When Volsung was fully grown Hrimnir sent him his daughter Hljod, who was mentioned earlier, when she took the apple to Rerir, Volsung’s father. Volsung married Hljod. They were together for a long time, well agreed and intimate. They had ten sons and one daughter. Their eldest son was called Sigmund, and the daughter was named Signy. They were twins, and in all things they were the foremost and the finest-looking of the children of King Volsung, though all of the other sons were imposing. It has long been remembered and highly spoken of that the descendants of Volsung were exceptionally ambitious. They surpassed most men named in old sagas in both knowledge and accomplishments and in the desire to win.
It is said that King Volsung had an excellent palace built in this fashion: a huge tree16 stood with its trunk in the hall and its branches, with fair blossoms, stretched out through the roof. They called the tree Barnstock.17
3 SIGMUND DRAWS THE SWORD FROM BARNSTOCK*
There was a king called Siggeir who ruled over Gautland. He was a powerful king and had many followers. He paid a visit to King Volsung and asked for Signy’s hand in marriage. The king took the proposal well, as did his sons, but Signy for her part was unwilling. Even so, she asked her father to make the decision, as he did in other matters that concerned her. It seemed advisable to the king to betroth her, and she was promised to King Siggeir. When the banquet and the marriage were to take place, King Siggeir was to feast at King Volsung’s.
Using the best provisions, the king made ready for the feast. When the banquet was fully prepared the guests of King Volsung and King Siggeir came on the appointed day, and King Siggeir had many worthy men with him. It is said that large fires were kindled in the long hearths running the length of the hall, but in the middle of the hall stood the great tree that earlier was mentioned.
It is now told that when people were sitting by the fires in the evening a man came into the hall. He was not known to the men by sight. He was dressed in this way: he wore a mottled cape that was hooded; he was barefoot and had linen breeches tied around his legs. As he walked up to Barnstock he held a sword in his hand while over his head was a low-hanging hood. He was very tall and gray with age, and he had only one eye.18 He brandished the sword and thrust it into the trunk so that it sank up to the hilt. Words of welcome failed everyone. Then the man began to speak: “He who draws this sword out of the trunk shall receive it from me as a gift, and he himself shall prove that he has never carried a better sword than this one.”
Then this old man walked out of the hall, and nobody knew who he was or where he was going. They stood up now, and no one disputed whether or not to grasp the sword; each thought the one who reached it first would be best off. The noblest men went up to it first, and then each of the others. No one who came forward succeeded in moving it, no matter which way he tried. Now Sigmund, the son of King Volsung, came forward. He grasped the sword, and drew it from the trunk. It was as if the sword lay loose for him. The weapon seemed so good to everyone that no one recalled ever seeing so fine a sword. Siggeir offered to weigh Sigmund out triple the sword’s weight in gold, to which Sigmund answered: “You could have taken this sword from where it stood, no less than I did, if it were meant for you to carry it; but now that it has come first into my hands, you will never obtain it, even should you offer me all the gold you own.” King Siggeir became angry at these words and thought the answer scornful. But since he was a very underhanded and deceitful man, he pretended not to care about this matter. That same evening, however, he thought of a means of paying Sigmund back. And, this is what later came about.
4 SIGGEIR PLOTS REVENGE*
Now there is this to be said: Siggeir went to bed with Signy that evening. The next day the weather was good. King Siggeir said that he wanted to return home rather than to wait until the wind rose or the sea became impassable. It is not told that King Volsung or his sons held King Siggeir back, especially when King Volsung saw that Siggeir wanted nothing other than to leave the feast.
Then Signy spoke to her father: “I do not wish to go away with Siggeir, nor do my thoughts laugh with him. I know through my foresight and that special ability found in our family19 that if the marriage contract is not quickly dissolved, this union will bring us much misery.” “You should not say such things, daughter,” he replied, “for it would be shameful both for him and for us to break our agreement without cause. And if it is broken we could neither have his trust nor bind him in a friendly alliance. He would repay us with as much ill as he could. The one honorable thing is to hold to our side of the bargain.”
