Starting at the middle of the fifth century from the territory about
Worms on the Rhine where the Burgundians were overthrown, the saga soon
spread from the Franks to the other Germanic peoples. We have evidence of
its presence in northern Germany and Denmark. Allusions to it in the
Anglo-Saxon poem, the _Wanderer_, of the seventh century and in the great
Anglo-Saxon epic _Beowulf_ of a short time later, show us that it had
early become part of the national saga stock in England. Among the people
of Norway and Iceland it took root and grew with particular vigor. Here,
farthest away from its original home and least exposed to outward
influences, it preserved on the whole most fully its heathen Germanic
character, especially in its mythical part. By a fortunate turn of
events, too, the written record of it here is of considerably earlier
date than that which we have from Germany. The Eddas, as the extensive
collection of early Icelandic poems is called, are the fullest record of
Germanic mythology and saga that has been handed down to us, and in them
the saga of Siegfried and the Nibelungen looms up prominently. The
earliest of these poems date from about the year 850, and the most
important of them were probably written down within a couple of centuries
of that time. They are thus in part some three centuries older than the
German Nibelungenlied, and on the whole, too, they preserve more of the
original outlines of the saga. By bringing together the various episodes
of the saga from the Eddas and the Volsung saga, a prose account of the
mythical race of the Volsungs, we arrive at the following narrative.
On their wanderings through the world the three gods Odin, Honir, and
Loki come to a waterfall where an otter is devouring a fish that it has
caught. Loki kills the otter with a stone, and they take off its skin. In
the evening they seek a lodging at the house of Hreidmar, to whom they
show the skin. Hreidmar recognizes it as that of his son, whom Loki has
killed when he had taken on the form of an otter. Assisted by his sons
Fafnir and Regin, Hreidmar seizes the three gods, and spares their lives
only on the promise that they will fill the skin, and also cover it
outwardly, with gold. Loki is sent to procure the ransom. With a net
borrowed from the sea-goddess Ran he catches at the waterfall the dwarf
Andvari in form of a fish and compels him to supply the required gold.
Andvari tries to keep back a ring, but this also Loki takes from him,
whereupon the dwarf utters a curse upon the gold and whosoever may
possess it. The ransom is now paid to Hreidmar; even the ring must, on
Hreidmar's demand, be given in order to complete the covering of the
otter's skin. Loki tells him of the curse connected with the ownership of
the gold. When Hreidmar refuses Fafnir and Regin a share in the treasure,
he is killed by Fafnir, who takes possession of the hoard to the
exclusion of Regin. In the form of a dragon Fafnir dwells on Gnita Heath
guarding the hoard, while Regin broods revenge.
From Odin is descended King Volsung, who has a family of ten sons and one
daughter. The eldest son is Sigmund, twin-born with his sister Signy.
King Siggeir of Gautland sues for the hand of Signy, whom her father
gives to Siggeir against her will. In the midst of King Volsung's hall
stood a mighty oak-tree. As the wedding-feast is being held there enters
a stranger, an old man with one eye, his hat drawn down over his face and
bearing in his hand a sword. This sword he thrusts to the hilt into the
tree, saying that it shall belong to him who can draw it out again; after
which he disappears as he had come. All the guests try their strength in
vain upon the sword, but Sigmund alone is able to draw it forth. He
refuses to sell it to Siggeir for all his proffered gold. Siggeir plans
vengeance. He invites Volsung and his sons to Gautland, and returns home
thither with his bride Signy, who before going warns her father to be
upon his guard.
At the appointed time King Volsung and his sons go as invited to
Gautland. In spite of Signy's repeated warning he will not flee from
danger, and falls in combat with Siggeir; his ten sons are taken
prisoners, and placed in stocks in the forest. For nine successive nights
a she-wolf comes and devours each night one of them, till only Sigmund
remains. By the aid of Signy he escapes. The she-wolf, it was said, was
the mother of Siggeir.
To Sigmund, who has hidden in a wood, Signy sends her eldest boy of ten
years that Sigmund may test his courage and see if he is fit to be a
helper in seeking revenge. Neither he, however, nor his younger brother
stands the test. Signy sees that only a scion of the race of Volsung will
suffice, and accordingly disguises herself and lives three days with
Sigmund in the wood. From their union a son Sinfiotli is born, whom also,
after ten years, she sends out to Sigmund. He stands every test of
courage, and is trained by Sigmund, who thinks he is Siggeir's son.
