This eBook is dedicated to the memory of D A Alexander who made it possible. _LIFE STORIES FOR YOUNG PEOPLE_ THE NIBELUNGS LIFE STORIES FOR YOUNG PEOPLE _Translated from the German by GEORGE P. UPTON_ 12 Vols. Ready BEETHOVEN FREDERICK THE GREAT MOZART MARIA THERESA BACH BARBAROSSA MAID OF ORLEANS WILLIAM OF ORANGE WILLIAM TELL GUDRUN THE LITTLE DAUPHIN THE NIBELUNGS _Illustrated, each 60 cents net_ A. C. McCLURG & CO., CHICAGO [Illustration: _DEATH OF SIEGFRIED_] _LIFE STORIES FOR YOUNG PEOPLE_ THE NIBELUNGS _Translated from the German of Ferdinand Schmidt_ BY GEORGE P. UPTON _Translator of “Memories,” etc._ WITH FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS [Illustration] CHICAGO A. C. McCLURG & CO. 1906 COPYRIGHT A. C. MCCLURG & CO. 1906 Published September 22, 1906 THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A. Translator’s Preface The Nibelungen Lied (_Nibelungen_, name of an ancient royal race which possessed a great treasure; _lied_, song or ballad), one of the world’s greatest epics, made its appearance in the twelfth or thirteenth century, in South Germany. Its authorship is unknown. The writer, however, did not produce an original work, but made use of still earlier legends which had been handed down orally. The Nibelungen Lied is to be regarded, therefore, as a collection of ballads skilfully united so as to form a connected story. Its hero is Siegfried, who possessed the Nibelung hoard, which he won in Norway. Siegfried wooed Brunhild for Günther, King of Burgundy, and married the king’s sister, Kriemhild. He was treacherously slain by Hagen and the hoard was sunk in the Rhine. Kriemhild subsequently was married to Etzel (Attila), King of the Huns, and slew Hagen after he had been overcome in combat, but lost her own life at the hands of the “ancient,” Hildebrand. Both historical and mythical elements are mingled in this great poem, which should not be confounded with Wagner’s “Ring der Nibelungen,” in which he has taken many names from the German epic. The material for his famous music-dramas he found in the old Norse version, contained in the Volsunga Saga and the Edda. The Nibelungen Lied was followed by many similar epics, among them “Gudrun,” “The Expedition of Ecken,” the tale of “King Laurin,” “Rosengarten,” and others, but The Nibelungen Lied is the greatest of all the German national traditions. One writer, in his description of the poem, says: