d come.

The Death of Sinfiotli

Sinfiotli, Sigmund's eldest son, also met an early death; for, having
slain in a quarrel the brother of Borghild, she determined to poison
him. Twice Sinfiotli detected the attempt and told his father that
there was poison in his cup. Twice Sigmund, whom no venom could injure,
drained the bowl; and when Borghild made a third attempt, he bade
Sinfiotli let the wine flow through his beard. Mistaking the meaning
of his father's words, Sinfiotli forthwith drained the cup, and fell
lifeless to the ground, for the poison was of the most deadly kind.

"He drank as he spake the word, and forthwith the venom ran
In a chill flood over his heart and down fell the mighty man
With never an uttered death-word and never a death-changed look,
And the floor of the hall of the Volsungs beneath his falling
shook.
Then up rose the elder of days with a great and bitter cry,
And lifted the head of the fallen; and none durst come anigh
To hearken the words of his sorrow, if any words he said
But such as the Father of all men might speak over Baldur dead.
And again, as before the death-stroke, waxed the hall of the
Volsungs dim,
And once more he seemed in the forest, where he spake with nought
but him."

Speechless with grief, Sigmund tenderly raised his son's body in
his arms, and strode out of the hall and down to the shore, where he
deposited his precious burden in a skiff which an old one-eyed boatman
brought at his call. He would fain have stepped aboard also, but ere
he could do so the boatman pushed off and the frail craft was soon
lost to sight. The bereaved father then slowly wended his way home,
taking comfort from the thought that Odin himself had come to claim
the young hero and had rowed away with him "out into the west."

Hiordis

Sigmund deposed Borghild as his wife and queen in punishment for
this crime, and when he was very old he sued for the hand of Hiordis,
a fair young princess, daughter of Eglimi, King of the Islands. This
young maiden had many suitors, among others King Lygni of Hunding's
race, but so great was Sigmund's fame that she gladly accepted him
and became his wife. Lygni, the discarded suitor, was so angry at
this decision, that he immediately collected a great army and marched
against his successful rival, who, though overpowered by superior
numbers, fought with the courage of despair.

From the depths o