King Siggeir prepared for the homeward voyage. Before he and his followers departed from the feast he invited King Volsung, his kinsman by marriage, to pay him a visit in Gautland in three months’ time. King Volsung was invited with all his sons, and all the men that he wanted and thought befitting his dignity. By doing this King Siggeir wished to make up for his shortcomings in not staying more than one night during the wedding celebration, for it was not the custom of men to behave that way. King Volsung promised to make the journey and to come on the appointed day. The in-laws parted and King Siggeir traveled home with his wife.
5 THE FALL OF VOLSUNG
Now is the time to tell that King Volsung and his sons journeyed to Gautland at the appointed time, according to the invitation of their in-law, King Siggeir. They set off in three ships, all well manned, and the voyage went well. When they arrived off Gautland in their ships it was already late evening.
That same evening Signy, the daughter of King Volsung, came and called her father and brothers together for a private talk. She told them of King Siggeir’s plans: that Siggeir had gathered an unbeatable army, “and he plans to betray you. Now I ask you,” she said, “to return at once to your own kingdom and gather the largest force you can; then come back here and avenge yourselves. But, do not put yourselves in this trap, for you will not escape his treachery if you do not do as I advise.”
King Volsung then spoke: “All peoples will bear witness that unborn I spoke one word and made the vow that I would flee neither fire nor iron from fear, and so I have done until now. Why should I not fulfill that vow in my old age? Maidens will not taunt my sons during games by saying that they feared their deaths, for each man must at one time die. No one may escape dying that once, and it is my counsel that we not flee, but for our own part act the bravest. I have fought a hundred times, sometimes with a larger army and sometimes with a lesser one. Both ways I have had the victory, and it will not be reported that I either fled or asked for peace.”
Then Signy cried bitterly and asked that she might not be made to return to King Siggeir. King Volsung answered: “You must certainly go home to your husband and be together with him, however it goes with us.” Then Signy went home, and Volsung and his men remained there during the night. In the morning, as soon as dawn came, King Volsung ordered all his men to get up and go ashore, and to prepare for battle. They now all went on land fully armed, and they did not have long to wait before King Siggeir arrived with all his army. The hardest of battles took place between them; the king urged his men forward as fiercely as possible. It is said that King Volsung and his sons went through King Siggeir’s ranks eight times that day, hewing on both sides. And when they intended to do so yet again, King Volsung fell in the middle of his ranks with all his men except for his ten sons. Because the force against them was overwhelming, they were forced to give way. His sons were seized and bound and taken away.
Signy learned that her father had been killed and her brothers taken prisoner and destined for death. She now asked King Siggeir to speak with her in private. Signy spoke: “I want to ask that you not have my brothers killed so quickly, but rather that you have them put in stocks. For it is with me as in the saying, ‘the eye takes pleasure while it yet beholds.’ I do not ask anything further for them, for I do not think it would be of any use.” Then Siggeir answered her: “You are mad and out of your senses to plead for a worse misfortune for your brothers than that t
hey be hewed down. But I will grant your request because I think it better that they suffer more and are tortured longer before they die.”
Siggeir had Signy’s wish carried out. A great trunk was brought and fitted as stocks on the feet of the ten brothers somewhere in the woods. They sat there all that day until night. But at midnight an old she-wolf came to them out of the woods as they sat in the stocks. She was both large and grim-looking. She bit one of the brothers to death and then ate him all up. After that she went away.
In the morning Signy sent her most trustworthy man to her brothers to learn what had occurred. And when he returned, he told her that one of them was dead. She thought it would be grievous if they all shared the same fate, but she could not help them. What happened can be quickly told; for nine nights in a row that same she-wolf came at midnight and each time killed and ate one of the brothers until all but Sigmund were dead. And now before the tenth night Signy sent her trusted man to her brother Sigmund. She gave him some honey and instructed him to smear it on Sigmund’s face and to put some in his mouth. Her man went to Sigmund, did as he had been instructed, and then returned home.
