Books: The Nibelungenlied

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4. Later Forms of the Saga

In the Northern Edda and in the German Nibelungenlied the Nibelungen saga
found its fullest and most poetic expression. But these were not to be
the only literary records of it. Both in Scandinavian lands and in
Germany various other monuments, scattered over the intervening
centuries, bear witness to the fact that it lived on in more or less
divergent forms. The Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus of the latter part
of the twelfth century has a reference to the story of Kriemhild's
treachery toward her brothers. About the year 1250 an extensive prose
narrative, known as the Thidrekssaga, was written by a Norwegian from
oral accounts given him by men from Bremen and Munster. This narrative is
interesting as showing the form the saga had taken by that date on Low
German territory, and holds an important place in the history of the
development of the saga. It has much more to say of the early history of
Siegfried than we find in the Nibelungenlied, and yet in the main
outlines of the story of Kriemhild's revenge it corresponds with the
German epic and not with the Northern Edda. A chronicle of the island of
Hven in the Sound, dating in its original form from the sixteenth
century, as well as Danish ballads on the same island that have lived on
into modern times, tell of Sivard (Siegfried), Brynhild, and also of
Grimild's (Kriemhild's) revenge. In Norway and Sweden traces of the saga
have recently been discovered; while songs that are sung on the Faroe
Islands, as an accompaniment to the dance on festive occasions, have been
recorded, containing over six hundred strophes in which is related in
more or less distorted form the Nibelungen story.

In Germany the two poems known as the _Klage_ and _Hurnen Seyfrid_ are
the most noteworthy additional records of the Nibelungen saga, as
offering in part at least independent material. The _Klage_ is a poem of
over four thousand lines in rhymed couplets, about half of it being an
account of the mourning of Etzel, Dietrich, and Hildebrand as they seek
out the slain and prepare them for burial, the other half telling of the
bringing of the news to Bechlaren, Passau, and Worms. The poem was
written evidently very soon after the Nibelungenlied, the substance of
which was familiar to the author, though he also draws in part from other
sources. Compared with the Nibelungenlied it possesses but little poetic
merit and is written with distinctly Christian sentiment which is out of
harmony with the ground-tone of the Germanic tragedy.

The _Hurnen Seyfrid_ is a poem of 179 four-lined strophes which is
preserved only in a print of the sixteenth century, but at least a
portion of whose substance reaches back in its original form to a period
preceding the composition of the Nibelungenlied. It is evidently, as we
have it, formed by the union of two earlier separate poems, which are
indeed to a certain extent contradictory of each other. The first tells
of the boyhood of Seyfrid (Siegfried) and his apprenticeship to the
smith; how he slew many dragons, burned them, and smeared over his body
with the resulting fluid horny substance (hence his name _hurnen_), which
made him invulnerable; how he further found the hoard of the dwarf
Nybling, and by service to King Gybich won the latter's daughter for his
wife. The second part tells how King Gybich reigned at Worms. He has
three sons, Gunther, Hagen, Gyrnot, and one daughter, Kriemhild. The
latter is borne off by a dragon, but finally rescued by Seyfrid, to whom
she is given in marriage. The three brothers are jealous of the might and
fame of Seyfrid, and after eight years Hagen slays him beside a cool
spring in the Ottenwald.

The poem _Biterolf_, written soon after the Nibelungenlied, and
_Rosengarten_ of perhaps a half-century later, represent Dietrich in
conflict with Siegfried at Worms. The famous shoemaker-poet Hans Sachs of
Nuremberg in 1557 constructed a tragedy, _Der hornen Sewfriedt_, on the
story of Siegfried as he knew it from the _Hurnen Seyfrid_ and the
_Rosengarten_. A prose version of the _Hurnen Seyfrid_, with free
additions and alterations, is preserved in the _Volksbuch vom gehornten
Sigfrid_, the oldest print of which dates from the year 1726. Of the vast
number of Fairy Tales, those most genuine creations of the poetic
imagination of the people, in which live on, often to be sure in scarcely
recognizable form, many of the myths and sagas of the nation's infancy,
there are several that may with justice be taken as relics of the
Siegfried myth, for instance, The Two Brothers, The Young Giant, The
Earth-Manikin, The King of the Golden Mount, The Raven, The Skilled
Huntsman, and perhaps also the Golden Bird and The Water of Life;[6]
though it would seem from recent investigations that Thorn-Rose or the
Sleeping Beauty, is no longer to be looked upon as the counterpart of the
sleeping Brynhild. Finally, it is probable that several names in Germany
and in Northern countries preserve localized memories of the saga.

