Page:The Mythology of the Aryan Nations.djvu/140

108 BOOK are forged or welded by the swarthy fire-god ; but the Norse tale is even more true than the Homeric legend, for the sword which smites the darkness to-day is the same blade which the enemies of the sun yestereve snapped in twain. With the sword thus forged from the shattered pieces of Gram Regin bids Sigurd smite the Dragon : but the hero must first avenge his father's death, and King Hunding, his sons, and all his host are slain, like the suitors by the arrows of Odysseus, before Sigurd goes forth on his good steed Gran, which Odin had brought to hmi as Athene brought Pegasos to Bellerophon, to encounter the guardian of the earth's treasures. But no sooner is the Dragon slain than Regin in his turn feels the desire of vengeance for the very deed which he had urged Sigurd to do, and he insists that the hero shall bring him his brother's heart roasted. Then filUng himself with Fafnir's blood, Regin lies down to sleep, and Sigurd, as he roasts the heart, wonders whether it be soft, and putting a portion to his lips, finds that he understands the voices of the birds, who, singing over his head, bid him eat it all and become the wisest of men, and then, cutting off Regin's head, take possession of all his gold. This is manifestly the legend of lamos and Melampous, while the wisdom obtained by eating the heart of Fafnir has a further con- nexion with the Python as the guardian of the Delphic oracle.^

The rescue With this exploit begins the career of Sigurd as Chrysaor. As Achilleus is taught by Cheiron, so is Sigurd instructed by Gripir, the wise man, and thus in the fulness of wisdom and strength, with his golden hair flowing over his shoulders, and an eye whose glance dazzled all who faced it, he rides over the desolate heath, until he comes to the circle of flame within which sleeps the Valkyrie Bryn- hild^ No other horse but Gran can leap that wall of fire, no knight

• Grimm regards the words Python the Odysseus who wanders ver}' far and Fafnir as standing to each other in over many lands, after the fall of Ilion, the relation of Qnp and 4>TJp. " Die which again answers to the slaying of Erlegung des Drachen Fafnir gemahnt the dragon. The Fitela of Beowulf is an nuOctfj', den Apollo besiegte, und wie clearly the Sinfibtli of the Volsung tale. Python das delfische Orakel hiitete, For some remarks on the comparative weissagt der sterbende Fafnir." — antiquity of these two legends see Deutsche Mythologie, 345. In the lay Ludlow, Popular Epics of the Middle of Beowulf this serpent or dragon ap- Ages, i. 41. The substantial identity pears under the name Grendel ; and, in of the two myths renders the question fact, the whole story of Sigurd is in of date of comparatively little import- that poem related substantially, although ance. The real point for consideration not with the same fulness of detail, of is that these stories are further identical Sigmund the father of Beowulf, the with the sagas of the three Helgis, and Waelsing, who, having slain the worm, of Baldur, and thus also with the myths becomes the possessor of the ring hoard of Adonis, Uionysos, Sarpedon, Mem- which he may enjoy at pleasure. Like non, and other gods and heroes of the Norse Sigurd, Sigmund is "of Hellenic tradition, wanderers by far the greatest through- - Brynhild, as we might suppose, out the human race :' ' he is, in short, reappears in many Teutonic stories. In