As usual the same she-wolf came in the night, meaning to bite Sigmund to death as she had his brothers. But then she caught the scent of the honey that had been rubbed on him. She licked his face all over with her tongue and then reached her tongue into his mouth. He did not lose his composure and bit into the wolf’s tongue. She jerked and pulled back hard, thrusting her feet against the trunk so that it split apart. But Sigmund held on so tightly that the wolf’s tongue was torn out by the roots, and that was her death. And some men say that the she-wolf was Siggeir’s mother, who had assumed this shape through witchcraft and sorcery.
6 SIGNY PLOTS REVENGE*
Now Sigmund is free, and the stocks are broken. He stayed there in the forest. Once again Signy sent men to find out what had taken place and if Sigmund was alive. And when they came, Sigmund told them all that had occurred between him and the she-wolf. Then they went home and told Signy of the events. She went and met with her brother and they decided that he should make an underground dwelling in the woods. Things went on for a while with Signy hiding him there and bringing him what he needed. King Siggeir, however, believed that all the Volsungs were dead.
King Siggeir had two sons by his wife. It is said that Signy sent the elder, when he was ten years old, to meet with Sigmund so that the boy could help if Sigmund wanted to try to avenge his father. The boy now went to the woods and late in the evening arrived at Sigmund’s underground dwelling.20 He was received well enough and told that he should make bread for them “and I will look for firewood.” Sigmund handed him a sack of flour and went himself to look for wood. But when he returned the boy had done nothing about making the bread. Now Sigmund asked if the bread was ready and the boy answered: “I did not dare touch the flour sack because there is something alive in the meal.” Sigmund now realized that this boy was not so stouthearted that he would want the lad with him.
When brother and sister next met, Sigmund said that he thought himself no closer to having a companion,21 even though the boy was there with him. Signy answered: “Then take the boy and kill him. He need not live any longer.” And so he did.
The winter passed, and the next winter Signy sent her younger son to meet with Sigmund. This story, however, does not need to be recounted at length, for things happened in much the same way, with Sigmund killing the boy at Signy’s bidding.
7 SIGNY GIVES BIRTH TO SINFJOTLI
It is now told that once while Signy was sitting in her chamber, a sorceress, exceedingly skilled in the magic arts, came to her. Signy said to her: “I want the two of us to exchange shapes.” The sorceress answered: “It shall be as you wish.” And she used her craft so that they changed shapes. The sorceress now took Signy’s place as Signy wished. She slept with the king that night, and he did not notice that it was not Signy beside him.
Now it is to be told of Signy that she went to her brother’s underground dwelling and asked him to give her refuge for the night, “for I have lost my way out in the forest, and I do not know where I am going.” He said that she could stay and that he would not refuse shelter to a woman alone, believing she would not repay his hospitality by betraying him. She entered his shelter and they sat down to eat. He frequently glanced at her and found her a fine and handsome woman. And when they had eaten their fill he told her that he wanted them to share one bed that night. She did not object and he had her next to him for three nights in a row. After that she returned home, met with the sorceress, and asked that they exchange shapes again, which the sorceress did.
And after a time Signy gave birth to a son. This son was called Sinfjotli. And when he grew up he was both large and strong, handsome of appearance, and very like the Volsung stock. He was not quite ten years old when Signy sent him to Sigmund in his underground shelter. Before sending her first sons to Sigmund, she had tested them by stitching the cuffs of their kirtles to their hands, passing the needle through both flesh and skin.22 They withstood the ordeal poorly and cried out in pain. She also did this to Sinfjotli; he did not flinch. Then she ripped the kirtle from him, so that the skin followed the sleeves. She said that it must certainly be painful for him. He replied: “Such pain would seem trifling to Volsung.”
