Some centuries earlier, in England, Beowulf took on a similar dragon but was fatally wounded in the resulting battle. Some people believe that he slew the dragon Fafnir to rescue a captive maiden in other accounts he was simply looking for treasure. One of the earliest known dragon slayers was the warrior Siegfried (in the Teutonic version), or Sigurd (Scandinavian version), who lived so long ago that the facts of his dragon-battle are greatly muddled. Excerpted, by permission, from Dragons and Unicorns: A Natural History, by Paul ’55 and Karin Johnsgard.