Page:The Mythology of the Aryan Nations.djvu/144

112 BOOK and his brothers had thrown the hoard into the Rhine — the water which receives Endymion as he plunges into his dreamless sleep ; and the secret of it is lost when Gunnar is cast into a pit full of snakes, all of whom, like Orpheus, he lulls to sleep by his harping, except one which flies at his heart, and kills him — a tale told over again in the transparent myth of Thora, Aslauga, and Ragnar Lodbrog. Thus the beings who, though they might be akin to the mist and cold of night, had made a covenant of peace and friendship with Sigurd, are all gone, and to Gudrun remains the task of avenging them. The story of her vengeance is practically a repetition of the legend of Medeia. Like the Kolcliian woman, she slays the two sons whom she had borne to Atli ; but the ferocity of the Northern sentiment colours the sequel in which we see a sunset as blood-red and stormy as that in which Herakles rose from earth to the mansions of the undying gods. Gudrun makes Atli eat the flesh and drink the blood of his sons ; and then, having slain him as he sleeps, by the aid of the son of her brother Hogni, she sets fire to the hall, and consumes everything Avithin it. The shades of autumn .are now fast closing in, and Gudrun, weary of her life, hastens to the sea shore to end her woes by plunging into the deep. But the waters carry her over to the land of King Jonakr, who makes her his bride, and she now becomes the mother of three sons, Saurli, Hamdir, and Erp, whose raven black hair marks them as the children of clouds and darkness. Once more the magic wheel revolves, and in the fortunes of Svanhild, the daughter of Sigurd and Gunnar, we see the destiny of the fateful Helen. Like her, Svanhild is the most beautiful of women, and Hermanric, the Gothic king, sends his son Randver to woo her for him ; but the young man is advised by the treacherous Bikki to woo her for himself, and he follows the counsel which chimes in only too well with his own inclinations, as with those of Svanhild Hermanric orders that his son shall be hanged. Presently he receives a plucked hawk which Randver had sent to show him the weakness of parents who deprive themselves of the support of their children, and he gives orders to stop the execution. The messenger comes too late, Randver is already slain, and Svanhild is trampled to death by the steeds of Hermanric's horsemen as she combs out her golden locks. But Hermanric must pay the penalty for his ill-doing not less than Sigurd oi Atli. Gudrun's command goes forth to her three Niflung sons, Saurli, Hamdir, and Erp, to avenge Svanhild ; and thus, armed with helmets and cased in mail which no weapons can pierce, they take the way to the house of Hermanric. As they go, the Niflungs quarrel among thcnifclves,