an unknown medieval German poet, who, from the broken ballads
then surviving wrote the "Nibelungenlied" or more properly
"Nibelungen Not" ("The Need of the Niblungs"). In this the
characters are all renamed, some being more or less historical
actors in mid-European history, as Theodoric of the East-Goths,
for instance. The whole of the earlier part of the story has
disappeared, and though Siegfried (Sigurd) has slain a dragon,
there is nothing to connect it with the fate that follows the
treasure; Andvari, the Volsungs, Fafnir, and Regin are all
forgotten; the mythological features have become faint, and the
general air of the whole is that of medieval romance. The swoard
Gram is replaced by Balmung, and the Helm of Awing by the
Tarn-cap -- the former with no gain, the latter with great loss.
The curse of Andvari, which in the saga is grimly real, working
itself out with slow, sure steps that no power of god or man can
turn aside, in the medieval poem is but a mere scenic effect, a
strain of mystery and magic, that runs through the changes of the
story with much added picturesqueness, but that has no obvious
relation to the working-out of the plot, or fulfilment of their
destiny by the different characters. Brynhild loses a great
deal, and is a poor creature when compared with herself in the
saga; Grimhild and her fateful drink have gone; Gudrun
(Chriemhild)is much more complex, but not more tragic; one new
character, Rudiger, appears as the type of chivalry; but Sigurd
(Siegfred) the central figure, though he has lost by the omission
of so much of his life, is, as before, the embodiment of all the
virtues that were dear to northern hearts. Brave, strong,
generous, dignified, and utterly truthful, he moves amid a tangle
of tragic events, overmastered by a mighty fate, and in life or
death is still a hero without stain or flaw. It is no wonder