Famous Men of the Middle Ages | Page 7

tremble from its
roots to its topmost boughs. At last the quivering earth will sink
beneath the waters of the sea.
Then Loki, the spirit of evil, will break loose from the fetters with
which the gods have bound him. The frost giants will join him. They
will try to make a secret attack on the gods. But Heimdall, the sentry of
heaven, will be on guard at the end of the rainbow-bridge. He needs no
more sleep than a bird and can see for a hundred miles either by day or
night. He only can sound the horn whose blast can be heard through
heaven and earth and the under-world. Loki and his army will be seen
by him. His loud alarm will sound and bring the gods together. They
will rush to meet the giants. Woden will wield his spear--Tiew his
glittering sword--Thor his terrible hammer. These will all be in vain.

The gods must die. But so must the giants and Loki.
And then a new earth will rise from the sea. The leaves of its forests
will never fall; its fields will yield harvests unsown. And in a hall far
brighter than Woden's Valhalla the brave and good will be gathered
forever.
The Nibelungs
I
The time came when the people of Western Europe learned to believe
in one God and were converted to Christianity, but the old stories about
the gods and Valkyries and giants and heroes, who were half gods and
half men, were not forgotten.
These stories were repeated from father to son for generations, and in
the twelfth century a poet, whose name we do not know, wrote them in
verse. He called his poem the Nibelungenlied (song of the Nibelungs).
It is the great national poem of the Germans. The legends told in it are
the basis of Wagner's operas.
"Nibelungs" was the name given to some northern dwarfs whose king
had once possessed a great treasure of gold and precious stones but had
lost it. Whoever got possession of this treasure was followed by a curse.
The Nibelungenlied tells the adventures of those who possessed the
treasure.
II
In the grand old city of Worms, in Burgundy, there lived long ago the
princess Kriemhilda. Her eldest brother Gunther was king of Burgundy.
And in the far-away Netherlands, where the Rhine pours its waters into
the sea, dwelt a prince named Siegfried, son of Siegmund, the king.
Ere long Sir Siegfried heard of the beauty of fair Kriemhilda. He said to
his father, "Give me twelve knights and I will ride to King Gunther's

land. I must win the heart of Kriemhilda."
After seven days' journey the prince and his company drew near to the
gates of Worms. All wondered who the strangers were and whence they
came. Hagen, Kriemhilda's uncle, guessed. He said, "I never have seen
the famed hero of Netherlands, yet I am sure that yonder knight is none
but Sir Siegfried."
"And who," asked the wondering people, "may Siegfried be?"
"Siegfried," answered Sir Hagen, "is a truly wonderful knight. Once
when riding all alone, he came to a mountain where lay the treasure of
the king of the Nibelungs. The king's two sons had brought it out from
the cave in which it had been hidden, to divide it between them. But
they did not agree about the division. So when Seigfied drew near both
princes said, 'Divide for us, Sir Siegfried, our father's hoard.' There
were so many jewels that one hundred wagons could not carry them,
and of ruddy gold there was even more. Seigfied made the fairest
division he could, and as a reward the princes gave him their father's
sword called Balmung. But although Siegfried had done his best to
satisfy them with his division, they soon fell to quarreling and fighting,
and when he tried to separate them they made an attack on him. To
save his own life he slew them both. Alberich, a mountain dwarf, who
had long been guardian of the Nibelung hoard, rushed to avenge his
masters; but Siegfried vanquished him and took from him his cap of
darkness which made its wearer invisible and gave him the strength of
twelve men. The hero then ordered Alberich to place the treasure again
in the mountain cave and guard it for him."
Hagen then told another story of Siegfried:
"Once he slew a fierce dragon and bathed himself in its blood, and this
turned the hero's skin to horn, so that no sword or spear can wound
him."
When Hagen had told these tales he advised King Gunther and the
people of Burgundy to receive Siegfried with all honor.

So, as the fashion was in those times, games were held in the courtyard
of the palace in honor of Siegfried, and Kriemhilda