Thidrekssaga af Bern

Proem
Wind, thunder, and lightning fill the night sky, but what is looming in the valley is no mere storm, for the wind is in fact the baying of hellhounds and the rumble of thunder is the clatter of demonic horses: the Wild Hunt approaches. A host of spectral knights is flying through the skies, and their prey are evil souls. Those who are sinful and dark-souled would do well to flee and hide… but those who are pure of heart need not fear, for it is not just any knight who leads the sinister Hunt. He was a great king of the Goths, once, a valiant warrior, an ancient hero now damned for eternity.
His name was Thidrek of Bern.

Canto I – Virginal
King Thidrek was a brave knight and lived countless adventures. He ruled from the fortress of Bern, in the city of Verona, where he gathered around him a company of great warriors.
One day he was summoned by the queen of the elves, Virginal, to her palace hidden in the Alpine valleys, because her people were tormented by numerous enemies: orcs, giants and a ferocious dragon. With his knights, Thidrek answered the call and set off on an adventure.
He soon defeated the orcs and giants, until he came across the terrible dragon, which was devouring a knight. It had already swallowed half of him, when it was defeated by the King of Bern. The knight, Lord of Verbano, saved from the jaws of the dragon, thanked the King and swore loyalty to him. Since then, the coat of arms of the “Biscione” has adorned all the castles and cities where the descendants of the knight were lords (the Visconti, later lords of Milan).
When he reached the palace of the elves, Thidrek finally married Virginal, their Queen, and the kingdoms were united into one.

Canto II – Rosengarten
Beneath the Catinaccio massif, among the mountains of Trentino, there was the last great kingdom of the Dwarves of the Dolomites. It was a rich and prosperous kingdom; the dwarves were great miners and skilled jewelers, yet the most precious thing for their King, Laurin, was a wonderful garden of red roses, which grew at the foot of the towers of his palace, on the top of the mountain.
One day, the Lord of the Adige Valley, vassal of King Thidrek of Bern, decided to organize a great tournament, the winner of which would be granted the hand of his daughter. King Laurin also showed up, but was rudely chased away, as he was a dwarf. He, therefore, thanks to a cloak that grants invisibility, kidnapped the princess and took her to his palace. King Thidrek and his knights were called to save her, but when they reached the mountain, not finding the hidden entrance to the city of the dwarves, they began to trample on the roses. So, King Laurin came out, fully armed and, thanks to a belt that gave him the strength of twelve men, defeated many knights, before Thidrek got the better of him. The dwarf then put on his invisibility cloak and tried to escape through the garden, but the roses, moving as he passed through, betrayed his position. And so, he was captured and chained, and the knights of Bern entered the dwarven city and sacked it, taking away all the wealth.

In chains, while he was being led to Verona, King Laurin cursed the garden and its roses, which had betrayed him: “May no human eye ever admire you again, neither by day nor by night!”, he said, and the garden turned to stone. But in the magic formula he forgot about dawn and dusk, and from then on, in those moments, the top of the mountain is coloured with the red of the roses that have come back to life, and even today that mountain is called “Rosengarten”, the Garden of Roses.

Canto III – Rabenschlacht
Thidrek of Bern is an exile at the court of Attila, his kingdom usurped by Odoacer, king of the Heruli. After many years of exile, with the help of the Huns, he gathers a large army, decides to march to reconquer Italy and besieges the city of Ravenna, where his rival has taken refuge.
During the siege, however, tragedy strikes: his faithful master of arms, Hildebrand, an old knight with whom he has lived many adventures, finds himself duelling with a mysterious opponent, belonging to the opposing side. After an epic duel, Hildebrand defeats the knight and takes off his helmet. At that moment he realizes that the enemy, now dying, is none other than his own son, lost years before when he followed his king into exile, who dies in his arms, mortally wounded by his own, unaware father.
The army is demoralized and defeat seems imminent, so Thidrek is forced to retreat. But suddenly an ancient power awakens: the pain of the losses turns into violent anger, the blood begins to boil in the king’s veins, so much so that his armour becomes incandescent and, vomiting flames like the dragons he defeated in his youth, he spurs his warriors and returns to battle.
In the end, Odoacer is defeated and the kingdom of the Goths is reconquered in the “Rabenschlacht”, the Battle of Ravenna.

Canto IV – Vild Jakt
Dietrich ist nun alt und seine Abenteuer sind nur noch eine Erinnerung. Die letzten Jahre seiner Herrschaft waren von Verschwörungen und Verrat überschattet, während ein Krieg gegen das Oströmische Reich vorbereitet wurde. Einige Jahre zuvor hatte der König Severinus Boethius, einen römischen Senator und engen Freund, zum Tode verurteilt, weil er davon überzeugt war, dass dieser ein Komplott gegen ihn schmiedete.
One day, while bathing and recalling his adventures, he receives news of the sighting of a wonderful animal: a deer with hooves of steel and golden horns. Immediately, the old king wraps his cloak around his shoulders and takes up arms. Arriving in the courtyard of the castle, he finds a large black horse, with fiery eyes, and without thinking twice he jumps on its back. The steed begins its ride, but there is no sign of the deer. Faster and faster, the hunt becomes unbridled, and although the old king tries to stop the horse, he realizes that he cannot break free. Then, with horror, he understands: that one is not a horse like the others, but the devil himself, come to lead him to hell because of his sins. Vain are the prayers of the knight, who, after a wild ride in the skies, descends with the infernal steed into the crater of a volcano.

Epilog
Legends say that the Virgin was moved by the last prayer of the King of the Goths and intervened. He does not reside in hell, but, since then, together with the spirits of his trusted knights, Thidrek of Bern leads the spectral Wild Hunt, in the skies of stormy nights, condemned to chase evil souls, giants and dragons, to atone for his sins until Judgement Day.
A single act, however wicked it may be, can truly taint a righteous life and condemn a virtuous man for eternity.