Complete Works of William Morris, page 591
So to him was she betrothed, and King Lyngi gat him gone. Then was Sigmund wedded to Hjordis, and now each day was the feast better and more glorious than on the day before it. But thereafter Sigmund went back home to Hunland, and King Eylimi, his father-in-law, with him, and King Sigmund betakes himself to the due ruling of his realm.
But King Lyngi and his brethren gather an army together to fall on Sigmund, for as in all matters they were wont to have the worser lot, so did this bite the sorest of all; and they would fain prevail over the might and pride of the Volsungs. So they came to Hunland, and sent King Sigmund word how that they would not steal upon him, and that they deemed he would scarce slink away from them. So Sigmund said he would come and meet them in battle, and drew his power together; but Hjordis was borne into the wood with a certain bondmaid, and mighty wealth went with them; and there she abode the while they fought.
Now the vikings rushed from their ships in numbers not to be borne up against, but Sigmund the King, and Eylimi, set up their banners, and the horns blew up to battle; but King Sigmund let blow the horn his father erst had had, and cheered on his men to the fight, but his army was far the fewest.
Now was that battle fierce and fell, and though Sigmund were old, yet most hardily he fought, and was ever the foremost of his men; no shield or byrny might hold against him, and he went ever through the ranks of his foemen on that day, and no man might see how things would fare between them; many an arrow and many a spear was aloft in air that day, and so his spae-wrights wrought for him that he got no wound, and none can tell over the tale of those who fell before him, and both his arms were red with blood, even to the shoulders.
But now whenas the battle had dured a while, there came a man into the fight clad in a blue cloak, and with a slouched hat on his head, one-eyed he was, (1) and bare a bill in his hand; and he came against Sigmund the King, and have up his bill against him, and as Sigmund smote fiercely with the sword it fell upon the bill and burst asunder in the midst: thenceforth the slaughter and dismay turned to his side, for the good-hap of King Sigmund had departed from him, and his men fell fast about him; naught did the king spare himself, but the rather cheered on his men; but even as the saw says, “No might ‘gainst many”, so was it now proven; and in this fight fell Sigmund the King, and King Eylimi, his father-in-law, in the fore-front of their battle, and therewith the more part of their folk.
ENDNOTES:
(1) Odin coming to change the ownership of the sword he had
given Sigmund. See Chapter 3.
CHAPTER XII. Of the Shards of the Sword Gram, and how Hjordis went to King Alf.
Now King Lyngi made for the king’s abode, and was minded to take the king’s daughter there, but failed herein, for there he found neither wife nor wealth: so he fared through all the realm, and gave his men rule thereover, and now deemed that he had slain all the kin of the Volsungs, and that he need dread them no more from henceforth.
Now Hjordis went amidst the slain that night of the battle, and came whereas lay King Sigmund, and asked if he might be healed; but he answered —
“Many a man lives after hope has grown little; but my good-hap has departed from me, nor will I suffer myself to be healed, nor wills Odin that I should ever draw sword again, since this my sword and his is broken; lo now, I have waged war while it was his will.”
“Naught ill would I deem matters,” said she, “if thou mightest be healed and avenge my father.”
The king said, “That is fated for another man; behold now, thou art great with a man-child; nourish him well and with good heed, and the child shall be the noblest and most famed of all our kin: and keep well withal the shards of the sword: thereof shall a goodly sword be made, and it shall be called Gram, and our son shall bear it, and shall work many a great work therewith, even such as eld shall never minish; for his name shall abide and flourish as long as the world shall endure: and let this be enow for thee. But now I grow weary with my wounds, and I will go see our kin that have gone before me.”
So Hjordis sat over him till he died at the day-dawning; and then she looked, and behold, there came many ships sailing to the land: then she spake to the handmaid —
“Let us now change raiment, and be thou called by my name, and say that thou art the king’s daughter.”
