The Fairies and The Volsungs

Fairy tales are important. I recognize that, and understand it, particularly as snapshots of cultural ideas and, similarly to Mythology, a kind of "what the people we came from were like" manner. But, I don't love them. Much like Arthurian Legend, there's just something about the idea of them that kind of turns me off. I fully acknowledge this as a defect of my character -- as someone who loves and studies mythology, I really SHOULD love Fairy Tales, too, precisely because there are ways in which Fairy Tales intersect with myth, legend, and Saga, and if I don't read and enjoy them, these are connections I'll miss.

So imagine my surprise when I started reading BEYOND THE GLASS SLIPPER: Ten Neglected Fairy Tales To Fall In Love With, and on the third fairy tale, I got smacked in the face with the familiar story of a woman who can only be won through the accomplishment of an impossible task -- an echo of Brynhild and Sigurd from the Saga of the Volsungs. 

Kate Wolford's annotation is what woke me up to it, in the included tale "The Three Pennies." She says:

The prophecy of the princess marrying a man who comes to her in a leaden boat is in keeping with stories about sleeping beauties behind deadly briars, princesses set upon glass mountains, and girls locked away in impenetrable fortresses and towers (p 58).

It isn't even that the annotation was telling me something I didn't know. Sleeping Beauty is one of my favorite Disney movies, after all, and I loved Tangled. Disney didn't shy away from using these same tropes. (You could even say it exists in Frozen, for that matter, when Elsa creates her ice-castle.) But something about the phrasing finally tipped me toward the realization that this isn't limited to fairy tales. It's a HUGE part of the Norse Sagas, too. 

In the Saga of the Volsungs, for example, Sigurd first comes upon (a sleeping) Brynhild in the midst of a battlefield, where he falls in love with her for her wisdom and general awesomeness. They promise to marry one another (though Brynhild warns him it will end badly and they shouldn't exchange any vows) and after they part, she hides herself away behind impossible trials of magic in order to prevent herself from being married to anyone BUT Sigurd. Sigurd is then tricked by his supposed friends into accomplishing these trials, disguised as his brother-in-law (he was tricked into marrying, too), who covets Brynhild, and through this deceit, wins her and gives her over to the other man, who she is then honor bound to marry because she believes he met the impossible circumstances she had sworn to uphold. 

Now, the difference here is that Brynhild was her own boss, and we know she set those impossible tasks herself to limit the pool and more importantly, uphold her vow and promise to Sigurd (who has since failed to keep his side of the bargain -- but I won't get into that, because frankly, Sigurd is a fool, and it makes me want to beat my head against a wall.) We have no such understanding when it comes to the woman in The Three Pennies. In fact, it only says:

"Beyond the sea there is a princess of whom it was predicted that she would be married only to a man who should come across the sea in a leaden ship (p 57)."

But there's something else these two stories share in common, too -- the man who intends to win the lady can't do it alone. He requires the supernatural aid of his friend. In the case of The Saga of the Volsungs, the supernatural aid comes from Sigurd, in order for Gunnar to win his bride. In The Three Pennies, it comes from a ghost, who is helping a poor Soldier make his fortune, after the soldier rescued his body from grave robbers.

So my question is this: Which came first? The Sagas or the Fairy Tales? Or did they share these elements back and forth, back and forth, as the oral traditions became written stories? Or! Could they have each developed this trope independent of one another?

The Saga of the Volsungs is dated back to events in the 5th century, though what we have today was not written down until the 13th. We'll probably never know how old The Three Pennies is, or how many generations told and retold it before it was written down and preserved for us today, but as a Danish tale, geographically, it's very likely that this story wasn't told in isolation from the Sagas. And maybe all my consideration is pointless -- maybe both the sagas and the fairy tales pulled this trope from something lost to us which predates them both. But it sure is fascinating to me, to think about. Much like the parallels between Fairy Tales and Greek Myths.

