Aswid and Asmund

(AH-swayed and AZ-mon)

Variations: Assueit and Asmund

This is a Scandinavian legend of two blood brothers, Aswid and Asmund. Each of these men was a great warrior, a general, and a constant companion to the other. They swore an oath to one another that whoever died first, the other would follow him to the grave. As it happened, Aswid grew ill and eventually died. True to his word, Asmund had himself entombed with his friend's body within his crypt along with all the honors they deserved and the treasures they had accumulated over the years, including their dogs, horses, and favorite weapons.

Before Asmund could decide how best to commit suicide, Aswid became alive with UNDEATH and awoke as a vampire. Ravenous from his rebirth, Aswid immediately attacked and killed the dogs and then moved on to the horses. When they were all dead and drained of their blood, Aswid sought out the only other living being in the crypt—his brother-in-arms, Asmund.

Three hundred years later, a group of friendshad set out to find the now legendary tomb and resting place of the warriors, even though there had been stories that the barrow was haunted. Undaunted, the friends ventured on, eventually finding the site. Despite the religious implications for doing so, they opened the tomb.

From within, they heard the sounds of battle.One of the friends volunteered to be lowered into the tomb to scout ahead and see what was causing the noise. Afew moments later the friends felt a mighty tug on the rope and together they quickly began to pull it back up. Hanging onto the other end, they found a man wearing old-style armor.

The man they had rescued was none other than Asmund. He struggled to catch his breath and explained as best he could the story of how he had been fighting for his life these last three hundred years. It was only when the young thrill-seeker was lowered into the tomb and caused a distraction that he, Asmund, was finally able to defeat his poor friend. Having told his tale, Asmund then died. The group of friends found the body of Aswid and beheaded it, then burned the remains and scattered the ashes in the wind. Then they reburied Asmund in the tomb with full honors.

Source: Cox, An Introducion to Folklore, 52, 58, 151; Elton, The First Nine Books of the Danish History, 331­34; Grammaticus, The Danish History, 210 ­11, 237­38; Masters, Natural History of the Vampire, 23­24