ballad, German literature has preserved almost no trace of the
legend, and such as exist are too late and too corrupt to be of
much use in determining the original features of the story.

Just when the legend emigrated to Skandinavia we do not know, but
certainly at an early date, perhaps during the opening years of
the sixth century. It may have been introduced by German
traders, by slaves captured by the Northmen on their frequent
marauding expeditions, or, as Mogk believes, may have been taken
by the Heruli on their return to Norway after their defeat by the
Langobardi. By whatever channel, however, the story reached the
North, it became part and parcel of Skandinavian folklore, only
certain names still pointing to the original home of the legend.
In the ninth century, when Harald Harfagr changed the ancient
free constitution of the land, many Norwegians emigrated to
Iceland, taking with them these acquired legends, which were
better preserved in this remote island because of the peaceful
introduction of Christianity, than on the Continent, where the
Church was more antagonistic to the customs and legends of the
heathen period.

The Skandinavian version of the Siegfried legend has been handed
down to us in five different forms. The first of these is the
poetic or older "Edda", also called Saemund's "Edda", as it was
assigned to the celebrated Icelandic scholar Saemundr Sigfusson.
The "Codex Regius", in which it is preserved, dates from the
middle of the thirteenth century, but is probably a copy of an
older manuscript. The songs it contains were written at various
times, the oldest probably in the first half of the ninth
century, the latest not much before the date of the earliest