The Sigurd Runestone
Contents
- Location
- History and Description
- Outline of the Story
- Photographs
- Related Links
Ramsundsberget, Jäder, Södermanland, Sweden
In memory of her husband and in celebration of the building of a nearby
bridge, sometime during the eleventh century a Swedish woman named Sigrid
had an extensive inscription carved on a large outcropping of natural
stone.
The carving depicts an elaborate two-headed serpent encircling a number of
figures. Inscribed on the serpent's body are runic letters that spell out
the message: "Sigrid, the mother of Alrik, the daughter of Orm, made this
bridge for the soul of her husband Holmgr, the father of Sigrid."
Although the runic inscription itself has no mythological content, the
figures dramatically illustrate the story of Sigurd the dragon slayer.
This tale is alluded to in Beowulf, Njal's Saga, and other ancient
works,
and is recited with substantial detail both in the Prose Edda of
Snorri
Sturluson and in the thirteenth-century anonymous Icelandic works Saga
of the
Volsungs and Dietrich's Saga.
- Sigurd and Regin, a master swordsmith, plan to kill the dragon Fafnir
and take possession of his treasure.
- Sigurd positions himself in a trench beneath the dragon's trail, and
stabs him from beneath when Fafnir leaves his lair for water.
- Regin asks Sigurd to cook the dragon's heart and give it to him to
eat. While cooking the heart, Sigurd tests its doneness by putting some
of its juice into his mouth with his finger.
- Upon thus tasting the dragon's blood, Sigurd can understand the
language of the two nearby birds, who are conversing with one another as
to how the treacherous Regin plans to kill Sigurd.
- Forewarned by the birds, Sigurd strikes off Regin's head.
- Sigurd then loads Fafnir's treasure onto his horse Grani and departs
for new adventures.
- The Sigurd Runestone in its
wooded setting.
- Overall view of the Sigurd Runestone,
as seen from the right.
- Overall view of the Sigurd Runestone,
as seen from the left.
- Detail from the right side of the Runestone, showing Sigurd beneath the dragon
Fafnir, thrusting his sword Gram upward through the dragon's body.
- Detail from the left side of the Runestone, showing the decapitated Regin,
surrounded by his blacksmith's tools: hammer, anvil, tongs, and
bellows.
- Detail from the center of the Runestone, showing Sigurd with his thumb in
this mouth. On his left one sees Regin's blacksmith tools; on his
right are the tail and rear feet of his horse Grani.
- Detail from the center of the Runestone, showing Sigurd's horse Grani and
the tree with two birds.
Revised February 4, 2000.
