Produced by Juliet Sutherland and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net [Illustration: _HOW KRIEMHILD IS LED TO ETZEL._ From the Hundeshagen Nibelungen manuscripts of the 10th century, in the Royal Library at Berlin. "Let the messenger ride and thus we make Known to you how the queen rode the country." Kriemhild is the legendary heroine of the "Nibelungenlied," and the rival of Brunhild. She was the wife of Siegfried who was slain by her brothers. Later, as the wife of Etzel (Attila) King of the Huns, she avenged the murder of Siegfried by compassing the death of her brothers, but was herself slain.] LIBRARY OF THE WORLD'S BEST LITERATURE ANCIENT AND MODERN CHARLES DUDLEY WARNER EDITOR HAMILTON WRIGHT MABIE LUCIA GILBERT RUNKLE GEORGE HENRY WARNER ASSOCIATE EDITORS Connoisseur Edition VOL. XV. NEW YORK THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY Connoisseur Edition LIMITED TO FIVE HUNDRED COPIES IN HALF RUSSIA _No_. .......... Copyright, 1896, by R. S. PEALE AND J. A. HILL _All rights reserved_ THE ADVISORY COUNCIL CRAWFORD H. TOY, A. M., LL. D., Professor of Hebrew, HARVARD UNIVERSITY, Cambridge, Mass. THOMAS R. LOUNSBURY, LL. D., L. H. D., Professor of English in the Sheffield Scientific School of YALE UNIVERSITY, New Haven, Conn. WILLIAM M. SLOANE, PH. D., L. H. D., Professor of History and Political Science, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY, Princeton, N. J. BRANDER MATTHEWS, A. M., LL. B., Professor of Literature, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, New York City. JAMES B. ANGELL, LL. D., President of the UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, Ann Arbor, Mich. WILLARD FISKE, A. M., PH. D., Late Professor of the Germanic and Scandinavian Languages and Literatures, CORNELL UNIVERSITY, Ithaca, N. Y. EDWARD S. HOLDEN, A. M., LL. D., Director of the Lick Observatory, and Astronomer, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, Berkeley, Cal. ALCEE FORTIER, LIT. D., Professor of the Romance Languages, TULANE UNIVERSITY, New Orleans, La. WILLIAM P. TRENT, M. A., Dean of the Department of Arts and Sciences, and Professor of English and History, UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH, Sewanee, Tenn. PAUL SHOREY, PH. D., Professor of Greek and Latin Literature, UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO, Chicago, Ill.