can be traced between the giant ship Mannigfual and the
Argo, for while the one is supposed to have cruised through the AEgean
and Euxine Seas, and to have made many places memorable by the dangers
it encountered there, so the Northern vessel sailed about the North
and Baltic Seas, and is mentioned in connection with the Island of
Bornholm and the cliffs of Dover.

While the Greeks imagined that Nightmares were the evil dreams which
escaped from the Cave of Somnus, the Northern race fancied they were
female dwarfs or trolls, who crept out of the dark recesses of the
earth to torment them. All magic weapons in the North were said to
be the work of the dwarfs, the underground smiths, while those of the
Greeks were manufactured by Vulcan and the Cyclopes, under Mount AEtna,
or on the Island of Lemnos.

The Volsunga Saga

In the Sigurd myth we find Odin one-eyed like the Cyclopes, who, like
him, are personifications of the sun. Sigurd is instructed by Gripir,
the horse-trainer, who is reminiscent of Chiron, the centaur. He is
not only able to teach a young hero all he need know, and to give him
good advice concerning his future conduct, but is also possessed of
the gift of prophecy.

The marvellous sword which becomes the property of Sigmund and of
Sigurd as soon as they prove themselves worthy to wield it, and the
sword Angurvadel which Frithiof inherits from his sire, remind us of
the weapon which AEgeus concealed beneath the rock, and which Theseus
secured as soon as he had become a man. Sigurd, like Theseus, Perseus,
and Jason, seeks to avenge his father's wrongs ere he sets out in
search of the golden hoard, the exact counterpart of the golden fleece,
which is also guarded by a dragon, and is very hard to secure. Like
all the Greek sun-gods and heroes, Sigurd has golden hair and bright
blue eyes. His struggle with Fafnir reminds us of Apollo's fight with
Python, while the ring Andvaranaut can be likened to Venus's cestus,
and the curse attached to its possessor is like the tragedy of Helen,
who brought endless bloodshed upon all connected with her.

Sigurd could not have conquered Fafnir without the magic sword, just
as the Greeks failed to take Troy without the arrows of Philoctetes,
which are also emblems of the all-conquering rays of the sun. The
recovery of the stolen treasure is like Menelaus's recovery of Helen,
and it apparently brings as little happiness to Sigurd as his recreant
wife did to the Spar