One hour west of Stockholm lies Eskilstuna. 10 km north east of Eskilstuna at Lake Mälaren lies Sundbyholm. Today featuring a horse track that draws an audience from all of Sweden, I’m here for another reason.
Hidden in a nearby forest, on a large rock surface facing south and west, rune carvings reveal that this place was an important meeting place since the Viking Age. The inscription reads that Sigrid let build a bridge to save the soul of her late husband Holmger. But it is not the runes that brought me here today. It is the pictures. The runes take the form of a snake that winds around itself and inside carvings tell the story of Sigurd Fafnirsbane.
The story of Sigurd is perhaps best known today from Wagner’s three day Ring cycle.
But the story of Sigurd who slays the dragon Fafnir for his foster father Regin, only to learn that Regin intends to kill him to get the dragon’s treasure for himself, is much older. We have versions of the story both in the Poetic Edda and in the Völsunga saga. The Ramsund carving reveals that it was also known in Eastern Scandinavia. The carving is one of eight or nine Sigurd stones, runic inscriptions that depict the legend of Sigurd the dragon slayer.
I love the visual style of the characters and how vivid the pictures speak to us even today. I asked my daughter to tell me what the pictures show. Regin the Smith with his head chopped off. Sigurd sucking his thumb after having burnt himself on the fire, accidentally licking blood from the heart of the dragon. Suddenly being able to understand what the birds talk about.
Next to the rock carving, remains of a bridge foundation is visible still today. Only a narrow stream remains of the waterway the bridge spanned back in its time. Since the end of the Ice Age, Sweden has risen slowly from the sea. Shallow lakes became fertile farmland. Inland hilltops were once islands in the archipelago. Likely painted in bright colours, the illustration telling a popular story would be hard to miss by passing travellers.
On the way to the Ramsund Carving from the freeway passing north of Eskilstuna, you pass two other runic stones. Placed next to the bike lane, they are a little harder to get to by car. One was blown up by a farmer then later put back together. The other more than 4 meters tall. These are two more of the more than 400 known runic stones from the Sörmland region of Sweden.
Monuments like this speaks to us from generations past. Who was Sigrid? Who was Holmger that Sigrid wanted to build a bridge for his soul? Why the illustrations from the story of Sigurd Fafnirsbane? We will likely never know but we can make up our own interpretation.
We can use these questions to tell our own stories of what is important, what is true, and what we want future generations to know. As I did for my daughter on a beautiful Sunday in June.
Be sure also to visit the Swedish History Museum in Stockholm. A replica of the Ramsund carving will meet you as you step down into the treasury.