3-12“The Lay of Regin” Stanza 13–26

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.

Illustration of The Dragon's Gold and the Sword Gram