The dragon (Beowulf) The dragon (Beowulf) The final act of the Anglo-Saxon poem "Beowulf" is about the hero Beowulf's fight with a dragon, the third monster he encounters in the epic. On his return from Heorot, where he killed Grendel and Grendel's mother, Beowulf becomes king of the Geats and rules peacefully for fifty winters until a slave awakens and angers a dragon by stealing a jewelled cup from its lair. When the angry dragon mercilessly burns the Geats' homes and lands, Beowulf decides to fight and kill the monster personally. He and his thanes climb to the dragon's lair where, upon seeing
Skjöldunga saga Skjöldunga saga The Skjöldunga saga (or, in another standardised Old Norse spelling, "Skjǫldunga saga") was an Old Norse Legendary saga. Dating from c. 1180 – 1200, the saga was lost in its original form. The saga focused on the Danish dynasty of Scylding (Old Norse "Skjöldung", plural "Skjöldungar"), the same semi-legendary dynasty featured in the Old English poem "Beowulf". The fragmentary Icelandic text known as "Sögubrot af nokkrum fornkonungum" is believed to be based on the "Skjöldunga saga", perhaps deriving from a late version of that work. Arngrímur Jónsson paraphrased parts of it into Latin, and parts of it are