gh there burns
A torch amidst of its cloud-wreath; so thither Sigurd turns,
For he deems indeed from its topmost to look on the best of
the earth;
And Greyfell neigheth beneath him, and his heart is full of mirth."

Sigurd rode up the mountain side, and the light grew more and more
vivid as he proceeded, until when he had neared the summit a barrier
of lurid flames stood before him. The fire burned with a roar which
would have daunted the heart of any other, but Sigurd remembered
the words of the birds, and without a moment's hesitation he plunged
bravely into its very midst.

"Now Sigurd turns in his saddle, and the hilt of the Wrath
he shifts,
And draws a girth the tighter; then the gathered reins he lifts,
And crieth aloud to Greyfell, and rides at the wildfire's heart;
But the white wall wavers before him and the flame-flood rusheth
apart,
And high o'er his head it riseth, and wide and wild its roar
As it beareth the mighty tidings to the very heavenly floor:
But he rideth through its roaring as the warrior rides the rye,
When it bows with the wind of the summer and the hid spears
draw anigh;
The white flame licks his raiment and sweeps through Greyfell's
mane,
And bathes both hands of Sigurd and the hilt of Fafnir's bane,
And winds about his war-helm and mingles with his hair,
But nought his raiment dusketh or dims his glittering gear;
Then it fails and fades and darkens till all seems left behind,
And dawn and the blaze is swallowed in mid-mirk stark and blind."

The threatening flames having now died away, Sigurd pursued his
journey over a broad tract of white ashes, directing his course to
a great castle, with shield-hung walls. The great gates stood wide
open, and Sigurd rode through them unchallenged by warders or men at
arms. Proceeding cautiously, for he feared some snare, he at last came
to the centre of the courtyard, where he saw a recumbent form cased
in armour. Sigurd dismounted from his steed and eagerly removed the
helmet, when he started with surprise to behold, instead of a warrior,
the face of a most beautiful maiden.

All his efforts to awaken the sleeper were vain, however, until he
had removed her armour, and she lay before him in pure-white linen
garments, her long hair falling in golden waves around her. Then as the
last fastening of her armour gave way, she opened wide her beautiful
eyes, which