works as Njala, but also many of the smaller sagas.  It lacks form, and is marred by inconsistencies; it is often careless in grammar and diction; it is full of traces of the decadent romantic age.  Sigurd, in the true spirit of romance, is endowed with magic weapons and supernatural powers, which are no improvement on the heroic tradition, “Courage is better than a good sword.”  At every turn, Odin is at hand to help him, which tends to efface the older and truer picture of the hero with all the fates against him; such heroes, found again and again in the historic sagas, more truly represent the heathen heroic age and that belief in the selfishness and caprice of the Gods on which the whole idea of sacrifice rests.  There is also the inevitable deterioration in the character of Brynhild, without the compensating elevation in that of her rival by which the Nibelungen Lied places Chriemhild on a height as lofty and unapproachable as that occupied by the Norse Valkyrie; the Brynhild of Voelsunga Saga is something of a virago, the Gudrun is jealous and shrewish.  But for actual material, the compiler is absolutely to be trusted; and Voelsunga Saga is therefore, in spite of artistic faults, a priceless treasure-house for the real features of the legend.

There are two main elements in the Volsung story:  the slaying of the dragon, and the awakening and desertion of Brynhild.  The latter is brought into close connexion with the former, which becomes the real centre of the action.  In the Anglo-Saxon reference, the fragment in Beowulf, the second episode does not appear.

In this, the oldest version of the story, which, except for a vague reference to early feats by Sigmund and Sinfjoetli, consists solely of the dragon adventure, the hero is not Sigurd, but Sigemund the Waelsing.  All that it tells is that Sigemund, Fitela (Sinfjoetli) not being with him, killed the dragon, the guardian of the hoard, and loaded a ship with the treasure.  The few preceding lines only mention the war which Sigmund and Sinfjoetli waged on their foes.  They are there uncle and nephew, and there is no suggestion of the closer relationship assigned to them by Voelsunga Saga, which tells their story in full.

Sigmund, one of the ten sons of Volsung (who is himself of miraculous birth) and the Wishmaiden Hlod, is one of the chosen heroes of Odin.  His twin-sister Signy is married against her will to Siggeir, an hereditary enemy, and at the wedding-feast Odin enters and thrusts a sword up to the hilt into the tree growing in the middle of the hall.  All try to draw it, but only the chosen Sigmund succeeds.  Siggeir, on returning to his own home with his unwilling bride, invites her father and brothers to a feast.  Though suspecting treachery, they come, and are killed one after another, except Sigmund who is secretly saved by his sister and hidden in the wood.  She meditates revenge, and as her two sons grow up to the age of ten, she