The Story of the Volsungs

CHAPTER XXVI.

Now Sig­urd goes his ways with all that great trea­sure, and in friend­ly wise he de­parts from them; and on Grani he rides with all his war-​gear and the bur­den with­al; and thus he rides un­til he comes to the hall of King Giu­ki; there he rides in­to the burg, and that sees one of the king’s men, and he spake with­al –

“Sure it may be deemed that here is come one of the Gods, for his ar­ray is all done with gold, and his horse is far might­ier than oth­er hors­es, and the man­ner of his weapons is most ex­ceed­ing good­ly, and most of all the man him­self far ex­cels all oth­er men ev­er seen.”

So the king goes out with his court and greets the man, and asks –

“Who art thou who thus ridest in­to my burg, as none has durst hith­er­to with­out the leave of my sons?”

He an­swered, “I am called Sig­urd, son of King Sig­mund.”

Then said King Giu­ki, “Be thou wel­come here then, and take at our hands what­so thou wil­iest.”

So he went in­to the king’s hall, and all men seemed lit­tle be­side him, and all men served him, and there he abode in great joy­ance.

Now oft they all ride abroad to­geth­er, Sig­urd and Gun­nar and Hog­ni, and ev­er is Sig­urd far the fore­most of them, mighty men of their hands though they were.

But Grimhild finds how hearti­ly Sig­urd loved Bryn­hild, and how oft he talks of her; and she falls to think­ing how well it were, if he might abide there and wed the daugh­ter of King Giu­ki, for she saw that none might come anigh to his good­li­ness, and what faith and good­help there was in him, and how that he had more wealth with­al than folk might tell of any man; and the king did to him even as un­to his own sons, and they for their parts held him of more worth than them­selves.

So on a night as they sat at the drink, the queen arose, and went be­fore Sig­urd, and said –

“Great joy we have in thine abid­ing here, and all good things will we put be­fore thee to take of us; lo now, take this horn and drink there­of.”

So he took it and drank, and there­with­al she said, “Thy fa­ther shall be Giu­ki the king, and I shall be thy moth­er, and Gun­nar and Hog­ni shall be thy brethren, and all this shall be sworn with oaths each to each; and then sure­ly shall the like of you nev­er be found on earth.”

Sig­urd took her speech well, for with the drink­ing of that drink all mem­ory of Bryn­hild de­part­ed from him. So there he abode awhile.

And on a day went Grimhild to Giu­ki the king, and cast her arms about his neck, and spake –

“Be­hold, there has now come to us the great­est of great hearts that the world holds; and needs must he be trusty and of great avail; give him thy daugh­ter then, with plen­teous wealth, and as much of rule as he will; per­chance there­by he will be well con­tent to abide here ev­er.”

The king an­swered, “Sel­dom does it be­fall that kings of­fer their daugh­ters to any; yet in high­er wise will it be done to of­fer her to this man, than to take low­ly prayers to her from oth­ers.”

On a night Gu­drun pours out the drink, and Sig­urd be­holds her how fair she is and how full of all cour­tesy.

Five sea­sons Sig­urd abode there, and ev­er they passed their days to­geth­er in good hon­our and friend­ship.

And so it be­fell that the king held talk to­geth­er, and Giu­ki said –

“Great good thou givest us, Sig­urd, and with ex­ceed­ing strength thou strength­en­est our realm.”

Then Gun­nar said, “All things that may be will we do for thee, so thou abidest here long; both do­min­ion shall thou have, and our sis­ter freely and un­prayed for, whom an­oth­er man would not get for all his prayers.”

Sig­urd says, “Thanks have ye for this where­with; ye hon­our me, and glad­ly will I take the same.”

There­with they swore broth­er­hood to­geth­er, and to be even as if they were chil­dren of one fa­ther and one moth­er; and a no­ble feast was hold­en, and en­dured many days, and Sig­urd drank at the wed­ding of him and Gu­drun; and there might men be­hold all man­ner of game and glee, and each day the feast was bet­ter and bet­ter.

Now fare these folk wide over the world, and do many great deeds, and slay many kings’ sons, and no man has ev­er done such works of prowess as did they; then home they come again with much wealth won in war.

Sig­urd gave of the ser­pent’s heart to Gu­drun, and she ate there­of, and be­came greater-​heart­ed, and wis­er than ere be­fore: and the son of these twain was called Sig­mund.

Now on a time went Grimhild to Gun­nar her son, and spake –

“Fair blooms the life and for­tune of thee, but for one thing on­ly, and name­ly where­as thou art un­wed­ded; go woo Bryn­hild; good rede is this, and Sig­urd will ride with thee.”

Gun­nar an­swered, “Fair in she certes, and I am fain enow to win her;” and there­with he tells his fa­ther, and his brethren, and Sig­urd, and they all prick him on to that woo­ing.