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SAGAS OF RAGNAR LOTHBROK – Kraka (Aslaug)

The legend of Ragnar Lothbrok and Kraka (Aslaug) bridges myth and early Viking history. 
Preserved in the Ragnarssona þáttr and Tale of Ragnar Lothbrok (Iceland, 13th century), these sagas tell of a sea-king whose fame reached from Norway to Francia, and of the wise woman who became his queen.

Ragnar, a warrior of cunning and daring, first met Kraka while raiding along the Norwegian coast. Unaware she was Aslaug, daughter of Sigurd the Dragonslayer and Brynhildr the Valkyrie, he was struck by her wit and beauty. 

In disguise, she answered his riddle: to come to him “neither dressed nor undressed, neither alone nor in company” — arriving wrapped in a fishing net, her dog by her side.

Later revealing her true lineage, Kraka became Ragnar’s wife and the mother of his legendary sons: Ivar the Boneless, Bjorn Ironside, Hvitserk, and Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye. 

Through her, the heroic blood of the Volsungs flowed into the Viking Age — linking the mythic past of dragons and Valkyries with the living world of ships, swords, and sagas.