CHAP. XVIII.
Of the Slaying of the Worm Fafnir.
NOW Sigurd and Regin ride up the heath along that same way wherein Fafnir was wont to creep when he fared to the water; and folk say that thirty fathoms was the height of that cliff along which he lay when he drank of the water below. Then Sigurd spake:
“How sayedst thou, Regin, that this drake[1] was no greater than other lingworms; methinks the track of him is marvellous great?”
Then said Regin, “Make thee a hole, and sit down therein, and whenas the worm comes to the water, smite him into the heart, and so do him to death, and win for thee great fame thereby.”
But Sigurd said, “What will betide me if I be before the blood of the worm?”
Says Regin, “Of what avail to counsel thee if thou art still afeard of everything? Little art thou like thy kin in stoutness of heart.”
Then Sigurd rides right over the heath; but Regin gets him gone, sore afeard.
But Sigurd fell to digging him a pit, and whiles he was
- ↑ Lat. draco, a dragon.
