_ [EN#1] Siegfried's Boyhood.
"All men agree that Siegfried was a king's son. He was born,
as we here have good reason to know, 'at Santen in
Netherland,' of Siegmund and the fair Siegelinde; yet by
some family misfortune or discord, of which the accounts are
very various, he came into singular straits during boyhood,
having passed that happy period of life, not under the
canopies of costly state, but by the sooty stithy, in one
Mimer, a blacksmith's shop."--Thomas Carlyle, The Nibelungen
Lied.
The older versions of this story represent Siegfried, under
the name of Sigurd, as being brought up at the court of the
Danish King Hialprek; his own father Sigmund having been
slain in battle, as related in this chapter. He was early
placed under the tuition of Regin, or Regino, an elf, who
instructed his pupil in draughts, runes, languages, and
various other accomplishments.--See Preface to Vollmer's
Nibelunge Not, also the Song of Sigurd Fafnisbane, in the
Elder Edda, and the Icelandic Volsunga Saga.
[EN#2]--Mimer.
"The Vilkinasaga brings before us yet another smith, Mimer,
by whom not only is Velint instructed in his art, but
Sigfrit (Siegfried) is brought up,--another smith's
apprentice. He is occasionally mentioned in the later poem
of Biterolf, as Mime the Old. The old name of Munster in
Westphalia was Mimigardiford; the Westphalian Minden was
originally Mimidun; and Memleben on the Unstrut, Mimileba. .
. . The elder Norse tradition names him just as often, and
in several different connections. In one place, a Mimingus,
a wood-satyr, and possessor of a sword and jewels, is
interwoven into the myth of Balder and Hoder. The Edda gives
a higher position to its Mimer. He has a fountain, in which
wisdom and understanding lie hidden: drinking of it every
morning, he is the wisest, most intelligent, of men. To
Mimer's fountain came Odin, and desired a drink, but did not
receive it till he had given one of his eyes in pledge, and
hidden it in the fountain: this accounts for Odin being
one-eyed. . . . Mimer is no Asa, but an exalted being with
whom the Asas hold converse, of whom they make use,--the sum
total of wisdom, possibly an older Nature-god. Later fables
degraded him into a wood-sprite, or clever smith.--Grimm's
Deutsche Mythologie, I. p. 379.
Concerning the Mimer of the Eddas, Professor Anderson says,
"The name Mimer means the knowing. The Giants, being older
than the Asas, looked deeper than the latter into the
darkness of the past. They had witnessed the birth of the
gods and the beginning of the world, and they foresaw their
downfall. Concerning both these events, the gods had to go
to them for knowledge. It is this wisdom that Mimer keeps in
his fountain."--Norse Mythology, p 209.
In the older versions of the legend, the smith who cared for
Siegfried (Sigurd) is called, as we have before noticed,
Regin. He is thus described by Morris:--
"The lore of all men he knew,
And was deft in every cunning, save the dealings of the
sword.
So sweet was his tongue-speech fashioned, that men
trowed his every word.
His hand with the harp-strings blended was the mingler
of delight
With the latter days of sorrow: all tales he told
aright.
The Master of the Masters in the smithying craft was
he;
And he dealt with the wind and the weather and the
stilling of the sea;
Nor might any learn him leech-craft, for before that
race was made,
And that man-folk's generation, all their life-days had
he weighed."
Sigurd the Volsung, Bk. II.
[EN#3]--The Sword.
"By this sword Balmung also hangs a tale. Doubtless it was
one of those invaluable weapons sometimes fabricated by the
old Northern smiths, compared with which our modern Foxes
and Ferraras and Toledos are mere leaden tools. Von der
Hagen seems to think it simply the sword Mimung under
another name; in which case, Siegfried's old master, Mimer,
had been the maker of it, and called it after himself, as if
it had been his son."--Carlyle, on the Nibelungen Lied,
note.
In Scandinavian legends, the story of Mimer and Amilias is
given, differing but slightly from the rendering in this
chapter.--See Weber and Jamieson's Illustrations of Northern
Antiquities.
