Sigurd Fafnisbane

Pictures from performances 3 - 5 Aug. 2001
All pictures: ©2001 Börje Monsen
Click the pictures to see them fullsized.
A messenger tells the people of the Viking farm that Ragnar, their chief, is coming home - his longship is already entering the harbour.
Ragnar's homecoming is, however, not as happy as he has expected; his wife Astrid has perhaps been a little to friendly to the foreman of the barns,
and what he brings back seems to be mostly wine.
As Ragnar shows his meagre booty it becomes clear that one of the jewels is the Ring of Andvare, a magic ring that carries a curse of death and damnation to its owner.
An old Seeress suddenly appears, and in trance she sees The Saga of the Ring:
The Nordic Gods Odin, Hänir, and Loke are on a journey. Searching for food, Loke manages to kill a salmon and an otter with one throw of a stone. They find a place to stay the night, but as it happens the owner of the house is Hreidmar, the father of a fisherman, who has gone fishing - in the shape of an Otter. The Gods have killed Hreidmar's son.
Hreidmar demands a large amount of gold for his son - Otter's skin is to be covered with gold. Against expectations the Gods manage to find gold enough to do this. Loke manages to steal the gold from Andvare, the gold-dwarf, who threatens every future owner of the Ring with shameful death.
His two remaining sons, Regin the Smith and Fafnir the Dragon, soon kill Hreidmar. Fafnir takes the gold for himself.
After many years, Regin persuades the king's son, Sigurd his own foster son, to kill Fafnir.
Regin's idea is, of course, later to kill Sigurd and take the gold; However Sigurd comes to understand what the birds say, and the birds tell him that Regin is going to kill him. Instead Sigurd kills Regin and keeps the gold.

text by Nils Haglund

photographs by Börje Monsen