Tale of Ragnar's Sons

The Tale of Ragnar's sons (Old Norse: Ragnarssona þáttr) is an Old Norse story about Ragnar Lodbrok and his sons.

When Sigurd Hring dies, Ragnar succeeds him as the king of Sweden and Denmark. Many foreign kings come to take parts of his kingdom as they think Ragnar is too young to defend it.

Herrauðr, the earl of Götaland and one of Ragnar's vassals had a daughter, Þóra Borgarhjǫrtr, who was very beautiful. He gave her a lindworm, but after some time, it encircles her tower and threatens anyone who approaches it, except for her servants who fed it with an ox every day. At his symbel, Herrauðr promises his daughter to the man who kills the serpent.

When Ragnar hears of this, he goes to Västergötland and dresses himself in shaggy clothes that he had treated with tar and sand. He took a spear and approached the serpent which blew poison at him. Ragnar protected himself with his shield. He speared the serpent through its heart. He then cut off the serpent's head, and when the people found out what had happened, he married Thora.Then, he proceeded to liberate his kingdom.

Ragnar and Thora had two sons, Eric and Agnar, and after a few years Thora dies of illness. He then married Aslaug, also known as Randalin, the daughter of Sigurd and Brynhildr. They had 4 sons, Ivar the Boneless, Hvitserk, Björn Ironside and Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye, so named because his iris had the image of a snake encircling the pupil.

Ragnar's sons grow up and in order to show themselves the equals of their father, they war far and wide. They conquer Zealand, Reidgotaland (here Jutland), Gotland, Öland and all the small islands. Ivar, the eldest and cleverest, is their leader and he installs himself at Lejre.

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