The Edda, Volume 2 | Page 3

which
says that after Sinfjötli, son of Sigmund, Volsung's son (which should
be Valsi's son, Volsung being a tribal, not a personal, name), had been
poisoned by his stepmother Borghild, Sigmund married Hjördis,
Eylimi's daughter, had a son Sigurd, and fell in battle against the race
of Hunding. Sigmund, as in all other Norse sources, is said to be king
in Frankland, which, like the Niderlant of the Nibelungen Lied, means
the low lands on the Rhine. The scene of the story is always near that
river: Sigurd was slain by the Rhine, and the treasure of the Rhine is
quoted as proverbial in the Völund lay.
Gripisspa (the Prophecy of Gripi), which follows, is appropriately
placed first of the Volsung poems, since it gives a summary of the

whole story. Sigurd rides to see his mother's brother, Gripi, the wisest
of men, to ask about his destiny, and the soothsayer prophesies his
adventures and early death. This poem makes clear some original
features of the legend which are obscured elsewhere, especially in the
Gudrun set; Grimhild's treachery, and Sigurd's unintentional breach of
faith to Brynhild. In the speeches of both Gripi and Sigurd, the poet
shows clearly that Brynhild had the first right to Sigurd's faith, while
the seer repeatedly protests his innocence in breaking it: "Thou shalt
never be blamed though thou didst betray the royal maid.... No better
man shall come on earth beneath the sun than thou, Sigurd." On the
other hand, the poet gives no indication that Brynhild and the sleeping
Valkyrie are the same, which is a sign of confusion. Like all poems in
this form, Gripisspa is a late composition embodying earlier tradition.
The other poems are mostly episodical, though arranged so as to form a
continued narrative. Gripisspa is followed by a compilation from two
or more poems in different metres, generally divided into three parts in
the editions: Reginsmal gives the early history of the treasure and the
dragon, and Sigurd's battle with Hunding's sons; Fafnismal, the slaying
of the dragon and the advice of the talking birds; Sigrdrifumal, the
awakening of the Valkyrie. Then follows a fragment on the death of
Sigurd. All the rest, except the poem generally called the Third, or
_Short, Sigurd Lay_ (which tells of the marriage with Gudrun and
Sigurd's wooing of Brynhild for Gunnar) continue the story after
Sigurd's death, taking up the death of Brynhild, Gudrun's mourning,
and the fates of the other heroes who became connected with the legend
of the treasure.
In addition to the poems in the Elder Edda, an account of the story is
given by Snorri in Skaldskaparmal, but it is founded almost entirely on
the surviving lays. _Völsunga Saga_ is also a paraphrase, but more
valuable, since parts of it are founded on lost poems, and it therefore, to
some extent, represents independent tradition. It was, unfortunately
from a literary point of view, compiled after the great saga-time was
over, in the decadent fourteenth century, when material of all kinds,
classical, biblical, romantic, mythological, was hastily cast into
saga-form. It is not, like the Nibelungen Lied, a work of art, but it has

what in this case is perhaps of greater importance, the one great virtue
of fidelity. The compiler did not, like the author of the German
masterpiece, boldly recast his material in the spirit of his own time; he
clung closely to his originals, only trying with hesitating hand to copy
the favourite literary form of the Icelander. As a saga, therefore,
_Völsunga_ is far behind not only such great works as Njala, but also
many of the smaller sagas. It lacks form, and is marred by
inconsistencies; it is often careless in grammar and diction; it is full of
traces of the decadent romantic age. Sigurd, in the true spirit of
romance, is endowed with magic weapons and supernatural powers,
which are no improvement on the heroic tradition, "Courage is better
than a good sword." At every turn, Odin is at hand to help him, which
tends to efface the older and truer picture of the hero with all the fates
against him; such heroes, found again and again in the historic sagas,
more truly represent the heathen heroic age and that belief in the
selfishness and caprice of the Gods on which the whole idea of
sacrifice rests. There is also the inevitable deterioration in the character
of Brynhild, without the compensating elevation in that of her rival by
which the Nibelungen Lied places Chriemhild on a height as lofty and
unapproachable as that occupied by the Norse Valkyrie; the Brynhild of
_Völsunga Saga_ is something of a virago, the Gudrun is jealous and
shrewish. But for actual material, the compiler is absolutely to be
trusted; and _Völsunga Saga_ is therefore, in spite of artistic