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