In the older versions of the myth, the sword is called Gram,
or the Wrath. It was wrought from the shards, or broken
pieces, of Sigmund's sword, the gift of Odin. It was made by
Regin for Sigurd's (Siegfried's) use, and its temper was
tested as here described.
[EN#4]--Sigmund The Volsung.
Sigmund the Volsung, in the Volsunga Saga, is represented as
the father of Sigurd (Siegfried); but there is such a marked
contrast between him, and the wise, home-abiding King
Siegmund of the later stories, that I have thought proper to
speak of them here as two different individuals. The word
"Sigmund," or "Siegmund," means literally the mouth of
victory. The story of the Volsungs, as here supposed to be
related by Mimer, is derived mainly from the Volsunga Saga.
[EN#5]--Siegfried's Journey Into The Forest.
"In the shop of Mimer, Siegfried was nowise in his proper
element, ever quarrelling with his fellow-apprentices, nay,
as some say, breaking the hardest anvils into shivers by his
too stout hammering; so that Mimer, otherwise a first-rate
smith, could by no means do with him there. He sends him,
accordingly, to the neighboring forest to fetch charcoal,
well aware that a monstrous dragon, one Regin, the smith's
own brother, would meet him, and devour him. But far
otherwise it proved."--Carlyle, on The Nibelungen Lied.
[EN#6]--The Norns.
The Norns are the Fates, which watch over man through life.
They are Urd the Past, Verdande the Present, and Skuld the
Future. They approach every new-born child, and utter his
doom. They are represented as spinning the thread of fate,
one end of which is hidden by Urd in the far east, the other
by Verdande in the far west. Skuld stands ready to rend it
in pieces. --See Grimm's Teutonic Mythology, p. 405, also
Anderson's Norse Mythology, p. 209.
The three weird women in Shakespeare's Tragedy of Macbeth
represent a later conception of the three Norns, now
degraded to mere witches.
Compare the Norns with the Fates of the Greek Mythology.
These, also, are three in number. They sit clothed in white,
and garlanded, singing of destiny. Clotho, the Past, spins;
Lachesis, the Present, divides; and Atropos, the Future,
stands ready with her shears to cut the thread.
[EN#7]--The Idea of Fatality.
Throughout the story of the Nibelungs and Volsungs, of
Sigurd and of Siegfried,--whether we follow the older
versions or the mote recent renderings,--there is, as it
were, an ever-present but indefinable shadow of coming fate,
"a low, inarticulate voice of Doom," foretelling the
inevitable. This is but in consonance with the general ideas
of our Northern ancestors regarding the fatality which
shapes and controls every man's life. These ideas are
embodied in more than one ancient legend. We find them in
the old Anglo-Saxon poem of Beowulf. "To us," cries Beowulf
in his last fight, "to us it shall be as our Weird
betides,--that Weird that is every man's lord!" "Each man of
us shall abide the end of his life-work; let him that may
work, work his doomed deeds ere death comes!" Similar ideas
prevailed among the Greeks. Read, for example, that passage
in the Iliad describing the parting of Hector and
Andromache, and notice the deeper meaning of Hector's words.
[EN#8]--Regin.
As we have already observed (EN#1), the older versions of
this myth called Siegfried's master and teacher Regin, while
the more recent versions call him Mimer. We have here
endeavored to harmonize the two versions by representing
Mimer as being merely Regin in disguise.
[EN#9]--Gripir.
"A man of few words was Gripir; but he knew of all deeds
that had been; And times there came upon him, when the deeds
to be were seen: No sword had he held in his hand since his
father fell to field, And against the life of the slayer he
bore undinted shield: Yet no fear in his heart abided, nor
desired he aught at all: But he noted the deeds that had
been, and looked for what should befall." Morris's Sigurd
the Volsung, Bk. II.
[EN#10]--The Hoard.
This story is found in both the Elder and the Younger Eddas,
and is really the basis upon which the entire plot of the
legend of Sigurd, or Siegfried, is constructed. See also
EN#18.
[EN#11]--The Dragon.
The oldest form of this story is the Song of Sigurd
Fafnisbane, in the Elder Edda. The English legend of St.
