The Story of the Volsungs

CHAPTER XVIII. Of the Slaying of the Worm Fafnir.

Now Sig­urd and Re­gin ride up the heath along that same way where­in Fafnir was wont to creep when he fared to the wa­ter; and folk say that thir­ty fath­oms was the height of that cliff along which he lay when he drank of the wa­ter be­low. Then Sig­urd spake –

“How sayedst thou, Re­gin, that this drake (1) was no greater than oth­er ling­worms; me­thinks the track of him is mar­vel­lous great?”

Then said Re­gin, “Make thee a hole, and sit down there­in, and whenas the worm comes to the wa­ter, smite him in­to the heart, and so do him to death, and win thee great fame there­by.”

But Sig­urd said, “What will be­tide me if I be be­fore the blood of the worm?”

Says Re­gin, “Of what avail to coun­sel thee if thou art still afeard of ev­ery­thing? Lit­tle art thou like thy kin in stout­ness of heart.”

Then Sig­urd rides right over the heath; but Re­gin gets him gone, sore afeard.

But Sig­urd fell to dig­ging him a pit, and whiles he was at that work, there came to him an old man with a long beard, and asked what he wrought there, and he told him.

Then an­swered the old man and said, “Thou doest af­ter sor­ry coun­sel: rather dig thee many pits, and let the blood run there­in; but sit thee down in one there­of, and so thrust the worm’s heart through.”

And there­with­al he van­ished away; but Sig­urd made the pits even as it was shown to him.

Now crept the worm down to his place of wa­ter­ing, and the earth shook all about him, and he snort­ed forth ven­om on all the way be­fore him as he went; but Sig­urd nei­ther trem­bled nor was adrad at the roar­ing of him. So whenas the worm crept over the pits, Sig­urd thrust his sword un­der his left shoul­der, so that it sank in up to the hilts; then up leapt Sig­urd from the pit and drew the sword back again un­to him, and there­with was his arm all bloody, up to the very shoul­der.

Now when that mighty worm was ware that he had his death-​wound, then he lashed out head and tail, so that all things so­ev­er that were be­fore him were bro­ken to pieces.

So whenas Fafnir had his death-​wound, he asked “Who art thou? And who is thy fa­ther? And what thy kin, that thou wert so hardy as to bear weapons against me?”

Sig­urd an­swered, “Un­known to men is my kin. I am called a no­ble beast: (2) nei­ther fa­ther have I nor moth­er, and all alone have I fared hith­er.”

Said Fafnir, “Where­as thou hast nei­ther fa­ther nor moth­er, of what won­der weft thou born then? But now, though thou tellest me not thy name on this my death-​day, yet thou know­est ver­ily that thou li­est un­to me.”

He an­swered, “Sig­urd am I called, and my fa­ther was Sig­mund.”

Says Fafnir, “Who egged thee on to this deed, and why wouldst thou be driv­en to it? Hadst thou nev­er heard how that all folk were adrad of me, and of the awe of my coun­te­nance? But an ea­ger fa­ther thou hadst, O bright eyed swain!”

Sig­urd an­swered, “A hardy heart urged me on here­to, and a strong hand and this sharp sword, which well thou know­est now, stood me in stead in the do­ing of the deed. `Sel­dom hath hardy eld a faint-​heart youth.’”

Fafnir said, “Well, I wot that hadst thou waxed amid thy kin, thou might­est have good skill to slay folk in thine anger; but more of a mar­vel is it, that thou, a bonds­man tak­en in war, shouldst have the heart to set on me, `for few among bonds­men have heart for the fight.’”

Said 8ig­urd, “Wilt thou then cast it in my teeth that I am far away from my kin? Al­beit I was a bonds­man, yet was I nev­er shack­led. God wot thou hast found me free enow.”

Fafnir an­swered, “In an­gry wise dost thou take my speech; but hear­ken, for that same gold which I have owned shall be thy bane too.”

Quoth Sig­urd, “Fain would we keep all our wealth til that day of days; yet shall each man die once for all.”

Said Fafnir, “Few things wilt thou do af­ter my coun­sel, but take heed that thou shalt be drowned if thou farest un­war­ily over the sea; so bide thou rather on the dry land for the com­ing of the calm tide.”

Then said Sig­urd, “Speak, Fafnir, and say, if thou art so ex­ceed­ing wise, who are the Norns who rule the lot of all moth­ers’ sons.”

Fafnir an­swers, “Many there be and wide apart; for some are of the kin of the Ae­sir, and some are of Elfin kin, and some there are who are daugh­ters of Dvalin.”

Said Sig­urd, “How namest thou the holm where­on Surt (3) and the Ae­sir mix and min­gle the wa­ter of the sword?”

“Un­shapen is that holm hight,” said Fafnir.

And yet again he said, “Re­gin, my broth­er, has brought about my end, and it glad­dens my heart that thine too he bringeth about; for thus will things be ac­cord­ing to his will.”

And once again he spake, “A coun­te­nance of ter­ror I bore up be­fore all folk, af­ter that I brood­ed over the her­itage of my broth­er, and on ev­ery side did I spout out poi­son, so that none durst come anigh me, and of no weapon was I adrad, nor ev­er had I so many men be­fore me, as that I deemed my­self not stronger than all; for all men were sore afeard of me.”

Sig­urd an­swered and said, “Few may have vic­to­ry by means of that same coun­te­nance of ter­ror, for whoso comes amongst many shall one day find that no one man is by so far the might­iest of all.”

Then says Fafnir, “Such coun­sel I give thee, that thou take thy horse and ride away at thy speed­iest, for oft­times it fails out so, that he who gets a death-​wound avenges him­self none the less.”

Sig­urd an­swered, “Such as thy re­des are I will no­wise do af­ter them; nay, I will ride now to thy lair and take to me that great trea­sure of thy kin.”

“Ride there then,” said Fafnir, “and thou shalt find gold enow to suf­fice thee for all thy life-​days; yet shall that gold be thy bane, and the bane of ev­ery one so­ev­er who owns it.”

Then up stood Sig­urd, and said, “Home would I ride and lose all that wealth, if I deemed that by the los­ing there­of I should nev­er die; but ev­ery brave and true man will fain have his hand on wealth till that last day that thou, Fafnir, wal­low in the death-​pain til Death and Hell have thee.”

And there­with­al Fafnir died.

END­NOTES: (1) Lat. “dra­co”, a drag­on. (2) “Un­known to men is my kin.” Sig­urd re­fus­ing to tell his name is to be re­ferred to the su­per­sti­tion that a dy­ing man could throw a curse on his en­emy. (3) Surt; a fire-​gi­ant, who will de­stroy the world at the Rag­narok, or de­struc­tion of all things. Ae­sir; the gods.