[6] These will be found in Grimm's Marchen as numbers 60, 90-93, 111, 57,
and 97.

5. Poem and Saga in Modern Literature

Fundamentally different from the foregoing natural outgrowths of the
Nibelungen saga are the modern dramas and poems founded upon it since the
time of the romanticists at the beginning of the nineteenth century.[7]
Nearly all of these have already vanished as so much chaff from the
winnowing-mill of time: only two, perhaps, are now considered seriously,
namely, Hebbel's _Die Nibelungen_ and Richard Wagner's _Ring des
Nibelungen_. Hebbel in his grandly conceived drama in three parts follows
closely the story as we have it in our epic poem the Nibelungenlied, and
the skill with which he makes use of its tragic elements shows his
dramatic genius at its best. But not even the genius of Hebbel could make
these forms of myth and saga live again for us upon a modern stage, and
the failure of this work with its wealth of poetic beauty and many scenes
of highest dramatic effectiveness to maintain its place as an acting
drama is sufficient evidence that the yawning gap that separates the
sentiment of the modern world from that of the early centuries in which
these sagas grew is not to be bridged over by the drama, however easy and
indeed delightful it may be for us to allow ourselves to be transported
thither to that romantic land upon the wings of epic story. Wagner in his
music-drama in three parts and prelude has followed in the main the saga
in its Northern form [8] up to the death of Siegfried and Brunhild, but
to the entire exclusion of the latter part of the story in which Atli
(Etzel) figures; his work has accordingly hardly any connection with the
Nibelungenlied here offered in translation. Only the pious loyalty of
national sentiment can assign a high place in dramatic literature to
Wagner's work with its intended imitation of the alliterative form of
verse; while his philosophizing gods and goddesses are also but decadent
modern representatives of their rugged heathen originals.

[7] The curious will find a list of these in the introduction to Piper's
edition, cited below, Chapter 7.
[8] See above, Chapter 2.

6. Modern German Translations

The language of the Nibelungenlied presents about the same difficulty to
the German reader of to-day as that of our English Chaucer to us. Many
translations into modern German have accordingly been made to render it
accessible to the average reader without special study. In the year 1767
Bodmer in Zurich published a translation into hexameters of a portion of
it, and since the investigations of Lachmann raised it to the position of
a national epic of first magnitude many more have appeared, both in prose
and verse. The best in prose is that by Scherr, of the year 1860. Of the
metrical translations that by Simrock, which in its later editions
follows pretty closely the text of MS. C, is deservedly the most popular
and has passed through a great number of editions. Bartsch has also made
a translation based on his edition of MS. B. These modern versions by
Simrock and Bartsch reproduce best the metrical quality of the original
strophe. Easily obtainable recent translations are those by Junghans (in
Reclam's Universalbibliothek) of text C, and by Hahn (Collection Spemann)
of text A.

7. English Translations[9]

[9] For a complete list of these, also of magazine articles, etc.,
relating to the Nibelungenlied, see F. E. Sandbach, The
_Nibelungenlied and Gudrun in England and America_, London,
1903.

Early in last century interest in the Nibelungenlied began to manifest
itself in England. A synopsis of it, with metrical translation of several
strophes, appeared in the year 1814 in Weber, Jamieson and Scott's
"Illustrations of Northern Antiquities" (London and Edinburgh), in which,
according to Lockhart, Sir Walter Scott's hand may perhaps be seen.
Carlyle, laboring as a pioneer to spread a knowledge of German literature
in England, contributed to the Westminster Review in 1831 his well-known
essay on the Nibelungenlied which, though containing an additional mass
of rather ill-arranged matter and now antiquated in many particulars, is
still well worth reading for its enthusiastic account of the epic itself
in the genuine style of the author. Carlyle here reproduces in metrical
form a few strophes. He has said elsewhere that one of his ambitions was
to make a complete English version of the poem. Since then an endless
number of accounts of it, chiefly worthless, has appeared in magazines
and elsewhere. The first attempt at a complete metrical translation was
made in 1848 by Jonathan Birch, who however only reproduces Lachmann's
twenty _lieder_, with some fifty-one strophes added on his own account.
His version of the first strophe runs thus:

Legends of by-gone times reveal wonders and prodigies,
Of heroes worthy endless fame,--of matchless braveries,--
Of jubilees and festal sports,--of tears and sorrows great,--
And knights who daring combats fought:--the like I now relate.

In 1850 appeared William Nansom Lettsom's translation of the whole poem
according to Braunfels' edition, with the opening strophe turned as
follows:

In stories of our fathers high marvels we are told
Of champions well approved in perils manifold.
Of feasts and merry meetings, of weeping and of wail,
And deeds of gallant daring I'll tell you in my tale.

The next metrical rendering is that by A. G. Foster-Barham in the year
1887. His first strophe reads:

Many a wondrous story have the tales of old,
Of feats of knightly glory, and of the Heroes bold,
Of the delights of feasting, of weeping and of wail,
Of noble deeds of daring; you may list strange things in my tale.

In the year 1898 follows still another, by Alice Horton (edited by E.
Bell). This latest translation is based on Bartsch's text of MS. B, and
is prefaced by Carlyle's essay. First strophe:

To us, in olden legends, / is many a marvel told
Of praise-deserving heroes, / of labours manifold,
Of weeping and of wailing, / of joy and festival;
Of bold knights' battling shall you / now hear a wondrous tale.

Apart from the many faults of interpretation all of the metrical
translations of the Nibelungenlied here enumerated are defective in one
all-important respect: they do not reproduce the poem in its _metrical
form_. Carlyle and other pioneers we may perhaps acquit of any intention
of following the original closely in this regard. None of the translators
of the complete poem, however, has retained in the English rendering what
is after all the very essence of a poem,--its exact metrical quality.
Birch has created an entirely different form of strophe in which all four
lines are alike, each containing seven principal accents, with the
caesura, following the fourth foot. Lettsom makes the first serious
attempt to reproduce the original strophe. It is evident from the
introduction to his translation (see p. xxvi) that he had made a careful
study of its form, and he does in fact reproduce the first three lines
exactly. Of the fourth line he says: "I have not thought it expedient to
make a rule of thus lengthening the fourth lines of the stanzas, though I
have lengthened them occasionally"(!). What moved him thus to deprive
the stanza of its most striking feature--and one, moreover, that is
easily preserved in English--he does not make clear. The versions of
Foster-Barham and of Horton and Bell show the same disfigurement, the
latter omitting the extra accent of the fourth line, as they say, "for
the sake of euphony"(!). It is just this lengthened close of each strophe
that gives the Nibelungenlied its peculiar metrical character and
contributes not a little to the avoidance of monotony in a poem of over
two thousand strophes. In theory the form of the fourth line as it stands
in the original is no more foreign to the genius of the English language
than to that of modern German, and few of the many Germans giving a
modernized version of the epic have been bold enough to lay sacrilegious
hands upon it to shorten it.

A brief account of the Nibelungen strophe may not be out of place here,
owing to the fact that its character has generally been misunderstood.
The origin and evolution of the strophe have been the subject of much
discussion, the results of which we need not pause to formulate here. As
it appears in actual practice in our poem of about the year 1200, it was
as follows: Each strophe consists of four long lines, the first line
rhyming with the second, and the third with the fourth. The rhymes are
masculine, that is, rhymes on the end syllable. Each line is divided by a
clearly marked caesura into two halves; each half of the first three
lines and the first half of the fourth line has three accented syllables,
the second half of the fourth line has four accented syllables. The first
half of each line ends in an unaccented syllabic--or, strictly speaking,
in a syllable bearing a secondary accent; that is, each line has what is
called a "ringing" caesura. The metrical character of the Nibelungen
strophe is thus due to its fixed number of accented syllables. Of
unaccented syllables the number may vary within certain limits.
Ordinarily each accented syllable is preceded by an unaccented one; that
is, the majority of feet are iambic. The unaccented syllable may,
however, at times be wanting, or there may, on the other hand, be two or
even three of them together. A characteristic of the second half of the
last line is that there is very frequently no unaccented syllable between
the second and the third accented ones. Among occasional variations of
the normal strophe as here described may be mentioned the following: The
end-rhyme is in a few instances feminine instead of masculine; while on
the other hand the ending of the first half-lines is occasionally
masculine instead of feminine, that is, the caesura is not "ringing." In
a few scattered instances we find strophes that rhyme throughout in the
caesura as well as at the end of lines;[10] occasionally the first and
second lines, or still less frequently the third and fourth, alone have
caesural rhyme.[11] Rhyming of the caesura may be regarded as accidental
in most cases, but it is reproduced as exactly as possible in this
translation.

[10] Strophes 1, 17, 102, and possibly 841.
[11] Strophes 18, 69, 103, 115, 129, 148, 177, 190, 198, 222, 231,
239, 293, 325, 345, 363, 485, 584, 703, 712, 859, 864, 894, 937,
1022, 1032, 1114, 1225, 1432, 1436, 1460, 1530, 1555, 1597, 1855,
1909, 1944, 1956, 2133, 2200, 2206, 2338.

In the original the opening strophe, which is altogether more regular
than the average and is, moreover, one of the few that have also complete
caesural rhyme, is as follows:

Uns ist in alten maeren / wunders vil geseit
von heleden lobebaeren, / von grozer arebeit,
von frouden, hochgeziten, / von weinen und von klagen,
von kuener recken striten / muget ir nu wunder hoeren sagen.

Here the only place where the unaccented syllable is lacking before the
accented is before _wunders_ at the beginning of the second half of the
first line. A strophe showing more typical irregularities is, for
instance, the twenty-second:

In sinen besten ziten, / bi sinen jungen tagen,
man mohte michel wunder / von Sivride sagen,
waz eren an im wuchse / und wie scoene was sin lip.
sit heten in ze minne / diu vil waetlichen wip.

Here the rhyme of the first and second lines is still masculine, _tagen_
and _sagen_ being pronounced _tagn_ and _sagn_. The unaccented syllable
is lacking, e.g., before the second accent of the second half of line
two, also before the first and the third accent of the second half of
line four. There are two unaccented syllables at the beginning
(_Auftakt_) of the second half of line three. The absence of the
unaccented syllable between the second and the third accent of the last
half of the fourth line of a strophe, as here, is so frequent in the poem
as to amount almost to a rule; it shows an utter misconception, or
disregard, of its true character, nevertheless, to treat this last
half-line as having only three accented syllables, as all translators
hitherto have done.

8. Editions Of The Nibelungenlied

MS. A. (Hohenems-Munich).
Lachmann, _Der Nibelunge Not und die Klage_, 5th ed., Berlin, 1878.
Several reprints of the text alone later.

MS. B. (St. Gall).
Bartsch, _Das Nibelungenlied_, 6th ed., Leipzig, 1886. (Vol. 3 of the
series Deutsche Classiker des Mittelalters.)
Piper, _Die Nibelungen_. (Vol. 6 of Kurschner's Deutsche
National-Litteratur.)

MS. C. (Donaueschingen).
Zarncke, _Das Nibelungenlied_, 6th ed., Leipzig, 1887.

* * * * *

THE NIBELUNGENLIED

* * * * *

FIRST ADVENTURE

Kriemhild's Dream

1

To us in olden story / are wonders many told
Of heroes rich in glory, / of trials manifold:
Of joy and festive greeting, / of weeping and of woe,
Of keenest warriors meeting, / shall ye now many a wonder know.

2

There once grew up in Burgundy / a maid of noble birth,
Nor might there be a fairer / than she in all the earth:
Kriemhild hight the maiden, / and grew a dame full fair,
Through whom high thanes a many / to lose their lives soon doomed were.

3

'Twould well become the highest / to love the winsome maid,
Keen knights did long to win her, / and none but homage paid.
Beauty without measure, / that in sooth had she,
And virtues wherewith many / ladies else adorned might be.

4

Three noble lords did guard her, / great as well in might,
Gunther and Gernot, / each one a worthy knight,
And Giselher their brother, / a hero young and rare.
The lady was their sister / and lived beneath the princes' care.

5

These lords were free in giving, / and born of high degree;
Undaunted was the valor / of all the chosen three.
It was the land of Burgundy / o'er which they did command,
And mighty deeds of wonder / they wrought anon in Etzel's land.

6

At Worms amid their warriors / they dwelt, the Rhine beside,
And in their lands did serve them / knights of mickle pride,
Who till their days were ended / maintained them high in state.
They later sadly perished / beneath two noble women's hate.

7

A high and royal lady, / Ute their mother hight,
Their father's name was Dankrat, / a man of mickle might.
To them his wealth bequeathed he / when that his life was done,
For while he yet was youthful / had he in sooth great honor won.

8

In truth were these three rulers, / as I before did say,
Great and high in power, / and homage true had they
Eke of knights the boldest / and best that e'er were known,
Keen men all and valiant, / as they in battle oft had shown.

9

There was of Tronje Hagen, / and of that princely line
His brother valiant Dankwart; / and eke of Metz Ortwein;
Then further the two margraves, / Gere and Eckewart;
Of Alzei was Volker, / a doughty man of dauntless heart.

10

Rumold the High Steward, / a chosen man was he,
Sindold and Hunold / they tended carefully
Each his lofty office / in their three masters' state,
And many a knight beside them / that I the tale may ne'er relate.

11

Dankwart he was Marshal; / his nephew, then, Ortwein
Upon the monarch waited / when that he did dine;
Sindold was Cup-bearer, / a stately thane was he,
And Chamberlain was Hunold, / masters all in courtesy.

12

Of the kings' high honor / and their far-reaching might,
Of their full lofty majesty / and how each gallant knight
Found his chiefest pleasure / in the life of chivalry,
In sooth by mortal never / might it full related be.

13

Amid this life so noble / did dream the fair Kriemhild
How that she reared a falcon, / in beauty strong and wild,
That by two eagles perished; / the cruel sight to see
Did fill her heart with sorrow / as great as in this world might be.

14

The dream then to her mother / Queen Ute she told,
But she could not the vision / than thus more clear unfold:
"The falcon that thou rearedst, / doth mean a noble spouse:
God guard him well from evil / or thou thy hero soon must lose."

15

"Of spouse, O darling mother, / what dost thou tell to me?
Without a knight to woo me, / so will I ever be,
Unto my latest hour / I'll live a simple maid,
That I through lover's wooing / ne'er be brought to direst need."

16

"Forswear it not so rashly," / her mother then replied.
"On earth if thou wilt ever / cast all care aside,
'Tis love alone will do it; / thou shalt be man's delight,
If God but kindly grant thee / to wed a right good valiant knight."

17

"Now urge the case, dear mother," / quoth she, "not further here.
Fate of many another / dame hath shown full clear
How joy at last doth sorrow / lead oft-times in its train.
That I no ruth may borrow, / from both alike I'll far remain."

18

Long time, too, did Kriemhild / her heart from love hold free,
And many a day the maiden / lived right happily,
Ere good knight saw she any / whom she would wish to woo.
In honor yet she wedded / anon a worthy knight and true.

19

He was that same falcon / she saw the dream within
Unfolded by her mother. / Upon her nearest kin,
That they did slay him later, / how wreaked she vengeance wild!
Through death of this one hero / died many another mother's child.

SECOND ADVENTURE

Siegfried

20

There grew likewise in Netherland / a prince of noble kind,
Siegmund hight his father, / his mother Siegelind--
Within a lordly castle / well known the country o'er,
By the Rhine far downward: / Xanten was the name it bore.

21

Siegfried they did call him, / this bold knight and good;
Many a realm he tested, / for brave was he of mood.
He rode to prove his prowess / in many a land around:
Heigh-ho! what thanes of mettle / anon in Burgundy he found!

22

In the springtime of his vigor, / when he was young and bold,
Could tales of mickle wonder / of Siegfried be told,
How he grew up in honor, / and how fair he was to see:
Anon he won the favor / of many a debonair lady.

23

As for a prince was fitting, / they fostered him with care:
Yet how the knightly virtues / to him native were!
'Twas soon the chiefest glory / of his father's land,
That he in fullest measure / endowed with princely worth did stand.

24

He soon was grown in stature / that he at court did ride.
The people saw him gladly, / lady and maid beside
Did wish that his own liking / might lead him ever there.
That they did lean unto him / the knight was soon right well aware.

25

In youth they let him never / without safe escort ride;
Soon bade Siegmund and Siegelind / apparel rich provide;
Men ripe in wisdom taught him, / who knew whence honor came.
Thus many lands and people / he won by his wide-honored name.

26

Now was he of such stature / that he could weapons bear:
Of what thereto he needed / had he an ample share.
Then to think of loving / fair maids did he begin,
And well might they be honored / for wooer Siegfried bold to win.

27

Then bade his father Siegmund / make known to one and all
That he with his good kinsmen / would hold high festival.
And soon were tidings carried / to all the neighboring kings;
To friends at home and strangers / steeds gave he and rich furnishings.

28

Wherever they found any / who knight was fit to be
By reason of his kindred, / all such were courteously
Unto the land invited / to join the festal throng,
When with the prince so youthful / on them the knightly sword was hung.

29

Of this high time of revelry / might I great wonders tell.
Siegmund and Siegelind / great honor won full well,
Such store of goodly presents / they dealt with generous hand,
That knights were seen full many / from far come pricking to their land.

30

Four hundred lusty squires / were there to be clad
In knight's full garb with Siegfried. / Full many a beauteous maid
At work did never tire, / for dear they did him hold,
And many a stone full precious / those ladies laid within the gold,

31

That they upon the doublets / embroidered cunningly
Of those soon to be knighted: / 't was thus it had to be,
Seats bade the host for many / a warrior bold make right
Against the high midsummer, / when Siegfried won the name of knight.

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