ome extent, represents independent tradition. It
was, unfortunately from a literary point of view, compiled after the
great saga-time was over, in the decadent fourteenth century, when
material of all kinds, classical, biblical, romantic, mythological,
was hastily cast into saga-form. It is not, like the _Nibelungen
Lied_, a work of art, but it has what in this case is perhaps of
greater importance, the one great virtue of fidelity. The compiler
did not, like the author of the German masterpiece, boldly recast
his material in the spirit of his own time; he clung closely to his
originals, only trying with hesitating hand to copy the favourite
literary form of the Icelander. As a saga, therefore, _Voelsunga_
is far behind not only such great works as _Njala_, but also many of
the smaller sagas. It lacks form, and is marred by inconsistencies;
it is often careless in grammar and diction; it is full of traces
of the decadent romantic age. Sigurd, in the true spirit of romance,
is endowed with magic weapons and supernatural powers, which are no
improvement on the heroic tradition, "Courage is better than a good
sword." At every turn, Odin is at hand to help him, which tends to
efface the older and truer picture of the hero with all the fates
against him; such heroes, found again and again in the historic
sagas, more truly represent the heathen heroic age and that belief
in the selfishness and caprice of the Gods on which the whole idea
of sacrifice rests. There is also the inevitable deterioration in the
character of Brynhild, without the compensating elevation in that of
her rival by which the _Nibelungen Lied_ places Chriemhild on a height
as lofty and unapproachable as that occupied by the Norse Valkyrie;
the Brynhild of _Voelsunga Saga_ is something of a virago, the Gudrun
is jealous and shrewish. But for actual material, the compiler is
absolutely to be trusted; and _Voelsunga Saga_ is therefore, in spite
of artistic faults, a priceless treasure-house for the real features
of the legend.

There are two main elements in the Volsung story: the slaying of the
dragon, and the awakening and desertion of Brynhild. The latter is
brought into close connexion with the former, which becomes the real
centre of the action. In the Anglo-Saxon reference, the fragment in
_Beowulf_, the second episode does not appear.

In this, the oldest version of the story, which, except for a vague
reference to early feats by Sigmund and Sinfjoet