The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Nibelungenlied, by Unknown
THE NIBELUNGENLIED
By An Unknown Author
Translated by Daniel B. Shumway
Originally written in Middle High German (M.H.G.), sometime around 1200 A.D., although this dating is by no means certain. Author unknown.
The text of this edition is based on that published as "The Nibelungenlied", translated by Daniel B. Shumway (Houghton-Mifflin Co., New York, 1909).
PREPARER'S NOTE: In order to make this electronic edition easier to use, the preparer has found it necessary to re-arrange the endnotes of Mr. Shumway's edition, collating them with the chapters themselves and substituting page references with footnote references. The preparer takes full responsibility for these changes.—DBK.
CONTENTS
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY:
PREFACE
INTRODUCTORY SKETCH
THE NIBELUNGENLIED
ADVENTURE I.
ADVENTURE II. Of Siegfried.
ADVENTURE III. How Siegfried Came to Worms.
ADVENTURE IV. How He Fought with the Saxons.
ADVENTURE V. How Siegfried First Saw Kriemhild.
ADVENTURE VI. How Gunther Fared To Isenland (1) for Brunhild.
ADVENTURE VII. How Gunther Won Brunhild.
ADVENTURE VIII. How Siegfried Fared To His Men-At-Arms, the Nibelungs.
ADVENTURE IX. How Siegfried Was Sent To Worms.
ADVENTURE X. How Brunhild Was Received At Worms.
ADVENTURE XI. How Siegfried Journeyed Homeward With His Wife.
ADVENTURE XII. How Gunther Bade Siegfried To The Feasting.
ADVENTURE XIII. How They Journeyed To The Feasting.
ADVENTURE XIV. How The Queens Reviled Each Other.
ADVENTURE XV. How Siegfried Was Betrayed.
ADVENTURE XVI. How Siegfried Was Slain.
ADVENTURE XVII. How Kriemhild Mourned Her Husband And How He Was Buried.
ADVENTURE XVIII. How Siegmund Journeyed Home Again.
ADVENTURE XIX. How The Nibelung Hoard Was Brought to Worms.
ADVENTURE XX. How King Etzel (1) Sent To Burgundy For Kriemhild.
ADVENTURE XXI. How Kriemhild Journeyed To The Huns.
ADVENTURE XXII. How Etzel Made Kriemhild His Bride.
ADVENTURE XXIII. How Kriemhild Thought To Avenge Her Wrongs.
ADVENTURE XXIV. How Werbel And Swemmel Brought The Message.
ADVENTURE XXV. How The Lords All Journeyed To The Huns.
ADVENTURE XXVI. How Gelfrat Was Slain By Dankwart.
ADVENTURE XXVII. How They Came To Bechelaren.
ADVENTURE XXVIII. How The Burgundians Came To Etzel's Castle.
ADVENTURE XXIX. How Hagen Would Not Rise For Kriemhild.
ADVENTURE XXX. How They Kept The Watch.
ADVENTURE XXXI. How They Went To Church.
ADVENTURE XXXII How Bloedel Was Slain.
ADVENTURE XXXIII. How The Burgundians Fought The Huns.
ADVENTURE XXXIV. How They Cast Out The Dead.
ADVENTURE XXXV. How Iring Was Slain.
ADVENTURE XXXVI. How The Queen Gave Orders To Burn the Hall.
ADVENTURE XXXVII. How Margrave Rudeger Was Slain.
ADVENTURE XXXVIII. How All Sir Dietrich's Warriors Were Slain.
ADVENTURE XXXIX. How Gunther And Hagen And Kriemhild Were Slain.
The Nibelungenlied (German pronunciation: [ˌniːbəˈlʊŋənˌliːt] ⓘ; Middle High German: Der Nibelunge liet or Der Nibelunge nôt), translated as The Song of the Nibelungs, is an epic poem written around 1200 in Middle High German. Its anonymous poet was likely from the region of Passau. The Nibelungenlied is based on an oral tradition of Germanic heroic legend that has some of its origin in historic events and individuals of the 5th and 6th centuries and that spread throughout almost all of Germanic-speaking Europe. Scandinavian parallels to the German poem are found especially in the heroic lays of the Poetic Edda and in the Völsunga saga.
The poem is split into two parts. In the first part, the prince Siegfried comes to Worms to acquire the hand of the Burgundian princess Kriemhild from her brother King Gunther. Gunther agrees to let Siegfried marry Kriemhild if Siegfried helps Gunther acquire the warrior-queen Brünhild as his wife. Siegfried does this and marries Kriemhild; however, Brünhild and Kriemhild become rivals, leading eventually to Siegfried's murder by the Burgundian vassal Hagen with Gunther's involvement. In the second part, the widow Kriemhild is married to Etzel, king of the Huns. She later invites her brother and his court to visit Etzel's kingdom intending to kill Hagen. Her revenge results in the death of all the Burgundians who came to Etzel's court as well as the destruction of Etzel's kingdom and the death of Kriemhild herself.
The Nibelungenlied was the first heroic epic put into writing in Germany, helping to found a larger genre of written heroic poetry there. The poem's tragedy appears to have bothered its medieval audience, and very early on a sequel was written, the Nibelungenklage, which made the tragedy less final. The poem was forgotten after around 1500 but was rediscovered in 1755. Dubbed the "German Iliad", the Nibelungenlied began a new life as the German national epic. The poem was appropriated for nationalist purposes and was heavily used in anti-democratic, reactionary, and Nazi propaganda before and during the Second World War. Its legacy today is most visible in Richard Wagner's operatic cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen, which, however, is mostly based on Old Norse sources. In 2009, the three main manuscripts of the Nibelungenlied[1] were inscribed in UNESCO's Memory of the World Register in recognition of their historical significance.[2] It has been called "one of the most impressive, and certainly the most powerful, of the German epics of the Middle Ages".[3]
Synopsis
Original (MS C)[8]
Uns ist in alten mæren || wunders vil geseit
von helden lobebæren,|| von grôzer arebeit,
von fröuden, hôchgezîten, || von weinen und von klagen,
von küener recken strîten || muget ir nu wunder hœren sagen.
Modern German[7]
Uns ist in alten Geschichten viel Staunenswertes gesagt
von ruhmwürdigen Helden, von großer Mühsal (im Kampf),
von Freuden und Festen, von Weinen und Klagen,
vom Kampf kühner Helden könnt ihr jetzt viel Staunenswertes sagen hören.
English[9]
In ancient tales many marvels are told us:
of renowned heroes worthy of praise, of great hardship,
of joys, festivities, of weeping and lamenting,
of bold warriors' battles—now you may hear such marvels told.
The oldest manuscripts instead began with the introduction of Kriemhild, the protagonist of the work.
The epic is divided into two parts, the first dealing with the story of Siegfried and Kriemhild, the wooing of Brünhild and the death of Siegfried at the hands of Hagen, and Hagen's hiding of the Nibelung treasure in the river Rhine (Chapters 1–19). The second part deals with Kriemhild's marriage to Etzel (Attila, king of the Huns), her plans for revenge, the journey of the Burgundians to the court of Etzel, and their last stand in Etzel's hall (Chapters 20–39).
The story of the Rhinegold (Der Ring des Nibelungen) told for young people
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