Sinfjoetli’s Death. (Page 14.)

Munch (Nordmaendenes Gudelaere, Christiania, 1847) ingeniously identified the old man with Odin, come in person to conduct Sinfjoetli to Valhalla, since he would otherwise have gone to Hel, not having fallen in battle; a stratagem quite in harmony with Odin’s traditional character.

Sigmund and Sinfjoetli. (Page 15.)

It seems probable, on the evidence of Beowulf, that Sigmund and Sinfjoetli represent the Pan-Germanic stage of the national-hero, and Sigurd or Siegfried the Continental stage.  Possibly Helgi may then be the Norse race-hero.  Sigurd was certainly foreign to Scandinavia; hence the epithet Hunnish, constantly applied to him, and the localising of the legend by the Rhine.  The possibility suggests itself that the Brynhild part of the story, on the other hand, is of Scandinavian origin, and thence passed to Germany.  It is at least curious that the Nibelungen Lied places Prunhilt in Iceland.

Wagner and the Volsung Cycle. (Page 26.)

Wagner’s Ring des Nibelungen is remarkable not only for the way in which it reproduces the spirit of both the Sinfjoetli and the Sigurd traditions, but also for the wonderful instinct which chooses the best and most primitive features of both Norse and Continental versions.  Thus he keeps the dragon of the Norse, the Nibelungs of the German; preserves the wildness of the old Sigmund tale, and substitutes the German Hagen for his paler Norse namesake; restores the original balance between the parts of Brynhild and Gudrun; gives the latter character, and an active instead of a passive function in the story, by assigning to her her mother’s share in the action; and by substituting for the slaying of the otter the bargain with the Giants for the building of Valhalla, makes the cause worthy of the catastrophe.

Ermanric. (Page 27.)

For examples of legend becoming attached to historical names, see
Tylor’s Primitive Culture.

The Helgi Lays. (Page 29.)

The Helgi Lays stand before the Volsung set in the MS.; I treat them later for the sake of greater clearness.

Helgi and Kara. (Page 30.)

Hromundar Saga Gripssonar, in which this story is given, is worthless as literature, and has not been recently edited.  P.E.  Mueller’s Sagabibliothek, in which it was published, is out of print.  Latin and Swedish translations may be found in Bjoerner’s Nordiske Kampa Dater (Stockholm, 1737), also out of print.

Rebirth. (Page 31.)