The Story of Siegfried Read online

  The bright sun rose in the east, and gilded the mountain-tops, and fellupon the still waters of the river, and lighted up the treeless plainsaround. The south wind played gently against Siegfried's cheeks and inhis long hair, as he stood gazing on his fallen foe. And the sound ofsinging birds, and rippling waters, and gay insects,--such as had notbroken the silence of the Glittering Heath for ages,--came to his ears.The Terror was dead, and Nature had awakened from her sleep of dread.And as the lad leaned upon his sword, and thought of the deed he haddone, behold! the shining Greyfell, with the beaming, hopeful mane,having crossed the now bright river, stood by his side. And Regin, hisface grown wondrous cold, came trudging over the meadows; and his heartwas full of guile. Then the mountain vultures came wheeling downwardsto look upon the dead dragon; and with them were two ravens, black asmidnight. And when Siegfried saw these ravens he knew them to be Odin'sbirds,--Hugin, thought, and Munin, memory. And they alighted on theground near by; and the lad listened to hear what they would say. ThenHugin flapped his wings, and said,--

  "The deed is done. Why tarries the hero?"

  And Munin said,--

  "The world is wide. Fame waits for the hero."

  And Hugin answered,--

  "What if he win the Hoard of the Elves? That is not honor. Let him seekfame by nobler deeds."

  Then Munin flew past his ear, and whispered,--

  "Beware of Regin, the master! His heart is poisoned. He would be thybane."

  And the two birds flew away to carry the news to Odin in the happy hallsof Gladsheim.

  When Regin drew near to look upon the dragon, Siegfried kindly accostedhim: but he seemed not to hear; and a snaky glitter lurked in his eyes,and his mouth was set and dry, and he seemed as one walking in a dream.

  "It is mine now," he murmured: "it is all mine, now,--the Hoard of theswarthy elf-folk, the garnered wisdom of ages. The strength of the worldis mine. I will keep, I will save, I will heap up; and none shall havepart or parcel of the treasure which is mine alone."

  Then his eyes fell upon Siegfried; and his cheeks grew dark with wrath,and he cried out,--

  "Why are you here in my way? I am the lord of the Glittering Heath: I amthe master of the Hoard. I am the master, and you are my thrall."

  Siegfried wondered at the change which had taken place in his oldmaster; but he only smiled at his strange words, and made no answer.

  "You have slain my brother!" Regin cried; and his face grew fearfullyblack, and his mouth foamed with rage.

  "It was my deed and yours," calmly answered Siegfried. "I have rid theworld of a Terror: I have righted a grievous wrong."

  "You have slain my brother," said Regin; "and a murderer's ransom youshall pay!"

  "Take the Hoard for your ransom, and let us each wend his way," said thelad.

  "The Hoard is mine by rights," answered Regin still more wrathfully. "Iam the master, and you are my thrall. Why stand you in my way?"

  Then, blinded with madness, he rushed at Siegfried as if to strike himdown; but his foot slipped in a puddle of gore, and he pitched headlongagainst the sharp edge of Balmung. So sudden was this movement, and sounlooked for, that the sword was twitched out of Siegfried's hand, andfell with a dull splash into the blood-filled pit before him; whileRegin, slain by his own rashness, sank dead upon the ground. Full ofhorror, Siegfried turned away, and mounted Greyfell.[EN#12]

  "This is a place of blood," said he, "and the way to glory leads notthrough it. Let the Hoard still lie on the Glittering Heath: I will gomy way from hence; and the world shall know me for better deeds thanthis."

  And he turned his back on the fearful scene, and rode away; and soswiftly did Greyfell carry him over the desert land and the mountainwaste, that, when night came, they stood on the shore of the great NorthSea, and the white waves broke at their feet. And the lad sat for a longtime silent upon the warm white sand of the beach, and Greyfell waitedat his side. And he watched the stars as they came out one by one, andthe moon, as it rose round and pale, and moved like a queen across thesky. And the night wore away, and the stars grew pale, and the moon sankto rest in the wilderness of waters. And at day-dawn Siegfried lookedtowards the west, and midway between sky and sea he thought he saw darkmountain-tops hanging above a land of mists that seemed to float uponthe edge of the sea.