More on the Saga of the Volsungs:

Saga of the Volsungs (III -- Genealogy)

Saga of the Volsungs (II)

Saga of the Volsungs  (I)

Concerning Brynhild 

Related: Fairy Tales/Myths/Legends/Fables

Semi-Related: The Nix of Tiveden

Rehashing Brynhild OR When Wisdom Isn't Enough

If you're not familiar with her, Brynhild is a brilliant woman. Not just because she's a shield-maiden warrior, but because she's flat-out wise. She knows things, and she isn't afraid to share what she knows with the men around her. Whether or not they listen, sadly, is beyond her power. And even when they have the best of intentions, it seems the default in the Saga of the Volsungs is to "Forget" if not "ignore."

When Brynhild meets Sigurd, she passes her vast wisdom on to this strange man without hesitation. She shares not just her common sense, but also everything she knows about runes and magic. He's an appreciative audience -- an admiring audience even, appearing to take it all in with the respect and weight it deserves.

Specifically, Brynhild tells Sigurd:

Ale runes shall you know
If you desire no other's wife
To deceive you in troth, if you trust.
They shall be cut on the horn
And on the hand's back
And mark the need rune on your nail.

For the cup shall you make a sign
And be wary of misfortune
And throw leek into the liquor,
Then, I know that,
you will never get
A potion blended with poison.

Not much later, Sigurd begs Brynhild to tell him more of her wisdom, and she says this:

Beware of ill dealings, both of a maid's love and a man's wife; ill often arises from these.

And do not swear a false oath, because hard vengeance follows the breaking of truce.

and then:

Beware of the wiles of friends. I see only a little of your future life, yet it would be better if the hate of your in-laws did not descend upon you.

Sigurd professes his admiration of Brynhild's wisdom, and we are left with the impression that he takes her words to heart, treasuring them along with the apparent love he holds for her after this first meeting. Brynhild accepts Sigurd's praise, and admiration, but she warns him that they are not meant to marry or live together. Still, Sigurd insists, and Brynhild is persuaded. They exchange vows with one another, privately, and then part.  

In these three pages, Brynhild has both warned Sigurd of how he will be betrayed and given him the information he needs in order to prevent his downfall. Everything that happens to him after this point might have been avoided, had he used the "magic" Brynhild gave him, and kept her words of warning and wisdom in mind. Had he used the runes, Queen Grimhild could not have used the ale of forgetfulness on Sigurd, which caused him to forget his love for Brynhild. Had he been cautious of other women, and the "wiles of friends" he would not have trusted her to drink from the cup she gave him, and never would have married Gudrun, or helped Gunnar, his brother-in-law, win Brynhild's hand in marriage.

Brynhild knew everything that was coming, her own fate and Sigurd's, but even her knowledge and wisdom, given freely, wasn't enough to prevent the future from following that grim script. Because for all her wisdom and strength, she did not have the power to make Sigurd follow her advice. 

Even for the wisest among us, wisdom will only get a woman so far.

Saga of the Volsungs (III -- Genealogy)

The family tree of the Volsungs is something else. King Volsung, for whom the family is named, is the son of Rerir, himself the grandson of Odin through Sigi. And Volsung was born after six long years of labor (the result of an apple of fertility during Rerir's advanced years), and had to be cut from his mother's body.

On top of the Aesir blood and favor, Volsung married the daughter of a giant, Hjlod -- a giantess and "wish-bringer" in Odin's service. (Hjlod was also the person who provided Rerir with the apple which produced Volsung.) It was from his giantess of a wife that the twins Signy (from last week's blogpost) and Sigmund were born (Sigmund was, by the way, the toughest, most powerful, most impressive man around), and from Signy and Sigmund's incestual affair, Sinfjotli was born. 

Sigmund the Fabulous

Sinfjotli was birthed primarily to avenge the death of his grandfather Volsung and all his uncles by murdering his mother's husband. The Norse seem to trope on this idea of the child born and raised to murder someone, since Odin accomplished the same thing with Váli, who was birthed to avenge Baldr's death by killing Hod. But Sinfjotli is kind of a sidebranch (though remind me sometime to post about the epic trashtalk in this saga). I assume because he's a child of incest, which was unacceptable enough that Signy had to go to her brother disguised as someone else to accomplish it.


And we still haven't made it to Sigurd, the supposed hero of our Saga. 

Sigurd slaying Fafnir

Sigmund, after defeating his nemesis and brother-in-law King Siggeir, went on to make a name for himself (he was so tough he could drink poison without any effect, and he happened to be in possession of a sword gifted to him by Odin, which made him practically undefeatable... until it broke), and he married twice (his son Helgi, by his first wife, is another sidebranch in the saga). The second time, to a woman named Hjordis. Sigmund died in the same battle his sword broke (all signs point to Odin himself breaking it in the heat of things), but Hjordis was, fortunately enough, pregnant with his son. 


Which brings us, finally and at last, to Sigurd, born of Hjordis after his father's death, and his own tragic tale of love and betrayal. Just in case you hadn't already had enough of it.


Odin > Sigi > Rerir > Volsung > Sigmund > Sigurd, with a mixed heritage of no less than three races. Which is probably why he got to slay the dragon. 

Saga of the Volsungs (II)

The women in the Saga of the Volsungs are incredibly insightful across the board. Not only does Brynhild know-- well, almost everything. But the women in Sigurd's line are all very aware of what is to come. You'd think that knowing this is an inherited trait, the men would pay more attention to it. Then again, it seems the men who do not pay attention to it end up dying off before they can pass along that particular piece of wisdom. Like Signy's father and brothers (several generations before Sigurd's birth).

Then Signy spoke to her father: "I do not wish to go away with Siggeir, nor do my thoughts laugh with him. I know through my foresight and that special ability found in our family that if the marriage contract is not quickly dissolved this union will bring us much misery." "You should not say such things, daughter," he replied, "for it would be shameful both for him and for us to break the agreement without cause. And if it is broken we could neither have his trust nor bind him in a friendly alliance. He would repay us with as much ill as he could. the only honorable thing is to hold to our side of the bargain" (Byock, 1990).

This is usually how it goes. Daughter foretells some terrible event if she is married to some upstart, and father hushes her and send her on her way anyway, and because she is honorable and dutiful and all things virtuous, with concern for her family name, she goes. Then pretty much everyone dies because they didn't listen, and the woman is left to struggle on and avenge all, through her children. It must've been pretty hard on the kids, raised on all that spite and hatred.

But I'm maybe more fascinated by what Signy says about her new husband-- "Nor do my thoughts laugh with him." The OMACL.org translation presents this as: "I have no will to go away with Seggeir, neither does my heart smile upon him," and the sacred-texts version is, it looks like, the same translation. But the word used in Icelandic for the same passage, is definitely hlæja, meaning laugh, and hugr, which according to my Old Norse dictionary, translates as courage. So where exactly does courage reside, friends? In the heart, or in the mind? Or perhaps the better question is, where did it reside according to the Vikings?


It makes me itch to learn Icelandic, because there is definitely something very interesting going on there, and I really want to know what it is.

Related: Saga of the Volsungs (III -- Genealogy)

Saga of the Volsungs  (I)

Concerning Brynhild 

Concerning Brynhild

Disclaimer: This is long. It's also filled with spoilers--though the idea of spoilers being an issue when it comes to a manuscript this old is kind of moot, if you ask me. I find it fascinating, and I hope you will too!

The Saga of the Volsungs is a tragedy. There are no happy endings, no joyful reunions with loved ones left behind. Sigurd does not follow the path of the traditional hero, going out into the world to find his place in it and returning home triumphant with a magical bride to share everything he has learned. But he does meet Brynhild, who if not a Valkyrie, is at least a warrior woman, with an astounding foresight and great wisdom. On their first meeting, Brynhild passes this wisdom on to Sigurd without hesitation. She shares not just her common sense, but also everything she knows about runes and magic.

Specifically, Brynhild tells Sigurd:

Ale runes shall you know
If you desire no other's wife
To deceive you in troth, if you trust.
They shall be cut on the horn
And on the hand's back
And mark the need rune on your nail.

