Bern; in the Karlamagnussaga, or story of Charlemagne; and in the
Barlaamssaga ok Josaphats, or Hebrew tale of Barlaam and Josaphat.

Norway also possesses a rich fund of folk tales, which have been
collected by Asbjoernsen, and which, having many of the qualities of
prose epics, have delighted many generations.

THE VOLSUNGA SAGA[34]

The Second Part of the Edda contains the famous Volsunga Saga, or Epic
of the Volsungs, which has not only given rise to the Nibelungenlied
and to Wagner's famous Trilogy of operas, but also to William Morris'
Sigurd the Volsung. The plot of this, the most characteristic and
famous of the Scandinavian sagas, is as follows:

Volsung, a lineal descendant from Odin, built his dwelling around the
trunk of a mighty oak, the Branstock, whose branches overshadowed his
whole dwelling. When Signy, Volsung's only daughter, was married
against her will to Siggier, king of the Goths, a one-eyed stranger
(Odin) suddenly appeared among the wedding guests, and thrust a
priceless sword (Balmung) deep into the bole of the homestead oak.
Before departing, as abruptly as he had come, the stranger proclaimed
the weapon should belong to the man who pulled it out, and prophesied
that it would assure him the victory in every fight.

"Now let the man among you whose heart and hand may shift
To pluck it from the oak-wood e'en take it for my gift.
Then ne'er, but his own heart falter, its point and edge shall fail
Until the night's beginning and the ending of the tale."[35]

Although conscious that Odin had been in their midst, Volsung
courteously invited the bridegroom to try his luck first, then himself
attempted to draw out the divine sword, before he bade his ten sons
exert their strength in turn. Only the youngest, Sigmund, was at last
able to perform the required feat, and when Siggier eagerly offered to
purchase his trophy from him, he firmly refused to part with it. Full
of anger at this refusal, the Goth departed on the morrow, but
although Signy loyally warned her kinsmen that her husband was
plotting revenge, the Volsungs accepted his invitation to visit them
soon.

When Volsung and his ten sons arrived in Gothland, Signy again bade
them beware of coming treachery, but all in vain. The brave Volsungs,
drawn into an ambush by their wily foe, were seized and bound fast to
a fallen tree in a lonely forest, where every night a wild beast
devoured one of these helpless men. Closely