  While he looked, a white ship, with sails all set, came speeding overthe waters towards him. It came nearer and nearer, and the sailorsrested upon their oars as it glided into the quiet harbor. A minstrel,with long white beard floating in the wind, sat at the prow; and thesweet music from his harp was wafted like incense to the shore. Thevessel touched the sands: its white sails were reefed as if by magic,and the crew leaped out upon the beach.

  "Hail, Siegfried the Golden!" cried the harper. "Whither do you farethis summer day?"

  "I have come from a land of horror and dread," answered the lad; "and Iwould fain fare to a brighter."

  "Then go with me to awaken the earth from its slumber, and to robe thefields in their garbs of beauty," said the harper. And he touched thestrings of his harp, and strains of the softest music arose in the stillmorning air. And Siegfried stood entranced, for never before had heheard such music.

  "Tell me who you are!" he cried, when the sounds died away. "Tell me whoyou are, and I will go to the ends of the earth with you."

  "I am Bragi," answered the harper, smiling. And Siegfried noticed thenthat the ship was laden with flowers of every hue, and that thousandsof singing birds circled around and above it, filling the air with thesound of their glad twitterings.

  Now, Bragi was the sweetest musician in all the world. It was said bysome that his home was with the song-birds, and that he had learned hisskill from them. But this was only part of the truth: for wherever therewas loveliness or beauty, or things noble and pure, there was Bragi;and his wondrous power in music and song was but the outward sign ofa blameless soul. When he touched the strings of his golden harp, allNature was charmed with the sweet harmony: the savage beasts of the woodcrept near to listen; the birds paused in their flight; the waves of thesea were becalmed, and the winds were hushed; the leaping waterfallwas still, and the rushing torrent tarried in its bed; the elves forgottheir hidden treasures, and joined in silent dance around him; and thestrom-karls and the musicians of the wood vainly tried to imitate him.And he was as fair of speech as he was skilful in song. His words wereso persuasive that he had been known to call the fishes from the sea, tomove great lifeless rocks, and, what is harder, the hearts of kings. Heunderstood the voice of the birds, and the whispering of the breeze, themurmur of the waves, and the roar of the waterfalls. He knew the lengthand breadth of the earth, and the secrets of the sea, and the languageof the stars. And every day he talked with Odin the All-Father, and withthe wise and good in the sunlit halls of Gladsheim. And once every yearhe went to the North-lands, and woke the earth from its long winter'ssleep, and scattered music and smiles and beauty everywhere.[EN#13]

  Right gladly did Siegfried agree to sail with Bragi over the sea; forhe wot that the bright Asa-god would be a very different guide fromthe cunning, evil-eyed Regin. So he went on board with Bragi, and thegleaming Greyfell followed them, and the sailors sat at their oars. AndBragi stood in the prow, and touched the strings of his harp. And, asthe music arose, the white sails leaped up the masts, and a warm southbreeze began to blow; and the little vessel, wafted by sweet sounds andthe incense of spring, sped gladly away over the sea.

  Adventure V. In AEgir's Kingdom.

  The vessel in which Siegfried sailed was soon far out at sea; for thebalmy south wind, and the songs of the birds, and the music from Bragi'sharp, all urged it cheerily on. And Siegfried sat at the helm, andguided it in its course. By and by they lost all sight of land, and thesailors wist not where they were; but they knew that Bragi, the Wise,would bring them safely into some haven whenever it should so pleasehim, and they felt no fear. And the fishes leaped up out of the wateras the white ship sped by on woven wings; and the monsters
of the deeppaused, and listened to the sweet music which floated down from above.After a time the vessel began to meet great ice-mountains in thesea,--mountains which the Reifriesen, and old Hoder, the King of thewinter months, had sent drifting down from the frozen land of the north.But these melted at the sound of Bragi's music and at the sight ofSiegfried's radiant armor. And the cold breath of the Frost-giants,which had driven them in their course, turned, and became the ally ofthe south wind.

