Waterloo

Scandinavian Mythology

The Saga of the Volsungs

13th century, Old Norse, from much older oral tradition.

Sigurd should eat the dragon's heart himself and be the wisest man on Earth.

Sigurd, Sigmund’s son, cut the heart from the serpent Fafnir while Regin drank its blood. It was the blood of the dragon of whom Regin had once said: His size is no different from that of other grass snakes and more is made of it than it deserves. The serpent had proved to be much more formidable than this, though, but Sigurd had killed it by digging for himself a trench and piercing the dragon from beneath as it passed overhead.

‘Go and roast the heart,’ called Regin, ‘so that I can eat it.’

Sigurd roasted the dragon’s heart over the open fire, and as the juice began to sizzle and hiss, Sigurd put a splashed thumb into his mouth and could immediately understand the language of the birds that were cheeping all around him.

‘That’s Sigurd,’ one of the birds was saying. ‘He should eat the dragon's heart himself and be the wisest man on Earth.’

‘Regin intends to betray him and kill him,’ said another.

‘Sigurd should kill him first then,’ said a third.