dig several ditches for the dragon’s blood to run into, then sit in one and stab up at the serpent’s heart. The man disappeared and Sigurd did as he had suggested.
Fafnir went to drink, and the earth shook all around. The dragon blew poison across his path, but Sigurd sat calmly in his ditch. When the dragon crawled over the pit, Sigurd thrust his sword Gram in under the dragon’s left shoulder so it sank in up to its hilt. Sigurd jumped out of the ditch and plucked the sword from the dragon, bloodying his arms to the shoulders. The dragon thrashed his head and tail about, destroying everything in his way.
Knowing the wound was mortal, Fafnir asked Sigurd, “Who are you and who are your kindred?” but Sigurd replied with riddles. Finally, Fafnir wheedled out of him his name and his father’s name. The dragon asked him many other questions, and told him that his gold would be Sigurd’s death. Fafnir died and Sigurd went to take his treasure.
Regin came to Sigurd and congratulated him for his deed, but then he said that Sigurd had killed his brother, so there was bad blood between them, although he was far from blameless himself. Sigurd cut out the dragon’s heart. Regin drank Fafnir’s blood and asked Sigurd to roast the heart and give it to him to eat. Sigurd did so, and when he thought it was done, Sigurd tested it with his finger, and put his finger in his mouth. When he did this, he immediately knew the language of birds, and heard the nuthatches talking in a nearby bush. They said that it would be better for Sigurd to eat the dragon’s heart and to kill the treacherous Regin, then take Fafnir’s gold and ride to Hindarfjoll, where Brynhild slept.
At this, Sigurd turned and cut off Regin’s head with Gram. He ate some of the dragon’s heart and kept the rest. Then he rode up Fafnir’s trail and came to the dragon’s lair where he found much gold, a sword named Hrotti, Fafnir’s helm of awe, a golden mail coat, and much besides. So much gold was there he thought it would have been too much for three normal horses to carry. He put it into two big chests and put them on Grani’s back, then took Grani by the bridle, but the horse stood stock still until Sigurd leapt astride him.
4. Brynhild
Sigurd rode for many miles before reaching the mountain Hindarfjoll, and then he turned south, towards Frakkland. Ahead on the mountain, he saw a light, as if a great fire was burning. He went towards it and found a rampart of shields with a banner fluttering above. Sigurd went over the rampart and saw a figure clad in armour lying there asleep. He took the helmet off the figure and saw that it was a woman. Her mailcoat was so tight it seemed to have grown into her flesh. He cut her free with Gram and she awoke. Her name was Brynhild. She asked if he was Sigurd.
He confirmed this, and added, “I have heard that you are the daughter of a great king.”
She told him, “Two kings fought long ago, an old warrior-king of the Goths named Hjalm-Gunnar, to whom Odin promised victory, and another named Agnar, who was young and strong. I gave Agnar victory against Odin’s wishes and Odin said that I would never again be victorious, but would marry. I vowed that I would only marry a man who knew no fear. Then Odin stabbed me with a thorn that put me into a deep sleep from which none could waken me.”
They drank together and Brynhild instructed Sigurd concerning the runes and warfare and other matters. They pledged that they would
marry. The next day Sigurd rode on until he came to the farm of Hlymdale, in Svavaland, where Brynhild had been fostered by Heimir. Her sister was named Bekkhild, and she had stayed at home, learning needlework and other womanly skills, later marrying Heimir. Brynhild and Bekkhild were the daughters of King Budli, and their brother was Atli, who later ruled over Hunland. Heimir and Bekkhild had a son named Alsvid, who greeted Sigurd well. Sigurd stayed there a long time with much honour for killing the dragon.
Brynhild came home sometime after this and she stayed in a bower with her women, where she was delivered of a girl child named Aslaug, but Sigurd knew nothing of this. Now Brynhild embroidered a tapestry with the deeds of Sigurd. Still he knew nothing of her coming until he was hawking in the forest and his bird flew to a high tower where Brynhild and her women dwelt. The next day Sigurd returned and greeted her, sat beside her and kissed her.
But Brynhild said, “We are not fated to be together. I will continue to be a shieldmaiden while you will marry Gudrun, daughter of Gjuki.”
Sigurd swore that this would not be so, “I will marry you or no other.” She said that she was of a like mind, and Sigurd gave her Andvari’s ring to seal the agreement.
5. The Gjukungs
Sigurd went away with the warriors that Alsvid had given him and they joined the host of Isung of Bertangaland, to whose lands came the famous Thjodrek of Bern, who had been exiled from Gothland by his evil uncle King Jormunrekk, accompanied by the Gjukungs Gunnar and Hogni. The two armies fought, and the fighting went on for many days, until at last it came to combat between Sigurd and Thjodrek. Neither warrior could defeat the other, until Thjodrek borrowed the sword Mimung, which belonged to his companion Vidga, son of Volund the renowned smith and prince of the elves, and was the work of Volund. Although Sigurd refused to fight Thjodrek if he bore that sword, his opponent tricked him and defeated him with the blade. Sigurd accepted Thjodrek’s suzerainty and joined the retinue of Thjodrek’s companions, Gunnar and Hogni.