The fornaldarsogur (literally, "sagas of antiquity") have long been relegated to the status of "poor cousins" within the family of Old Icelandic literature. To a large degree this downgrading has occurred because the fornaldarsogur are often fantastic narrations that read very differently from the more sober and worldly islendingasogur [family sagas]. Written in the period from roughly the thirteenth to the fifteenth century, the fornaldarsogur, a mixture of tradition and invention, often recount legendary and mythic events from the recesses of Scandinavian folk memory. Sometimes a tale follows its hero or heroes into the supernatural world and also recounts quasi-historical memories of events that can be traced as far back as the migration period. In general, the fornaldarsogur focus on Scandinavia; southern Germanic matters and events are less evident and usually only enter the tales in connection with stories built on, or sharing motifs and traditions with, Eddic material, as they do in the Volsunga saga
