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What is The Story of Sigurd the Volsung and the Fall of the Niblungs about?
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The Story of Sigurd the Volsung and the Fall of the Niblungs (1876) is considered the principal poetic achievement of William Morris. This epic narrative was written following Morrisās intensive study of medieval sagas in their original Old Norse language.1
The work is a retelling of the ancient Germanic hero legends, specifically based on the Volsunga saga. It recounts the story of Sigurd, the grandson of Volsung, and the destruction of the Burgundians (the Niblungs). This material is the Northern version of the same legendary cycle that inspired the Middle German epic known as the Nibelungenlied, which features the hero Siegfried.21