Of the ending of all Volsung’s Sons save Sigmund only, and of how he
    abideth in the wild wood.

    So there the earls of the Goth-folk lay Volsung ’neath the grass
    On the last earth he had trodden; but his children bound must pass,
    When the host is gathered together, amidst of their array
    To the high-built dwelling of Siggeir; for sooth it is to say,
    That he came not into the battle, nor faced the Volsung sword.

    So now as he sat in his high-seat there came his chiefest lord,
    And he said:  “I bear thee tidings of the death of the best of the
      brave,
    For thy foes are slain or bondsmen; and have thou Sigmund’s glaive,
    If a token thou desirest; and that shall be surely enough. 
    And I do thee to wit, King Siggeir, that the road was exceeding rough,
    And that many an earl there stumbled, who shall evermore lie down. 
    And indeed I deem King Volsung for all earthly kingship’s crown.”

    Then never a word spake Siggeir, save:  “Where be Volsung’s sons?”
    And he said:  “Without are they fettered, those battle-glorious ones: 
    And methinks ’twere a deed for a king, and a noble deed for thee,
    To break their bonds and heal them, and send them back o’er the sea,
    And abide their wrath and the bloodfeud for this matter of Volsung’s
      slaying:” 

    “Witless thou waxest,” said Siggeir, “nor heedest the wise man’s
      saying;
    ‘Slay thou the wolf by the house-door, lest he slay thee in the wood.’ 
    Yet since I am the overcomer, and my days henceforth shall be good,
    I will quell them with no death-pains; let the young men smite them
      down,
    But let me not behold them when my heart is angrier grown.”

    E’en as he uttered the word was Signy at the door,
    And with hurrying feet she gat her apace to the high-seat floor,
    As wan as the dawning-hour, though never a tear she had: 
    And she cried:  “I pray thee, Siggeir, now thine heart is merry and glad
    With the death and the bonds of my kinsmen, to grant me this one
      prayer,
    This one time and no other; let them breathe the earthly air
    For a day, for a day or twain, ere they wend the way of death,
    For ‘sweet to eye while seen,’ the elders’ saying saith.”

    Quoth he:  “Thou art mad with sorrow; wilt thou work thy friends this
      woe? 
    When swift and untormented e’en I would let them go: 
    Yet now shalt thou have thine asking, if it verily is thy will: 
    Nor forsooth do I begrudge them a longer tide of ill.”

    She said:  “I will it, I will it—­O sweet to eye while seen!”

    Then to his earl spake Siggeir:  “There lies a wood-lawn green
    In the first mile of the forest; there fetter these Volsung men
    To the mightiest beam of the wild-wood, till Queen Signy come again
    And pray me a boon for her brethren, the end of their latter life.”