Then the boy came to Sigmund. Sigmund asked him to knead their flour while he went to look for firewood. He handed the boy a sack and then went off for the wood. When he returned, Sinfjotli had finished the baking. Then Sigmund asked if he had discovered anything in the flour. “I am not without suspicion,” he said, “that there was something alive in the flour when I first began kneading, but I have kneaded it in, whatever it was.” Then Sigmund said and laughed as he spoke: “I do not think you should make your meal from this bread tonight, for you have kneaded into it the most poisonous of snakes.” Sigmund was so hardy that he could eat poison with no ill effect. Sinfjotli, however, although he could tolerate poison externally, could neither eat nor drink it.
8 SIGMUND AND SINFJOTLI DON THE SKINS
It is now to be told that Sigmund thought Sinfjotli too young to seek vengeance with him, and that he first wanted to accustom the boy to hardship. During the summers they traveled widely through the forests, killing men for booty. It seemed to Sigmund that Sinfjotli took much after the Volsung race. Nevertheless, he believed the boy to be the son of King Siggeir and to have the evil disposition of his father along with the fierce zeal of the Volsungs. Sigmund felt that Sinfjotli did not put much store in kinship, for the boy often reminded Sigmund of his grievances, strongly urging the man to kill King Siggeir.
One time, they went again to the forest to get themselves some riches, and they found a house. Inside it were two sleeping men, with thick gold rings. A spell had been cast upon them: wolfskins hung over them in the house and only every tenth day could they shed the skins. They were the sons of kings. Sigmund and Sinfjotli put the skins on and could not get them off. And the weird power was there as before: they howled like wolves, both understanding the sounds. Now they set out into the forest, each going his own way. They agreed then that they would risk a fight with as many as seven men, but not with more, and that the one being attacked by more would howl with his wolf’s voice. “Do not break this agreement,” said Sigmund, “because you are young and daring, and men will want to hunt you.”
Now each went his own way. And when they had parted, Sigmund found seven men and howled in his wolf’s voice. Sinfjotli heard him, came at once, and killed them all. They parted again. Before Sinfjotli had traveled very far in the forest, he met with eleven men and fought them. In the end he killed them all. Badly wounded, Sinfjotli went under an oak tree to rest. Then Sigmund came and said: “Why didn’t you call?” Sinfjotli replied: “I did not want to call you for help.23 You accepted help to kill seven men. I am a child in age next to you, but I did not ask for help in killing eleven men.” Sigmund leapt at him so fiercely that Sinfjotli staggered and fell.
Sigmund bit him in the windpipe. That day they were not able to come out of the wolfskins. Sigmund laid Sinfjotli over his shoulder, carried him home to the hut, and sat over him. He cursed the wolfskins, bidding the trolls to take them.
One day Sigmund saw two weasels. One bit the other in the windpipe and then ran into the woods, returning with a leaf and laying it on the wound. The other weasel sprang up healed. Sigmund went out and saw a raven24 flying with a leaf. The raven brought the leaf to Sigmund, who drew it over Sinfjotli’s wound. At once Sinfjotli sprang up healed, as if he had never been injured.
Then they went to the underground dwelling and stayed there until they were to take off the wolfskins. They took the skins and burned them in the fire, hoping that these objects would cause no further harm. Under that magic spell they had performed many feats in King Siggeir’s kingdom. When Sinfjotli was fully grown Sigmund thought he had tested him fully.
It was not long before Sigmund wanted to seek vengeance for his father Volsung, if it could be brought about. One day they left the underground dwelling and came late in the evening to King Siggeir’s estate. They entered the outer room, which was in front of the main hall. Inside the room were ale casks, and there they hid themselves. The queen found out where they were and wanted to meet with them. And when they met, they decided that when it grew dark they would take revenge for their father.
The Saga of the Volsungs: The Norse Epic of Sigurd the Dragon Slayer (Penguin Classics) Page 5
