Ulrikke (short Story)

"Ulrikke" (original

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

title: "Ulrica") is a short story by Argentinian writer

Jorge Luis Borges Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo (; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator, as well as a key figure in Spanish-language and international literature. His best-known bo ...

, collected in the anthology ''

The Book of Sand "The Book of Sand" ( es, El libro de arena, links=no) is a 1975 short story by Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges about the discovery of a book with infinite pages. It has parallels to the same author's 1949 story " The Zahir" (revised in 1974 ...

''. It is notable because it is one of the few of Borges' stories in which women and sex play a central role. The story begins with an epigraph quoting a verse of Chapter 27 of '' Volsunga saga'', ''"Hann tekr sverðit Gram ok leggr i meðal þeira bert"'', which means: ''"He takes the sword Gram and lays it bare between them"''. The short story is about a meeting between Ulrica, a Norwegian woman, and a Colombian teacher, Javier Otárola (who tells the story), in

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

. In this meeting, the couple falls in love with each other and takes possession of the names of the heroes of the

legendary saga A legendary saga or ''fornaldarsaga'' (literally, "story/history of the ancient era") is a Norse saga that, unlike the Icelanders' sagas, takes place before the settlement of Iceland.The article ''Fornaldarsagor'' in ''Nationalencyklopedin'' (1991 ...

contained in the epigraph:

Brynhild Brunhild, also known as Brunhilda or Brynhild ( non, Brynhildr , gmh, Brünhilt, german: Brünhild , label=Modern German or ), is a female character from Germanic heroic legend. She may have her origins in the Visigothic princess Brunhilda o ...

and

Sigurd Sigurd ( non, Sigurðr ) or Siegfried (Middle High German: ''Sîvrit'') is a legendary hero of Germanic heroic legend, who killed a dragon and was later murdered. It is possible he was inspired by one or more figures from the Frankish Meroving ...

, respectively. Lapida Borges Plainpalais - Reverso

Both the epigraph and the name of the protagonists are inscripted in Borges's grave, in

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

. Short stories by Jorge Luis Borges 1975 short stories {{1970s-fantasy-story-stub