Epic poetry, German -- Translations into English; Nibelungen -- Poetry
(St. XXI.) This passage, which states that Siegfried wore the
cloud-cloak at all times, agrees with the description of its mode of
operation at St. LXXXV, Tenth Adventure, but is inconsistent with
stanzas XLIII-LXXXIV, Seventh Adventure, from which last it would seem
to have been necessary for Siegfried to put on the cloak in order to
become invisible, and to put it off when he wished to become visible
again. The inconsistent passages probably arose from varying traditions
as to the operation of this miraculous garment. There is another
difficulty here. From Alberic's words it would seem that the possession
of the treasure depended on the possession of the cloud-cloak. If he and
his fellows had not lost the cloak _together with Siegfried_ (by which
last words he seems to refer not to the original loss of the cloak, when
Siegfried first won it, but to its loss in consequence of that hero's
death), the Burgundians should not have had the treasure, but we are
nowhere told what became of the cloak after Siegfried's death, and
Kriemhild claims the treasure as a gift from Siegfried, not as depending
on the possession of the cloak.
TWENTIETH ADVENTURE
(St. I.) Lachmann's Eleventh Lay begins here, and ends with St. III,
Twenty-first Adventure. "The historical relation of Etzel to Attila,"
says Professor W. Grimm ("Deutsche Heldensage," p. 67), "is quite
clear." It is here strengthened by the "mention of his brother
Blœdelin, who answers to the Bleda of Priscus and Jornandes, and is
found in the Klage, in Biterolf, in the Vilkina Saga, and other later
poems. Helche, otherwise Erka, Herche, Herriche, and Hariche, reminds us
of the Kerka of Priscus." Priscus was secretary to Maximin, the
ambassador of Theodosius the Younger at the court of Attila, and wrote a
history, of which extracts are still extant. The following is his
account of an interview with Kerka, the "_frou Helche_" of our poem.
Ἐνταῦθα τῆς Ἀττήλα ἐνδιαίτουμενης γαμετῆς, διὰ τῶν πρὸς τῇ θύρᾳ
βαρβάρων ἔτυχον εἰσόδου, καὶ αὐτὴν ἐπὶ στρώματος μαλακοῦ κειμένην
κατέλαβον, τοῖς ἐκ τῆς ἐρέας πιλωτοῖς τοῦ ἐδάφους σκεπομένου, ὥστε ἐπ'
αὐτῶν βαδίζειν. περιεῖπε δὲ αὐτὴν θεραπόντων πλῆθος κύκλῳ καὶ θεράπαιναι
ἐπὶ τοῦ ἐδάφους ἀντικρὺ αὐτῆς καθήμεναι ὀθόνας χρώμασι διεποίκιλλον,
ἐπιβληθησομένας πρὸς κόσμον ἐσθημάτων βαρβαρικῶν· προςελθῶν τοίνυν καὶ τὰ
δῶρα μετὰ τὸν ἀσπασμὸν δοὺς ὑπεξήειν. Gibbon in the 34th chapter of his
History has given almost a translation of Priscus. "The wife of Attila
received their visit sitting, or rather lying, on a soft couch; the
floor was covered with a carpet; the domestics formed a circle round the
queen, and her damsels, seated on the ground, were employed in working
the variegated embroidery which adorned the dress of the barbaric
warriors." There is a full account of Attila and the Huns with much
relating to the Nibelungenlied in the late Hon. and Rev. William
Herbert's Historical Treatise subjoined to his Poem on Attila.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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