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BIRTH OF KRAKA – The Volsung Saga 

The tale of Kraka - later revealed as Aslaug - comes from the Völsunga Saga, written in 13th-century Iceland from far older spoken word traditions reaching back to the Viking Age.
It forms part of the legendary Volsung cycle, a mythic history that shaped Norse ideas of heroism, fate, and the sacred bonds of kinship.
Aslaug’s father was Sigurd the Dragonslayer, “the most famous of all men bred in the northern lands,” who slew the dragon Fafnir with the divine sword Gram, said to be “tempered in the fire of Odin’s wrath.”
Her mother, Brynhildr, was a Valkyrie punished by Odin and imprisoned within a ring of fire until Sigurd awakened her from an enchanted sleep. Their great love and ultimate betrayal ends in tragedy - a tale later echoed in the German Nibelungenlied, a medieval heroic epic.
From their union came Aslaug, a child of both mortal lineage and divine fate. After the deaths of her parents, the girl was hidden away and raised among humble farmers. To protect her from enemies, they smeared her with mud and named her Kraka (“the crow”), concealing her radiant beauty and noble birth.
Through her, the blood of the Volsungs carried on into the age of Viking sea-kings and into the sagas surrounding Ragnar Lodbrok - where myth and early Scandinavian history intertwine, and the echo of legend endures.

HUSBAND OF WARRIOR QUEEN – Saga of Ragnar Lodbrok

The legend of Ragnar Lodbrok and Kraka (Aslaug) stands at the crossroads of myth and early Viking history.
Preserved in the Ragnarssona þáttr (The Tale of Ragnar's Sons) and the Tale of Ragnar Lodbrok (Iceland, 13th century), these sagas recount the deeds of a formidable sea-king whose renown stretched from Norway to Francia - and the wise woman who became his queen.
Ragnar, famed for his daring and cunning nature, first encountered Kraka while he was raiding along the Norwegian coast. He did not know she was Aslaug, daughter of Sigurd the Dragonslayer and Brynhildr the Valkyrie - but he immediately recognised her sharp mind and striking beauty.
To test her, he set a riddle: she must come to him “neither dressed nor undressed, neither alone nor in company.” Kraka arrived wrapped in a fishing net, accompanied only by her dog - solving the challenge with quiet brilliance. In time, she revealed her true lineage. 
Kraka became Ragnar’s wife and mother to their legendary sons: Ivar the Boneless, Bjorn Ironside, Hvitserk, and Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye.
Through her, the heroic blood of the Volsungs entered the Viking Age - binding the mythic world of dragons and Valkyries to the lived world of ships, swords, and sagas.