Now he bids folk take Sigmund and Sinfjotli and set them in the barrow, on either side of the stone, for the worse for them he deemed it, that they might hear each the other’s speech, and yet that neither might pass one to the other. But now, while they were covering in the barrow with the turf-slips, thither came Signy, bearing straw with her, and cast it down to Sinfjotli, and bade the thralls hide this thing from the king; they said yea thereto, and therewithal was the barrow closed in.

  But when night fell, Sinfjotli said to Sigmund, “Belike we shall scarce need meat for a while, for here has the queen cast swine’s flesh into the barrow, and wrapped it round about on the outer side with straw.”

  Therewith he handles the flesh and finds that therein was thrust Sigmund’s sword; and he knew it by the hilts, as mirk as it might be in the barrow, and tells Sigmund thereof, and of that were they both fain enow.

  Now Sinfjotli drave the point of the sword up into the big stone, and drew it hard along, and the sword bit on the stone. With that Sigmund caught the sword by the point, and in this wise they sawed the stone between them, and let not or all the sawing was done that need be done, even as the song sings:

  “Sinfjotli sawed

  And Sigmund sawed,

  Atwain with main

  The stone was done.”

  Now are they both together loose in the barrow, and soon they cut both through stone and through iron, and bring themselves out thereof. Then they go home to the hall, whenas all men slept there, and bear wood to the hall, and lay fire therein; and withal the folk therein are waked by the smoke, and by the hall burning over their heads.

  Then the king cries out, “Who kindled this fire, I burn withal?”

  “Here am I,” says Sigmund, “with Sinfjotli, my sister’s son; and we are minded that thou shalt wot well that all the Volsungs are not yet dead.”

  Then he bade his sister come out, and take all good things at his hands, and great honour, and fair atonement in that wise, for all her griefs.

  But she answered, “Take heed now, and consider, if I have kept King Siggeir in memory, and his slaying of Volsung the king! I let slay both my children, whom I deemed worthless for the revenging of our father, and I went into the wood to thee in a witch-wife’s shape; and now behold, Sinfjotli is the son of thee and of me both! and therefore has he this so great hardihood and fierceness, in that he is the son both of Volsung’s son and Volsung’s daughter; and for this, and for naught else, have I so wrought, that Siggeir might get his bane at last; and all these things have I done that vengeance might fall on him, and that I too might not live long; and merrily now will I die with King Siggeir, though I was naught merry to wed him.”

  Therewith she kissed Sigmund her brother, and Sinfjotli, and went back again into the fire, and there she died with King Siggeir and all his good men.

  But the two kinsmen gathered together folk and ships, and Sigmund went back to his father’s land, and drave away thence the king, who had set himself down there in the room of king Volsung.

  So Sigmund became a mighty King and far-famed, wise and high-minded: he had to wife one named Borghild, and two sons they had between them, one named Helgi and the other Hamund; and when Helgi was born, Norns came to him, (3) and spake over him, and said that he should be in time to come the most renowned of all kings. Even therewith was Sigmund come home from the wars, and so therewith he gives him the name of Helgi, and these matters as tokens thereof, Land of Rings, Sun-litten Hill, and Sharp-shearing Sword, and withal prayed that he might grow of great fame, and like unto the kin of the Volsungs.

  And so it was that he grew up high-minded, and well-beloved, and above all other men in all prowess; and the story tells that he went to the wars when he was fifteen winters old. Helgi was lord and ruler over the army, but Sinfjotli was gotten to be his fellow herein; and so the twain bare sway thereover.

