Vielleicht gibt es diese Seite ja auch auf DeutschTo Sandra and Drache
Let there be light!
You might well be wondering why this homepage is called 'Fafnir's Homepage' whilst I obviously am called something like Richard. To understand the answer I am about to give you it is very important that you know where the name Fafnir comes from and this is what I will try to explain to you first. I won't go into detail, though, for this would involve telling you too much about things that you will soon be able to find in the vicinity of some dragon-labelled item. The following story has something to do with an old nordic sage whose German version is called the 'Nibelungenlied', which is all about the tragic stories of kings and queens and knights and maidens and a dragon. The dragon bit is the really interesting stuff - at least it's all I'm going to tell you now. Here is my very own version [1] of it all:
Once upon a time there were really brave men, bold heroes and beautiful women for whom the brave men and bold heroes killed each other. There also were some people who simply had too much money. If you are having too much money you will usually notice this when someone else comes along and takes it away from you - that is, in most cases you won't be able to notice this any more as those impudent people will make sure that you don't notice anything at all for quite a long time. The length of time this unpleasant state lasts mainly depends on your religious persuasions. It is therefore most important that you make a decision that promises to prove delightful in due time.
In short there were some people who were killed because they possessed things that others wanted to have (women/money). For my purposes the important part shall be that about the money, although the other one may turn out to be more interesting. One of those men was the medium good medieval Hreithmar whose life was violently ended by his even less good sons in order to get hold of his money which he had been given by some god as a kind of reparation for the violent death of his third son (who, by the way, was named Otter which, in this case, should mean as much as viper).
So the two boys kill their dad and after that they are kind of besides themselves with joy at their new wealth (which they would have inherited soon anyway...). One of them, you might call him Regin as history did, is a bit further besides himself than would actually have been good and thus his mean brother - you can call him Fafnir, if it makes you happy - manages to push aside that (and now I reveal the mystery of that damned treasure) pile of Nibelung-gold, turn himself into a dragon and in this shape guide his new acquisition. Regin gets so upset about this that he transforms into a dwarf.
Okidoki: so far we had rich people, dead people, mean people and a dragon, but where are the heroes? Well, there will be only one and I enter him now. His name is Siegfried and his armor - made of silver and gold - is glittering in the innocent sun of those days. Siegfried is one of those who will later kill some men and themselves be killed for some women, but that is not what this story is about. He meets Regin who still wants to take revenge on Fafnir for the latter's outrages and almost immediately has some success, though sadly he won't be able to enjoy this victory a long time. Of course it is the dwarf who makes Siegfried kill the dragon and after that intends to get rid of that stupid heroe-guy which in those days simply meant to reduce his size by about the diameter of a head. But as for this he proves to have very little or rather inverse abilities. What follows is some blood-drinking, heart-eating stuff but I'm not going to tell you anything about that for I want to be able to sleep undisturbed tonight.
From this story we learn that Fafnir was a mean, cruel, impudent, ugly, greedy, even nasty, father-killing dragon. Do you see now what this has to do with me? You do? I'm sorry, but then you must have come to the wrong conclusion. The actual connection between the name Fafnir and me has something to do with a little girl who is very pretty, a bit old-fashioned though, five years old, highly intelligent, a bit greenish, and - most importantly - claims to be my daughter which sounds quite reasonable. This girl is named Fafnir.
So this homepage that has been set up (though not designed yet) by you is not your homepage but your daughter's? Well, I think I will now introduce a third Fafnir who simply is a nickname, more specifically the nickname I use to use whenever some computer asks me to enter some name. Therefore this homepage is both Fafnir's and mine, although, as you no doubt have noticed, at the moment it is almost exclusively concerned with stuff written by and/or about me.
Footnotes
(1) Of course I'm not a good story-teller and it all becomes even worse when I try to do it in English. I struggle hard to be a bit funny at least, but it is up to you to judge whether I fail here as well...
Last changed Friday, 28/06/2002
