The Story of Sigurd The Story of Sigurd of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang: the whole text, 149 sentences and 3239 words. Every sentence has its own page with its syntax tree and pragmatics, parsed by Mova itself; 2 of them are in the tales treebank and were checked by a teacher model.
1 (This is a very old story: the Danes who used to fight with the English in King Alfred’s time knew this story. 2 They have carved on the rocks pictures of some of the things that happen in the tale, and those carvings may still be seen. 3 Because it is so old and so beautiful the story is told here again, but it has a sad ending—indeed it is all sad, and all about fighting and killing, as might be expected from the Danes.) 4 Once upon a time there was a King in the North who had won many wars, but now he was old. 5 Yet he took a new wife, and then another Prince, who wanted to have married her, came up against him with a great army. 6 The old King went out and fought bravely, but at last his sword broke, and he was wounded and his men fled. 7 But in the night, when the battle was over, his young wife came out and searched for him among the slain, and at last she found him, and asked whether he might be healed. 8 But he said ‘No,’ his luck was gone, his sword was broken, and he must die. 9 And he told her that she would have a son, and that son would be a great warrior, and would avenge him on the other King, his enemy. 10 And he bade her keep the broken pieces of the sword, to make a new sword for his son, and that blade should be called Gram. 11 Then he died. 12 And his wife called her maid to her and said, ‘Let us change clothes, and you shall be called by my name, and I by yours, lest the enemy finds us.’ 13 So this was done, and they hid in a wood, but there some strangers met them and carried them off in a ship to Denmark. 14 And when they were brought before the King, he thought the maid looked like a Queen, and the Queen like a maid. 15 So he asked the Queen, ‘How do you know in the dark of night whether the hours are wearing to the morning?’ 16 And she said: 17 ‘I know because, when I was younger, I used to have to rise and light the fires, and still I waken at the same time.’ 18 ‘A strange Queen to light the fires,’ thought the King. 19 Then he asked the Queen, who was dressed like a maid, ‘How do you know in the dark of night whether the hours are wearing near the dawn?’ 20 ‘My father gave me a gold ring,’ said she, ‘and always, ere the dawning, it grows cold on my finger.’ 21 ‘A rich house where the maids wore gold,’ said the King. 22 ‘Truly you are no maid, but a King’s daughter.’ 23 So he treated her royally, and as time went on she had a son called Sigurd, a beautiful boy and very strong. 24 He had a tutor to be with him, and once the tutor bade him go to the King and ask for a horse. 25 ‘Choose a horse for yourself,’ said the King; and Sigurd went to the wood, and there he met an old man with a white beard, and said, ‘Come! help me in horse-choosing.’ 26 Then the old man said, ‘Drive all the horses into the river, and choose the one that swims across.’ 27 So Sigurd drove them, and only one swam across. 28 Sigurd chose him: his name was Grani, and he came of Sleipnir’s breed, and was the best horse in the world. 29 For Sleipnir was the horse of Odin, the God of the North, and was as swift as the wind. 30 But a day or two later his tutor said to Sigurd, ‘There is a great treasure of gold hidden not far from here, and it would become you to win it.’ 31 But Sigurd answered, ‘I have heard stories of that treasure, and I know that the dragon Fafnir guards it, and he is so huge and wicked that no man dares to go near him.’ 32 ‘He is no bigger than other dragons,’ said the tutor, ‘and if you were as brave as your father you would not fear him.’ 33 ‘I am no coward,’ says Sigurd; ‘why do you want me to fight with this dragon?’ 34 Then his tutor, whose name was Regin, told him that all this great hoard of red gold had once belonged to his own father. 35 And his father had three sons—the first was Fafnir, the Dragon; the next was Otter, who could put on the shape of an otter when he liked; and the next was himself, Regin, and he was a great smith and maker of swords. 36 Now there was at that time a dwarf called Andvari, who lived in a pool beneath a waterfall, and there he had hidden a great hoard of gold. 37 And one day Otter had been fishing there, and had killed a salmon and eaten it, and was sleeping, like an otter, on a stone. 38 Then someone came by, and threw a stone at the otter and killed it, and flayed off the skin, and took it to the house of Otter’s father. 39 Then he knew his son was dead, and to punish the person who had killed him he said he must have the Otter’s skin filled with gold, and covered all over with red gold, or it should go worse with him. 40 Then the person who had killed Otter went down and caught the Dwarf who owned all the treasure and took it from him. 41 Only one ring was left, which the Dwarf wore, and even that was taken from him. 42 Then the poor Dwarf was very angry, and he prayed that the gold might never bring any but bad luck to all the men who might own it, for ever. 43 Then the otter skin was filled with gold and covered with gold, all but one hair, and that was covered with the poor Dwarf’s last ring. 44 But it brought good luck to nobody. 45 First Fafnir, the Dragon, killed his own father, and then he went and wallowed on the gold, and would let his brother have none, and no man dared go near it. 46 When Sigurd heard the story he said to Regin: 47 ‘Make me a good sword that I may kill this Dragon.’ 