  ENDNOTES:

  (1) “Skin-changers” were universally believed in once, in

  Iceland no less than elsewhere, as see Ari in several places

  of his history, especially the episode of Dufthach and

  Storwolf o’ Whale. Men possessing the power of becoming

  wolves at intervals, in the present case compelled so to

  become, wer-wolves or “loupsgarou”, find large place in

  medieval story, but were equally well-known in classic

  times. Belief in them still lingers in parts of Europe

  where wolves are to be found. Herodotus tells of the Neuri,

  who assumed once a year the shape of wolves; Pliny says that

  one of the family of Antaeus, chosen by lot annually, became

  a wolf, and so remained for nine years; Giraldus Cambrensis

  will have it that Irishmen may become wolves; and Nennius

  asserts point-blank that “the descendants of wolves are

  still in Ossory;” they retransform themselves into wolves

  when they bite. Apuleius, Petronius, and Lucian have

  similar stories. The Emperor Sigismund convoked a council

  of theologians in the fifteenth century who decided that

  wer-wolves did exist.

  (2) Byrny (A.S. “byrne”), corslet, cuirass.

  (3) “Norns came to him.” Nornir are the fates of the northern

  mythology. They are three— “Urd”, the past; “Verdandi”,

  the present; and “Skuld”, the future. They sit beside the

  fountain of Urd (“Urdarbrunur”), which is below one of the

  roots of “Yggdrasil”, the world-tree, which tree their

  office it is to nourish by sprinkling it with the waters of

  the fountain.

  CHAPTER IX. How Helgi, the son of Sigmund, won King Hodbrod and his Realm, and wedded Sigrun.

  Now the tale tells that Helgi in his warring met a king hight Hunding, a mighty king, and lord of many men and many lands; they fell to battle together, and Helgi went forth mightily, and such was the end of that fight that Helgi had the victory, but King Hunding fell and many of his men with him; but Helgi is deemed to have grown greatly in fame because he had slain so mighty a king.

  Then the sons of Hunding draw together a great army to avenge their father. Hard was the fight betwixt them; but Helgi goes through the folk of those brothers unto their banner, and there slays these sons of Hunding, Alf and Eyolf, Herward and Hagbard, and wins there a great victory.

  Now as Helgi fared from the fight, he met a many women right fair and worthy to look on, who rode in exceeding noble array; but one far excelled them all; then Helgi asked them the name of that their lady and queen, and she named herself Sigrun, and said she was daughter of King Hogni.

  Then said Helgi, “Fare home with us: good welcome shall ye have!”

  Then said the king’s daughter, “Other work lies before us than to drink with thee.”

  “Yea, and what work, king’s daughter?” said Helgi.

  She answers, “King Hogni has promised me to Hodbrod, the son of King Granmar, but I have vowed a vow that I will have him to my husband no more than if he were a crow’s son and not a king’s; and yet will the thing come to pass, but and if thou standest in the way thereof, and goest against him with an army, and takest me away withal; for verily with no king would I rather bide on bolster than with thee.”

  “Be of good cheer, king’s daughter,” says he, “for certes he and I shall try the matter, or ever thou be given to him; yea, we shall behold which may prevail against the other; and hereto I pledge my life.”

  Thereafter, Helgi sent men with money in their hands to summon his folk to him, and all his power is called together to Red-Berg: and there Helgi abode till such time as a great company came to him from Hedinsey; and therewithal came mighty power from Norvi Sound aboard great and fair ships. Then King Helgi called to him the captain of his ships, who was hight Leif, and asked him if he had told over the tale of his army.

  “A thing not easy to tell, lord,” says he, “on the ships that came out of Norvi Sound are twelve thousand men, and otherwhere are half as many again.”

  Then bade King Helgi turn into the firth, called Varin’s firth, and they did so: but now there fell on them so fierce a storm and so huge a sea, that the beat of the waves on board and bow was to hearken to like as the clashing together of high hills broken.

  But Helgi bade men fear naught, nor take in any sail, but rather hoist every rag higher than heretofore; but little did they miss of foundering or ever they made land; then came Sigrun, daughter of King Hogni, down on to the beach with a great army, and turned them away thence to a good haven called Gnipalund; but the landsmen see what has befallen and come down to the sea-shore. The brother of King Hodbrod, lord of a land called Swarin’s Cairn, cried out to them, and asked them who was captain over that mighty army. Then up stands Sinfjotli, with a helm on his head, bright shining as glass, and a byrny as white as snow; a spear in his hand, and thereon a banner of renown, and a gold-rimmed shield hanging before him; and well he knew with what words to speak to kings —

  “Go thou and say, when thou hast made an end of feeding thy swine and thy dogs, and when thou beholdest thy wife again, that here are come the Volsungs, and in this company may King Helgi be found, if Hodbrod be fain of finding him, for his game and his joy it is to fight and win fame, while thou art kissing the handmaids by the fire-side.”

