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'Yet I thought, she said, 'that no man could have done this deed but Sigurd, Fafnir's bane, who was my true love. But he has forgotten me, and my promise I must keep. So Gunnar and Brynhild were married, though it was not Gunnar but Sigurd in Gunnar's shape, that had ridden the fire.

Then Regin came up, and the old feeling of vengeance for a brother's blood grew strong, and as an atonement, Sigurd was to roast Fafnir's heart, and carry it to Regin, who swilled his fill of the Dragon's blood, and lay down to sleep. But as Sigurd roasted the heart, and wondered if it would soon be done, he tried it with his finger to see if it were soft.

And Grani heard in the cave where Regin had left him and he came galloping to Sigurd with flowing mane and eyes flashing fire. He mounted Grani and he rode to Fafnir's cave. When he went into the place where the Dragon was wont to lie he saw a door of iron before him. With Gram, his mighty sword, he hewed through the iron, and with his strong hands he pulled the door back.

It is a worthless blade that our father brought from the South-land. They say that he found it also on the Glittering Heath, in the trench where Fafnir was slain. And some will have it that it was forged by Regin, Fafnir's own brother. But how that is, I do not know. At any rate, it is of no use to us; for it turns against us whenever we try to use it." Siegfried took the sword.

And Queen Grimhild thought that though the effect of the potion she gave would wear away, his love for Gudrun would ever fill his heart, and that no other memory would be able to find a place there. Now that Sigurd had wed Gudrun he was one with the Nibelungs. The hoard that was in Fafnir's cave he brought away and he left it in their treasure house.

Die thou, Fafnir, and then Fafnir died. And after that Sigurd was called Fafnir's Bane, and Dragonslayer. Then Sigurd rode back, and met Regin, and Regin asked him to roast Fafnir's heart and let him taste of it. So Sigurd put the heart of Fafnir on a stake, and roasted it. But it chanced that he touched it with his finger, and it burned him.

Thus fortified with capital, Alberic exploits his fellow dwarfs as before, and also exploits Fafnir's fellow giants who have no capital. What is more, the toil, forethought and self-control which the exploitation involves, and the self-respect and social esteem which its success wins, effect an improvement in Alberic's own character which neither Marx nor Wagner appear to have foreseen.

Then did Regin, hearing the scream that let him know that Fafnir was slain, come down to where the battle had been fought. When he saw that Sigurd was alive and unharmed he uttered a cry of fury. For his plan had been to have Sigurd drowned and burnt in the pit with the stream of Fafnir's envenomed blood. But he mastered his fury and showed a pleased countenance to Sigurd.

He found a great armring and his put it around his arm. On the top of the armring there was a small fingerring with a rune graved upon it. Sigurd put it on his finger. And this was the ring that Andvari the Dwarf had put the curse upon when Loki had taken the hoard from him. He knew that no one would cross the Heath and come to Fafnir's lair, so he did not fear to leave the treasure unguarded.

"Gunnar is more valorous; why dost thou compare Sigurd with him?" Brynhild said. "He slew the Dragon Fafnir, and won for himself Fafnir's hoard," said Gudrun. "Gunnar rode through the ring of fire. Mayhap thou wilt tell us that Sigurd did the like," said Brynhild. "Yea," said Gudrun, now made angry. "It was Sigurd and not Gunnar who rode through the ring of fire.