Hild and Hervoer are at
one extreme: war is their spiritual life. Love is in Hild nothing
more than instinct; in Hervoer it is not even that: she would desire
nothing from marriage beyond a son to inherit the sword. At the other
extreme is Sigrun, who has the warlike instinct, but is spiritually a
lover as completely and essentially as Isolde or Juliet. The interest
in Signy lies in the way in which she sacrifices what are usually
considered the strongest feminine instincts, without, however, by
any means abandoning them, to her uncompromising revenge and pride
of race. Her pride in her son seems to include something of both
trains of feeling; and she dies with the husband she detests, simply
because he is her husband. Brynhild, lastly, is a highly modern type,
as independent in love as in war. It is impossible to imagine Sigrun,
or Wagner's Sieglinde, taking her revenge on a faithless lover;
from no lack of spirit, but simply because revenge would have given
no comfort to either. To Brynhild it is not only a distinct relief,
but the only endurable end; she can forgive when she is avenged.
The other motives of these stories may be briefly enumerated. The
burning of Brynhild and Signy, and Sigrun's entrance into the howe,
are mythical reminiscences of widow-burial. The "sister's son" is
preserved in the Sigmund and Sinfjoetli tale, which also has a trace
of animism in the werwolf episode. The common swanmaid motive occurs
in two, the Voelund story and the legend of Helgi and Kara; while the
first Helgi tale suggests the Levirate in the proposed marriage of
Svava to her husband's brother.
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