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The Völsunga Saga on Odin

The Story Of The Volsungs, (Volsunga Saga) > With Excerpts From The Poetic Edda > Introduction

relationship: Bor's three sons were Odin, Vili, and Ve, who slew the giant Ymir and made the world from his body

"they had three sons, Odin, Vili, and Ve. Bor's sons slew Ymir the giant"
attestation: Odin's two wolves Geri and Freki eat the meat from his table while he sustains himself on wine alone

"The meat Odin has on his board he gives to his two wolves, Geri and Freki, and he needs no meat, wine is to him both meat and drink"
attestation: Fallen warriors come to Odin in Valhalla, where they feast on the boar Saehrimnir and drink mead from the goat Heidrun

"All those men that have fallen in the fight, and borne wounds and toil unto death, from the beginning of the world, are come to Odin in Valhall"
attestation: Odin sacrificed his eye to drink from Mimir's spring where knowledge and wit lie hidden

"under that root is Mimir's spring, where knowledge and wit lie hidden; thither came Allfather and begged a drink, but got it not before he left his eye in pledge"

attestation: Odin personally accompanied Sigi from the land and brought him to war-ships

"Odin bare him fellowship from the land, so long a way, that right long it was, and made no stay till he brought him to certain war-ships."

attestation: The old man (Odin) declared that whoever draws the sword from the tree shall have it as a gift and will never bear a better weapon

"Whoso draweth this sword from this stock, shall have the same as a gift from me, and shall find in good sooth that never bare he better sword in hand than is this."
attestation: A mysterious one-eyed old man entered Volsung's hall during the wedding feast and thrust a sword into the Branstock tree

"a certain man came into the hall unknown of aspect to all men; and suchlike array he had, that over him was a spotted cloak, and he was bare-foot, and had linen-breeches knit tight even unto the bone, and he had a sword in his hand as he went up to the Branstock, and a slouched hat upon his head: huge he was, and seeming-ancient, and one-eyed."

attestation: The one-eyed stranger who placed the sword is identified as Odin, who sacrificed his eye at Mimir's fountain for wisdom

"The man is Odin, who is always so represented, because he gave his eye as a pledge for a draught from the fountain of Mimir, the source of all wisdom."

attestation: The mysterious boatman who ferried Sinfjotli's body is identified as Odin

"The man in the boat is Odin, doubtless."

attestation: A one-eyed man in a blue cloak appeared on the battlefield and shattered Sigmund's sword with a bill

"there came a man into the fight clad in a blue cloak, and with a slouched hat on his head, one-eyed he was, (1) and bare a bill in his hand; and he came against Sigmund the King, and have up his bill against him, and as Sigmund smote fiercely with the sword it fell upon the bill and burst asunder in the midst"
attestation: Odin deliberately reclaimed the sword he had given Sigmund, ending Sigmund's invincibility

"the good-hap of King Sigmund had departed from him, and his men fell fast about him"

attestation: The one-eyed man who broke Sigmund's sword is Odin, reclaiming the weapon he gave in Chapter III

"Odin coming to change the ownership of the sword he had given Sigmund. See Chapter 3."

attestation: The grey-bearded man who helped Sigurd choose Grani was Odin himself

"nor was the man he met other than Odin himself."

attestation: A one-eyed old man (Odin) appeared and advised the king to smite the brothers to death with stones, since iron could not bite on them

"there came thereto a certain man, old of aspect and one-eyed, (1) and he spake--

"No wise men are ye, whereas ye cannot bring these men to their end.""

attribution: The one-eyed old man who ends the tale is Odin, just as he began the saga

"Odin; he ends the tale as he began it."

attestation: Odin shut Brynhild in a shield-wall as punishment for defying him

"So he shut me in shield-wall"