The Nibelungenlied — Anonymous
You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org . If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook. Title : The Nibelungenlied Translator : Daniel Bussier Shumway Release date : December 1, 1997 [eBook #1151] Most recently updated: October 29, 2024 Language : English Other information and formats : www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1151 Credits : Produced by Douglas B. Killings, and David Widger *** START OF 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. SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY: OTHER TRANSLATIONS— Hatto, A.T. (Trans.): "Nibelungenlied" (Penguin Classics, London, 1962). Prose translation. Ryder, Frank G. (Trans.): "The Song of the Nibelungs" (Wayne State University Press, Detroit, 1962). Verse translation. RECOMMENDED READING— Anonymous: "Kudrun", Translated by Marion E. Gibbs & Sidney Johnson (Garland Pub., New York, 1992). Anonymous: "Volsungasaga", Translated by William Morris and Eirikr Magnusson (Walter Scott Press, London, 1888; Reissued by the Online Medieval and Classical Library as E-Text #29, 1997). Saxo Grammaticus: "The First Nine Books of the Danish History", Translated by Oliver Elton (London, 1894; Reissued by the Online Medieval and Classical Library as E-Text OMACL #28, 1997). PREFACE This work has been undertaken in the belief that a literal translation of as famous an epic as the "Nibelungenlied" would be acceptable to the general reading public whose interest in the story of Siegfried has been stimulated by Wagner's operas and by the reading of such poems as William Morris' "Sigurd the Volsung". Prose has been selected as the medium of translation, since it is hardly possible to give an accurate rendering and at the same time to meet the demands imposed by rhyme and metre; at least, none of the verse translations made thus far have succeeded in doing this. The prose translations, on the other hand, mostly err in being too continuous and in condensing too much, so that they retell the story instead of translating it. The present translator has tried to avoid these two extremes. He has endeavored to translate literally and accurately, and to reproduce the spirit of the original, as far as a prose translation will permit. To this end the language has been made as simple and as Saxon in character as possible. An exception has been made, however, in the case of such Romance words as were in use in England during the age of the romances of chivalry, and which would help to land a Romance coloring; these have been frequently employed. Very few obsolete words have been used, and these are explained in the notes, but the language has been made to some extent archaic, especially in dialogue, in order to give the impression of age. At the request of the publishers the Introduction Sketch has been shorn of the apparatus of scholarship and made as popular as a study of the poem and its sources would allow. The advanced student who may be interested in consulting authorities will find them given in the introduction to the parallel edition in the Riverside Literature Series. A short list of English works on the subject had, however, been added. In conclusion the translator would like to thank his colleagues,