The poem "Gudrun," which is probably as old as the Nibelungenlied, and
almost rivals it in interest, is one of the most valuable remains of
ancient German literature. It consists of thirty-two songs, in which are
related the adventures of three generations of the heroic family of the
Hegelings. Hence it is often termed the "Hegeling Legend."

[Sidenote: Kidnaping of Hagen.] The poem opens by telling us that Hagen was
the son of Sigeband, King of Ireland, which was evidently a place in
Holland, and not the well-known Emerald Isle. During a great feast, when
countless guests were assembled around his father's hospitable board, this
prince, who was then but seven years of age, was seized by a griffin and
rapidly borne away.

"Young Hagen, loudly crying, was filled with dire dismay;
The bird with mighty pinions soared high with him away."
_Gudrun_ (Dippold's tr.).

The cries of the child, and the arrows of Sigeband's men at arms, were
equally ineffectual in checking the griffin, which flew over land and sea,
and finally deposited its prey in its nest on the top of a great cliff on a
desert island. One of the little griffins, wishing to reserve this delicate
morsel for its own delectation, caught the boy up in its talons and flew
away to a neighboring tree. The branch upon which it perched was too weak
to support a double load, however, and as it broke the frightened griffin
dropped Hagen into a thicket. Undismayed by the sharp thorns, Hagen quickly
crept out of the griffin's reach and took refuge in a cave, where he found
three little girls who had escaped from the griffins in the same way.

[Sidenote: The three maidens.] One of these children was Hilde, an Indian