t
ye gone back again to your own land, and gather together the mightiest
power ye may, and then come back hither and avenge you; neither go ye
now to your undoing, for ye shall surely fail not to fall by his wiles
if ye turn not on him even as I bid you."

Then spake Volsung the king, "All people and nations shall tell of the
word I spake, yet being unborn, wherein I vowed a vow that I would flee
in fear from neither fire nor the sword; even so have I done hitherto,
and shall I depart therefrom now I am old? Yea withal never shall the
maidens mock these my sons at the games, and cry out at them that they
fear death; once alone must all men need die, and from that season shall
none escape; so my rede is that we flee nowhither, but do the work of
our hands in as manly wise as we may; a hundred fights have I fought,
and whiles I had more, and whiles I had less, and yet ever had I the
victory, nor shall it ever be heard tell of me that I fled away or
prayed for peace."

Then Signy wept right sore, and prayed that she might not go back to
King Siggeir, but King Volsung answered--

"Thou shalt surely go back to thine husband, and abide with him,
howsoever it fares with us."

So Signy went home, and they abode there that night; but in the morning,
as soon as it was day, Volsung bade his men arise and go aland and make
them ready for battle; so they went aland, all of them all-armed, and
had not long to wait before Siggeir fell on them with all his army, and
the fiercest fight there was betwixt them; and Siggeir cried on his men
to the onset all he might; and so the tale tells that King Volsung and
his sons went eight times right through Siggeir's folk that day, smiting
and hewing on either hand, but when they would do so even once again,
King Volsung fell amidst his folk and all his men withal, saving his ten
sons, for mightier was the power against them than they might withstand.

But now are all his sons taken, and laid in bonds and led away; and
Signy was ware withal that her father was slain, and her brothers taken
and doomed to death; that she called King Siggeir apart to talk with
her, and said--

"This will I pray of thee, that thou let not slay my brothers hastily,
but let them be set awhile in the stocks, for home to me comes the saw
that says, "Sweet to eye while seen": but longer life I pray not for
them, because I wot well that my prayer will not avail me."

Then answered Siggeir:

"Surely thou art mad an