Part 3 (1/2)

_Of the birth and fostering of Sinfiotli, Signy's Son._

So wrought is the will of King Siggeir, and he weareth Odin's sword And it lies on his knees in the council and hath no other lord: And he sendeth earls o'er the sea-flood to take King Volsung's land, And those scattered and shepherdless sheep must come beneath his hand.

And he holdeth the milk-white Signy as his handmaid and his wife.

And nought but his will she doeth, nor raiseth a word of strife; So his heart is praising his wisdom, and he deems him of most avail Of all the lords of the cunning that teacheth how to prevail.

Now again in a half-month's wearing goes Signy into the wild, And findeth her way by her wisdom to the dwelling of Volsung's child.

It was e'en as a house of the Dwarfs, a rock, and a stony cave.

In the heart of the midmost thicket by the hidden river's wave.

There Signy found him watching how the white-head waters ran, And she said in her heart as she saw him that once more she had seen a man.

His words were few and heavy, for seldom his sorrow slept, Yet ever his love went with them; and men say that Signy wept When she left that last of her kindred: yet wept she never more Amid the earls of Siggeir, and as lovely as before Was her face to all men's deeming: nor aught it changed for ruth, Nor for fear nor any longing; and no man said for sooth That she ever laughed thereafter till the day of her death was come.

So is Volsung's seed abiding in a rough and narrow home; And wargear he gat him enough from the slaying of earls of men, And gold as much as he would; though indeed but now and again He fell on the men of the merchants, lest, wax he overbold, The tale of the wood-abider too oft to the king should be told.

Alone in the woods he abided, and a master of masters was he In the craft of the smithying folk; and whiles would the hunter see, Belated amid the thicket, his forge's glimmering light, And the boldest of all the fishers would hear his hammer benight.

Then dim waxed the tale of the Volsungs, and the word mid the wood-folk rose That a King of the Giants had wakened from amidst the stone-hedged close, Where they slept in the heart of the mountains, and had come adown to dwell In the cave whence the Dwarfs were departed, and they said: It is aught but well To come anigh to his house-door, or wander wide in his woods?

For a tyrannous lord he is, and a lover of gold and of goods.

So win the long years over, and still sitteth Signy there Beside the King of the Goth-folk, and is waxen no less fair, And men and maids hath she gotten who are ready to work her will, For the wors.h.i.+p of her fairness, and remembrance of her ill.

So it fell on a morn of springtide, as Sigmund sat on the sward By that ancient house of the Dwarf-kind and fas.h.i.+oned a golden sword?

By the side of the hidden river he saw a damsel stand, And a manchild of ten summers was holding by her hand.

And she cried: ”O Forest-dweller! harm not the child nor me, For I bear a word of Signy's, and thus she saith to thee: 'I send thee a man to foster; if his heart be good at need Then may he help thy workday; but hearken my words and heed; If thou deem that his heart shall avail not, thy work is over-great That thou weary thy heart with such-like: let him wend the ways of his fate.'”

And no more word spake the maiden, but turned and gat her gone, And there by the side of the river the child abode alone: But Sigmund stood on his feet, and across the river he went.

For he knew how the child was Siggeir's, and of Signy's fell intent.

So he took the lad on his shoulder, and bade him hold his sword, And waded back to his dwelling across the rus.h.i.+ng ford: But the youngling fell a prattling, and asked of this and that, As above the rattle of waters on Sigmund's shoulder he sat!

And Sigmund deemed in his heart that the boy would be bold enough.

So he fostered him there in the woodland in life full hard and rough For the s.p.a.ce of three months' wearing; and the lad was deft and strong, Yet his sight was a grief to Sigmund because of his father's wrong.

On a morn to the son of King Siggeir Sigmund the Volsung said: ”I go to the hunting of deer, bide thou and bake our bread Against I bring the venison.”

So forth he fared on his way, And came again with the quarry about the noon of day; Quoth he: ”Is the morn's work done?” But the boy said nought for a s.p.a.ce, And all white he was and quaking as he looked on Sigmund's face.

”Tell me, O Son of the Goth-king,” quoth Sigmund, ”how thou hast fared?

Forsooth, is the baking of bread so mighty a thing to be dared?”

Quoth the lad: ”I went to the meal-sack, and therein was something quick, And it moved, and I feared for the serpent, like a winter ashen stick That I saw on the stone last even: so I durst not deal with the thing.”

Loud Sigmund laughed, and answered: ”I have heard of that son of a king, Who might not be scared from his bread for all the worms of the land.”

And therewith he went to the meal-sack and thrust therein his hand, And drew forth an ash-grey adder, and a deadly worm it was: Then he went to the door of the cave and set it down in the gra.s.s, While the King's son quaked and quivered: then he drew forth his sword from the sheath, And said: ”Now fearest thou this, that men call the serpent of death?”

Then said the son of King Siggeir: ”I am young as yet for the war, Yet e'en such a blade shall I carry ere many a month be o'er.”

Then abroad went the King in the wind, and leaned on his naked sword And stood there many an hour, and mused on Signy's word.

But at last when the moon was arisen, and the undark night begun, He sheathed the sword and cried: ”Come forth, King Siggeir's son, Thou shalt wend from out of the wild-wood and no more will I foster thee.”

Forth came the son of Siggeir, and quaked his face to see, But thereof nought Sigmund noted, but bade him wend with him.

So they went through the summer night-tide by many a wood-way dim, Till they came to a certain wood-lawn, and Sigmund lingered there, And spake as his feet brushed o'er it: ”The June flowers blossom fair.”

So they came to the skirts of the forest, and the meadows of the neat, And the earliest wind of dawning blew over them soft and sweet: There stayed Sigmund the Volsung, and said: ”King Siggeir's son, Bide here till the birds are singing, and the day is well begun; Then go to the house of the Goth-king, and find thou Signy the Queen, And tell unto no man else the things thou hast heard and seen: But to her shalt thou tell what thou wilt, and say this word withal: 'Mother, I come from the wild-wood, and he saith, whatever befal Alone will I abide there, nor have such fosterlings; For the sons of the G.o.ds may help me, but never the sons of Kings.'