“Sjúrðarkvæði“ - Saga of Sjúrður Sigmundarson

Happy Ólavsøka! The Germanic legend of Sigurd (Sjúrður) the dragon slayer was the most profound story in its culture and was the story that had the most impact on the Germanic peoples. It is akin to the likes of Star Wars and the Lord of the Rings in today’s world. The story of Sjúrður itself stems from a larger saga, The Saga of The Volsungs, which is the principal saga in Norse literature, containing many core aspects of their way of writing and mythology. Sjúrðarkvæði is the Faroese version of this ancient tale, which is the only place where the oral tradition has survived into the modern age. It is impossible to know when exactly the Faroe Islanders learned this story, but there is strong evidence that suggests it was made during the viking age or at least sometime during the middle ages. The story itself is centuries older than the Faroese version, which has led to many deviances in stories from place to place. Nonetheless, the core elements have remained the same, and the Saga of Sjúrður Sigmundarson