For the cup shall you make a sign
And be wary of misfortune
And throw leek into the liquor,
Then, I know that,
you will never get
A potion blended with poison.

Not much later, Sigurd begs Brynhild to tell him more of her wisdom, and she says this:

Beware of ill dealings, both of a maid's love and a man's wife; ill often arises from these.

And do not swear a false oath, because hard vengeance follows the breaking of truce.

and then:

Beware of the wiles of friends. I see only a little of your future life, yet it would be better if the hate of your in-laws did not descend upon you.

Sigurd professes his admiration of Brynhild's wisdom, and we are left with the impression that he takes her words to heart, treasuring them along with the apparent love he holds for her after this first meeting. Brynhild accepts Sigurd's praise, and admiration, but she warns him that they are not meant to marry or live together. Still, Sigurd insists, and Brynhild is persuaded. They exchange vows with one another, privately, and then part. 

In these three pages, Brynhild has both warned Sigurd of how he will be betrayed and given him the information he needs in order to prevent his downfall. Everything that happens to him after this point might have been avoided, had he used the "magic" Brynhild gave him, and kept her words of warning and wisdom in mind. Had he used the runes, Queen Grimhild could not have used the ale of forgetfulness on Sigurd, which caused him to forget his love for Brynhild. Had he been cautious of other women, and the "wiles of friends" he would not have trusted her to drink from the cup she gave him, and never would have married Gudrun, or helped Gunnar, his brother-in-law, win Brynhild's hand in marriage.

This isn't the only time in the Saga when a woman presents a warning to her loved ones and is ignored. It begins with Volsung's daughter, Signy, when she is made to marry King Siggeir, only much more explicitly. First she warns her father that the union will cause problems, and then she warns her father and brothers when Siggeir plans to betray and kill them. Both times, though they believe her, they choose not to alter the circumstances. Out of honor (pride? Hubris?) the Volsungs refuse to turn their back on a war, so that no one can call them cowardly. Nor will they break the vows exchanged to extract Signy from a marriage which is going to cause them nothing but trouble and bring about their ruin. Though Siggeir would betray them, they will not even consider dishonoring him. As a result, all the Volsungs but Signy and Sigmund, her brother, are killed. (Sigmund is Sigurd's father, but he dies in battle before his son is born.)

Regardless, Brynhild does everything in her power to prevent any other man but Sigurd from winning her hand in marriage. She uses magic to place a flame around her home and swears that she will only marry the man who is able to ride through the fire-- and Sigurd, being so much greater than any other man of the times, is the only man who can accomplish this feat. But by this time, Sigurd is already under the power of the Ale of Forgetfulness, and instead of finding Brynhild for himself, he uses magic to take on his brother-in-law Gunnar's form, and wins Brynhild for him instead. Brynhild, bound by her oath, has no choice but to marry Gunnar, not realizing that it was Sigurd who had ridden through the flames with Gunnar's appearance and using Gunnar's name.

Being sister-in-law to Sigurd, is bad enough, but when his wife, Gudrun tells her that it was Sigurd who rode through the flames, Brynhild is deeply upset. The Saga describes what may as well have been a deep depression, and Brynhild borders on a catatonic state from the shock and emotional upheaval at having been so betrayed by Sigurd, Ale of Forgetfulness or not. What Sigurd had done was not only force Brynhild to break her own oath (to marry the man who rode through the flames, which was in fact Sigurd) but also her vow to Sigurd himself. In essence, she had very really married him twice, only to wake up in bed with another man. An unforgivable bait and switch.

It's at this point that I have a hard time understanding Brynhild's responses and actions. Sigurd, at Gunnar's request, goes to speak with Brynhild. He confesses his part in things, and tells her about the Ale, the influence of which he was only freed from after she married Gunnar. He also tells her that he loves her, but they're both married, and Brynhild seems to have lost her faith in Sigurd after his deceit. Though he offers to forsake Gudrun to be with her, Brynhild refuses, saying she will not have two husbands. But she already does, and the only honorable way for any of it to end is for either Sigurd, Gunnar, or Brynhild to die. To this end, Brynhild repays Sigurd's deceit by provoking Gunnar, telling him if he wants to keep her, Sigurd has to die. Gunnar, though he swore on his own blood to aid and protect Sigurd, persuades his youngest brother who is bound by no such vow, to kill Sigurd for him.

