Summary of the Thidrekssaga

A king named Nidung ruled over the part of Jutland called Thiodicurrent Thy in the northwesternmost part of Jutland. One day the king's people were close to the shore with nets to bring the king fresh fish for his table, when the net they hauled back was so heavy that they barely managed to pull it back into their boats. And they saw a large tree in the net, and brought it to shore. They inspected it and saw that it was fashioned in a miraculous way and suspected treasure could be found within it because it was so very heavy.

They sent someone to the king and asked him to come look at the tree. And when the king arrived and saw the tree he ordered it to be opened, and when Wieland became aware of them he asked them to be careful, because a man was inside. And when they heard him they thought the Devil himself was in the tree, And they fled, some one way, others another, and told the king the Devil was in the tree.

Then Wieland opened the trunk, got out, and went before the king and said: I am a man, and not a troll, and if you allow me to keep life and goods I will serve you. The king saw he was a foreigner, and a good man instead of a scoundrel, despite his strange manner of coming there, and agreed. Then Wieland hid his tools and treasure, together with the tree, under the earth, but one of the king's knights called Regin saw him do that.

A short while later Wieland went to his smithy and secretly made a statue of the man he had seen, even up until the hair on his head. And one night he went to the king's hall and put the statue in a corner where the king had to pass by. Then Wieland went into the hall and served like the other squires.

Now the king wanted to enter his hall with his men, and Wieland bore a candle before him as usual. When the king came to the hall he saw the statue and said: Hail, good friend Regin, what are you doing there by yourself? And how went the message that I sent you to Sweden for? But the man was silent.

And Wieland said: Lord, this man is quite proud, and he will never answer you because I fashioned him with my own hands froo memory, and now you have recongised him, because this was the man who stole my possessions. The king laughed and admitted Wieland would not have found him in his realm, because Nidung had sent him to Sweden on an important errand. And he added that Wieland was a good man, and he'd get his possesions back, and the king would also give him recompense for the harsh words he had spoken.

Shortly after Regin came home, and the king sent for him immediately. He asked Regin if he had taken Wieland's goods, and Regin admited it, but said he had meant it for a joke. And the king ordered him to return everything, and Regin did so, and thus Wieland got his tools back.

But still Wieland served the king at his table every day, and pretended he had nothing else to do, and again four months went by.

A man called Mime was a famous and skilfull smith. He had many journeymen that served him. He also had a wife, but in the nineMs. B: twelve winters since their marriage she had not yet had a child, and he regretted that.

He had a brother named Regin, who was very strong, and the most evil of all men, and as a punishment for doing witchcraft and magic he became a dragon. And thus it happened that he became the largest and most evil dragon, and he would kill anyone except for his brother. And nobody knew where his lair was, except for Mime.