the deathly stroke through the coils of his mail.
Harken, for I have thought of it all.

"The track of the Dragon to the River is broad, for he takes ever the
one track. Dig a pit in the middle of that track, and when Fafnir comes
over it strike up into his coils of mail with Gram, thy great sword.
Gram only may pierce that mail. Then will Fafnir be slain and the hoard
will be left guardless."

"What thou sayst is wise, Regin," Sigurd answered. "We will make this
pit and I will strike Fafnir in the way thou sayst."

Then Sigurd went and he rode upon Grani, his proud horse, and he showed
himself to King Alv and to Hiordis, his mother. Afterwards he went with
Regin to the Heath that was the haunt of the Dragon, and in his track
they dug a pit for the slaying of Fafnir.

And, lest his horse should scream aloud at the coming of the Dragon,
Sigurd had Grani sent back to a cave in the hills. It was Regin that
brought Grani away. "I am fearful and can do nothing to help thee, son
of the Volsungs," he said. "I will go away and await the slaying of
Fafnir."

He went, and Sigurd lay down in the pit they had made and practiced
thrusting upward with his sword. He lay with his face upward and with
his two hands he thrust the mighty sword upward.

But as he lay there he bethought of a dread thing that might happen;
namely, that the blood and the venom of the Dragon might pour over him
as he lay there, and waste him flesh and bone. When he thought of this
Sigurd hastened out of the pit, and he dug other pits near by, and he
made a passage for himself from one pit to the other that he might
escape from the flow of the Dragon's envenomed blood.

As he lay down again in the pit he heard the treading of the Dragon and
he heard the Dragon's strange and mournful cry. Mightily the Dragon came
on and he heard his breathing. His shape came over the pit. Then the
Dragon held his head and looked down on Sigurd.

It was the instant for him to make stroke with Gram. He did not let the
instant pass. He struck mightily under the shoulder and toward the heart
of the beast. The sword went through the hard and glittering scales that
were the creature's mail. Sigurd pulled out the sword and drew himself
through the passage and out into the second pit as Fafnir's envenomed
blood drenched where he had been.

Drawing himself up out of the second pit he saw the huge shape of Fafnir
heaving and lashing. He came to him and thrust his sword right th