Book II is entitled "Regin." "Now this is the first book of the life and death of Sigurd the Volsung, and therein is told of the birth of him, and of his dealings with Regin the Master of Masters, and of his deeds in the waste places of the earth."
Morris was deeply read in Old Norse literature, and out of his stores of knowledge he brought vivifying details for this poem. Such, for instance, is the description of Sigurd's eyes, not found just here in the saga:
In the bed there lieth a man-child, and his eyes look straight on the sun.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Yet they shrank in their rejoicing before the eyes of the child.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
In the naming of the child by an ancient name, the meaning of that name is indicated:
O Sigurd, Son of the Volsungs, O Victory yet to be!
The festivities over the birth of the child are wonderfully described in the brief lines, and they are a picture out of another book than the saga:
Earls think of marvellous stories, and along the golden strings
Flit words of banded brethren and names of war-fain Kings.
Over and over again in this poem Morris records the Icelanders' desire "to leave a tale to tell," and here are Sigurd's words to Regin who has been egging him on to deeds:
Yet I know that the world is wide, and filled with deeds unwrought;
And for e'en such work was I fashioned, lest the songcraft come to nought,
When the harps of God-home tinkle, and the Gods are at stretch to hearken:
Lest the hosts of the Gods be scanty when their day hath begun to darken.
(P. 82.)