The Dwarf King Hreidmar’s Downfall

Hreidmar was a wealthy and powerful man, skilled in magic, with three sons. Fafnir was the biggest and fiercest. Otr, however, loved to fish and spent his days in the shape of an otter. Regin was a master smith.

Hreidmar and Otr’s Death

One day Odin, Loki and Honir came to a waterfall where an otter sat eating a salmon, eyes half closed. Loki threw a stone and killed it, and boasted of catching two prizes at once. That evening they sought lodging with Hreidmar and showed him the otter skin. It was his son. Then Hreidmar seized the gods and set the price of their lives: they must fill the otter skin with gold and then cover it completely, so that not a hair showed.

Cursed Treasure

First, Odin sent Loki to get the gold. Loki caught the dwarf Andvari, who lived as a pike in a waterfall, and forced him to hand over all his treasure. Andvari tried to keep back one small gold ring, Andvaranaut, but Loki took that too. So Andvari cursed it: the ring, and the gold, would be the death of whoever owned them. Odin kept the ring for himself, until Hreidmar spotted one whisker still showing and Odin had to give up the ring to cover it.

The Death of Hreidmar the Dwarf King

The curse went to work at once. Fafnir and Regin demanded a share of their brother’s blood-price. Hreidmar refused. So Fafnir killed his father (Snorri says both brothers had a hand in it; the Eddic poem blames Fafnir alone), and then he refused Regin any share at all.

Dwarf as Dragon Transformed

Fafnir took the gold to Gnitaheath, turned himself into a serpent-dragon, and lay coiled on the hoard, wearing the helm of terror that made every living thing afraid of him. Meanwhile, Regin, penniless and bitter, went to be a smith for a king, and he waited for a hero he could use. What happened when he found one is told in Regin, Sigurd, and Fafnir the Dragon. Vikings and Dragons also explains the Norse idea of a dragon.