Reading for Week Two: Selections from the Völsunga Saga

The Völsunga Saga is an Icelandic legendary saga, tracing the line of the Völsungs—that is, the descendents of King Völsung.

Völsung is the son of Rerir, the son of Sigi, the son of Odin. Völsung has two children we care about: a son named Sigmund and a daughter named Signy.

There are a few things that happen before the section we are reading for this course begins which may be useful to know.

Völsung’s daughter Signy married King Siggeir of the Geats, against her will. Siggeir attacks the Völsungs, kills Völsung and captures his ten sons. All of Völsung’s ten sons except for Sigmund are eaten by a monstrous she-wolf who might have been Siggeir’s mother as a werewolf but might not have been. Sigmund kills the wolf and escapes. Signy wants vengeance against Siggeir, but all of her sons with Siggeir are too cowardly so she decides to secretly have a son with Sigmund so that he will be of Völsung lineage on both sides and therefore better. This incestuously conceived son is Sinfjotli.

Our section begins with Sigmund and Sinfjotli preparing to seek vengeance against Siggeir, but Sigmund is unsure whether he can trust Sinfjotli’s courage.

Please listen to this reading in preparation for week two of the Werewolves Course.

You can find an electronic version of the text of the Völsunga Saga here: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1152/1152-h/1152-h.htm. The corresponding sections to the selections I read is Chapter VIII.

Reading from:

“Völsunga Saga.” Trans. Larissa Tracy, in Primary Sources on Monsters: Demonstrare vol 2. Ed. Asa Simon Mittman and Marcus Hensel. ARC Humanities Press, 2018. 94-100.

Music:

Prokofiev, Sergei. Piano Sonata no. 7 in B-flat major "Stalingrad", Op. 83.