The Edda, Volume 2 | Page 5

mark that of Sigmund and Sinfjötli. Both are probably,
like Helgi, versions of a race-hero myth. In each case there is the usual
irregular birth, in different forms, both familiar; a third type, the
miraculous or supernatural birth, is attributed by _Völsunga_ to
Sigmund's father Volsung. Each story again includes a deed of
vengeance, and a dragon and treasure. The sword which the hero alone
could draw, and the wer-wolf, appear only in the Sigmund and Sinfjötli
version. Among those Germanic races which brought the legend to full
perfection, Sigurd's version soon became the sole one, and Sigmund
and Sinfjötli practically drop out.
The Dragon legend of the Edda is much fuller and more elaborate than
that of any other mythology. As a rule tradition is satisfied with the

existence of the monster "old and proud of his treasure," but here we
are told its full previous history, certain features of which (such as the
shape-shifting) are signs of antiquity, whether it was originally
connected with the Volsungs or not.
As usual, _Völsunga_ gives the fullest account, in the form of a story
told by Regin to his foster-son Sigurd, to incite him to slay the dragon.
Regin was one of three brothers, the sons of Hreidmar; one of the three,
Otr, while in the water in otter's shape, was seen by three of the Aesir,
Odin, Loki and Hoeni, and killed by Loki. Hreidmar demanded as
wergild enough gold to fill the otter's skin, and Loki obtained it by
catching the dwarf Andvari, who lived in a waterfall in the form of a
fish, and allowing him to ransom his head by giving up his wealth. One
ring the dwarf tried to keep back, but in vain; and thereupon he laid a
curse upon it: that the ring with the rest of the gold should be the death
of whoever should get possession of it. In giving the gold to Hreidmar,
Odin also tried to keep back the ring, but had to give it up to cover the
last hair. Then Fafni, one of the two remaining sons, killed his father,
first victim of the curse, for the sake of the gold. He carried it away and
lay guarding it in the shape of a snake. But Regin the smith did not give
up his hopes of possessing the hoard: he adopted as his foster-son
Sigurd the Volsung, thus getting into his power the hero fated to slay
the dragon.
The curse thus becomes the centre of the action, and the link between
the two parts of the story, since it directly accounts for Sigurd's
unconscious treachery and his separation from Brynhild, and absolves
the hero from blame by making him a victim of fate. It destroys in turn
Hreidmar, the Dragon, his brother Regin, the dragon-slayer himself,
Brynhild (to whom he gave the ring), and the Giukings, who claimed
inheritance after Sigurd's death. Later writers carried its effects still
further.
This narrative is also told in the pieces of prose interspersed through
Reginsmal. The verse consists only of scraps of dialogue. The first of
these comprises question and answer between Loki and the dwarf
Andvari in the form of the old riddle-poems, and seems to result from

the confusion of two ideas: the question-and-answer wager, and the
captive's ransom by treasure. Then follows the curse, in less general
terms than in the prose: "My gold shall be the death of two brothers,
and cause strife among eight kings; no one shall rejoice in the
possession of my treasure." Next comes a short dialogue between Loki
and Hreidmar, in which the former warns his host of the risk he runs in
taking the hoard. In the next fragment Hreidmar calls on his daughters
to avenge him; Lyngheid replies that they cannot do so on their own
brother, and her father bids her bear a daughter whose son may avenge
him. This has given rise to a suggestion that Hjördis, Sigurd's mother,
was daughter to Lyngheid, but if that is intended, it may only be due to
the Norse passion for genealogy. The next fragment brings Regin and
Sigurd together, and the smith takes the young Volsung for his
foster-son. A speech of Sigurd's follows, in which he refuses to seek the
treasure till he has avenged his father on Hunding's sons. The rest of the
poem is concerned with the battle with Hunding's race, and Sigurd's
meeting with Odin by the way.
The fight with Fafni is not described in verse, very little of this poetry
being in narrative form; but Fafnismal gives a dialogue between the
wounded dragon and his slayer. Fafni warns the Volsung against the
hoard: "The ringing gold and the glowing treasure, the rings shall be
thy death." Sigurd disregards the warning with the maxim "Every man