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
Wayland the Smith Wayland the Smith In Germanic mythology, Wayland the Smith (; ; ; "Galans" ("Galant") in Old French; ; from "", lit. "battle-brave") is a legendary master blacksmith, described by Jessie Weston as "the weird and malicious craftsman, Weyland". In Old Norse sources, Völundr appears in "Völundarkviða", a poem in the "Poetic Edda", and in Þiðreks saga, and his legend is also depicted on Ardre image stone VIII. In Old English sources, he appears in "Deor", "Waldere" and in "Beowulf" and the legend is depicted on the Franks Casket. He is mentioned in the German poems about Theoderic the Great as