The Story of Sigurd the Volsung and the Fall of the Niblungs is an epic poem inspired by Nordic folklore and mythology.
Book One.
The poem begins with a wedding. King Volsung's daughter Signy is being married to Siggeir king of the Goths. During the feast, the god Odin arrives in disguise, and he plants a sword into a tree-trunk. Only Volsung's son Sigmund can retrieve the sword even though all other men fail. Siggeir is angry that the gods blessed Volsung, so he tricks him into visiting the Goths, and he murders king Volsung and takes his sons as hostages. Only Sigmund survives, the rest are killed by wolves. When Signy offers her sons as tribute for family vengeance, Sigmund accepts Sinfjotli and rejects the other. The two revenge kill Siggeir and burn his estate down, leaving to their land again.
Sigmund marries Borghild. Borghild's brother and Sinfjotli have a fight and Sinfjotli kills him. Borghild avenges her brother by poisoning Sinfjotli, a sin that leaves her expelled from Sigmund's house. He marries Hiordis and they conceive, but Sigmund dies in a fight and Hiordis is forced to seek refuge in Denmark. She goes to the hall of King Elf.
Book Two.
Without father, Hiordis's son must be raised by another, so her son Sigurd is born and raised by Regin, an old man. Sigurd comes to manhood and decides to ask Elf for a horse. The king grants his request and allows him his choice of the king's horses. Sigurd chooses wisely. Regin instructs the boy to test himself against Fafnir the dragon. Regin and Fafnir used to be brothers when Fafnir was a man, and the dragon's treasure rightly belongs to Regin. Regin fashions a sword for Sigurd with a shard of Sigurd's father's sword, the sword of Odin himself. They name the sword "The Wrath."
Sigurd kills the dragon, drinks his blood, and eats the dragon's heart. He gains magical powers, obviously, including the power to talk to birds and to discern the hearts of men. This discernment clues him into Regin's plot to kill Sigurd and steal the treasure, so before he gets the chance, Sigurd kills him.
On the slopes of Hindfell, Sigurd discovers a great fire unlike normal fire. He travels unscathed to the center of the blaze where he discovers a woman in armor. Brynhild is her name, a maiden of Odin who has been sent to the earth as punishment. They fall in love and Sigurd gives her a ring.
Book Three.
In the hall of Giuki the Niblung king, Gudrun has a dream about embracing a great falcon. Brynhild tells the young woman that her dream is a prophecy foretelling her marriage to a king. The prophecy also tells of a long, hard life filled with warfare. Sigurd returns.
Sigurd helps the Niblungs with a war and Gudrun's witch mother Grimhild poisons him with a potion that makes him fall in love with Gudrun. He marries her and gives Brynhild over to Gunnar, Gudrun's brother. He reenters the fire disguised as Gunnar and tricks Brynhild into the marriage. Brynhild finds out about the trick and convinces Gunnar to kill Sigurd with the help of his brothers. Guttorm kills Sigurd, but as he's leaving, Sigurd throws his sword and sticks him through the back. Brynhild commits suicide so the two will be burned together.
Book Four.
Gudrun remarries to Atli, Brynhild's brother, but she never gets over Sigurd. She wants Atli to win Fafnir's treasure too, so at dinner, Atli extorts the Niblungs of their shares in Sigurd's spoils. Gunnar and Hogni choose to do battle rather than give away their spoils. Atli dominates the men in battle and they are executed. At Atli's victory feast, he and his guests act dishonorably, and dejected Gudrun burns the hall down, killing Atli in his sleep with a sword, and then she jumps off a cliff and dies.
