“Feudal loyalty and martial courage were the great virtues of these heroes. The poem contains a tale of revenge; but all the plot turns on the principle of loyalty, in obedience to which thousands lost their lives in a quarrel which had at first involved only two or three leading characters. Though this singular poem contains many traits of a warlike age, and closes with terrible scenes of carnage, it displays hardly a trace of such a motive as personal hatred, except in the character of the heroine.” Considered as types, Siegfried stands for the enthusiasm, beauty, courage, lofty purpose, and high ambition of immortal youth; Hagen, for fierceness, boldness, savagery, and treachery; Kriemhild is the type of a gentle, loving nature roused to the highest intensity of furious longing for vengeance. Old as the poem is, it contains the development of all human passions,--manly beauty, heroism, and nobility by the side of unmanly cruelty and treachery; the blackest unfaithfulness by the side of faithfulness until death; the foulest of deeds by the side of the most loving; and the tenderest hearts combined with the most heroic souls. But among them all, no character stands out more resplendently as an exemplar for youth than Siegfried, himself the type of immortal youth. In the making of this translation an older form of English expression has been employed as in better keeping, perhaps, with the older form of German, which was used in the original poem. Some of the more sanguinary descriptions have been toned down, some of the numerous poetical connecting links omitted as being unnecessary, and paragraphs here and there have also been omitted where this did not mar the context, so as to make the volume nearly uniform in size with the others of the series. G. P. U. CHICAGO, July 1, 1906. Contents I. WIELAND THE SMITH 13 II. DIETRICH’S FIGHT WITH ECKE 22 III. SIEGFRIED IN THE FORGE 30 IV. SIEGFRIED AND THE NIBELUNGS 35 V. SIEGFRIED GOES TO BURGUNDY 40 VI. SIEGFRIED MAKES WAR AGAINST THE SAXONS 45 VII. THE FESTIVAL 49 VIII. KING GÜNTHER’S VOYAGE TO ICELAND 53 IX. THE CONTEST 57 X. SIEGFRIED VISITS THE NIBELUNGS 62 XI. THE WELCOME 66 XII. SIEGFRIED STRIVES WITH BRUNHILD 69 XIII. THE TWO QUEENS 74 XIV. THE QUEENS’ QUARREL 78 XV. THE BETRAYAL 81 XVI. SIEGFRIED’S DEATH 84 XVII. KRIEMHILD’S GRIEF 93 XVIII. THE NIBELUNG HOARD 97