Apple

Rerir now had plenty of treasure, and a wife who he thought suited
him. Nevertheless, they were together a long time without producing a
son to be Rerir’s heir. Both of them were unhappy about this, and they
prayed earnestly to the gods and asked them to grant them a child.

Frigg heard their prayer, and she told Óđin what they asked for.
He was not in any doubt about how to help, and he sent one of his
Valkyries, who was named Hljóđ, a daughter of the giant Hrímnir. He
gave the Valkyrie an apple and told her to give it to the king. She took
the apple and turned into a crow, and flew into Rerir’s kingdom and
found him where he sat on a burial mound. She dropped the apple on
his lap. He picked up the apple and thought he had an idea of what its
significance might be. He went home and met with his queen, and ate
a little of the apple.

The queen discovered shortly afterwards that she was pregnant, but
the pregnancy lasted an unusually long time while she remained unable
to give birth to the child.

Eventually it happened that Rerir went to battle, as kings often do in
order to secure peace in their country. While he was away, he became
sick and died of his illness. He intended to go to Óđin, which was
thought to be desirable in his time.

The queen remained pregnant the same way without being able to
give birth to the child, and this continued for six years. After six years
of pregnancy, she believed she could not live much longer, and she gave
orders to cut her open, and this was done.

The child was a boy, and as expected, he was already very big when
he was born. It is said that the boy kissed his mother before she died.
The boy was given the name Volsung, and he became the king of
Hunland after his father Rerir. He grew big and strong at a young age, and
he was very bold in every kind of deed that requires manliness and
courage. He became a very great warrior, and he was victorious in his battles.

When Volsung was full-grown, the giant Hrímnir sent him his
daughter Hljóđ, who has been mentioned before as the Valkyrie who
brought Rerir the apple. He married her, and they were together a long
time and had a good marriage.

Volsung and Hljóđ had ten sons and one daughter. Their oldest son
was named Sigmund, and their daughter was named Signý. They were
twins, and both of them were the foremost and the most beautiful in
every way of the children of King Volsung. All of Volsung’s children
were great, as has been told in stories for a long time, and it has become
a famous tale that they were extremely proud and were the greatest of
all those mentioned in ancient sagas, the greatest in wisdom and in all
sports and all kinds of combat.

It is said that King Volsung ordered a magnificent hall to be built,
with a large oak that stood in the middle of the floor with its branches
and beautiful blossoms weaving among the beams in the roof, and its
trunk standing in the middle of the hall. They called this tree Barnstokk.


- Volsunga Saga, Chapter 2