George and the Dragon was probably derived from the same
original sources. A similar myth may be found among all
Aryan peoples. Sometimes it is a treasure, sometimes a
beautiful maiden, that the monster guards, or attempts to
destroy. Its first meaning was probably this: The maiden, or
the treasure, is the earth in its beauty and fertility. "The
monster is the storm-cloud. The hero who fights it is the
sun, with his glorious sword, the lightning-flash. By his
victory the earth is relieved from her peril. The fable has
been varied to suit the atmospheric peculiarities of
different climes in which the Aryans found themselves. . . .
In Northern mythology the serpent is probably the winter
cloud, which broods over and keeps from mortals the gold of
the sun's light and heat, till in the spring the bright orb
overcomes the powers of darkness and tempest, and scatters
his gold over the face of the earth." This myth appears in a
great variety of forms among the Scandinavian and German
nations. In the Eddas, Sigurd (Siegfried) is represented as
roasting the heart of Fafnir, and touching it to his lips.
We have ventured to present a less revolting version.--See
Baring-Gould's Curious Myths of the Middle Ages.
"The slaying of the dragon Fafnir reminds us of Python, whom
Apollo overcame; and, as Python guarded the Delphic Oracle,
the dying Fafnir prophesies."--Jacob Grimm.
[EN#12.]
In order to harmonize subsequent passages in the story as
related in different versions, we here represent Siegfried
as turning his back upon the Glittering Heath, and leaving
the Hoard to some other hero or discoverer. In the Younger
Edda, Siegfried (Sigurd) rides onward until he comes to
Fafnir's bed, from which "he took out all the gold, packed
it in two bags, and laid it on Grane's (Greyfell's) back,
then got on himself and rode away."
[EN#13]--BRAGI.
This episode of Bragi and his vessel is no part of the
original story of Siegfried, but is here introduced in order
to acquaint you with some of the older myths of our
ancestors. Bragi was the impersonation of music and
eloquence, and here represents the music of Nature,--the
glad songs and sounds of the spring-time. "Above any other
god," says Grimm, "one would like to see a more general
veneration of Bragi revived, in whom was vested the gift of
poetry and eloquence. . . . He appears to have stood in
pretty close relation to AEgir."
[EN#14]--AEgir.
"AEgir was the god presiding over the stormy sea. He
entertains the gods every harvest, and brews ale for them.
The name still survives in provincial English for the
sea-wave on rivers."--Anderson's Norse Mythology. See
Carlyle's Heroes and Hero-Worship.
[EN#15]--The Valkyries.
See Grimm's Teutonic Mythology, p. 417, and Anderson's Norse
Mythology, p. 265.
[EN#16]--Brunhild.
In the Elder Edda, Brunhild's inaccessible hall stands on a
mountain, where she was doomed to sleep under her shield
until Sigurd should release her. In the Nibelungen Lied, she
is represented as ruling in Isenland, an island far over the
sea. The well-known story of the Sleeping Beauty is derived
from this myth.
[EN#17]--Nibelungen Land.
"Vain were it to inquire where that Nibelungen Land
specially is. Its very name is Nebel-land, or Nifl-land, the
land of Darkness, of Invisibility. . . . Far beyond the firm
horizon, that wonder-bearing region swims on the infinite
waters, unseen by bodily eye, or, at most, discerned as a
faint streak hanging in the blue depths, uncertain whether
island or cloud."--Carlyle, on The Nibelungen Lied.
[EN#18]--Schilbung and Nibelung.
"Old King Nibelung, the former lord of the land, had left,
when he died, a mighty hoard concealed within a
mountain-cavern. As Siegfried rode past the mountain-side
alone, he found Schilbung and Nibelung, the king's sons,
seated at the mouth of the cavern surrounded by more gold
and precious stones than a hundred wagons could bear away.
Espying Siegfried, they called upon him to settle their
dispute, offering him as reward their father's mighty sword
Balmung."--Auber Forestier's Translation of the Nibelungen
Lied.
We have here made some slight variations from the original
versions. (See also EN#12.)
