{"collection":"Sacred Texts: Legends and Sagas","full_text_available":false,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/sacred_texts_v1_neu_tml_tml34_htm/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/sacred_texts_v1_neu_tml_tml34_htm","id":"sacred_texts_v1_neu_tml_tml34_htm","license":"unknown_pending_legal_review","rights_basis":"sacred_texts_v1_preview_gate_primary_text_only; acquisition-method/ToS and compilation-copyright questions still open, not resolved by this gate","source":"sacred_texts_v1","source_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/tml/tml34.htm","summary":"This is a prose retelling of the Volsung saga cycle from Norse/Germanic mythology, drawn from the Eddic tradition and presented in Donald A. Mackenzie's 1912 popular survey of Teutonic myth. The excerpt covers the central tragic arc of Sigurd and Brynhild: Sigurd awakens the valkyrie from her enchanted sleep on Hindarfell, they exchange vows and he gives her Fafner's ring, but fate compels him to drink a potion of forgetfulness at the court of King Giuki, causing him to marry Gudrun instead. The narrative then turns to Gunnar's bid to win Brynhild as his own wife \u2014 a deception Sigurd enables by magically assuming Gunnar's form and riding through the fire that only he could survive. Mackenzie's retelling integrates prophetic dream-interpretation and runic lore prominently, with Brynhild's counsel to Sigurd serving as an extended catalogue of wisdom-runes, giving the episode an instructional, almost gnomic quality alongside its romance plot. The chapter heading signals that the full chapter goes on to cover the quarrel between the two queens, Sigurd's murder, Gudrun's grief, and Brynhild's self-immolation on his pyre \u2014 the complete catastrophe that defines the legend. Readers drawn to the Norse mythological tradition, particularly the Volsunga saga or Wagner's Ring cycle, will find this a readable, lightly dramatized entry point with good coverage of the saga's key motifs.","tags":[],"text":null,"title":"Teutonic Myth and Legend: Chapter XXIX Brynhild and Gudrun","tradition":"Sacred Texts: Legends and Sagas","translated_text":null,"word_count":4388}