  Then answered Granmar, “In nowise knowest thou how to speak seemly things, and to tell of matters remembered from of old, whereas thou layest lies on chiefs and lords; most like it is that thou must have long been nourished with wolf-meat abroad in the wild-woods, and has slain thy brethren; and a marvel it is to behold that thou darest to join thyself to the company of good men and true, thou, who hast sucked the blood of many a cold corpse.”

  Sinfjotli answered, “Dim belike is grown thy memory now, of how thou wert a witch-wife on Varinsey, and wouldst fain have a man to thee, and chose me to that same office of all the world; and how thereafter thou wert a Valkyria (1) in Asgarth, and it well-nigh came to this, that for thy sweet sake should all men fight; and nine wolf whelps I begat on thy body in Lowness, and was the father to them all.”

  Granmar answers, “Great skill of lying hast thou; yet belike the father of naught at all mayst thou be, since thou wert gelded by the giant’s daughters of Thrasness; and lo thou art the stepson of King Siggeir, and were wont to lie abroad in wilds and woods with the kin of wolves; and unlucky was the hand wherewith thou slewest thy brethren, making for thyself an exceeding evil name.”

  Said Sinfjotli, “Mindest thou not then, when thou were stallion Grani’s mare, and how I rode thee an amble on Bravoll, and that afterwards thou wert giant Golnir’s goat-herd?”

  Granmar says, “Rather would I feed fowls with the flesh of thee than wrangle any longer with thee.”

  Then spake King Helgi, “Better were it for ye, and a more manly deed, to fight, rather than to speak such things as it is a shame even to hearken to; Granmar’s sons are no friends of me and of mine, yet are they hardy men none the less.”

  So Granmar rode away to meet King Hodbrod, at a stead called Sunfells, and the horses of the twain were named Sveipud and Sveggjud. The brothers met in the castle-porch, and Granmar told Hodbrod of the war-news. King Hodbrod was clad in a byrny, and had his helm on his head; he asked —

  “What men are anigh, why look ye so wrathful?”

  Granmar says, “Here are come the Volsungs, and twelve thousand men of them are afloat off the coast, and seven thousand are at the island called Sok, but at the stead called Grindur is the greatest company of all, and now I deem withal that Helgi and his fellowship have good will to give battle.”

  Then said the king, “Let us send a message through all our realm, and go against them, neither let any who is fain of fight sit idle at home; let us send word to the sons of Ring, and to King Hogni, and to Alf the Old, for they are mighty warriors.”

  So the hosts met at Wolfstone, and fierce fight befell there; Helgi rushed forth through the host of his foes, and many a man fell there; at last folk saw a great company of shield-maidens, like burning flames to look on, and there was come Sigrun, the king’s daughter. Then King Helgi fell on King Hodbrod, and smote him, and slew him even under his very banner; and Sigrun cried out —

  “Have thou thanks for thy so manly deed! now shall we share the land between us, and a day of great good hap this is to me, and for this deed shalt thou get honour and renown, in that thou hast felled to earth so mighty a king.”

  So Helgi took to him that realm and dwelt there long, when he had wedded Sigrun, and became a king of great honour and renown, though he has naught more to do with this story.

  ENDNOTES:

  (1) Valkyrja, “Chooser of the elected.” The women were so

  called whom Odin sent to choose those for death in battle

  who were to join the “Einherjar” in the hall of the elected,

  “Val-holl.”

  CHAPTER X. The ending of Sinfjotli, Sigmund’s Son.

