The Dragon-Slayer of the Volsung Line
Sigurd of the Volsung line was born after his father Sigmund fell in battle, and was fostered by the smith Regin. Regin goaded him to kill Fafnir, the smith's own brother, who had turned into a dragon brooding over a hoard of gold. Two swords shattered on the anvil before Regin reforged the shards of Sigmund's blade into Gram, so sharp it split the anvil itself. Sigurd first avenged his father, then dug a pit across the track the dragon used on its way to water and, as Fafnir crawled overhead, drove Gram up into its heart.
Roasting the dragon's heart, he scalded his thumb in the blood, put it in his mouth, and at once understood the speech of birds, who warned that Regin meant to kill him. Sigurd struck off the smith's head, ate the heart, and rode away with the treasure, including the ring Andvaranaut, cursed by the dwarf Andvari to destroy every owner. He rode through a ring of fire to wake a sleeping valkyrie, then came to the court of the Gjukungs, where a potion of forgetfulness erased her from his memory; he married Gudrun and, exchanging shapes with his brother-in-law Gunnar, crossed the flames again to win Brynhild for another man. When the deception surfaced, Brynhild had him murdered, and the curse ran on to consume the whole family.
The Ramsund carving in Sweden, from about 1030, depicts the dragon-slaying scene by scene. The legend travelled south to become Siegfried of the Nibelungenlied, and later the core of Wagner's Ring cycle.
