A young maiden is widely reputed to have spent the night with many men, yet she remains a virgin. Her reputation travels so far, it comes to the Prince of England. Determined to win her, he calls for his horse and rides to meet her. When he arrives, she invites him into her chamber, but as soon as he sits on her bed, his eyes grow heavy and he lays down to sleep. Three days later the maiden awakes him and sends him on his way, none the wiser. In truth, she had written "raven runes" [ramme runor], the 'Sleep Runes' of the song-title, upon the sheets.
A man tries to catch a deer in the woods. The deer turns into a hawk. He feeds the hawk a piece of his own flesh, and it turns into a maid, who explains that her stepmother had cast a spell on her.
A knight's stepmother transforms him into a werewolf, and tells him he must drink the blood of his brother to break the spell. He kills the stepmother and drinks the blood of her unborn son.
Mother and daughter are approached by a fox and a wolf who accuse them of being their mothers, and of having turned them into animals. They drink the women's blood, and a "fortune teller" appears, transforming them into humans again.
Rune the Raven visits Kerstin, who is held prisoner by her husband. Rune flies to Kerstin's father, who come to the rescue on his enchanted horse Blacken. In some variants, Blacken loses his powers when his name is spoken, throws his master off and continues alone (and dies of exhaustion).
A man out hunting fails to heed his mother's advice not to shoot a deer. When he flays the deer, he finds locks of hair and jewelry, and realizes that the deer was his sister (lover) under a spell.
The supernatural element in 15–16 lies in the breaking of the name taboo being the cause of Redebold/Hillebrand's death. This "dead-naming" is omitted in the English ballads.
Redebold elopes with his beloved Gullborg. Her father and his men go after them. Redebold prepares to fight them, and asks Gullborg not to mention his name. When he kills her father (or brother), she calls out for him, and he is immediately cut down.
Svedendal is cursed to not find peace until he finds the woman meant for him, whom he has never met. He awakes his dead father, who offers help in the form of various enchanted items. Svedendal meets a shepherd who leads him to the maiden, who awaits him, herself under a spell that only he can break.
Agneta follows a merman to his underwater abode, where she stays and has several children. Hearing church bells, she longs for home, and is permitted to go visit her family. She disregards all conditions her captor has postulated for her release, and he appears, demanding she returns to care for her children, but Agneta says she does not care.
A man asks his beloved why she is unhappy. She replies that she has two (or more) sisters who drowned (or that she was prophesied to drown herself). Precautions are taken, but the girl falls in the river nonetheless. The man plays a magical harp to force the neck to give her (and her sisters) back.
A maid is led astray and imprisoned by a mountain dwarf (bergtagning [sv]). They have several children. She returns to see her mother, but is taken back inside the mountain and made to forget her family (or killed).
A man encounters Sir Mårten, whom he knows to be dead. Apparently, Mårten had wrongfully claimed a piece of land, and demands that his wife return it. If his wife does not believe the man, Mårten explains, she shall find Mårten's boots filled with blood.
A king becomes infatuated with Karin (St. Catherine). He offers her gifts, but she refuses them. He has her executed in a "nail barrel" (Swedish: spik[e]tunna). She is taken to heaven, and the king to hell.
Mary Magdalene meets Jesus in the wilderness. She claims to be a virgin, but Jesus says this is not true, and that she has had three children, with her father, her brother, and the parish priest. As punishment, she must stay in the wilderness for seven years. She is then allowed to enter heaven.
When the king is away, Lady Gunnel releases all prisoners. She blames Eluf the guard, swearing that if she is not speaking the truth, she will give birth to seven dogs. Eluf is executed; miracles occur at his place of death. Gunnel gives birth to dogs, which she kills.
Sir Peder tries to seduce his sister. When she refuses his advances, he falsely claims that she has murdered her illegitimate children. She is burned at the stake. Peder refuses to let her drink. Doves take her to heaven, and ravens take Peder to hell.
Rosea and her beloved, a duke, are separated by the king, and Rosea is married off to a count. Upon hearing this, the duke returns to her, and they die in each other's arms. Flowers or trees grow from their graves, their leaves intertwining.
While Ebbe is away, his brother tells his betrothed he's dead, in order to marry her himself. Ebbe returns home for the wedding and kills them both (and kills or mutilates his parents).
Salmon invites his lovers to his wedding. They give him food and drink, which causes him to go on a rampage, killing the guests, ending with the bride.
Ebbe is killed by a group of men, and his horse carries his body (or his clothes) home. His mother does not let his fiancée know that the corpse is his, and when she finds out she dies from sorrow.
Tore interrogates his sister (or daughter) about her lover, but she explains away his accusations. He then shows her her lover's cut-off hand, and she realizes Tore has killed him.
Sir Peder is told that he will die at sea. When his ship begins to keel over, he and his crew play dice to determine who among them is the greatest sinner. Peder loses, and confesses to numerous sins. He is thrown overboard, and the ship recovers.
Count Fröjdenborg courts Lady Adelin. Her father has Fröjdenborg locked up, and later killed. His heart is served to Adelin, and when she finds out, she kills herself. They are buried together.
A maid follows a skipper aboard his ship, falls asleep and wakes up in a distant country. Endings vary: the girl may drown or escape, or the skipper reveals himself as her beloved in disguise.
Two royal daughters are taken away at a young age. They come to a castle where they serve as maids. When the queen wants one of them to marry her son, they reveal that they are her long lost daughters.
Sven Svanevit encounters a wandering shepherd, who claims to have killed Sven's father; Sven kills him with his thumb. He engages a second shepherd with a series of riddles; the shepherd answers them correctly, and Sven rewards him with a golden ring.
A farmer sees a knight approaching. The farmer's wife tells the farmer to give the knight the best of food and drink, and let him sleep next to her in bed, and that the farmer may sleep in the pigsty.
A man has a belt that is so magnificent that everyone who sees it forgets what they are doing. He declines generous offers from priests and kings who wish to buy the belt, only to end up trading it for a pair of old gloves.
A beetle employs a horse-fly to propose to a fly on his behalf. The fly replies that she is rich (eats from silver plates) and the beetle poor (lives in the dirt, among the livestock). The horse-fly hits the fly, and she agrees to marry the beetle.