The tales of the medieval Norse kings were originally sung or told as "sagas." These were legendary adventures full of exciting episodes in which the hero fought wicked enemies or even dragons in order to win the hand of a princess or to fulfill a great destiny. The two sagas in this book date from the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries. The Danish ruler known as King Ragnar Goatskin was famous for fighting a dragon that had captured the princess Tora, and so won her hand in marriage. She died after giving him two sons, and he then married Kraka, a beautiful maiden of royal birth disguised as a farm girl. Their struggle against the evils of war and witchcraft are vividly narrated in the stories that follow.