File:Sigurd on Manx crosses.gif

English: Sigurd on three crosses from the Isle of Man

Fig. 46. The first of these, from Jurby, shows on the space remaining at one side, the dragon Fafni writhing in his death agony, and Sigurd piercing him with a sword. The Sagas relate that Sigurd was advised by Odin to dig pits and to conceal himself in one in order to strike the dragon as he passed over it. Owing to the cramped space at his command, the artist has ingeniously represented the pit by what looks like a hollow mound with an opening at the top. Below is another figure of Sigurd in the act of roasting the heart of the dragon, and having scalded his fingers with the boiling blood he cools them in his mouth-by which means he came to under- stand the language of birds. Below is the steed Grani and a peculiar conventional figure of a tree, at one side of which is one of the talking birds through whom Sigurd learned of the intended treachery of the dwarf Regin, who meant to devour the heart himself and so become the wisest and most powerful of beings, and then, having slain Sigurd, to carry off the treasure.

Fig. 47. The Malew slab shows on the brolien space at one side of the cross the steed, and, below, the remains of two panels unfortunately lost. At the other side Sigurd is seen holding the wand, upon which the dragon's heart is roasting, over a fire represented by three triangular flames, while he cools his burnt fingers in his mouth. The figure below shows again Sigurd from his pit piercing the dragon as he passes over. Both the figure drawing and the geometrical work are of a different type, and this is certainly later than the Jurby stone, and by a different artist.

Fig. 48. The Maughold slab is by yet another hand and of a still later date, and is suggested in " Manx Crosses " to have been a memorial to King Olaf the Red, who was slain at Ramsey in 1153. Upon this we see for the first time the beginning of the story, which tells how Loki, who was the mischief-maker among the high gods, found the Otter devouring a salmon on a rock by the Foss or waterfall, and stoned him to death. When it was discovered that the Otter was the son of Hreidmar, King of the Dwarf-kind, who assumed that form when he went a-fishing, Odin, Hoener and Loki, notwith- standing their godship, had to pay weregild ; for this purpose Loki then captured Andwari and robbed him of his treasure, including the celebrated ring which was to bring such a dreadful curse on all its future possessors. Further up on the panel is represented the later scene, when Sigurd, having slain the dragon, as well as Regin, who was brother to Fafni, seized the treasure and set it on the back of Grani to ride away and pass through the ring of flames to Brynhild the Valkyrie.