Thor (1966 series) #298

Thor continues to listen to the Eye of Odin recount the older history of Odin….

Siegfried faces the dragon Fafnir in a fight to the finish. The hero, wielding the sword Needful, takes on his huge and scaly foe who can breathe fire on him. After a brutal battle, Siegfried manages to put out one of Fafnor’s eyes and then pierce the monster’s heart. The dragon reverts to his true form as a Storm Giant to die as he lived—and he warns Siegfried that along with the Rheingold he has inherited the curse as well. Sieg claims the ring and while he is in the cavern, Mime the Dwarf plots to seize the gold, despite the warnings of his brother Alberich. Sieg returns having chosen only a cloak and a helmet from the hoard but now he can understand the voice of the bird (due to having tasted Fafnir’s blood) warning him about Mime’s treachery. The dwarf offers Sieg a drink of wine but the hero knows it is poisoned; there is then a scuffle and Sieg hurls Mime into a pool of dragon’s blood which kills the dwarf but as he dies, he curses Siegfried. Sieg places Mime’s body in the cavern and plugs up the entrance with Fafnir’s corpse, sealing the treasure inside. A little birdie tells him of Brunnhilda (who we know as Valkyrie) atop the fiery mountain and the curious hero heads there…

…where he meets Odin who challenges him; Sieg, who recognizes his father’s killer, is able to easily cleave Odin’s spear, after which the All-Father departs. Siegfried climbs the fiery mount to find the sleeping maiden whom he awakens with a kiss—and she responds with a punch to the face. Then she remembers where she has been and how she is no longer a goddess and so she welcomes her rescuer and they pledge their love one for the other….