Bent on revenge, Sigmund repairs with Sinfiotli to Siggeir's castle.
After Sinfiotli has slain the king's two sons, he and Sigmund are
overpowered and condemned to be buried alive. With Sigmund's sword,
however, which Signy has managed to place in their hands, they cut their
way out, then set fire to Siggeir's hall. Signy comes forth and reveals
to Sigmund that Sinfiotli is their own son; and then, saying that her
work of revenge is complete and that she can live no longer, she returns
into the burning hall and perishes with Siggeir and all his race.
Sigmund now returns home and rules as a mighty king. He marries Borghild,
who later kills Sinfiotli with a poisoned drink, and is cast away by
Sigmund. He then marries Hjordis. Lyngvi, the son of King Hunding, was
also a suitor and now invades Sigmund's land. The latter hews down many
of his enemies, until an old man with one eye, in hat and dark cloak,
interposes his spear, against which Sigmund's sword breaks in two.
Sigmund falls severely wounded.
In the night Hjordis seeks the scene of the combat and finds Sigmund
still alive. He refuses to allow her to heal his wounds, saying that Odin
no longer wills that he swing the sword. He tells Hjordis to preserve
carefully the pieces of the broken sword; the son she bears in her womb
shall yet swing the sword when welded anew, and win thereby a glorious
name. At dawn Sigmund dies. Hjordis is borne off by Vikings and, after
the birth of her son, she becomes the wife of the Danish prince Alf.
The son of Hjordis was called Sigurd. He grew up a boy of wondrous
strength and beauty, with eyes that sparkled brightly, and lived at the
court of King Hjalprek, the father of Alf. Regin, the dwarfish brother of
Fafnir, was his tutor. Regin welds together the pieces of the broken
sword Gram, so sharp and strong that with it Sigurd cleaves Regin's anvil
in twain. With men and ships that he has received from King Hjalprek
Sigurd goes against the sons of Hunding, whom he slays, thereby avenging
the death of his father. Regin has urged him to kill Fafnir and take
possession of the hoard. On the Gnita Heath he digs a ditch from which,
as the dragon Fafnir passes over it, he plunges the sword into his heart.
The dying Fafnir warns him of the curse attached to the possession of the
gold; also that Regin is to be guarded against. The latter bids him roast
the heart of Fafnir. While doing so he burns his finger by dipping it in
the blood to see if the heart is done, and to cool his finger puts it
into his mouth. Suddenly he is able to understand the language of the
birds in the wood. They warn him to beware of Regin, whom he straightway
slays. The birds tell him further of the beautiful valkyrie Brynhild, who
sleeps on the fire-encircled mountain awaiting her deliverer. Then Sigurd
places Fafnir's hoard upon his steed Grani, takes with him also Fafnir's
helm, and rides away to Frankenland. He sees a mountain encircled by a
zone of fire, makes his way into it and beholds there, as he deems it, a
man in full armor asleep. When he takes off the helmet he finds that it
is a woman. With his sword he cuts loose the armor. The woman wakes and
asks if it be the hero Sigurd who has awakened her. In joy that it is so,
Brynhild relates to him how Odin had punished her by this magic sleep for
disobedience, and how that she had yet obtained from him the promise that
she should be wakened only by a hero who knew no fear. She now teaches
Sigurd many wise runes, and tells him of harm to fear through love of
her. In spite of all, however, Sigurd does not waver, and they swear an
oath of mutual faithful love.
Next Sigurd comes to King Gjuki at the Rhine, and joins in friendship
with him and his sons Gunnar and Hogni. Queen Grimhild gives Sigurd a
potion which causes him to forget Brynhild and be filled with love for
her own daughter Gudrun, whom he marries. Gunnar now seeks Brynhild for
wife, and Sigurd goes with him on his wooing-journey. They come to the
castle encircled by fire, where Brynhild lives. She will be wooed only by
him who will ride to her through the flames. Gunnar tries in vain to do
this, even when mounted on Sigurd's steed Grani. Sigurd and Gunnar then
exchange shapes and the former spurs Grani through the flames. He calls
himself Gunnar the son of Gjuki, and finally Brynhild consents to become
his wife. Three nights he shares her couch, but always his sharp sword
lies between them. He takes the ring from her finger and places in its
stead one from Fafnir's treasure. Then he exchanges form again with
Gunnar, who is soon after wedded to Brynhild. Only now does Sigurd
recollect the oath that he once swore to Brynhild himself.
