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4 | SIGMUND OF MIDGAARD

Two generations after the death of Beowulf, Midgaard still suffered the frequent predations of the vicious Dvergar of Nidavellir. A new hero arose called Sigmund, and soon he was King. Many adventures did he have, and trials did he endure in order to find some source of power to defeat the enemies of the Ursines, but they were in vain.

One night, during a full moon, while wandering the forests of Midgaard, Sigmund encountered a crippled beggar who asked him for food. Sigmund agreed, and shared his jerked meat with the beggar. The beggar, who named himself Tinian, proceeded to ask Sigmund to help him uncover the treasure he had buried long ago. Sigmund agreed, and set about digging a hole twice as high as he was before the beggar Tinian proclaimed that he had misremembered the location of the hole.

Sigmund was wroth with anger at this clear deception, but held his tongue, for he pitied the beggar and his station in life. He said, "Friend Tinian, I have fed you, and helped you amuse yourself for honor's sake, but do not trifle with me again for I am no saint possessed of patience unending."

The beggar chuckled madly and replied, "King of snow, noble lord of the North, I know you, but you do not know me, and why would you? I am nobody. But do me another trifle."

Sigmund replied, "I will do you one more favor, friend Tinian, but pray do not make a fool of me."

"I would not think of it, my lord," said the beggar.

"Then be on with it, and ask of me what you will," said Sigmund.

The beggar asked, "If it please you then, there is an axe mired in the very rock of a cave a day's journey north of here. I have not the strength to draw it out, but I see that you are mighty of sinew. Will you come with me, and draw the axe I have discovered out for me?"

Stormbringer

Sigmund pondered it and decided that there was little harm in taking a day to help Tinian, who was a pitiable being at best. After a day's journey, they arrived at the cave which Tinian had described, and there the axe lay, stuck in the uneven rock wall. Sigmund grasped the haft of the axe, and pulled hard, but it would not come loose. He braced himself and pulled with all his might, but the axe still would not loosen. Despairing, he leaned on the axe and it suddenly slipped loose. Astounded, Sigmund wielded the axe and looked to Tinian, only to find that Tinian was no longer with him.

One instant there was Tinian, and the next there was a godly being with one good eye and two ravens on his shoulders. Mighty and waxing in his might, he proclaimed to Sigmund that he was Odin, called the Allfather, and that he could offer Sigmund power over the enemies of Midgaard.

Odin

"You have proven yourself worthy, Sigmund," said the Allfather. "That you are a mighty king and warrior is known to all, but you showed yourself good-hearted when you fed me. You showed yourself patient when you did not seek to slay me for my prank with the hole, and you showed yourself trustworthy in agreeing to come with me to this cave. Only those who can give trust are worthy of receiving it in kind."

"Pledge your fealty to Asgard," proclaimed Odin, "and my kin and I will deign to cast our favor upon you. Stormbringer, that axe is called, and with it you will serve victory to your enemies."

Sigmund eagerly agreed, and took the axe he withdrew from the cave wall into battle, whence he proceeded to cut down the Dvergar like butter before a hot blade. Rallying behind their fearsome warrior‐King, the Ursines of Midgaard began to push the forces of Nidavellir back, until they had reclaimed almost half of what the Dvergar had conquered in the previous decades. Sigmund's pledge of loyalty to Odin and his brothers and sisters had been justified, and his people proclaimed him the equal of Beowulf, feting him for a full month in feast and celebration.

As with all great warrior‐Kings though, Sigmund's fate was not to die in a bed, doddering with age and decay. He fell on the field of battle in the prime of his adulthood, driving the Dvergar back to the frozen hell from which they come. As he died he summoned forth his remaining strength and delivered blow after blow to the Dvergar around him, until he lay surrounded by Dvergar who proceeded him in his departure to the afterlife. When the saddened but victorious Ursines found his body after the battle, Sigmund's mighty axe, Stormbringer, lay broken in pieces around him, losing its life as its King lost his.