  At length they came in sight of a dark shore, which stretched on eitherhand, north and south, as far as the eye could reach; and as they drewnearer they saw a line of huge mountains, rising, as it were, out ofthe water, and stretching their gray heads far above the clouds. Andthe overhanging cliffs seemed to look down, half in anger, half in pity,upon the little white winged vessel which had dared thus to sail throughthese unknown waters. But the surface of the sea was smooth as glass;and the gentle breeze drove the ship slowly forwards through the calmwater, and along the rock-bound coast, and within the dark shadows ofthe mountain-peaks. Long ago the Frost-giants had piled great heaps ofsnow upon these peaks, and built huge fortresses of ice between,and sought, indeed, to clasp in their cold embrace the whole of theNorwegian land. But the breezes of the South-land that came with Bragi'sship now played among the rocky steeps, and swept over the frozenslopes above, and melted the snow and ice; and thousands of rivulets ofhalf-frozen water ran down the mountain-sides, and tumbled into rockygorges, or plunged into the sea. And the grass began to grow on thesunny slopes, and the flowers peeped up through the half-melted snow,and the music of spring was heard on every side. Now and then the littlevessel passed by deep, dark inlets enclosed between high mountain-walls,and reaching many leagues far into land. But the sailors steered clearof these shadowy fjords; for they said that Ran, the dread Ocean-queen,lived there, and spread her nets in the deep green waters to entangleunwary seafaring men. And the sound of Bragi's harp awakened allsleeping things; and it was carried from rock to rock, and frommountain-height to valley, and was borne on the breeze far up thefjords, and all over the land.

  One day, as they were sailing through these quiet waters, beneath theoverhanging cliffs, Bragi tuned his harp, and sang a song of sea. Andthen he told Siegfried a story of AEgir and his gold-lit hall.

  Old AEgir was the Ocean-king. At most times he was rude and rough, andhis manners were uncouth and boisterous. But when Balder, the ShiningOne, smiled kindly upon him from above, or when Bragi played his harp bythe seashore, or sailed his ship on the waters, the heart of the bluffold king was touched with a kindly feeling, and he tried hard to curbhis ungentle passions, and to cease his blustering ways. He was one ofthe old race of giants; and men believe that he would have been a verygood and quiet giant, had it not been for the evil ways of his wife, thecrafty Queen Ran. For, however kind at heart the king might be, his goodintentions were almost always thwarted by the queen. Ran could never betrusted; and no one, unless it were Loki, the Mischief-maker, could eversay any thing in her praise. She was always lurking among hidden rocks,or in the deep sea, or along the shores of silent fjords, and reachingout with her long lean fingers, seeking to clutch in her greedy graspwhatever prey might unwarily come near her. And many richly-ladenvessels, and many brave seamen and daring warriors, had she dragged downto her blue-hung chamber in old AEgir's hall.

  And this is the story that Bragi told of

  The Feast in AEgir's Hall.

  It happened long ago, when the good folk at Gladsheim were wont to visitthe mid-world oftener than now. On a day in early autumn Queen Ran,with her older daughters,--Raging Sea, Breaker, Billow, Surge, andSurf,--went out to search for plunder. But old AEgir staid at home, andwith him his younger daughters,--fair Purple-hair, gentle Diver, dancingRipple, and smiling Sky-clear. And as they played around him, and kissedhis old storm-beaten cheeks, the heart of the king was softened intogentleness, and he began to think kindly of the green earth whichbordered his kingdom, and of the brave men who lived there; but most ofall did he think of the great and good Asa-folk, who dwell in Asgard,and overlook the affairs of the world. Then he called his servants,Funfeng and Elder, and bade them prepare a feast in his gold-lit hall.And he sent fleet messengers to invite the Asa-folk to come and partakeof the good cheer. And his four young daughters played upon the beach,and smiled and danced in the beaming sunlight. And the hearts of manyseafaring men were gladdened that day, as they spread their sails to thewind; for they saw before them a pleasant voyage, and the happy issue ofmany an undertaking.

  Long before the day had begun to wane, the Asa-folk arrived in a bodyat AEgir's hall; for they were glad to answer the bidding of theOcean-king. Odin came, riding Sleipner, his eight-footed steed; Thorrode in his iron chariot drawn by goats; Frey came with Gullinburste,his golden-bristled boar. There, too, was the war-like Tyr, and blindHoder, and the silent Vidar, and the sage Forsete, and the hearkeningHeimdal, and Niord, the Ruler of the Winds, and Bragi, with his harp;and lastly came many elves, the thralls of the Asa-folk, and Loki, thecunning Mischief-maker. In his rude but hearty way old AEgir welcomedthem; and they went down into his amber hall, and rested themselves uponthe sea-green couches that had been spread for them. And a thousandfair mermaids stood around them, and breathed sweet melodies throughsea-shells of rainbow hue, while the gentle white-veiled daughters ofthe Ocean-king danced to the bewitching music.

