describes an
adventure with each, but the treasure is only connected with the dwarfs.
The "Thidreksaga" knows only the dragon fight but not the dwarfs, as is
likewise the case with the Seyfrid ballad. Only in the Norse sources
do we find a contamination. The story of Hreithmar and his sons, who
quarrel about the treasure, resembles that of Schilbung and Nibelung in
the "Nibelungenlied", and probably has the same source. One of the sons,
because of his guarding the treasure, is identified with the dragon,
and so we read that Fafnir becomes a dragon, after gaining the treasure.
Originally, however, he was not a dragon, but a dwarf. These two
independent forms can be geographically localized. The dwarf legend is
the more southern; it is told in detail in the "Nibelungenlied". The
dragon legend probably originated in the Cimbrian peninsula, where the
"Beowulf" saga, in which the dragon fight plays such an important part,
likewise arose.

There thus stand sharply opposed to each other two theories, one seeing
in the Siegfried saga a personification of natural forces, the other
tracing it back to a purely human story of murder through greed. It may
be, that the true form of the original saga lies half way between
these two views. The story of the fall of the Nibelungs, that is, their
killing at Etzel's court, may go back to the tale of the murder of
relatives for money. On the other hand it is hard to believe that the
Siegfried saga is nothing but a repetition of the Attila motive, for
this is too brief a formula to which to reduce the long legend of
Siegfried, with its many deeds. Even if we discard the mythological
interpretation, it is the tale of a daring hero, who is brought up in
the woods by a cunning dwarf. He kills a dragon and takes possession of
his hoard, then rescues a maiden, imprisoned upon a mountain, as in the
older Norse version and the popular ballad, or in a tower, as in the
"Thidreksaga", and surrounded either by a wall of fire, as in the
Norse, or by a large body of water, as in the "Nibelungenlied". After
betrothing himself to the maiden, he sets forth in search of further
adventures, and falls into the power of an evil race, who by their
magic arts lure him to them, cause his destruction, and then obtain
his treasure and the maiden for themselves. By her very name Sigrdrifa
belongs to Siegfried, just as Gunther and Gudrun-Grimhild belong
together, and it seems hardly possible that she should have ente