The world first publication of a previously unknown work by J.R.R. Tolkien which tells the
epic story of the Norse hero Sigurd the dragon-slayer the revenge of his wife Gudrún and
the Fall of the Nibelungs. In the Lay of the Völsungs is told the ancestry of the great hero
Sigurd the slayer of Fáfnir most celebrated of dragons whose treasure he took for his own of
his awakening of the Valkyrie Brynhild who slept surrounded by a wall of fire and of their
betrothal and of his coming to the court of the great princes who were named the Niflungs (or
Nibelungs) with whom he entered into blood-brotherhood. In that court there sprang great love
but also great hate brought about by the power of the enchantress mother of the Niflungs
skilled in the arts of magic of shape-changing and potions of forgetfulness. In scenes of
dramatic intensity of confusion of identity thwarted passion jealousy and bitter strife the
tragedy of Sigurd and Brynhild of Gunnar the Niflung and Gudrún his sister mounts to its end
in the murder of Sigurd at the hands of his blood-brothers the suicide of Brynhild and the
despair of Gudrún. In the Lay of Gudrún her fate after the death of Sigurd is told her
marriage against her will to the mighty Atli ruler of the Huns (the Attila of history) his
murder of her brothers the Niflung lords and her hideous revenge.
