In the Völsunga saga, Sigmund is the Norse hero who pulls the sword Gram from the tree Barnstokkr. The episode occurs during the wedding feast of his sister Signy and King Siggeir.
A mysterious, one-eyed stranger—Odin in disguise—enters King Völsung’s hall and thrusts Gram into the living tree growing at its center. He declares that the man who can draw the sword will receive it. The assembled warriors all fail, but Sigmund removes it effortlessly, proving his exceptional destiny and connection to Odin.
Siggeir covets the sword and offers Sigmund its weight in gold, but Sigmund refuses to sell it. This rejection helps trigger Siggeir’s vengeance against the Völsung family. Gram later becomes a family heirloom. Odin breaks it during Sigmund’s final battle, and Sigmund’s wife, Hjördis, preserves the fragments for their son, Sigurd.
Sigurd eventually has the sword reforged and uses it to kill the dragon Fafnir. Völsung is Sigmund’s father, not the sword’s successful wielder; Sigurd is the later hero who inherits Gram’s broken pieces.