Heavy was Sigmund's visage but fierce did his eyen glow, "This is the deed of thy mastery;--we twain shall slay my foe-- And how if the foe were thy father?"-- Then he telleth him Siggeir's tale: And saith: "Now think upon it; how shall thine heart avail To bear the curse that cometh if thy life endureth long-- The man that slew his father and amended wrong with wrong? Yet if the Gods have made thee a man unlike all men, (For thou startest not, nor palest), can I forbear it then, To use the thing they have fashioned lest the Volsung seed should die And unavenged King Volsung in his mound by the sea-strand lie?"
Then loud laughed out Sinfiotli, and he said: "I wot indeed That Signy is my mother, and her will I help at need: Is the fox of the King-folk my father, that adder of the brake, Who gave me never a blessing, and many a cursing spake? Yea, have I in sooth a father, save him that cherished my life, The Lord of the Helm of Terror, the King of the Flame of Strife? Lo now my hand is ready to strike what stroke thou wilt, For I am the sword of the Gods: and thine hand shall hold the hilt."
Fierce glowed the eyes of King Sigmund, for he knew the time was come When the curse King Siggeir fashioned at last shall seek him home: And of what shall follow after, be it evil days, or bliss, Or praise, or the cursing of all men,--the Gods shall see to this.
_Of the slaying of Siggeir the Goth-king._
So there are those kings abiding, and they think of nought but the day When the time at last shall serve them, to wend on the perilous way. And so in the first of winter, when nights grow long and mirk, They fare unto Siggeir's dwelling and seek wherein to lurk. And by hap 'twas the tide of twilight, ere the watch of the night was set And the watch of the day was departed, as Sinfiotli minded yet So now by a passage he wotted they gat them into the bower Where lay the biggest wine-tuns, and there they abode the hour: Anigh to the hall it was, but no man came thereto, But now and again the cup-lord when King Siggeir's wine he drew: Yea and so nigh to the feast-hall, that they saw the torches shine When the cup-lord was departed with King Siggeir's dear-bought wine, And they heard the glee of the people, and the horns and the beakers' din, When the feast was dight in the hall and the earls were merry therein. Calm was the face of Sigmund, and clear were his eyes and bright; But Sinfiotli gnawed on his shield-rim, and his face was haggard and white: For he deemed the time full long, ere the fallow blades should leap In the hush of the midnight feast-hall o'er King Siggeir's golden sleep.