  Hours passed by, and the sun began to slope towards the west, and thewaiting guests grew hungry and ill at ease; and then they began towonder why the feast was so long in getting ready. At last the hosthimself became impatient; and he sent out in haste for his servants,Funfeng and Elder. Trembling with fear, they came and stood before him.

  "Master," said they, "we know that you are angry because the feast isnot yet made ready; but we beg that your anger may not fall upon us. Thetruth is, that some thief has stolen your brewing-kettle, and we have noale for your guests."

  Then old AEgir's brow grew dark, and his breath came quick and fast;and, had not Niord held the winds tightly clutched in his hand, therewould have been a great uproar in the hall. Even as it was, the mermaidsfled away in great fright, and the white-veiled Waves stopped dancing,and a strange silence fell upon all the company.

  "Some enemy has done this!" crier AEgir, as soon as he could speak."Some enemy has taken away my brewing-kettle; and, unless we can findit, I fear our feast will be but a dry one."

  Then Thor said,--

  "If any one knows where this kettle is, let him speak, and I will bringit back; and I promise you you shall not wait long for the feast."

  But not one in all this company knew aught about the missing kettle. Atlast Tyr stood up and said,--

  "If we cannot find the same vessel that our host has lost, mayhap wemay find another as good. I know a dogwise giant who lives east of theRivers Elivagar, and who has a strong kettle, fully a mile deep, andlarge enough to brew ale for all the world."

  "That is the very kettle we want!" cried Thor. "Think you that we canget it?"

  "If we are cunning enough, we may," answered Tyr. "But old Hymer willnever give it up willingly."

  "Is it Hymer of whom you speak?" asked Thor. "Then I know him well; and,willingly or not willingly he must let us have his kettle. For what is afeast without the gladsome ale?"

  Then Thor and Tyr set out on their journey towards the land of Elivagar;and they travelled many a league northwards, across snowy mountainsand barren plains, until they came to the shores of the frozen sea. Andthere the sun rises and sets but once a year, and even in summer the seais full of ice. On the lonely beach, stood Hymer's dwelling,--a darkand gloomy abode. Tyr knocked at the door; and it was opened by Hymer'swife, a strangely handsome woman, who bade them come in. Inside the hallthey saw Hymer's old mother, sitting in the chimney-corner, and crooningover the smouldering fire. She was a horribly ugly old giantess, withnine hundred heads; but every head was blind and deaf and toothless. Ah,me! what a wretched old age that must have been!

  "Is your husb
and at home?" asked Thor, speaking to the pretty woman whohad opened the door.

  "He is not," was the answer. "He is catching fish in the warm waters ofthe sheltered bay; or, mayhap, he is tending his cows in the open sea,just around the headland."

  For the great icebergs that float down from the frozen sea are calledold Hymer's cows.

  "We have come a very long journey," said Tyr. "Will you not givetwo tired strangers food and lodging until they shall have restedthemselves?"

  The woman seemed in nowise loath to do this; and she set before the twoAsa-folk a plentiful meal of the best that she had in the house. Whenthey had eaten, she told them that it would be far safer for them tohide themselves under the great kettles in the hall; for, she said, herhusband would soon be home, and he might not be kind to them. So Thorand Tyr hid themselves, and listened for Hymer's coming. After a time,the great hall-door opened, and they heard the heavy steps of the giant.

  "Welcome home!" cried the woman, as Hymer shook the frost from his hairand beard, and stamped the snow from his feet. "I am so glad that youhave come! for there are two strangers in the hall, and they have askedfor you. One of them I know is Thor, the foe of the giants, and thefriend of man. The other is the one-armed god of war, the brave Tyr.What can be their errand at Hymer's hall?"

  "Where are they?" roared Hymer, stamping so furiously, that even hisdeaf old mother seemed to hear, and lifted up her heads.

  "They are under the kettles, at the gable-end of the hall," answered thewoman.