The Coming of the Dragon (30 page)

Dragons, however, occupy a place both in the historical record and in Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian legend. Beowulf and Wiglaf were hardly the only legendary dragon-slayers; heroes such as Sigmund, Frotho the Dane, and Ragnar Lothbrok (or Hairy-Britches—his hide clothing, boiled in pitch, protected him from dragon poison) also fought dragons. The Anglo-Saxon collection of wise sayings known as
Maxims
includes the truism “A dragon must live in a barrow, old and proud of its treasures.” That’s where you find dragons in the stories: inside their caves, jealously guarding their piles of treasure. But the historical dragons weren’t content to sleep on their hoards. In
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
, a sober history recorded by monks, the entry for the terrible year 793 tells us that fiery dragons were seen flying in the air over Northumbria. Did the Anglo-Saxons really believe in dragons? It’s hard to say, but one thing is sure—their dragons were evil and destructive, never the kinds of creatures a human could befriend.

Sometimes the dragons had names, such as Fafnir, but the one in
Beowulf
is known by what it does—it’s called, among other things, a
hoard guardian
, a
wicked ravager
, a
coiled-up creature
, and a
hateful flyer-through-the-air
.

Names for humans could also have meanings, in the way that the modern name Blanche literally means “white,” while Ebony refers to the dark wood of a tropical tree and the color black. With the most common names, people probably didn’t think of their literal meanings—when Anglo-Saxon parents named their son Alfred, for example, it’s unlikely that they thought of him as being “counseled by elves.” Nevertheless, the original, literal meaning underlies many Anglo-Saxon names, giving them an added resonance. In this novel, some of those include
Hild
, which means “battle”;
Gar
, which means “spear”;
Wyn
, which is a runic symbol and a word for “joy”;
Amma
, which means “grandmother” in Old Norse; and, of course,
Wiglaf
, which, in Old English—the language spoken by the Anglo-Saxons—translates literally as “survivor of war.”

Eanmund (AY-un-mund):
the man Wiglaf’s father killed

Ecgtheow (EDGE-thay-ow):
Beowulf’s father; literally, “servant of the sword”

Freyja (FRAY-yuh):
a goddess

Geats (YAY-uhts):
Beowulf’s tribe

Hondshio (HAHND-shee-oh):
one of Beowulf’s men who was killed by Grendel

Hwala (HWAHL-uh; the vowels sound like those in
Malta
):
Rune’s foster father, invented for this story; literally, “whale”

Hygelac (HEE-yuh-lack):
king of the Geats when Beowulf fought Grendel

Ohthere (OH-tara):
Eanmund’s father

Shylfing (SHILL-ving):
the enemy tribe (another name for the Swedes)

Skyn (SKIN):
one of Rune’s foster brothers, invented for this story

Welund (WAY-lund):
the maimed smith of the gods

Weohstan (WAY-o-stawn):
Wiglaf’s father

Wiglaf (WEE-laf):
Rune’s real name; literally, “survivor of war”

Wyn (WIN):
daughter of Finn and Thora, invented for this story; literally, “joy”

If it wasn’t for Ena Jones, this novel might never have been written. She was there from the very beginning, and I am in her debt. Others helped me, too: Matthew Kirby asked all the right questions; Megan Isaac, Sid Brown, and Anna Webman generously offered suggestions; and Diane Landolf’s editorial skill helped make this a better book. I am grateful to them all—and to my parents for their enthusiasm. Finally, I wish to thank the teachers who shared their deep knowledge and love of the Middle Ages with me, especially Professors Joseph S. Wittig, David Ganz, and Jaroslav Folda.