• One moral of the story - greed kills.
• Sigfried may have lived or been based during the Merovingian Dynasty from 481-750 in France.
• Sigurd / Siegfried is the hero and Fafnir is the dragon guarding the Nibelung hoard.
• The story of Drachenstein (the dragon) and Hurnen Siffrit follows this same story line and may have the same origins as Version 1.

Fafnir was born a Dwarf. The gods asked him to kill Otter, and when he succeeded, they gave him much gold for reward. He guarded his gold jealously, hiding it in a cave and guarding it day and night. His greed slowly transformed him into a dragon.

Fafnir’s brother, Regin, saw his brother’s wealth and transformation, and plotted to get the gold. He encouraged Sigurd (Siegfried) to kill Fafnir, saying that they would split the reward.

First, they dug a hole in the ground, and Sigurd hid in it with his sword, Gram. When Fafnir passed overhead, Sigurd struck upwards into the belly of the beast, killing him. Regin took his brother’s dragon heart and cooked it, but when Sigurd was passing the heart back to him, he burned his fingers and licked them. Suddenly, he could understand the birds. The birds told Sigurd that Regin was planning on killing him. Sigurd took the warning, and killed Regin first, then loaded up the treasure, and rode away.

In another version, the king of the dwarves leaves the treasure to his three sons. But the mountain threatens to cave in on them so the two hide their treasures under a dragon who has taken stone form. And after five years and one day, the dragon stone takes on human form, and Siegfried is allowed to take the treasure.

In this version, much like Version 1, Fafnar was an evil man who killed his father and stole the treasure, then turned himself into a dragon to guard it. The only one he was afraid of getting his treasure was his brother, Regin, who was also the tutor for Sigurd. The pit was dug and the sword went into the dragon’s heart, but before he died, Fafnir told Sigurd that Regin was planning to kill him. Sigurd did not believe the beast, and cut out his heart for proof. Once he returned with the heart, Regin demanded he cook it, so onto the spit it went. While checking for doneness, Sigurd burned his finger and brought them to his lips, tasting, and found that he could understand the birds, who were talking about Regin’s plot. Deciding he’d heard enough, Sigurd killed Regin and ate the heart himself. And the rest, is history.

According to this version, the treasure originally belonged to the dwarf Andvari, then it was stolen by Regin and Fafnir’s father, Hreidmar. Regin and Fafnir killed Hreidmar for it, but Fafnir took it all, and turned into the dragon as before. Sometimes, Regin is a dwarf, too.

Fafnir was a giant who killed his father and stole the treasure. He turned into a dragon to protect it in a remote cave from which he started terrorizing the countryside. Sigurd wandered by and slayed him.

Much like version 4 except the treasure was cursed - hence why he turned into a dragon.

Much like version 3, except Regin manipulated Sigurd into killing the dragon by telling how rich Sigurd's stepbrothers would be after they inherited their father's wealth and how Sigurd would get none of it.

In this version, before anyone is slain, Fafnir tells Sigurd all about Regin's plans, about the gold being a curse, and many other things. But Sigurd doesn't listen and killed Fafnir anyway. A drop of the dragon's blood gets into Sigurd's mouth, he can hear the birds tell him to bathe in Fafnir's blood, so he does and becomes immortal.

This version has Hreidmar, Fafnir's father, as a magician-farmer who has a cursed ring (Andvarinaut from Loki) and the ring is the reason that Fafnir and Regin kill Hreidmar. Also in this one, Sigurd takes the ring and is afterwards cursed himself.

In Horn Siegfried, it is a princess whom the dragon carried off - Krimhild, King Gibish's daughter. The dragon held her in a hollow mountain under heavy guard, intending to marry her after 5 years when he recovers his human form. Siegfried had to get through the dragon stone and fight gigantic and monstrous warders both before and afterwards to rescue Krimhild.

• Princess's name either Krimhild-Gundrum or Brynhild
• Mountain or Forest

Treasure is stolen by the gods - possibly in Fafnir's form.

• Dracenstein

• Sargen's Site
• Legends of the Dragon
• Dragons Unlimited