But the circumstances under which the words are uttered are entirely different, nor have the words more than a general resemblance. That a man needs courage, if he is going to tackle a dragon, is surely a conclusion at which two minds could have arrived independently.
(6) Both heroes waste their blows at first on the scaly back of the dragon.
But if the hero went at once for the soft parts, there would be no fight at all, and all the fun would be lost. Sigurd's dragon-fight is, for this reason, a one-sided business from the first. To avoid this, Frotho is depicted as beginning by an attack on the dragon's rough hide (although he has been specially warned by the indigena not to do so):
ventre sub imo
esse locum scito quo ferrum mergere fas est,
hunc mucrone petens medium rimaberis anguem[[218]].
(7) The hoard is plundered by both heroes.
But it is the nature of a dragon to guard a hoard[[219]]. And, having slain the dragon, what hero would neglect the gold?
(8) There are many verbal resemblances: the dragon spits venom[[220]], and twists himself into coils[[221]].