European dragon than with a lizard-like or dinosaur-like body as in later belief (though the dragon of Beowulf does show several features that would later become popularized with dragons–namely, it breathes fire–lives underground, and collects treasure). The most famous lindworm in Norse and Germanic mythology is Fafnir The Germanic stories of lindworms have them guarding a treasure hoard. The Fafnir lindworm guarded earthen mounds full of ancient treasure. The treasure was cursed and brought ill to those who later possessed it. Sea serpents are also called orms in Nordic languages, wyrms in Old English and worms in Middle English. These "dragons" are
Germanic Heroic Age 5th to 6th centuries reflected in heroic poetry are likely historical, but only rarely can this be established from independent historiographic tradition, as in the case of Hygelac, king of the Geats who appears both in the heroic poem "Beowulf" and in historiographic sources such as the "Liber Historiae Francorum". Germanic Heroic Age The Germanic (or "German") Heroic Age, so called in analogy to the Heroic Age of Greek mythology, is the period of early historic or quasi-historic events reflected in Germanic heroic poetry. The period corresponds to the Germanic Wars in terms of historiography, and to the Germanic Iron