Fafnir

[dragonlady7]

I forgot to mention that last night I met a dachsund named Fafnir.

Cool name for a very small dog, don't you think?

I had to look it up, I must admit-- and yes, Fafnir is the dragon that Sigurd slays to gain his treasure. (In Wagner's Ring-Cycle, the dragon is named Fafner and Sigurd is called Siegfried.)

Then Sigurd cuts out the dragon's heart to cook for his guru, so that he will have knowledge, but Sigurd tests the meat with his thumb for doneness, and when he puts his thumb in his mouth to cool it, he gains the ability to understand the speech of birds.

Huh, familiar on a few leves? Finn MacCumhal and the Salmon of Knowledge-- he cooks it for his master, and burns his thumb, and when he sucks his thumb to cool it he gets the knowledge from the salmon.

Also familiar-- "Many lords and warriors, and many fair and valiant women, are named in the songs of Rohan that still remember the north. [...] Fram [...] slew Scatha, the great dragn of Ered Mithrin, and the land had peace from the long-worms afterwards. Thus Fram won great wealth." (Appendix A, section II ("The House of Eorl", Return of the King.

(Also familiar: the way in which Smaug, in The Hobbit, is roused to anger by a lone thief. That's straight out of Beowulf. And exceedingly well-told.)
What did this man do for a living? Oh right. He was only about the most important scholar of Beowulf... Heaney's introduction to his translation is a nice little note about Tolkien as a scholar.

Anyhow, Fafnir is an awesome name for a two-pound dog.

Comments

[agent-tweed.livejournal.com]

Fafnir..I love it for a two-pound dog!

I had friends who were similiarly inclined. They named their budgies Hugin and Munin for Odin's ravens..

[dragonlady7.livejournal.com]

Nice.

The older dachsund was named Shark, and was afraid of everyone and everything. I kept singing the Jaws theme at her and she kept running away from me.

Fafnir's favorite thing to do was gnaw on human noses, which was amusing to contemplate from the perspective of a man-eating dragon.


If I had a pair of little dogs I think I'd name them Bran and Sceolan, for Finn's supernaturally intelligent woflhounds. Bran could speak to him.

Unfortunately, I'm not a dog person, really. I am feeling a little inadequate at pet names, though-- my fish are just named after alcoholic beverages. That seems way less cool than it did before. I mean... Fafnir! For a little dog! Rock on.