Fafnismal (literally “Fafnir’s Words”) continues the trilogy of poems concerning the adventures of Sigurth as a young adult. Here, Sigurth stabs the dragon Fafnir and has a long conversation with the dying dragon, including stanzas in which Fafnir gives apparently irrelevant advice (st. 11) as well as information about the Norns and gods (st. 13, 15). Once the dragon has died, Regin encourages Sigurth to cook his heart, but Sigurth burns his finger on the meat and then places the burnt finger in his mouth, gaining the power to understand birds when he does so. With his new ability, he is warned by some wagtails (an Old World type of long-tailed bird) that Regin will betray him. Sigurth slays Regin and then listens to the birds describe the ladies he could potentially woo—including both of the women he will later court, Guthrun and Brynhild/ Sigerdrifa. The birds are called igthur in the Old Norse text, and my identification of them as wagtails (uniquely among Englishlanguage translators) is based on the use of a related word for wagtails in some Norwegian dialects.
Sigurth and Regin went up on Gnitaheith, and there they found the path that Fafnir followed when he slithered down to the water. Sigurth dug a deep pit in the path, and hid himself inside. When Fafnir slithered off his heap of gold and onto the path, he blew poison from his mouth, spraying it over Sigurth’s head. And when Fafnir slithered over Sigurth’s pit, Sigurth thrust his sword through the dragon up to the heart. Fafnir trembled and thrashed his head and tail. Sigurth leapt out of the pit, and the two saw one another. Fafnir said:
“YOUNG MAN, YOUNG MAN! Who is your father? What family are you from? Who are you who reddened your glistening sword in Fafnir? The sword is in my heart.”
Sigurth did not reveal his name, because they believed in old times that the words of a dying man were powerful, if he cursed his enemy by name. Sigurth said:
“I am called ‘clever beast,’ and I have always been a motherless son. I don’t have a father like the sons of men do. I am always alone.”
Fafnir said:
“If you had no father like the sons of men do, in what strange way were you born?”
Sigurth said:
“I think my family is unknown to you, my identity as well. I am named Sigurth, my father was Sigmund— it was I who killed you with weapons.”
Fafnir said:
“Who made you do it? Why did you let someone convince you to take my life? You fierce-eyed young man, I don’t doubt you had a warlike father; it shows clearly in your eyes.”
Sigurth said:
“My courage made me do it, my hands assisted me, and my sharp sword, too. Not many men are brave in adulthood, if they were cowards as boys.”
Fafnir said:
“I know, if you had grown up in your own family’s embrace, you might have killed me for courage’s sake. But you are a prisoner, one taken in war— they say captives always tremble.”
Sigurth said:
“Why do you mock me, Fafnir, for being far away from my father’s kin? I am no prisoner, though I was taken in war— you noticed that I live free.”
Fafnir said:
“You think that everything I say to you is mockery, but I tell you the truth: my clanging gold, this wealth that glows like embers, will bring about your death.”
Sigurth said:
“Every man will have control of his wealth till his fated death-day, but there is a time when each one of us leaves here for Hel.”
Fafnir said:
“You’ll meet your death if you sail too close to land, and what a foolish death it will be. You’ll drown in the water, if you row in the wind— everything is dangerous for a doomed man.”
Sigurth said:
“Tell me, Fafnir, they say you are wise, and very knowledgeable— who are the Norns who govern childbirth and choose who mothers what child?”
Fafnir said:
“There are various different kinds of Norns: they are not all of one family. Some are god-born, some are elves, others come from the dwarves.”
Sigurth said:
“Tell me, Fafnir, they say you are wise, and very knowledgeable— what is the name of the island where the gods and giants will fight their final battle?”
Fafnir said:
“It is called Oskopnir; and there all the gods will wage war. Bifrost will break when they cross that bridge; their horses will swim it.
“I wore a terror-helmet against all men so long as I sat on my treasure. I thought I alone was braver than everyone: not many came to meet me.”
Sigurth said:
“That terror-helmet will not save anyone when angry men come together to fight. When a real battle starts, you’ll always find that there is no bravest man.”
Fafnir said:
“I blew poison from my jaws as long as I lay upon my father’s great treasure.”
Sigurth said:
“You brave snake, you blew your poison, and you had a bold heart. But men hate you, and their hate grows all the more because you have that helmet.”
Fafnir said:
“I advise you, Sigurth: Take my advice, and ride home from here. My clanging gold, this ember-glowing wealth, will bring about your death.”
Sigurth said:
“I hear your advice, but I will ride to the gold where it lies on the ground— and you, Fafnir, stay here and die, and Hel can have you.”