Somehow, all of this has to do with Brynhild's honor, and Sigurd's deceit, but if she loves Sigurd so much that she doesn't even want to live without him one minute, why is she trying to orchestrate his death the next? And refusing to allow Sigurd to divorce Gudrun and marry her instead? All I can think, is that this is one giant tale of the tragedy which accompanies Hubris. Brynhild is so proud, she would rather die herself, and see the love of her life dead too, than be dishonored or find herself deceived into breaking her own vows.

Like I said, The Saga of the Volsungs is a tragedy. There are no happy endings. Sigurd doesn't follow Brynhild's advice, and Brynhild is too proud to forgive him for what happened because of it. But trust is a delicate thing, and once lost, sometimes it's impossible to reclaim. I'm not sure I blame Brynhild for mistrusting Sigurd after he tricked her into marrying Gunnar, but I definitely don't understand the tragedy that follows. After all that, Brynhild still chooses to die with Sigurd, and has her own body burned in Sigurd's funeral pyre, so that she can guide him into the afterlife--undefined as their destination is.

Then again, if the point of living is for fame and reputation, Brynhild and Sigurd certainly managed quite a bit of that. The Saga itself makes the claim that it will be known far and wide for all time, and as true as it was when it was written, it is just as true now. I suppose their needless deaths served at least that much purpose--giving them each a taste of immortality.

Being a Hero SUCKS

It seems that no matter what mythology we find them in, being a hero is the crappiest of all lives to live. Maybe if you're a demigod and particularly lucky, you'll end up not entirely dead, but for the most part being a hero means one thing: years and years of struggle, conflict, and death defying acts of courage to be repaid with some kind of betrayal and a really pathetic and ignoble death.

Three Case Studies:

Theseus
Son of Poseidon and King of Athens, Theseus fights his way through monsters as a young man when his trip to Athens takes him by the six entrances to the Underworld. Once in Athens and recognized by his other father, he defeats the minotaur, freeing his people from paying tribute, in lives, to Crete. He takes the amazon queen for his wife (he kind of has a history of womanizing). He battles centaurs. He travels with Pirithous to the underworld and comes back again! When he gets back he goes into retirement. Why not, right? He's had a long and busy life, and after a trip to the underworld, he probably isn't interested in continuing to push his luck. He makes arrangements with a King friend of his to move back to the country island lands of his ancestors. When he gets there, he's either betrayed and pushed off a cliff, or, worse, he slips and falls on his own. To his death.

Lame Factor: 4 (out of five) if he was pushed. 5 if he fell. But 3 if someone can find me proof or hearsay that Poseidon rescued his immortal self and turned him into a god.

Heracles
Son of Zeus and most popular Hero of the ancient world. Tortured by Hera, pretty much from birth. Took on and overcame his 12 labors, during which he killed or captured a bunch of monsters, pretty much just for the entertainment of a king who wanted to see him dead, and as a penance for being driven mad by Hera and killing his own children. (Seriously. Hera induces madness, Heracles kills his children without realizing what he's doing, then he gets punished because Hera screwed with him. As if losing his kids isn't punishment enough. Nice.) Sailed with the Argonauts for the Golden Fleece. He saved Prometheus, and liberated Theseus from the Underworld, and helped Tyndareus (Helen's non-godly father) reclaim Sparta, and... well, I could go on. Suffice it to say, Heracles was the hero of heroes and there wasn't a lot he didn't do. (Also, kind of a womanizer, uh, and manizer?) His third wife got a little upset about it and in revenge, poisoned his shirt. Yes. His Shirt. When he put it on, taking it off ripped the flesh from his bones, or somesuch. Heracles had a pyre built for himself and burned to death. Because he was special, only the mortal parts of him burned away and he became fully immortal and joined the gods on Olympus. (Where he of course took a new wife. Some things never change.)

