The Story of Sigurd the Volsung and the Fall of the Niblungs
by William Morris
One of the greatest books in world literature is an unforgettable story of jealousy, unrequited love, greed and revenge. Based on Viking-era poetry and written in thirteenth-century Iceland, Volsungs Saga combines mythology, legend, and solid human drama in a story about the heroic actions of Dragon Slayer Sigurd, who receives runic knowledge from one of Odin's valkyries. Yet the act of the epic takes place in a very human world, which includes oral memories of the fourth and fifth centuries, when the Attic Huns and other warriors fought on the northern borders of the Roman Empire. In his enlightening Introduction, Jesse L. Fable relates the historical Huns, Burgundians and Goths to the extraordinary events of this Icelandic epic. With the unfortunate Reinhold, a recreated sword and a ring of magical power, the saga resembles Nibelungen and has become the primary source for fantasy writers such as J. R. R. Tolkien and Richard Wagner's "The Ring" Cycle.