Fafnir said:
“Regin betrayed me, he will betray you as well. He will bring death to us both. I think that I am nearly on the point of dying: you had the greater strength, for now.”
Regin had been away while Sigurth fought Fafnir, but he came back as Sigurth wiped the blood from his blade. Regin said:
“Hail, Sigurth! Now you’ve won a victory and killed Fafnir. Of all men who live on the earth, I think you’re the least cowardly.”
Sigurth said:
“It’s impossible to say, when we compare all sons of men, which one is least cowardly— there’s many a bold man who’s never bloodied a sword in another man’s chest.”
Regin said:
“You are happy now, Sigurth, wiping the blood off your sword in the grass, rejoice in your victory! But you have killed my brother, though I had a part in that also.”
Sigurth said:
“It was your advice that I should ride here to these frosty mountains: the shining serpent would still have life, and the treasure, if you had not challenged my courage.”
Then Regin went to Fafnir’s body and cut the heart out with his sword Rithil. Regin drank the blood from the wound. Regin said:
“Sit now, Sigurth, roast Fafnir’s heart on the fire. I will be sleeping. I want to make a meal of his heart after that drink of dragon’s blood.”
Sigurth said:
“You hid far away while I killed Fafnir with my sharp sword. I tested my strength against the dragon, while you crept in the bushes.”
Regin said:
“You would have left that ancient monster creeping in the bushes himself, if you did not have the sword that I made for you, that good sharp sword of yours.”
Sigurth said:
“When men are in battle, a courageous heart means more than a sharp sword. I’ve seen a brave man win a victory, though he fought with a dull blade.
“Better to be bold than a coward, when sharp swords come together. Better to be cheerful than gloomy, however events may turn.”
Sigurth took Fafnir’s heart and roasted it on a spit. And when he thought it would be fully cooked, and the blood all boiled out of the heart, he tested whether the heart was ready to eat by touching it with his finger. His finger was burned, and he put it in his mouth. But when the blood from Fafnir’s heart touched his tongue, he could understand the language of birds. He heard some wagtails talking in the branches above him. One of the wagtails said:
“There sits Sigurth, splattered with blood, cooking Fafnir’s heart on the open flame. I would say this prince was a wise man, if he were the one who ate the dragon’s heart.”
A second one said:
“Over there is Regin, conspiring against Sigurth, he’ll betray this boy who trusts him. In his bloody rage, he ponders evil— that wrongdoer will avenge his brother.”
A third wagtail said:
“He should let that crafty Regin go straight to Hel, shorter by about a head. Then all the gold would be Sigurth’s alone, that whole treasure of Fafnir.”
A fourth bird said:
“I would think Sigurth was wise if he knew how to heed your good advice, my sisters, if he took our advice and set a table for the ravens. I always suspect a wolf when I see a wolf’s ears sticking up.”
A fifth said:
“He is not as wise as I would have thought, Sigurth, this lord of many battles— not if he lets one brother live free and at ease when he has killed the other!”
A sixth said:
“It would be unwise if he spared that enemy. There Regin lies, the brother who advised him on this course— can Sigurth not see the danger?”
A seventh said:
“Let Regin be a head shorter, that frost-cold monster should be deprived of his inheritance, and then Sigurth would be the sole owner of the gold that was Fafnir’s.”
Sigurth said:
“It would be a poor fate, if Regin caused my death. I think both brothers should go to Hel together today.”
Sigurth cut off Regin’s head, and then he ate Fafnir’s heart and drank the blood of both Regin and Fafnir. Then Sigurth heard the wagtails saying:
“Pack up all these treasures, Sigurth; it would not be kingly to worry for long. I know a woman more beautiful than any other— if you could get her.
“The roads to Gjuki’s halls are green, they show the way for warriors. Sigurth, that rich king has raised a daughter— and you could buy her.
“And there’s a hall high on Hindarfjall, encircled all around by flame: wise men have made that wall from living ardent fire.
“I know that a Valkyrie sleeps on that mountain, where fire plays around her. Odin stung her with a thorn: she killed a different man than Odin wished, that unfaithful Valkyrie.
“Sigurth, you could see that girl beneath her helmet, when you ride away from this battlefield. They say no one can break Sigerdrifa’s sleep, no one can change what fate has determined.”
Sigurth followed Fafnir’s tracks to his lair, and found the iron doors and gates open. All the pillars were also made of iron, and they were dug deep into the earth. Sigurth found a great quantity of gold there, and he filled two chests with it. He took the terror-helmet and a golden suit of armor, and the sword Hrotti and many other precious treasures, and he loaded them onto his horse Grani. But even with that burden, the horse would not start till Sigurth had mounted up on his back.