Lame Factor: 3 because I can't get over the poisoned shirt. I mean, come on.

Sigurd
According to the Saga of the Volsungs, Sigurd is descended from a line of men fathered by Odin. The Volsungs were all pretty incredible, but Sigurd was the greatest of them. His father died before his birth, in battle and as a young man, Sigurd avenged his father's death by killing all the sons of King Hunding, and pretty much slaughtering their entire army. Back home, he also slaughtered Fafnir the dragon (admittedly with a little advice from Odin) and became easily the richest and most powerful king alive. Sigurd was loved by everyone and said to be the "foremost in strength and accomplishments, in zeal and valor." He fell in love with Brynhild, but was tricked into marrying a different woman, and helping his brother-in-law win Brynhild for himself. It wasn't until after Brynhild had been married to his brother-in-law that Sigurd realized what had happened. When his brother-in-law realized Sigurd and Brynhild were in love with one another (though neither one of them betrayed their marriage vows) he betrayed Sigurd and had him attacked and killed in his sleep.

Lame Factor: 5. Betrayed AND attacked while defenselessly sleeping? At least Heracles was awake and chose the pyre. And at least Theseus was on his feet. Sigurd got a raw deal.

You'll notice that in our re-imagination of these heroes in the pages of comic books, while we may torture our mythical heroes a bit, they usually don't end up with super lame deaths. They go down fighting, or defending the world somehow, usually. When we let them die at all. And most of the time, we resurrect them again. (Though, one could argue that might be an even worse fate-- every time they get some peace in death, they end up brought back to face more hardship and continue the fight. Buffy is a good example of this, and she does not handle it well.)

I feel pretty sorry for them.

The Saga Of The Volsungs

The last couple of days I've spent rereading The Saga of the Volsungs, translated by Jesse L. Byock. It's an edition I picked up for my class on Tolkien in college way back in 2003. I've really enjoyed reading it-- a lot more this time than the first! There's something about reading for oneself, rather than for an assignment that makes the experience much more educational.

I thought today I'd share some words of wisdom, gleaned from the Saga. Brynhild especially has some very interesting things to say when considered in a more modern context. There's a whole chapter devoted to her wise counsel to Sigurd, in fact.

Some of my favorites:

Don't pick fights with mobs.
Don't lose sleep over random women met at parties, and certainly don't have affairs with strange women.
Definitely don't argue with drunks! At best it's futile, and at worst it's deadly.
Don't make promises you can't keep, or that you have no intention of keeping.
Don't provoke your in-laws, if at all possible stay on their good side.
You can't trust any man if you're responsible for the death of his family.

 And finally:

Never trust a woman to keep her promises.

I'm honestly not sure if I should be offended by that one or not. Most of Brynhild's advice seems to involve women at feasts, however, and I don't think any person, woman or man, should be taken at their word while under the influence. Brynhild herself is certainly an honorable woman and very straightforward in her dealings with Sigurd.

Sigurd's wisdom is less applicable--at least as far as I've read. He doesn't really engage in a lot of conversation, though he seems blown away by the advice he receives from Brynhild, as mentioned above. But there's one line that stuck out, especially.

Sigurd says:

No weapon is greater than courage.

All of this is paraphrased, of course. The language used in the Saga is very formal, even after translation. But the sentiments are there!

When I read any legend, any myth, I can't help but consider what might be the best way to make these stories accessible to people today. I guess I just like the challenge. For those of  you familiar with the Saga of the Volsungs, what do you think is the best modern analogue for Sigurd? Frat boy at an Ivy league university? (He was raised in a court of kings, given every advantage in life before he made his way into the world.) Or, would Sigurd be an athlete? Perhaps a rugby player? What do you think the modern equivalent to dragon slaying is?

Welcome to all the new followers, and thanks to everyone who stopped by to visit and read my Helen excerpt for the Whoops!blogfest!