In ‘The Saga of the Volsungs’, the founder of their line is indeed called Volsung, but this does not sound right. The -ung ending nearly always means ‘descendant of’, as if the original name should have been Volsi. Beowulf in fact knows the name as Wæls, and refers to Sigmund, Sigurd’s father, as ‘the Wælsing’, the ‘son of Wæls’,5 which does sound right. However, the original and correct name for the founder of the dynasty may have been censored out by later Christian writers, for in Old Norse völsi is a word for ‘horse penis’. (There is an Old Norse short story incorporated into ‘The Saga of St Olaf’ that accuses the pagan Swedes, possibly unfairly but possibly not, of worshipping a horse penis in winter fertility rites.) ‘The Saga of the Volsungs’ as we have it starts off with an involved story about an apple sent by Odin to ensure conception, and a sword which only the hero Sigmund can draw, planted by Odin in a huge tree called Barnstock. This clearly means ‘bairn stock’, ‘child stock’, so once again there is some kind of story of miraculous conception lurking in there. Possibly the original founder of the dynasty was once thought to be a fertility god.