THE BOOK OF THE EPIC

The World's Great Epics Told in Story

by

H. A. GUERBER

Author of _Myths of Greece and Rome_, _Myths of Northern Lands_,
_Legends of the Middle Ages_, etc.

With an Introduction by J. Berg Esenwein, Litt. D.

With Sixteen Illustrations from the Masters of Painting

1913







INTRODUCTION


Every now and then in our reading we come suddenly face to face with
_first_ things,--the very elemental sources beyond which no man may
go. There is a distinct satisfaction in dealing with such beginnings,
and, when they are those of literature, the sense of freshness is