The Nibelungenlied

This great German heroic epic, set down by an unknown poet around the year 1200, joins old legend to courtly splendour. Siegfried, a young prince who has slain a dragon and won a hoard of treasure, comes to the Burgundian court and marries the princess Kriemhild. His murder, plotted by the grim vassal Hagen after a bitter quarrel between two queens, splits the poem in two. The second half belongs to Kriemhild, whose long grief hardens into a revenge that draws her whole people toward slaughter at the court of Etzel. It stands among the founding epics of European literature. Alice Horton’s translation carries the verse into English. Free PDF and EPUB editions are available to download.