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The Völsunga saga (often referred to in English as the Volsunga Saga or Saga of the Völsungs) is a legendary saga, a late 13th-century prose rendition in Old Norse of the origin and decline of the Völsung clan (including the story of Sigurd and Brunhild and the destruction of the Burgundians).
The Story of Sigurd the Volsung and the Fall of the Niblungs (1876) is an epic poem of over 10,000 lines by William Morris that tells the tragic story, drawn from the Volsunga Saga and the Elder Edda, of the Norse hero Sigmund, his son Sigurd (the equivalent of Siegfried in the Nibelungenlied and Wagner's Ring of the Nibelung [1] [2]) and Sigurd's wife Gudrun.
The name Völsi appears elsewhere in Völsa þáttr, a short story from Óláfs saga helga describing a preserved phallus, likely from a horse, referred to as "Völsi" being used in a heathen religious context. Following from this, it has been suggested that the original name of Völsung and his family evoked the fertility of a stallion.
"Sigmund's Sword" (1889) by Johannes Gehrts. In the Völsunga saga, Signý marries Siggeir, the king of Gautland (modern Västergötland).Völsung and Sigmund are attending the wedding feast (which lasted for some time before and after the marriage), when Odin, disguised as a beggar, plunges a sword into the living tree Barnstokk ("offspring-trunk" [1]) around which Völsung's hall is built.
The saga is connected to a second saga, Ragnars saga Loðbrókar, which follows it in the manuscript, by having Ragnar Lodbrok marry Aslaug, daughter of Sigurd and Brynhild. [94] According to the Völsunga saga, Sigurd is the posthumous son of King Sigmund and Hjordis. He died fighting Lyngvi, a rival for Hjordis's hand.
Both appear in the Völsunga saga, which was adapted into other works such as Wagner's 'Ring' cycle, including its famous opera Die Walküre. Signy is also the name of two characters in several other sagas. The first Signy is the daughter of King Völsung.
The Völsung Cycle is a series of legends in Norse mythology first extensively recorded in medieval Iceland, but which were also known in Sweden (as seen by carvings on numerous Sigurd stones), Norway, England and (perhaps) the Isle of Man. [1]
Drawing of the Ramsund carving, depicting the story of Fáfnir. Völsunga saga presents the most cohesive and extensive account of the Sigurð tradition and its author likely had access to the Poetic Edda as a source. [13]