The Dragon's Gold and the Sword Gram
How sharp was the sword that would face the dragon?
In *The Lay of Regin*, Fafnir stabs his sleeping father, Hreidmar, with a sword. Once his father is dead, he keeps all the gold for himself. In *Skaldskaparmal*, the brothers Regin and Fafnir kill their father together. Afterward, Fafnir turns into a dragon and lies down on the gold.
Regin raised Sigurd. He made him a sword called Gram. Sigurd held the sword in running water. It was so sharp that a clump of wool drifting downstream was sliced apart as soon as it touched the blade.
Sigurd sailed off to avenge his father, but a fierce storm overtook him. A man standing on a rock called himself Hnikar. Asked about good omens for battle, he named several, including meeting a black raven on the road. Later, Sigurd won the battle against his father's killers.
Sources for this story (2)The Dragon's Gold and the Sword Gram
Reginn gerði Sigurði sverð, er Gramr hét.
Regin made Sigurd a sword called Gram.
“The Lay of Regin”
“The Lay of Regin”Reginsmál
“The Language of Poetry”Skáldskaparmál


Image details
Johannes Gehrts “Sigurd prüft das Schwert Gram” 1888 Public domain View original image
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