THE NIBELUNGENLIED ***

Produced by David Starner, Thomas Berger, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team

THE NIBELUNGENLIED

_Translated into Rhymed English Verse in the Metre of the Original_

By

George Henry Needler

_Associate Professor of German in University College, Toronto_

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PREFACE

This translation of the Nibelungenlied is published with the simple purpose of placing one of the world's great epic poems within the reach of English readers. Translations are at best but poor substitutes for originals. A new translation of a poem implies also a criticism of those that have preceded it. My apology for presenting this new English version of the Nibelungenlied is that none of those hitherto made has reproduced the metrical form of the original. In the hope of making the outlines of the poem clearer for the modern reader, I have endeavored to supply in the Introduction a historical background by summing up the results of investigation into its origin and growth. The translation itself was begun many years ago, when I studied the original under Zarncke in Leipzig.

G. H. N.

University College, Toronto, September, 1904.

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CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION.

I. THE NIBELUNGEN SAGA.

1. Origin of the Saga. 2. The Northern Form of the Saga. 3. The Saga as Preserved in the Nibelungenlied. 4. Mythical Element and Historical Element.

II. THE NIBELUNGENLIED.

1. The Manuscripts. 2. Stages in the Evolution of the Poem. 3. Character of the Poem. 4. Later Forms of the Saga. 5. Poem and Saga in Modern Literature. 6. Modern German Translations. 7. English Translations. 8. Editions of the Nibelungenlied.

THE NIBELUNGENLIED.

FIRST ADVENTURE: Kriemhild's Dream. SECOND ADVENTURE: Siegfried. THIRD ADVENTURE: How Siegfried Came to Worms. FOURTH ADVENTURE: How Siegfried Fought with the Saxons. FIFTH ADVENTURE: How Siegfried first Saw Kriemhild. SIXTH ADVENTURE: How Gunther Fared to Isenland to Brunhild. SEVENTH ADVENTURE: How Gunther Won Brunhild. EIGHTH ADVENTURE: How Siegfried Fared to his Knights, the Nibelungen. NINTH ADVENTURE: How Siegfried was Sent to Worms. TENTH ADVENTURE: How Brunhild was Received at Worms. ELEVENTH ADVENTURE: How Siegfried Came Home with his Wife. TWELFTH ADVENTURE: How Gunther Bade Siegfried to the Feast. THIRTEENTH ADVENTURE: How They Fared to the Feast. FOURTEENTH ADVENTURE: How the Queens Berated Each Other. FIFTEENTH ADVENTURE: How Siegfried was Betrayed. SIXTEENTH ADVENTURE: How Siegfried was Slain. SEVENTEENTH ADVENTURE: How Kriemhild Mourned for Siegfried. EIGHTEENTH ADVENTURE: How Sigmund Fared Home Again. NINETEENTH ADVENTURE: How the Nibelungen Hoard was Brought to Worms. TWENTIETH ADVENTURE: How King Etzel Sent for Kriemhild. TWENTY-FIRST ADVENTURE: How Kriemhild Fared to the Huns. TWENTY-SECOND ADVENTURE: How Etzel Kept the Wedding-feast. TWENTY-THIRD ADVENTURE: How Kriemhild Thought to Avenge Her Wrong. TWENTY-FOURTH ADVENTURE: How Werbel and Schwemmel Brought the Message. TWENTY-FIFTH ADVENTURE: How the Knights all Fared to the Huns. TWENTY-SIXTH ADVENTURE: How Gelfrat was Slain by Dankwart. TWENTY-SEVENTH ADVENTURE: How They Came to Bechelaren. TWENTY-EIGHTH ADVENTURE: How the Burgundians Came to Etzel's Castle. TWENTY-NINTH ADVENTURE: How He Arose not before Her. THIRTIETH ADVENTURE: How They Kept Guard. THIRTY-FIRST ADVENTURE: How They Went to Mass. THIRTY-SECOND ADVENTURE: How Bloedel was Slain. THIRTY-THIRD ADVENTURE: How the Burgundians Fought with the Huns. THIRTY-FOURTH ADVENTURE: How They Cast Out the Dead. THIRTY-FIFTH ADVENTURE: How Iring was Slain. THIRTY-SIXTH ADVENTURE: How the Queen Bade Set Fire to the Hall. THIRTY-SEVENTH ADVENTURE: How the Margrave Ruediger was Slain. THIRTY-EIGHTH ADVENTURE: How All Sir Dietrich's Knights were Slain. THIRTY-NINTH ADVENTURE: How Gunther and Hagen and Kriemhild were Slain.

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THE NIBELUNGENLIED

I. THE NIBELUNGEN SAGA

1. Origin of the Saga

All the Aryan peoples have had their heroic age, the achievements of which form the basis of later saga. For the Germans this was the period of the Migrations, as it is called, in round numbers the two hundred years from 400 to 600, at the close of which we find them settled in those regions which they have, generally speaking, occupied ever since. During these two centuries kaleidoscopic changes had been taking place in the position of the various Germanic tribes. Impelled partly by a native love of wandering, partly by the pressure of hostile peoples of other race, they moved