“King Siggeir ruled Gautland; he was powerful and had many men; he went to King Völsung and asked him to give Signy to him in marriage. The king and his sons received this offer well; she herself was willing, but asked her father to have his way in this as in other things referring to herself. Her father made up his mind that she should be married, and she was betrothed to Siggeir. The wedding-feast was to be at King Völsung’s, and Siggeir was to come to him. The king prepared as good a feast as he could. When it was ready the guests and Siggeir’s men came on the appointed day; Siggeir had many men of rank with him. It is said that great fires were made along the hall,[93] and the large tree before mentioned stood in the middle of the hall, and that when men were sitting before the fires in the evening a man walked into the hall whom they did not know. He wore a spotted hekla (frock); he was barefooted, and had linen breeches fastened to his legs; he had a sword in his hand, and wore a hood low down over his face; he was very grey-haired, and looked old, and was one-eyed.[94] He went to the tree, and drew the sword, and stuck it into the trunk so that it sank up to the hilt. No man dared to speak to him. He said: ‘He who pulls this sword out of the trunk shall get it as a gift from me, and will find that he never had a better sword in his hand than this one.’ The old man then went out, and no one knew who he was, or where he went. Then all the foremost men tried to pull out the sword, and could not. Sigmund, the son of King Völsung, pulled it out as easily as if it had been quite loose. No man had seen so good a sword, and Siggeir offered three times its weight in gold for it. Sigmund answered that he should have pulled it out; now he should never get it, though he offered all the gold he owned” (Volsunga, c. 3).[95] Of Odin it is said: