eath to where Fafnir the Dragon had his lair. All blasted and wasted
was the Heath with the fiery breath of the Dragon. And he saw the cave
where Fafnir abode, and he saw the track that his comings and goings
made. For every day the Dragon left his cave in the cliffs, crossing the
Heath to come to the River at which he drank.

For the length of a day Sigurd watched from the hills the haunt of the
Dragon. In the evening he saw him lengthening himself out of the cave,
and coming on his track across the Heath, in seeming like a ship that
travels swiftly because of its many oars.

Then to Regin in his smithy he came. To that cunning man Sigurd said:

"Tell me all thou dost know of Fafnir the Dragon."

Regin began to talk, but his speech was old and strange and filled with
runes. When he had spoken it all Sigurd said, "All thou hast told me
thou wilt have to say over again in a speech that is known to men of our
day."

Then said Regin: "Of a hoard I spoke. The Dwarf Andvari guarded it from
the first days of the world. But one of the AEsir forced Andvari to give
the hoard to him, masses of gold and heaps of jewels, and the AEsir gave
it to Hreidmar, who was my father.

"For the slaying of his son Otter the AEsir gave the hoard to Hreidmar,
the greatest hoard that had ever been seen in the world. But not long
was it left to Hreidmar to gloat over. For a son slew a father that he
might possess that hoard. Fafnir, that son was Fafnir, my brother.

"Then Fafnir, that no one might disturb his possession of the hoard,
turned himself into a Dragon, a Dragon so fearful that none dare come
nigh him. And I, Regin, was stricken with covetousness of the hoard. I
did not change myself into another being, but, by the magic my father
knew, I made my life longer than the generations of men, hoping that I
would see Fafnir slain and then have the mighty hoard under my hands.

"Now, son of the Volsungs, thou dost know all that has to do with Fafnir
the Dragon, and the great hoard that he guards."

"Little do I care about the hoard he guards," Sigurd said. "I care only
that he has made the King's good lands into a waste and that he is an
evil thing to men. I would have the renown of slaying Fafnir the
Dragon."

"With Gram, the sword thou hast, thou couldst slay Fafnir," Regin cried,
his body shaken with his passion for the hoard. "Thou couldst slay him
with the sword thou hast. Harken now and I will tell thee how thou
mightst give him