An ancient legend relates how King Schilbung had obtained
the Hoard in the upper Rhine valley, and how he was
afterwards slain by his brother Niblung. This Niblung
possessed a magic ring in the shape of a coiled serpent with
ruby eyes. It had been presented to him by a prince named
Gunthwurm, who had come to him in the guise of a serpent,
desiring the hand of his daughter in marriage. This ring,
according to the Eddas, was the one taken by Loki from the
dwarf Andvari, and was given by Sigurd (Siegfried) to
Brunhild in token of betrothal. It was the cause of all the
disasters that afterwards occurred.--See W. Jordan's
Sigfridssaga. See also EN#10.
[EN#19]
". . . Siegfried the hero good
Failed the long task to finish: this stirred their
angry mood.
The treasure undivided he needs must let remain,
When the two kings indignant set on him with their
train;
But Siegfried gripped sharp Balmung (so hight their
father's sword),
And took from them their country, and the beaming,
precious hoard."
The Nibelungenlied, Lettsom, 96, 97
[EN#20]--Siegfried's Welcome Home.
In the Nibelungen Lied this is our first introduction to the
hero. The "High-tide" held in honor of Siegfried's coming to
manhood, and which we suppose to have occurred at this time,
forms the subject of the Second Adventure in that poem.
[EN#21]--Kriemhild's Dream.
This forms the subject of the first chapter of the
Nibelungen Lied. "The eagles of Kriemhild's dream," says
Auber Forestier, "are winter-giants, whose wont it was to
transform themselves into eagles; while the pure gods were
in the habit of assuming the falcon's form."
[EN#22]--Idun.
The story of Idun and her Apples is related in the Younger
Edda. It is there represented as having been told by Bragi
himself to his friend AEgir. This myth means, that the
ever-renovating spring (Idun) being taken captive by the
desolating winter (Thjasse), all Nature (all the Asa-folk)
languishes until she regains her freedom through the
intervention of the summer's heat (Loki). --See Anderson's
Norse Mythology.
[EN#23]--Balder.
The story of Balder is, in reality, the most ancient form of
the Siegfried myth. Both Balder and Siegfried are
impersonations of the beneficent light of the summer's sun,
and both are represented as being treacherously slain by the
powers of winter. The errand of Hermod to the Halls of Death
(Hela) reminds us of the errand of Hermes to Hades to bring
back Persephone to her mother Demetre. We perceive also a
resemblance in this story to the myth of Orpheus, in which
that hero is described as descending into the lower regions
to bring away his wife Eurydice.
[EN#24]
The making of rich clothing for the heroes is frequently
referred to in the Nibelungen Lied. Carlyle says, "This is a
never-failing preparative for all expeditions, and is always
specified and insisted on with a simple, loving, almost
female impressiveness."
[EN#25]--The Winning of Brunhild.
The story of the outwitting of Brunhild, as related in the
pages which follow, is essentially the same as that given in
the Nibelungen Lied. It is quite different from the older
versions.
[EN#26]--Sif.
Sif corresponds to the Ceres of the Southern mythology. (See
Grimm, p. 309.) The story of Loki and the Dwarfs is derived
from the Younger Edda. It has been beautifully rendered by
the German poet Oelenschlager, a translation of whose poem
on this subject may be found in Longfellow's Poets and
Poetry of Europe.
[EN#27]--Eigill.
Eigill is the original William Tell. The story is related in
the Saga of Thidrik. For a full history of the Tell myth,
see Grimm's Teutonic Mythology, p. 380, and Baring-Gould's
Curious Myths of the Middle Ages, p. 110.
[EN#28]--Welland the Smith.
The name of this smith is variously given as Weland,
Wieland, Welland, Volundr, Velint etc. The story is found in
the Vilkina Saga, and was one of the most popular of middle
age myths. (See Grimm's Mythology.) Sir Walter Scott, in his
novel of Kenilworth, has made use of this legend in
introducing the episode of Wayland Smith.
[EN#29]--Vidar[FN#1] the Silent.
"Vidar is the name of the silent Asa. He has a very thick
shoe, and he is the strongest next to Thor. From him the
gods have much help in all hard tasks."--The Younger Edda
(Anderson's translation).
[FN#1] The word Vidar means forest.
[EN#30]--Loki.
