Hálfdanar saga Brönufóstra to his father's kingdom and defeats and kills Soti and his Vikings. Although numerous sagas contain analogs to the iconic cave battle with Grendel and his mother in "Beowulf," none is closer to the Old English epic than is Hálfdan’s cave battle with Járnnefr and his wife. The saga is found in three, 15th-century vellum manuscripts, but its post-medieval popularity is evidenced by its preservation in over four dozen paper manuscripts. In the 18th century it served as the source for the first known saga forgery. "Hálfdanar saga Brönufóstra" has a sequel in "Sörla saga sterka", where it becomes clear
Old English literature the appearance of the theme in Ancient Greek poetry, a tradition without known connection to the Germanic, invalidated the notion of "an autonomous theme in the baggage of an oral poet." Foley's response was that Dane misunderstood the nature of oral tradition, and that in fact the appearance of the theme in other cultures showed that it was a traditional form. The Old English poetry which has received the most attention deals with the Germanic heroic past. The longest at 3,182 lines, and the most important, is "Beowulf", which appears in the damaged Nowell Codex. Beowulf relates the exploits of