Dating Back to the 12th century, wood hewn figures in the paneling either side of and cresting the doorway of a medieval stave church in Setesdal, Norway ( now housed at the Oldsaksamlingen of the University of Oslo ) illustrate the story of Sigurd the Dragon slayer.

This tale is alluded to in Beowulf , Njal's Saga (Classics), and other ancient works, and is recited with substantial detail in the The Prose Edda of Snorri Sturluson and in the thirteenth-century anonymous Icelandic works The Saga of the Volsungs and The Nibelungenlied (based on pre-Christian Germanic heroic motifs (the "Nibelungensaga"), which include oral traditions and reports based on historic events and individuals of the 5th and 6th centuries. )