The _Nibelungen Lied_ has been ascribed to Heinrich von Ofterdingen, a minnesinger; but it certainly existed before that epoch, if not as a complete whole, in separate lays, and all that Heinrich von Ofterdingen could have done was to collect the floating lays, connect them, and form them into a complete story. F. A. Wolf, in 1795, wrote a learned book to prove that Homer did for the _Iliad_ and _Odyssey_ what Ofterdingen did for the _Nibelungen Lied_. Richard Wagner composed a series of operas founded on the Nibelungen Lied. =Nibelungen Nôt=, the second part of the _Nibelungen Lied_, containing the marriage of Kriemhild with Etzel, the visit of the Burgundians to the court of the Hun, and the death of Günther, Hagan, Kriemhild, and others. This part contains eighty-three four-line stanzas more than the first part. The number of lines in the two parts is 9836; so that the poem is almost as long as Milton’s _Paradise Lost_. =Nibelungers=, whoever possessed the Nibelungen hoard. When it was in Norway, the Norwegians were so called: when Siegfried [_Sege.freed_] got the possession of it, the Netherlanders were so called; and when the hoard was removed to Burgundy, the Burgundians were the Nibelungers. =Nic. Frog=, the Dutch as a nation; as the English are called John Bull.--Dr. Arbuthnot, _History of John Bull_ (1712). =Nica´nor=, “the Protospathaire,” a Greek general.--Sir W. Scott, _Count Robert of Paris_ (time, Rufus). =Nice= (_Sir Courtley_), the chief character and title of a drama by Croune (1685). =Nicholas=, a poor scholar, who boarded with John, a rich old miserly carpenter. The poor scholar fell in love with Alison, his landlord’s young wife, who joined him in duping the foolish old carpenter. Nicholas told John that such a rain would fall on the ensuing Monday as would drown every one in “less than an hour;” and he persuaded the old fool to provide three large tubs, one for himself, one for his wife, and the other for his lodger. In these tubs, said Nicholas, they would be saved; and when the flood abated, they would then be lords and masters of the whole earth. A few hours before the time of the “flood,” the old carpenter went to the top chamber of his house to repeat his _pater nosters_. He fell asleep over his prayers, and was roused by the cry of “Water! water! Help! help!” Supposing the rain had come, he jumped into his tub, and was let down by Nicholas and Alison into the street. A crowd soon assembled, were delighted at the joke, and pronounced the old man an idiot and fool.--Chaucer, _Canterbury Tales_ (“The Miller’s Tale,” 1388). _Nicholas_, the barber of the village in which Don Quixote lived.--Cervantes, _Don Quixote_, I. (1605). _Nicholas_ (_Brother_), a monk at St. Mary’s Convent.--Sir W. Scott, _The Monastery_ (time, Elizabeth). _Nicholas_ (_St._), patron saint of boys, parish clerks, sailors, thieves, and of Aberdeen, Russia, etc.