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, cuts the heart from the serpent Fafnir while Regin drinks its blood. It is the blood of the dragon of whom Regin once said: His size is no different from that of other grass snakes and more is made of it than it deserves.
The serpent has proved to be much more formidable than this, however, although Sigurd has managed to kill it by digging for himself a trench and piercing the dragon from beneath as it passed overhead.
‘Go and roast the heart,’ calls Regin, ‘so that I can eat it.’
Sigurd roasts the dragon’s heart over the open fire, and as the juice begins to sizzle and hiss, Sigurd puts a splashed thumb into his mouth and can immediately understand the language of the birds that are cheeping all around him.
‘That’s Sigurd,’ one of the birds is saying. ‘He should eat the dragon's heart himself and be the wisest man on Earth.’
‘Regin intends to betray him and kill him,’ replies another.
‘Sigurd should kill him first then,’ says a third.
Story fragment recounted from: Byock, Jesse L, 1990, reprinted 1999. The Saga of the Volsungs: The Norse Epic of Sigurd the Dragon Slayer. Translated from Old Norse with an introduction. Penguin Books Limited. 19. Regin Drinks Fafnir's Blood and 20. Sigurd Eats the Serpent's Heart, pp 65–6.
broomstick
∩ Circle Line, between Mansion House and Cannon Street.
references
Fafnir – Wikipedia
Sigurd – Wikipedia
Saga of the Volsungs – English translation, Online Medieval and Classical Library