One day Brynhild and Gudrun are bathing in the Rhine. A quarrel arises
between them when Brynhild takes precedence of Gudrun by going into the
water above her in the stream, saying that her husband is a braver and
mightier man than Gudrun's. Gudrun retorts by revealing the secret that
it was Sigurd in Gunnar's form, and not Gunnar himself, who rode through
the flame, and in proof thereof shows her the ring taken by Sigurd from
Brynhild's finger. Pale as death, Brynhild goes quietly home: Gunnar must
die, she says in wrath. Sigurd tries to pacify her, even offering to
desert Gudrun. Now she will have neither him nor another, and when Gunnar
appears she demands of him Sigurd's death. In spite of Hogni's protest
Gunnar's stepbrother Gutthorm, who has not sworn blood-friendship with
Sigurd, is got to do the deed. He is given the flesh of wolf and serpent
to eat in order to make him savage. Twice Gutthorm goes to kill Sigurd,
but cowers before the piercing glance of his eyes; at last he steals upon
Sigurd asleep and thrusts his sword through him. The dying Sigurd hurls
the sword after the fleeing murderer and cuts him in two. To Gudrun, who
wakes from sleep by his side, he points to Brynhild as the instigator of
the crime, and dies. Brynhild rejoices at the sound of Gudrun's wailing.
Gudrun cannot find relief for her grief, the tears will not flow. Men and
women seek to console her by tales of greater woes befallen them. But
still Gudrun cannot weep as she sits by Sigurd's corpse. At last one of
the women lifts the cloth from Sigurd's face and lays his head upon
Gudrun's lap. Then Gudrun gazes on his blood-besmirched hair, his dimmed
eyes, and breast pierced by the sword: she sinks down upon the couch and
a flood of tears bursts at length from her eyes.
Brynhild now tells Gunnar that Sigurd had really kept faith with him on
the wooing journey; but she will live with him no longer and pierces
herself with a sword, after foretelling to Gunnar his future fate and
that of Gudrun. In accord with her own request she is burned on one
funeral-pyre with Sigurd, the sword between them as once before.
Atli,[1] king of the Huns, now seeks Gudrun for wife. She refuses, but
Grimhild gives her a potion which causes her to forget Sigurd and the
past, and then she becomes the wife of Atli. After Sigurd's death Gunnar
had taken possession of the Niflungen hoard, and this Atli now covets. He
treacherously invites Gunnar and the others to visit him, which they do
in spite of Gudrun's warnings, first of all, however, sinking the hoard
in the Rhine. On their arrival Atli demands of them the hoard, which, he
says, belongs of right to Gudrun. On their refusal he attacks them. Hosts
of fighters on both sides fall and in the end Gunnar and Hogni, the only
two of their number remaining, are bound in fetters. Gunnar refuses
Atli's command to reveal the hiding-place of the hoard, bidding them
bring to him the heart of Hogni. They kill a servant and bring his heart
to Gunnar; but Gunnar sees how it still quivers with fear, and knows it
is not the heart of the fearless Hogni. Then the latter is really killed,
and his heart is brought to Gunnar, who cries exultingly that now only
the Rhine knows where the hoard lies hidden. In spite of Gudrun Atli
orders that Gunnar be thrown into a den of serpents. With a harp
communicated to him by Gudrun he pacifies them all but one, which stings
him to the heart, and thus Gunnar dies. Gudrun is nominally reconciled
with Atli, but in secret plans revenge for the death of her brothers. She
kills Atli's two sons, gives him at a banquet their blood to drink and
their hearts to eat. In the night she plunges a sword into his own heart,
confesses herself to him as his murderer, and sets fire to the castle, in
which Atli and all his remaining men are consumed.
[1] That is, Attila; the Etzel of the Nibelungenlied.