Hero Tales

Hero Tales

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Title: Hero Tales
Author: James Baldwin
Release Date: April 14, 2005 [EBook #15616]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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TALES ***

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HERO TALES
BY
JAMES BALDWIN

Author of "The Story of Siegfried," "The Story of Roland," "A Story of

the Golden Age," "Baldwin's Readers," etc.

NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
1914

COPYRIGHT, 1904, BY
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS

TO
CARRIE EDITH AND NELLIE MAY

INTRODUCTION
In the world's literature there are certain stories which, told ages ago,
can never be forgotten. They have within them that which gives
pleasure to all intelligent men, women and children. They appeal to the
sympathies, the desires, and the admiration of all sorts and conditions
of mankind. These are the stories that are said to be immortal. They
have been repeated and re-repeated in many forms and to all kinds of
audiences. They have been recited and sung in royal palaces, in the
halls of mediaeval castles, and by the camp fires of warring heroes.
Parents have taught them to their children, and generation after
generation has preserved their memory. They have been written on
parchment and printed in books, translated into many languages,
abridged, extended, edited, and "adapted." But through all these
changes and the vicissitudes of time, they still preserve the qualities
that have made them so universally popular.
Chief among these masterpieces of imagination are the tales of gods
and heroes that have come down to us from the golden age of Greece,
and particularly the tales of Troy that cluster around the narratives of
old Homer in his "Iliad" and "Odyssey." Three thousand years or more
have passed since they were first recited, and yet they have lost none of
their original charm. Few persons of intelligence are unacquainted with
these tales, for our literature abounds in allusions to them; and no one
who pretends to the possession of culture or learning can afford to be
ignorant of them.

Second only in interest, especially to us of Anglo-Saxon descent, are
the hero tales of the ancient North and the stirring legends connected
with the "Nibelungen Lied." Of much later origin than the Greek stories,
and somewhat inferior to them in refinement of thought and delicacy of
imagery, these tales partake of the rugged, forceful character of the
people among whom they were composed. Yet, with all their austerity
and sternness, they are replete with vivid action, and they charm us by
their very strength and the lessons which they teach of heroic
endurance and the triumph of eternal justice.
Scarcely inferior to these latter, but not so well known to
English-speaking people, are the tales of knighthood and chivalry that
commemorate the romantic deeds of Charlemagne and his paladins.
Written in various languages, and at periods widely separated, these
tales present a curious mixture of fact and fiction, of the real and the
marvellous, of the beautiful and the grotesque, of pagan superstition
and Christian devotion. Although there were, in truth, no knights in the
time of Charlemagne, and the institution of chivalry did not exist until
many years later, yet these legends are of value as portraying life and
manners in that period of history which we call the Dark Ages; and
their pictures of knightly courage and generosity, faithfulness, and
loyalty, appeal to our nobler feelings and stir our hearts with
admiration.
To know something of these three great cycles, or groups, of classic
and romantic stories--the hero tales of Troy, those of the ancient North,
and those of Charlemagne--is essential to the acquirement of refined
literary tastes. For this knowledge will go far toward helping its
possessor to enjoy many things in our modern literature that would
otherwise be puzzling or obscure. The importance, therefore, of placing
some of the best of such tales early within the reach of school children
and all young readers cannot be disputed.
In three volumes somewhat larger than the present one--"A Story of the
Golden Age," "The Story of Siegfried," and "The Story of Roland"--I
have already endeavored to introduce young readers to the most
interesting portions of these great cycles of romance, narrating in each
the adventures of the hero who is the central figure in the group of
legends or tales under consideration. The present volume, made up of
selections from these earlier books, has been prepared in response to

repeated suggestions that certain portions of them,