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