The sagas relate that the first Norse settlements in Greenland and Vinland were made in the same way,—the Norsemen piously landing wherever their household gods drifted ashore,—many years before the voyage of Columbus and the accredited discovery of America.
OLD HOUSES WITH CARVED DOORPOSTS, NORWAY.
CHAPTER XXVI.
THE SIGURD SAGA.
While the first part of the Elder Edda consists of a collection of alliterative poems describing the creation of the world, the adventures of the gods, their eventual downfall, and gives a complete exposition of the Northern code of ethics, the second part comprises a series of heroic lays describing the life and adventures of the Volsung family, and especially of their chief representative, Sigurd, the great Northern warrior.
The Volsunga Saga.
These lays form the basis of the great Scandinavian epic, the Volsunga Saga, and have supplied not only the materials for the Nibelungenlied, the German epic, and for countless folk tales, but also for Wagner’s celebrated operas, “The Rhinegold,” “Valkyr,” “Siegfried,” and “The Dusk of the Gods.” They have also been rewritten by William Morris, the English poet, who has given them the form which they will probably retain in our literature, and it is from his work that almost all the quotations in this chapter are taken in preference to extracts from the Edda.
Sigi.
Sigi, Odin’s son, was a powerful man, and generally respected until he killed a man out of jealousy because the latter had slain the most game when they were out hunting together. In consequence of this crime, Sigi was driven from his own land and declared an outlaw. But, although he was a criminal, he had not entirely forfeited Odin’s favor, for the god now gave him a well-equipped vessel, provided him with a number of brave followers, and promised that victory should ever attend him.
Thanks to Odin’s protection, Sigi soon won the glorious empire of the Huns and became a powerful monarch. But when he had attained extreme old age his fortune changed, Odin suddenly forsook him, his wife’s kindred fell upon him, and after a short encounter he was treacherously slain.