“‘Do not fail in this,’ said Sigmund, ‘for you are young and daring,
and men would be glad to chase you.’ Now each went his own course; and
after that they had parted Sigmund found men, so he howled; and when
Sinfjötli heard that, he ran up and slew them all-then they separated.
And Sinfjötli had not been long in the wood before he met with. eleven
men; he fell upon them and slew them every one. Then he was tired, so
he flung himself under an oak to rest. Up came Sigmund and said, ‘Why
did you not call out?’ Sinfjötli replied, ‘What was the need of asking
your help to kill eleven men?’
“Sigmund flew at him and rent him so that he fell, for he had bitten
through his throat. That day they could not leave their wolf-forms.
Sigmund laid him on his back and bare him home to the hall, and sat
beside him, and said, ‘Deuce take the wolf-forms!”’—Völsung Saga, c. 8.
There is another curious story of a were-wolf in the same Saga, which I
must relate.
“Now he did as she requested, and hewed down a great piece of timber,
and cast it across the feet of those ten brothers seated in a row, in
the forest; and there they sat all that day and on till night. And at
midnight there came an old she-wolf out of the forest to them, as they
sat in the stocks, and she was both huge and grimly. Now she fell upon
one of them, and bit him to death, and after she had eaten him all up,
she went away. And next morning Signy sent a trusty man to her
brothers, to know how it had fared with them. When he returned he told
her of the death of one, and that grieved her much, for she feared it
might fare thus with them all, and she would be unable to assist them.
“In short, nine nights following came the same she-wolf at midnight,
and devoured them one after another till all were dead, except Sigmund,
and he was left alone. So when the tenth night came, Signy sent her
trusty man to Sigmund, her brother, with honey in his hand, and said
that he was to smear it over the face of Sigmund, and to fill his mouth
with it. Now he went to Sigmund, and did as he was bid, after which he
returned home. And during the night came the same she-wolf, as was her
wont, and reckoned to devour him, like his brothers.
“Now she snuffed at him, where the honey was smeared, and began to lick
his face with her tongue, and presently thrust her tongue into his
mouth. He bore it ill, and bit into the tongue of the she-wolf; she
sprang up and tried to break loose, setting her feet against the stock,
so as to snap it asunder: but he held firm, and ripped the tongue out
by the roots, so that it was the death of the wolf. It is the opinion
of some men that this beast was the mother of King Siggeir, and that
she had taken this form upon her through devilry and witchcraft.”—(c.
5.)
There is another story bearing on the subject in the Hrolfs Saga Kraka,
which is pretty; it is as follows:—
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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