Beowulf's Dragon- Germanic DragonDragon"The Fire-Drake"

The Hoard and the Thief

For three hundred winters the dragon lay coiled upon its treasure in an ancient barrow, a hoard of gold and jeweled weapons left by the last survivor of a forgotten people. The Beowulf poet describes the nameless nobleman who buried the treasure in an elegy known as "The Lay of the Last Survivor" (lines 2247-2266), where the dying lord addresses the earth, entrusting to it the riches his kinsmen can no longer enjoy. The dragon found the open barrow and claimed the hoard, counting its treasure with jealous precision. Then a fugitive, a man fleeing his lord's wrath, stumbled upon the barrow and stole a golden cup to buy his master's forgiveness. When the dragon woke and found its treasure diminished by a single piece, it erupted in fury, taking to the night sky and laying waste to the Geatish countryside with streams of fire, burning farms and halls, including Beowulf's own throne-hall.

The Last Battle

Beowulf, now king of the Geats for fifty years and aged but undiminished in courage, resolved to face the dragon. He brought twelve companions to the barrow's entrance. As the dragon emerged breathing fire, all but one of his retainers fled in terror. Only Wiglaf, a young kinsman of Beowulf's Wægmunding line, stood his ground. In the combat that followed (lines 2538-2820), Beowulf's ancient sword Nægling shattered against the dragon's skull, for his hand-strength was too great for any blade. The dragon bit Beowulf in the neck, and its venom poured through him. Wiglaf struck the dragon's belly, weakening its fire, and Beowulf, with a last surge of strength, drew his knife and cut the wyrm apart. The dragon was slain, but Beowulf knew the bite was mortal. As he lay dying, he asked Wiglaf to bring treasure from the hoard so he could see what he had won for his people. The poet presents the dragon's death and Beowulf's as inseparable: the hero's destruction of the monster is his own destruction, and the hoard itself is laid in Beowulf's barrow, returned to the earth as a funeral offering rather than distributed among the Geats, who face a future without their protector.