48 So Regin made a sword, and Sigurd tried it with a blow on a lump of iron, and the sword broke. 49 Another sword he made, and Sigurd broke that too. 50 Then Sigurd went to his mother, and asked for the broken pieces of his father’s blade, and gave them to Regin. checked by a teacher 51 And he hammered and wrought them into a new sword, so sharp that fire seemed to burn along its edges. 52 Sigurd tried this blade on the lump of iron, and it did not break, but split the iron in two. 53 Then he threw a lock of wool into the river, and when it floated down against the sword it was cut into two pieces. 54 So Sigurd said that sword would do. 55 But before he went against the Dragon he led an army to fight the men who had killed his father, and he slew their King, and took all his wealth, and went home. 56 When he had been at home a few days, he rode out with Regin one morning to the heath where the Dragon used to lie. 57 Then he saw the track which the Dragon made when he went to a cliff to drink, and the track was as if a great river had rolled along and left a deep valley. 58 Then Sigurd went down into that deep place, and dug many pits in it, and in one of the pits he lay hidden with his sword drawn. 59 There he waited, and presently the earth began to shake with the weight of the Dragon as he crawled to the water. 60 And a cloud of venom flew before him as he snorted and roared, so that it would have been death to stand before him. 61 But Sigurd waited till half of him had crawled over the pit, and then he thrust the sword Gram right into his very heart. 62 Then the Dragon lashed with his tail till stones broke and trees crashed about him. 63 Then he spoke, as he died, and said: 64 ‘Whoever thou art that hast slain me this gold shall be thy ruin, and the ruin of all who own it.’ 65 Sigurd said: 66 ‘I would touch none of it if by losing it I should never die. 67 But all men die, and no brave man lets death frighten him from his desire. 68 Die thou, Fafnir,’ and then Fafnir died. 69 And after that Sigurd was called Fafnir’s Bane, and Dragonslayer. 70 Then Sigurd rode back, and met Regin, and Regin asked him to roast Fafnir’s heart and let him taste of it. 71 So Sigurd put the heart of Fafnir on a stake, and roasted it. 72 But it chanced that he touched it with his finger, and it burned him. 73 Then he put his finger in his mouth, and so tasted the heart of Fafnir. 74 Then immediately he understood the language of birds, and he heard the Woodpeckers say: 75 ‘There is Sigurd roasting Fafnir’s heart for another, when he should taste of it himself and learn all wisdom.’ 76 The next bird said: 77 ‘There lies Regin, ready to betray Sigurd, who trusts him.’ 78 The third bird said: 79 ‘Let him cut off Regin’s head, and keep all the gold to himself.’ 80 The fourth bird said: 81 ‘That let him do, and then ride over Hindfell, to the place where Brynhild sleeps.’ 82 When Sigurd heard all this, and how Regin was plotting to betray him, he cut off Regin’s head with one blow of the sword Gram. 83 Then all the birds broke out singing: 84 ‘We know a fair maid, A fair maiden sleeping; Sigurd, be not afraid, Sigurd, win thou the maidv Fortune is keeping. 85 ‘High over Hindfell Red fire is flaming, There doth the maiden dwell She that should love thee well, Meet for thy taming. 86 ‘There must she sleep till thou Comest for her waking Rise up and ride, for now Sure she will swear the vow Fearless of breaking.’ 87 Then Sigurd remembered how the story went that somewhere, far away, there was a beautiful lady enchanted. 88 She was under a spell, so that she must always sleep in a castle surrounded by flaming fire; there she must sleep for ever till there came a knight who would ride through the fire and waken her. 89 There he determined to go, but first he rode right down the horrible trail of Fafnir. 90 And Fafnir had lived in a cave with iron doors, a cave dug deep down in the earth, and full of gold bracelets, and crowns, and rings; and there, too, Sigurd found the Helm of Dread, a golden helmet, and whoever wears it is invisible. 91 All these he piled on the back of the good horse Grani, and then he rode south to Hindfell. 92 Now it was night, and on the crest of the hill Sigurd saw a red fire blazing up into the sky, and within the flame a castle, and a banner on the topmost tower. 93 Then he set the horse Grani at the fire, and he leaped through it lightly, as if it had been through the heather. 94 So Sigurd went within the castle door, and there he saw someone sleeping, clad all in armour. 95 Then he took the helmet off the head of the sleeper, and behold, she was a most beautiful lady. 96 And she wakened and said, ‘Ah! is it Sigurd, Sigmund’s son, who has broken the curse, and comes here to waken me at last?’ 97 This curse came upon her when the thorn of the tree of sleep ran into her hand long ago as a punishment because she had displeased Odin the God. 98 Long ago, too, she had vowed never to marry a man who knew fear, and dared not ride through the fence of flaming fire. 99 For she was a warrior maid herself, and went armed into the battle like a man. 100 But now she and Sigurd loved each other, and promised to be true to each other, and he gave her a ring, and it was the last ring taken from the dwarf Andvari. ← previous The Marvellous Musician↑ back to The Red Fairy Book This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/51/