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62 , INTRODUCTION.
ginn comes to Sigurd at the Court of King Hjalprek
(Ohilperic), tells him of the treasures which
the -^ir have given to his father HreiBmar in ex-
piation for a murder, and which his brother Fafnir
lies upon to guard, in the guise of a dragon. He
invites Sigurd to fight with Fafnir and forges for
him a sword. Sigurd slays the dragon after he has
put to death the sons of Hunding.
Sigurd enters into a long conversation with the
dying Fafnir and afterward eats his heart, whereby
he learns the language of birds, and, warned by
them, he kills the sleeping Keginn. Then he loads
the fatal gold upon his steed and rides over green
ways to the stronghold of Gjuki. Before his arrival
there he finds Brynhild as a Yalkyrja in a fortress
smTounded by flames. He releases her from her
enchanted sleep, and learns from her the Kunic lore
and other useful knowledge. He then comes to
Gjuki, marries GuSrun, and by artifice conducts
Brynhild tc^his brother-in-law, Gurniar, as his bride.
But she discovers the fraud, and at her instigation
the Volsiinga hero is murdered by Guttorm, the
youngest Mflunga brother. She then, consumed
by grief, stabs herself with a sword, and in her
dying words she announces to the Nifltinga race its
tragic fate. The bodies of Brynhild and Sigurd
are burned upon one funeral pile. Afterward Brynr
hild rides to the lower regions where she holds con-
versation with a sorceress. This forms the subject
of one of the poems",—Helrei5 Brynhildar Bu61a-
d6ttur—the Death-ride of Brynhild the daughter of
Bu51i, in which she briefly relates her history, and