The legendary sagas, or Fornaldarsögur, are a branch of medieval Icelandic literature, a subgenre of the sagas themselves, lengthy narratives that bear a superficial similarity to modern novels; the legendary sagas concern themselves with legendary times predating the settlement on Iceland in the tenth century AD. While fantastic episodes are not unknown in sagas outside this bracket, such as Grettis Saga, and they abound in the Sagas of the Knights, (retellings of continental chivalric romances), the legendary sagas are the closest to the pagan world of Norse mythology, and also include parallels with poems such as the Old English Beowulf and the Middle High German Nibelungenlied.Including: =The Saga of the Volsungs=The Saga of Ragnar Shaggy-breeches and his sons=The Yarn of Ragnar's Sons=The Yarn of Norna-Gest=The Saga of Hervor and Heidrek=The Saga of Ketil Trout=The Saga of Grim Hairy-cheek=The Saga of Arrow-Odd=The Saga of An Bow-bender