Beowulf Hrothgar, king of the Danes, whose great hall, Heorot, is plagued by the monster Grendel. Beowulf kills Grendel with his bare hands and Grendel's mother with a giant's sword that he found in her lair. Later in his life, Beowulf becomes king of the Geats, and finds his realm terrorized by a dragon, some of whose treasure had been stolen from his hoard in a burial mound. He attacks the dragon with the help of his "thegns" or servants, but they do not succeed. Beowulf decides to follow the dragon to its lair at Earnanæs, but only his young Swedish
Ynglinga saga Ynglinga saga Ynglinga saga is a legendary saga, originally written in Old Norse by the Icelandic poet and historian Snorri Sturluson about 1225. It is the first section of his "Heimskringla". It was first translated into English and published in 1844 by Samuel Laing. Snorri Sturluson based his work on an earlier "Ynglingatal" which is attributed to the Norwegian 9th century skald Þjóðólfr of Hvinir, and which also appears in "Historia Norwegiae". It tells the most ancient part of the story of the House of Ynglings ("Scylfings" in "Beowulf"). Snorri described the descent of the kings of Norway from this