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Chapter II
Chapter II
Of the Birth of Volsung, the Son of Rerir, Who Was the Son of Sigi
Now Sigi grew old, and had many to envy him, so that at last those turned
against him whom he trusted most; yea, even the brothers of his wife; for
these fell on him at his unwariest, when there were few with him to withstand
them, and brought so many against him, that they prevailed against him, and
there fell Sigi and all his folk with him. But Rerir, his son, was not in this
trouble, and he brought together so mighty a strength of his friends and the
great men of the land, that he got to himself both the lands and kingdom of
Sigi his father: and so now, when he deems that the feet under him stand firm
in his rule, then he calls to mind that which he had against his mother`s
brothers, who had slain his father. So the king gathers together a mighty
army, and therewith falls on his kinsmen, deeming that if he made their
kinship of small account, yet none the less they had first wrought evil
against him. So he wrought his will herein, in that he departed not from
strife before he had slain all his father`s banesmen, though dreadful the deed
seemed in every wise. So now he gets land, lordship, and fee, and is become a
mightier man than his father before him.
Much wealth won in war gat Rerir to himself, and wedded a wife withal,
such as he deemed meet for him, and long they lived together, but had no child
to take the heritage after them; and ill - content they both were with that,
and prayed the Gods with heart and soul that they might get them a child. And
so it is said that Odin hears their prayer, and Freyia no less hearkens
wherewith they prayed unto her: so she, never lacking for all good counsel,
calls to her casket - bearing may,^1 the daughter of Hrimnir the giant, and
sets an apple in her hand, and bids her bring it to the king. She took the
apple, and did on her the gear of a crow, and went flying till she came
whereas the king sat on a mound, and there she let the apple fall into the lap
of the king; but he took the apple, and deemed he knew whereto it would avail;
so he goes home from the mound to his own folk, and came to the queen, and
some deal of that apple she ate.
[See Freyia: Freyia and the necklace. From the painting by J. Doyle Penrose,
R.H.A..]
[Footnote 1: A maid.]
So, as the tale tells, the queen soon knew that she was big with child,
but a long time wore or ever she might give birth to the child: so it befell
that the king must needs go to the wars, after the custom of kings, that he
may keep his own land in peace: and in this journey it came to pass that Rerir
fell sick and got his death, being minded to go home to Odin, a thing much
desired of many folk in those days.
Now no otherwise it goes with the queen`s sickness than heretofore, nor
may she be the lighter of her child, and six winters wore away with the
sickness still heavy on her; so that at the last she feels that she may not
live long; wherefore now she bade cut the child from out of her; and it was
done even as she bade; a man - child was it, and great of growth from his
birth, as might well be; and they say that the youngling kissed his mother or
ever she died; but to him is a name given, and he is called Volsung; and he
was king over Hunland in the room of his father. From his early years he was
big and strong, and full of daring in all manly deeds and trials, and he
became the greatest of warriors, and of good hap in all the battles of his
warfaring.
Now when he was fully come to man`s estate, Hrimnir the giant sends to
him Ljod his daughter; she of whom the tale told, that she brought the apple
to Rerir, Volsung`s father. So Volsung weds her withal; and long they abode
together with good hap and great love. They had ten sons and one daughter, and
their eldest son was hight Sigmund, and their daughter Signy; and these two
were twins, and in all wise the foremost and the fairest of the children of
Volsung the king, and mighty, as all his seed was; even as has been long told
from ancient days, and in tales of long ago, with the greatest fame of all
men, how that the Volsungs have been great men and high - minded and far above
the most of men both in cunning and in prowess and all things high and mighty.
So says the story that king Volsung let build a noble hall in such a
wise, that a big oak - tree stood therein, and that the limbs of the tree
blossomed fair out over the roof of the hall, while below stood the trunk
within it, and the said trunk did men call Branstock.
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