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A perfect and highly readable English prose translation of the Nibelungenlied-an epic poem which first appeared written in in Middle High German around 1100 AD, in which the story of Siegfried the dragon slayer was first told.
The epic consists of two parts: first, the story of Siegfried and his wife Kriemhild; and second, of the marriage of Siegfried's widow to King Etzel (Atilla the Hun).
The tale weaves through intrigue, adventure, love, death, and revenge, as Siegfried slays the dragon, but is killed by Hagen, who then hides the Nibelung treasure in the Rhine River. Kreimhild is forced to marry Etzel, but takes her revenge . . .
The original epic was written in poem format in 2.400 stanzas, divided up into 39 adventures.
This English translation has kept to the "adventure" format but reads as a conventional epic, and accurately follows the storyline of all the adventures.
The Nibelungenlied later served as the inspiration for Richard Wagner's "The Ring" Cycle.
About the author
Daniel Shumway (1868-1940) was Professor of Germanic Languages and Literature at the University of Pennsylvania.
