devious and unpleasant King Siggeir, Signý then bears a son who is no less strong, handsome, and fearless than Völsung himself. This is Sinfjǫtli, who together with Sigmund will avenge their clan by killing Siggeir. Sinfjǫtli ignores the pain, saying that "such pain would seem trifling to Völsung." The incestuous product of the coalesced Völsung line, he is capable of the great deeds Signý requires. Sigmund and Sinfjǫtli go to Hunaland where Sigmund is proclaimed king of the Huns. He marries Borghild and has the sons Helgi Hundingsbane and Hámundr. Sinfjötli slays Borghild's brother while vying for a woman both the brother and Sinfjǫtli want. Borghild avenges her brother by poisoning Sinfjötli. In order to dispose of him, Borghild gives Sigmund three cups of wine, of which the last contains poison. Sigmund, suspecting Borghild drinks two of the cups, but inebriated, encourages Sinfjǫtli to drink the third, which he does, and subsequently dies. Sigmund brings his son's corpse to the fjords, where he meets Odin disguised as a ferryman. The ferryman says that he can only take one passenger at a time and takes Sinfjǫtli's body first. Out on the water, he and Sinfjǫtli disappear. Sigmund goes home and banishes Borghild. This is roughly the tale told in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún. In the First Lay of Helgi Hundingsbane, from the Poetic Edda, Gudmund accuses Sinfjǫtli of being a werewolf. References David Clark, Gender, Violence, and the Past in Edda and Saga, Oxford UP, 2012. Further reading Völsung cycle Heroes in Norse myths and legends English heroic legends Fictional offspring of incestuous relationships