Among the heroes of the Norse sagas, few were as famous as Sigurd. The story in which he kills the dragon Fafnir appears in the Völsunga Saga, written in Iceland around 1270, and in the poem Fáfnismál, in the Poetic Edda. Both texts are much older than the pages in which they survive.

The cursed gold

At first, Fafnir was not a dragon. He was the son of the dwarf Hreidmar and, with his brothers, received a share of a treasure that carried a curse. Out of greed, he killed his own father to keep it all. Then his covetousness turned him into a beast, which guarded the gold on a heath.

Regin, Fafnir’s brother and a smith, raised Sigurd as a foster son and urged him to kill the dragon. Regin forged the sword Gram from the pieces of the sword of Sigurd’s father, Sigmund. With it, Sigurd split an anvil in two, to show that the blade was ready.

The pit on the path

Sigurd heard from Regin that all he had to do was wait for the dragon on the path he took every day to the water. According to the saga, a one-eyed old man, who is Odin in disguise, advised him to dig several pits, so that the beast’s blood would run into them and not drown him.

Sigurd hid in the pit. When Fafnir crawled over it, he thrust the sword in from below, up to the heart, and the dragon was mortally wounded. Before dying, Fafnir still spoke with him and warned him that the gold would bring misfortune to whoever held it.

The heart and the birds

Regin asked Sigurd to roast the dragon’s heart. Touching it to see whether it was done, Sigurd burned his finger and put it in his mouth. Fafnir’s blood let him understand what the birds were saying. They warned him that Regin planned to kill him, and Sigurd killed him first. Then he loaded the treasure onto his horse Grani.

The scene in wood

The story was carved many times. In Norway, the portal of the wooden church at Hylestad, in Setesdal, shows Sigurd and Regin at the forge, the repaired sword, the dragon’s death, the roasted heart, the birds in a tree and the horse loaded with gold. The portal dates from the 12th century and is now in the Museum of Cultural History in Oslo.

In Sweden, a rock at Ramsund carries the same sequence carved in runes and figures. Scholars debate why a pagan hero appears in Christian churches. One reading sees him as an image of courage against a beast driven by greed.

The saga’s dragon does not breathe fire. It is an enormous venomous serpent that drags itself along the ground. It was later tradition that added the flames.

To try Sigurd’s manoeuvre, play The dragon’s pit.

Sources.

• *Völsunga saga* (c. 1270)
• *Fáfnismál*, poem of the *Poetic Edda* (13th-century manuscripts)
• Snorri Sturluson, *Prose Edda*, section Skáldskaparmál (c. 1220)
• Hylestad stave church portal, Norway, 12th century, now in the Museum of Cultural History in Oslo