"Loki, in nature, is the corrupting element in air, fire,
and water. In the bowels of the earth he is the volcanic
flame, in the sea he appears as a fierce serpent, and in the
lower world we recognize him as pale death. Like Odin, he
pervades all nature. He symbolizes sin, shrewdness,
deceitfulness, treachery, malice etc."--Anderson's
Mythology, p. 372.
He corresponds to the Ahriman of the Persians, to the Satan
of the Christians, and remotely to the Prometheus of the
Greeks.
[EN#31]--The Quarrel of the Queens.
In the ancient versions, the culmination of this quarrel
occurred while the queens were bathing in the river: in the
Nibelungen Lied it happened on the steps leading up to the
door of the church.
[EN#32]--Hagen.
Hagen corresponds to the Hoder of the more ancient myth of
Balder. In the Sigurd Sagas he is called Hogni, and is a
brother instead of an uncle, of Gunther (Gunnar).
[EN#33]--The Death of Siegfried.
This story is related here essentially as found in the
Nibelungen Lied. It is quite differently told in the older
versions. Siegfried's invulnerability save in one spot
reminds us of Achilles, who also was made invulnerable by a
bath, and who could be wounded only in the heel.
[EN#34]--The Burial of Siegfried.
The story of the burning of Siegfried's body upon a
funeral-pile, as related of Sigurd in the older myths,
reminds us of the burning of Balder upon the ship
"Ringhorn." (See p. 162.) The Nibelungen Lied represents him
as being buried in accordance with the rites of the
Roman-Catholic Church. This version of the story must, of
course, have been made after the conversion of the Germans
to Christianity. "When the Emperor Frederick III. (1440-93)
visited Worms after his Netherlands campaign," says
Forestier, "he undertook to have the mighty hero's bones
disinterred, probably in view of proving the truth of the
marvellous story then sung throughout Germany; but, although
he had the ground dug into until water streamed forth, no
traces of these became manifest."
[EN#35]--Morris: Sigurd the Volsung, Bk. III.
[EN#36]--The Hoard.
The story of bringing the Hoard from Nibelungen Land belongs
to the later versions of the myth, and fitly closes the
First Part of the Nibelungen Lied. Lochheim, the place where
the Hoard was sunk, was not far from Bingen on the Rhine.
[EN#37]--a Short Vocabulary of the Principal Proper Names
Mentioned in this Story.
AEGIR. The god of the sea.
ALBERICH and ANDVARI. Dwarfs who guard the great Hoard.
ASA. A name applied to the gods of the Norse mythology.
ASGARD. The home of the gods.
BALDER. The god of the summer sunlight.
BRAGI. The god of eloquence and of poetry.
DRAUPNER. Odin's ring, which gives fertility to the earth.
FAFNIR. The dragon whom Siegfried slays.
FENRIS-WOLF. The monster who in the last twilight slays
Odin.
FREYJA. The goddess of love.
REY. The god of peace and plenty.
GRIPIR. The giant who gives wise counsel to Siegfried
(Sigurd).
GUNTHER. In the older myths called Gunnar.
HEIMDAL. The heavenly watchman.
HELA. The goddess of death.
HERMOD. The quick messenger who is sent to Hela for Balder.
HODER. The winter-god. He slays Balder.
HOENIR. One of the three most ancient gods.
HUGIN. Odin's raven, Thought.
IDUN. The goddess of spring.
IVALD. A skilful dwarf.
JOTUNHEIM. The home of the giants.
KRIEMHILD. In the older myths called Gudrun.
LOKI. The mischief-maker. The god of evil.
MIMER. In the later German mythology a skilful smith. In the
older mythology a wise giant.
NORNS. The three Fates,--Urd, Verdande, and Skuld.
ODIN. The chief of the gods.
REGIN. The teacher of Sigurd, by whom he is slain.
SIEGFRIED. In the older myths called Sigurd.
SIF. Thor's wife.
SLEIPNER. Odin's eight-footed horse.
TYR. The god of war.
THOR. The god of thunder. The foe of the giants.
VALHAL. The hall of the slain.
VALKYRIES. The choosers of the slain. Odin's handmaidens.
VIDAR. The silent god.
YMIR. The huge giant out of whose body the world was made.
THE END.
The Story of Siegfried, by James Baldwin _