Sturleson, another Icelander, wrote a prose-work of a
similar character, which is called the "Younger Edda." And
it is to these two books that we owe the preservation of
almost all that is now known of the myths and the strange
religion of our Saxon and Norman forefathers. But, besides
these, there are a number of semi-mythological stories of
great interest and beauty,--stories partly mythical, and
partly founded upon remote and forgotten historical facts.
One of the oldest and finest of these is the story of
Sigurd, the son of Sigmund. There are many versions of this
story, differing from each other according to the time in
which they were written and the character of the people
among whom they were received. We find the first mention of
Sigurd and his strange daring deeds in the song of Fafnir,
in the "Elder Edda." Then, in the "Younger Edda," the story
is repeated in the myth of the Niflungs and the Gjukungs. It
is told again in the "Volsunga Saga" of Iceland. It is
repeated and re-repeated in various forms and different
languages, and finally appears in the "Nibelungen Lied," a
grand old German poem, which may well be compared with the
Iliad of the Greeks. In this last version, Sigurd is called
Siegfried; and the story is colored and modified by the
introduction of many notions peculiar to the middle ages,
and unknown to our Pagan fathers of the north. In our own
time this myth has been woven into a variety of forms.
William Morris has embodied it in his noble poem of "Sigurd
the Volsung;" Richard Wagner, the famous German composer,
has constructed from it his inimitable drama, the
"Nibelungen Ring;" W. Jordan, another German writer, has
given it to the world in his "Sigfrid's Saga;" and Emanuel