The children of Odin - Germanic Mythology

23?
CHILDREN OF ODIN
thou comest," he said to Sigmund, "be sure thou dost bring with
thee the mighty sword that thou didst win."
All this was thought of by Sigurd, the son of Sigmund, as he
rode towards the fringe of the forest.
HE time came for Volsung and his sons to redeem
the promise they made to Eang Siggeir. They
made ready their ship and they sailed from the
land where stood the Hall of the Branstock.
And they landed on the coast of King Siggeir's
country, and they drew their ship up on the beach
and they made their camp there, intending to come to the King's
Hall in the broad light of the day.
But in the half light of the dawn one came to the Volsung ship.
A cloak and hood covered the figure, but Sigmund, who was the
watcher, knew who it was. "Signy!" he said, and Signy asked
that her father and her brothers be awakened until she would
speak to them of a treason that was brewed against them.
"King Siggeir has made ready a great army against your
coming," she told them. "He hates the Volsungs, the branch
as weU as the root, and it is his plan to fall upon you, my father
and my brothers, with his great army and slay you all. And
he would possess himself of Gram, Sigmund's wonder-sword.
Therefore, I say to you, O Volsungs, draw your ship into the
sea and sail from the land where such treachery can be."
But Volsung, her father, would not listen. "The Volsungs
do not depart like broken men from a land they have brought