  Now the Volsungs fare back home, and have gained great renown by these deeds. But Sinfjotli betook himself to warfare anew; and therewith he had sight of an exceeding fair woman, and yearned above all things for her; but that same woman was wooed also of the brother of Borghild, the king’s wife: and this matter they fought out betwixt them, and Sinfjotli slew that king; and thereafter he harried far and wide, and had many a battle and even gained the day; and he became hereby honoured and renowned above all men; but in autumn tide he came home with many ships and abundant wealth.

  Then he told his tidings to the king his father, and he again to the queen, and she for her part bids him get him gone from the realm, and made as if she would in nowise see him. But Sigmund said he would not drive him away, and offered her atonement of gold and great wealth for her brother’s life, albeit he said he had never erst given weregild (1) to any for the slaying of a man, but no fame it was to uphold wrong against a woman.

  So seeing she might not get her own way herein, she said, “Have thy will in this matter, O my lord, for it is seemly so to be.”

  And now she holds the funeral feast for her brother by the aid and counsel of the king, and makes ready all things therefor or in the best of wise, and bade thither many great men.

  At that feast, Borghild the queen bare the drink to folk, and she came over against Sinfjofli with a great horn, and said —

  “Fall to now and drink, fair stepson!”

  Then he took the horn to him, and looked therein, and said —

  “Nay, for the drink is charmed drink”

  Then said Sigmund, “Give it unto me then;” and therewith he took the horn and drank it off.

  But the queen said to Sinfjotli, “Why must other men needs drink thine ale for thee?” And she came again the second time with the horn, and said, “Come now and drink!” and goaded him with many words.

  And he took the horn, and said —

  “Guile is in the drink.”

  And thereon, Sigmund cried out —

  “Give it then unto me!”

  Again, the third time, she came to him, and bade him drink off his drink, if he had the heart of a Volsung; then he laid hand on the horn, but said —

  “Venom is therein.”

  “Nay, let the lip strain it out then, O son,” quoth Sigmund; and by then was he exceeding drunk with drink, and therefore spake he in that wise.

  So Sinfjotli drank, and straightway fell down dead to the ground.

  Sigmund rose up, and sorrowed nigh to death over him; then he took the corpse in his arms and fared away to the wood, and went till he came to a certain firth; and there he saw a man in a little boat; and that man asked if he would be wafted by him over the firth, and he said yea thereto; but so little was the boat, that they might not all go in it at once, so the corpse was first laid therein, while Sigmund went by the firth-side. But therewith the boat and the man therein vanished away from before Sigmund’s eyes. (2)

  So thereafter Sigmund turned back home, and drave away the queen, and a little after she died. But Sigmund the king yet ruled his realm, and is deemed ever the greatest champion and king of the old law.

  ENDNOTES:

  (1) Weregild, fine for man-slaying (“wer”, man, and “gild”, a

  payment).

  (2) The man in the boat is Odin, doubtless.

  CHAPTER XI. Of King Sigmund’s last Battle, and of how he must yield up his Sword again.

  There was a king called Eylimi, mighty and of great fame, and his daughter was called Hjordis, the fairest and wisest of womankind; and Sigmund hears it told of her that she was meet to be his wife, yea if none else were. So he goes to the house of King Eylimi, who would make a great feast for him, if so be he comes not thither in the guise of a foe. So messages were sent from one to the other that this present journey was a peaceful one, and not for war; so the feast was held in the best of wise and with many a man thereat; fairs were in every place established for King Sigmund, and all things else were done to the aid and comfort of his journey: so he came to the feast, and both kings hold their state in one hall; thither also was come King Lyngi, son of King Hunding, and he also is a-wooing the daughter of King Eylimi.

  Now the king deemed he knew that the twain had come thither but for one errand, and thought withal that war and trouble might be looked for from the hands of him who brought not his end about; so he spake to his daughter, and said —

  “Thou art a wise woman, and I have spoken it, that thou alone shalt choose a husband for thyself; choose therefore between these two kings, and my rede shall be even as thine.”

  “A hard and troublous matter,” says she; “yet will I choose him who is of greatest fame, King Sigmund to wife, albeit he is well stricken in years.”

 

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