Fafnir, from the Icelandic Volsunga Saga
Hreidmar, who was the King of the Dwarf People, had three sons. Fafnir was the eldest and he was gifted with a fearless soul and a powerful arm. The second son, Otr, was a shape-shifter, and then there was Regin who built a house of gold to please his father.
No-one dared to approach Fafnir because of his fierce glances and Ægis helmet. His fearsome appearance was one of the reasons he guarded the gold house of his father.
One day, something terrible happened. Odin and Loki were walking by a stream in Midgard, one of the nine worlds of Yggdrasil, the sacred tree of life in Norse mythology.
Trickster God Loki killed an otter and flung it over his shoulder. What he did not know was that, being something of a magician, Otr often took the form of an otter during the day.
The gods continued their journey until they came to the house of Hreidmar, whom they asked for shelter for the night. At first Hreidmar was welcoming enough, but when he saw the otter, he shouted in rage and grief, for the dead creature was his son. Hreidmar summoned his other two sons, Regin and Fafnir. Then, with his magic spells, he disarmed the gods and bound them.
Odin told Hreidmar that he and his companions would pay whatever ransom he asked. Hreidmar and his sons demanded that the otter’s skin should be stuffed with gold treasures. Loki, the most cunning of the gods, went straight to the place where he had killed the otter and stared down into the water. Soon he saw what he was looking for: an enormous pike guarding the entrance to an underwater cave that gleamed with gold. The pike was the dwarf Andvari, keeper of the fabled treasure: the magical ring Andvaranaut.
[In Norse mythology Andvaranaut, also called Andvari’s loom, is a powerful, magical ring capable of producing gold. It was forged by the shape-shifting dwarf Andvari who could turn himself into a fish at will.]
To save his life, the dwarf Andvari gave up his entire hoard of gold. He begged Loki not to take the Andvaranaut ring from him, but Loki snatched the ring and put it on his finger. Andvari laid a terrible curse upon the ring, vowing that anyone who wore it would be smitten with ill fortune and death. Hreidmar and his sons were delighted to get so many gold treasures. Otr’s ransom was paid and the two travellers were allowed to go, but it did not take long before Andvari’s curse began to operate.
Fafnir decider he wanted the whole treasure and didn’t want to share the gold with his father and brother. So, he killed his father, and when Regin came to claim a share he drove him scornfully away and bade him earn his own living.
Fafnir was now so greedy that he decided he must guard his treasure day and night. The dwarf went out into the wilderness to keep his fortune, eventually turning into a dragon. And he breathed poison into the land around him so no one would go near him and his treasure, wreaking terror in the hearts of the people.
But his brother Regin was determined to get his revenge and he and sent his foster-son Sigurd to kill the dragon. So, the greedy Fanfnir dwarf died and the curse effectiveness was proven once again. It was better to stay away from the magical ring Andvaranaut, no matter how beautiful and priceless it was.
Story re-told by Ellen Lloyd
Fafnir guards the gold hoard in this illustration by Arthur Rackham (1924) Questions What grave mistake does Loki make in paragraph 4? What ransom does Hreidmar demand of Odin and Loki? What do you think of this request? Why do you think Loki goes to find something from Andvari, rather than just giving gold to Hreidmar? (what does this suggest about Loki’s character? Does it match up with what you know about him?) Why do you think Andvari begs Loki not to take the Andvaranaut ring? Why does Andvari curse the Andvaranaut ring? What curse does he put on the ring? Does the curse work? Explain how. What happens to Fafnir? What conclusion is made about the Andvaranaut ring at the end of this tale? Do you think this is a cautionary tale?
Once you’ve finished, perhaps you might want to do an illustration of some aspect of this story (like Arthur Rackham’s illustration here).