And thus they did; but now the vikings behold the great slaughter of men there, and see where two women fare away thence into the wood; and they deem that some great tidings must have befallen, and they leaped ashore from out their ships. Now the captain of these folks was Alf, son of Hjalprek, king of Denmark, who was sailing with his power along the land. So they came into the field among the slain, and saw how many men lay dead there; then the king bade go seek for the women and bring them thither, and they did so. He asked them what women they were; and, little as the thing seems like to be, the bondmaid answered for the twain, telling of the fall of King Sigmund and King Eylimi, and many another great man, and who they were withal who had wrought the deed. Then the king asks if they wotted where the wealth of the king was bestowed; and then says the bondmaid —
“It may well be deemed that we know full surely thereof.”
And therewith she guides them to the place where the treasure lay: and there they found exceeding great wealth; so that men deem they have never seen so many things of price heaped up together in one place. All this they bore to the ships of King Alf, and Hjordis and the bondmaid went with them. Therewith these sail away to their own realm, and talk how that surely on that field had fallen the most renowned of kings.
So the king sits by the tiller, but the women abide in the forecastle; but talk he had with the women and held their counsels of much account.
In such wise the king came home to his realm with great wealth, and he himself was a man exceeding goodly to look on. But when he had been but a little while at home, the queen, his mother, asked him why the fairest of the two women had the fewer rings and the less worthy attire.
“I deem,” she said, “that she whom ye have held of least account is the noblest of the twain.”
He answered: “I too have misdoubted me, that she is little like a bondwoman, and when we first met, in seemly wise she greeted noble men. Lo now, we will make a trial of the thing.”
So on a time as men sat at the drink, the king sat down to talk with the women, and said: —
“In what wise do ye note the wearing of the hours, whenas night grows old, if ye may not see the lights of heaven?”
Then says the bondwoman, “This sign have I, that whenas in my youth I was wont to drink much in the dawn, so now when I no longer use that manner, I am yet wont to wake up at that very same tide, and by that token do I know thereof.”
Then the king laughed and said, “Ill manners for a king’s daughter!” And therewith he turned to Hjordis, and asked her even the same question; but she answered —
“My father erst gave me a little gold ring of such nature, that it groweth cold on my finger in the day-dawning; and that is the sign that I have to know thereof.”
The king answered: “Enow of gold there, where a very bondmaid bore it! But come now, thou hast been long enow hid from me; yet if thou hadst told me all from the beginning, I would have done to thee as though we had both been one king’s children: but better than thy deeds will I deal with thee, for thou shalt be my wife, and due jointure will I pay thee whenas thou hast borne me a child.”
She spake therewith and told out the whole truth about herself: so there was she held in great honour, and deemed the worthiest of women.
CHAPTER XIII. Of the Birth and Waxing of Sigurd Fafnir’s-bane.
The tale tells that Hjordis brought forth a man-child, who was straightly borne before King Hjalprek, and then was the king glad thereof, when he saw the keen eyes in the head of him, and he said that few men would be equal to him or like unto him in any wise. So he was sprinkled with water, and had to name Sigurd, of whom all men speak with one speech and say that none was ever his like for growth and goodliness. He was brought up in the house of King Hjalprek in great love and honour; and so it is, that whenso all the noblest men and greatest kings are named in the olden tales, Sigurd is ever put before them all, for might and prowess, for high mind and stout heart, wherewith he was far more abundantly gifted than any man of the northern parts of the wide world.
So Sigurd waxed in King Hjalprek’s house, and there was no child but loved him; through him was Hjordis betrothed to King Alf, and jointure meted to her.
Now Sigurd’s foster-father was hight Regin, the son of Hreidmar; he taught him all manner of arts, the chess play, and the lore of runes, and the talking of many tongues, even as the wont was with kings’ sons in those days. But on a day when they were together, Regin asked Sigurd, if he knew how much wealth his father had owned, and who had the ward thereof; Sigurd answered, and said that the kings kept the ward thereof.
Said Regin, “Dost thou trust them all utterly?”
