The world first publication of a previously unknown work by J.R.R. Tolkien which tells the epic story of the Norse hero Sigurd the dragon-slayer the revenge of his wife Gudruacute;n and the Fall of the Nibelungs.In the Lay of the Vlsungs is told the ancestry of the great hero Sigurd the slayer of Faacute;fnir most celebrated of dragons whose treasure he took for his own; of his awakening of the Valkyrie Brynhild who slept surrounded by a wall of fire and of their betrothal; and of his coming to the court of the great princes who were named the Niflungs (or Nibelungs) with whom he entered into blood-brotherhood. In that court there sprang great love but also great hate brought about by the power of the enchantress mother of the Niflungs skilled in the arts of magic of shape-changing and potions of forgetfulness.In scenes of dramatic intensity of confusion of identity thwarted passion jealousy and bitter strife the tragedy of Sigurd and Brynhild of Gunnar the Niflung and Gudruacute;n his sister mounts to its end in the murder of Sigurd at the hands of his blood-brothers the suicide of Brynhild and the despair of Gudruacute;n. In the Lay of Gudruacute;n her fate after the death of Sigurd is told her marriage against her will to the mighty Atli ruler of the Huns (the Attila of history) his murder of her brothers the Niflung lords and her hideous revenge.