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 Ring dies, Ragnar Lodbrok 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 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 in shaggy clothes that he had treated with tar and sand. He took a spear and approached the serpent, which then blew poison at him. Ragnar protected himself with his shield and 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, before Thora fell ill and died when the sons were only a few years old. Ragnar then married Aslaug, also known as Randalin, the daughter of Sigurd and Brynhildr. They had four sons, Ivar the Boneless, Ubba, Hvitserk and Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye (thus called because there was a mark in his eye, as if a snake lay around 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.

As Ragnar does not want his sons to overshadow him, he appoints Eysteinn Beli as the king of Sweden and tells him to protect it from his sons. One summer when Ragnar is pillaging in the Baltic region, his sons Eric and Agnar came into the lake Mälaren. They send a messenger to Gamla Uppsala asking Eysteinn to meet them. They then demand that Eysteinn be their vassal and that he give his daughter Borghild as wife to Eric. Eysteinn consults the Swedish chieftains and they decide to attack Eric and Agnar. After a long battle against overwhelming numbers, Eric is captured and Agnar was slain.

Eysteinn wants peace and offers his daughter to Eric and as much of Uppsala öd (the network of royal estates that financed the Swedish monarchy) as he wanted. Eric declares that after such a defeat he does not wish to live and asks to be raised on spearpoints above the slain so that he will be pierced and killed. His wish is granted.