igurd requested Regin, who was the best of smiths, to forge him a
sword. Two were made, but both broke at the first stroke. The broken
pieces of Gram were then obtained, and out of them Regin forged a
blade that clave the anvil in the smithy, and cut a lock of wool borne
down to it by a stream. Armed with Gram, and mounted on Gran, his
steed, which Odin had instructed him to choose, Sigurd rode to the
Glistening Heath, dug a pit in the dragon's path, and slew him as he
passed over him on his way to drink at the river. Sigurd roasted the
heart of Fafnir; and while it was being cooked, he tried it with one
of his fingers to see if it were soft. The hot roast burned his
finger, which caused him to put it to his mouth. He tasted the
dragon's blood, and instantly he understood the songs of birds.
Sigurd slew Regin, ate the heart, rode on Gran to Fafnir's lair, took
the spoil, and escaped with it.

On and on he rode, till on a lone fell he saw a flame; and when he
reached it, it blazed all around a house. No horse but Gran could pass
through that flame, and no man but Sigurd could guide him in his fiery
path. Brynhildr, Atli's sister, who in consequence of giving victory
on the wrong side had the thorn of sleep thrust into her cloak by
Odin, lay in the house in a deep sleep. She was under a curse to
slumber there until a man bold enough to ride through the fire came to
liberate her, and win her for his bride. Dashing onward to where the
fair maiden lay, his first touch wakened her from the long sleep to
which the cruel god had consigned her. They swore with a mighty oath
to love each other, and she taught him runes and wisdom.

Sigurd's mission was not yet accomplished; so on he rode to King
Giuki's hall, king of Frankland, whose queen was Grimhildr, who had
two sons named Gunnar and Hogni, and a step-son called Guttorm, and
whose daughter was the lovely Gudrun. Sigurd, greatly attached to his
lovely bride at the lone fell, purposed going back for her; but
Grimhildr, who was skilled in the black arts, longed for the brave
Volsung for her own daughter, and therefore prepared for him the
philter of forgetfulness. He quaffed it off, forgot Brynhildr,
fraternised with Gunnar and Hogni, and married Gudrun. Giuki now
wanted a wife for Gunnar, and the brothers with their bosom friend set
out to woo. They chose Brynhildr, whom they found still sitting on the
fell, waiting for Sigurd to come back. She had made it known, that
whoever