Sigurd said, “It is seemly that they keep it till I may do somewhat therewith, for better they wot how to guard it than I do.”
Another time came Regin to talk to Sigurd, and said —
“A marvellous thing truly that thou must needs be a horse-boy to the kings, and go about like a running knave.”
“Nay,” said Sigurd, “it is not so, for in all things I have my will, and whatso thing I desire is granted me with good will.”
“Well, then,” said Regin, “ask for a horse of them.”
“Yea,” quoth Sigurd, “and that shall I have, whenso I have need thereof.”
Thereafter Sigurd went to the king, and the king said —
“What wilt thou have of us?”
Then said Sigurd, “I would even a horse of thee for my disport.”
Then said the king, “Choose for thyself a horse, and whatso thing else thou desirest among my matters.”
So the next day went Sigurd to the wood, and met on the way an old man, long-bearded, that he knew not, who asked him whither away.
Sigurd said, “I am minded to choose me a horse; come thou, and counsel me thereon.”
“Well then,” said he, “go we and drive them to the river which is called Busil-tarn.”
They did so, and drave the horses down into the deeps of the river, and all swam back to land but one horse; and that horse Sigurd chose for himself; grey he was of hue, and young of years, great of growth, and fair to look on, nor had any man yet crossed his back.
Then spake the grey-beard, “From Sleipnir’s kin is this horse come, and he must be nourished heedfully, for it will be the best of all horses;” and therewithal he vanished away.
So Sigurd called the horse Grani, the best of all the horses of the world; nor was the man he met other than Odin himself.
Now yet again spake Regin to Sigurd, and said —
“Not enough is thy wealth, and I grieve right sore that thou must needs run here and there like a churl’s son; but I can tell thee where there is much wealth for the winning, and great name and honour to be won in the getting of it.”
Sigurd asked where that might be, and who had watch and ward over it.
Regin answered, “Fafnir is his name, and but a little way hence he lies, on the waste of Gnita-heath; and when thou comest there thou mayst well say that thou hast never seen more gold heaped together in one place, and that none might desire more treasure, though he were the most ancient and famed of all kings.”
“Young am I,” says Sigurd, “yet know I the fashion of this worm, and how that none durst go against him, so huge and evil is he.”
Regin said, “Nay it is not so, the fashion and the growth of him is even as of other lingworms, (1) and an over great tale men make of it; and even so would thy forefathers have deemed; but thou, though thou be of the kin of the Volsungs, shalt scarce have the heart and mind of those, who are told of as the first in all deeds of fame.”
Sigurd said, “Yea, belike I have little of their hardihood and prowess, but thou hast naught to do, to lay a coward’s name upon me, when I am scarce out of my childish years. Why dost thou egg me on hereto so busily?”
Regin said, “Therein lies a tale which I must needs tell thee.”
“Let me hear the same,” said Sigurd.
ENDNOTES:
(1) Lingworm — longworm, dragon.
CHAPTER XIV. Regin’s tale of his Brothers, and of the Gold called Andvari’s Hoard.
“The tale begins,” said Regin. “Hreidmar was my father’s name, a mighty man and a wealthy: and his first son was named Fafnir, his second Otter, and I was the third, and the least of them all both for prowess and good conditions, but I was cunning to work in iron, and silver, and gold, whereof I could make matters that availed somewhat. Other skill my brother Otter followed, and had another nature withal, for he was a great fisher, and above other men herein; in that he had the likeness of an otter by day, and dwelt ever in the river, and bare fish to bank in his mouth, and his prey would he ever bring to our father, and that availed him much: for the most part he kept him in his otter-gear, and then he would come home, and eat alone, and slumbering, for on the dry land he might see naught. But Fafnir was by far the greatest and grimmest, and would have all things about called his.
