When Regin reached this part of his story, he turned to Siegfried and laid his hand on the youth’s shoulder, saying: “The gods have placed you among a kindly people, and given you a foster-father that has ever sought to train you in wisdom and in strength. But you are not of this people, and your place is not among them. Great deeds are in store for you, and you are to be worthy of your race. All that I could teach you, you have learned. Go forth, therefore, and by your own hand win fame that shall add to the glory of the Volsungs. Tomorrow you shall fashion a sword for your use, and it shall be mightier than any that has come from our hands. But let us drop the tale now and sleep, for it is almost daylight, and only a spark glimmers in the forge.”
The next day Siegfried made ready the fire, but before he laid the steel in it he asked Regin what had become of the pieces of Odin’s famous sword. “No one knows where they are hidden,”[43] answered the master, “for on the death of your mother Hiordis, the secret was lost, and no man can tell where the place of their hiding may be.” So Regin selected the very finest steel for Siegfried’s sword, and the youth set to work eagerly, for Regin’s story had filled him with a burning desire to go out into distant lands and do great deeds worthy of his name and race. For seven days and nights he never left his forge, but stood tempering and testing his steel, and throwing aside every piece that did not seem perfect. At last a blade was finished that promised to be worthy of a Volsung. Regin praised it highly and said he had never felt a finer edge. But Siegfried only said, “Let us prove it.” So he took the sword and smote with all his strength upon the anvil. The blade shivered into a dozen pieces.
[43] In the Volsunga Saga the queen, who is still living, gives the pieces of the sword to Sigurd. [Back]
Nothing disheartened, Siegfried set to work again, and spent many days and nights at his forge, often forgetting to eat or sleep in his eagerness to finish his task. When at last the steel had been finely tempered and seemed of perfect workmanship, he called to Regin and bade him try its strength. “Nay, let us not dull the edge,” replied the master; “there is no need to put it to the test, for I can see that it is true and strong.” But Siegfried took the sword and smote again upon the anvil; this time the blade was blunted, though it did not break in pieces. Then Regin besought him to try no longer, but the youth, grim and determined, returned to the forge and made ready his tools for another effort.
That night he paused many times in his work, and often felt so discouraged that he was tempted to give up the task; but each time he became ashamed of his weakness, and bravely set to work again. Once when he sat down by the fire to rest, he was conscious of some one’s being in the room, but thinking it was Regin who had come to inspect his work, he did not look up to see. At length, however, the silence grew uncomfortable, and Siegfried turned around. Close beside him was standing a tall man wrapped in a dark blue mantle. His beard and hair were very long and very white, and by the dim light of the fire Siegfried noticed that he had only one eye. His face was kindly, and his whole presence had an air both gentle and reassuring, yet something about him filled the youth with a strange awe. He waited for the stranger to speak, but no word came, and Siegfried began to tremble with nervous fear. At this the old man smiled, and handed him the pieces of a broken sword. Siegfried took them in wonder, but before he could frame a question he found himself suddenly alone; the stranger had disappeared.
The next morning Siegfried hastened to Regin and told him of his strange visitor. Regin thought at first that the lad had been dreaming, but when he saw the pieces of broken sword, he cried out joyfully:
“Fortune now be with you, Siegfried; for it was no other than Odin who visited you, and these pieces are of the famous sword which in former days the ruler of the gods gave to your father. There is no fear for your future now, since Odin has chosen to watch over your welfare; and by his decree you will stand or fall.”
Grasping the pieces of Odin’s sword firmly in his hand, Siegfried welded them together into a mighty weapon, the strongest that had ever come from the hand of man. And he called the sword Balmung.[44] Then he bade Regin test the mettle of the new blade, and when the master looked upon it, it seemed as though a fire burned along the edges of the sword. Now Siegfried grasped the weapon in his two hands and smote with all his strength upon the anvil, but no pieces of steel fell shattered at his feet, for the sword had cut the anvil in two as easily as if it had been a feather. So Siegfried was satisfied.