“Now,” says Regin, “there was a dwarf called Andvari, who ever abode in that force, (1) which was called Andvari’s force, in the likeness of a pike, and got meat for himself, for many fish there were in the force; now Otter, my brother, was ever wont to enter into the force, and bring fish aland, and lay them one by one on the bank. And so it befell that Odin, Loki, and Hoenir, as they went their ways, came to Andvari’s force, and Otter had taken a salmon, and ate it slumbering upon the river bank; then Loki took a stone and cast it at Otter, so that he gat his death thereby; the gods were well content with their prey, and fell to flaying off the otter’s skin; and in the evening they came to Hreidmar’s house, and showed him what they had taken: thereon he laid hands on them, and doomed them to such ransom, as that they should fill the otter skin with gold, and cover it over without with red gold; so they sent Loki to gather gold together for them; he came to Ran, (2) and got her net, and went therewith to Andvari’s force, and cast the net before the pike, and the pike ran into the net and was taken. Then said Loki —
“‘What fish of all fishes,
Swims strong in the flood,
But hath learnt little wit to beware?
Thine head must thou buy,
From abiding in hell,
And find me the wan waters flame.’
He answered —
“‘Andvari folk call me,
Call Oinn my father,
Over many a force have I fared;
For a Norn of ill-luck,
This life on me lay
Through wet ways ever to wade.’
“So Loki beheld the gold of Andvari, and when he had given up the gold, he had but one ring left, and that also Loki took from him; then the dwarf went into a hollow of the rocks, and cried out, that that gold-ring, yea and all the gold withal, should be the bane of every man who should own it thereafter.
“Now the gods rode with the treasure to Hreidmar, and fulfilled the otter-skin, and set it on its feet, and they must cover it over utterly with gold: but when this was done then Hreidmar came forth, and beheld yet one of the muzzle hairs, and bade them cover that withal; then Odin drew the ring, Andvari’s loom, from his hand, and covered up the hair therewith; then sang Loki —
“‘Gold enow, gold enow,
A great weregild, thou hast,
That my head in good hap I may hold;
But thou and thy son
Are naught fated to thrive,
The bane shall it be of you both.’
“Thereafter,” says Regin, “Fafnir slew his father and murdered him, nor got I aught of the treasure, and so evil he grew, that he fell to lying abroad, and begrudged any share in the wealth to any man, and so became the worst of all worms, and ever now lies brooding upon that treasure: but for me, I went to the king and became his master-smith; and thus is the tale told of how I lost the heritage of my father, and the weregild for my brother.”
So spake Regin; but since that time gold is called Ottergild, and for no other cause than this.
But Sigurd answered, “Much hast thou lost, and exceeding evil have thy kinsmen been! But now, make a sword by thy craft, such a sword as that none can be made like unto it; so that I may do great deeds therewith, if my heart avail thereto, and thou wouldst have me slay this mighty dragon.”
Regin says, “Trust me well herein; and with that same sword shalt thou slay Fafnir.”
ENDNOTES:
(1) Waterfall (Ice. “foss”, “fors”).
(2) Ran is the goddess of the sea, wife of Aegir. The otter was
held sacred by Norsefolk and figures in the myth and legend
of most races besides; to this day its killing is held a
great crime by the Parsees (Haug. “Religion of the Parsees”,
page 212). Compare penalty above with that for killing the
Welsh king’s cat (“Ancient Laws and Institutes of Wales”.
Ed., Aneurin Owen. Longman, London, 1841, 2 vols. 8vo).
CHAPTER XV. Of the Welding together of the Shards of the Sword Gram.
So Regin makes a sword, and gives it into Sigurd’s hands. He took the sword, and said —
“Behold thy smithying, Regin!” and therewith smote it into the anvil, and the sword brake; so he cast down the brand, and bade him forge a better.
Then Regin forged another sword, and brought it to Sigurd, who looked thereon.
Then said Regin, “Belike thou art well content therewith, hard master though thou be in smithying.”
So Sigurd proved the sword, and brake it even as the first; then he said to Regin —
“Ah, art thou, mayhappen, a traitor and a liar like to those former kin of thine?”
Therewith he went to his mother, and she welcomed him in seemly wise, and they talked and drank together.
