Geibel has derived from it the materials for his "Tragedy of
Brunhild."


And now I, too, come with the STORY OF SIEGFRIED, still
another version of the time-honored legend. The story as I
shall tell it you is not in all respects a literal rendering
of the ancient myth; but I have taken the liberty to change
and recast such portions of it as I have deemed advisable.
Sometimes I have drawn materials from one version of the
story, sometimes from another, and sometimes largely from my
own imagination alone. Nor shall I be accused of impropriety
in thus reshaping a narrative, which, although hallowed by
an antiquity of a thousand years and more, has already
appeared in so many different forms, and been clothed in so
many different garbs; for, however much I may have allowed
my fancy or my judgment to retouch and remodel the
immaterial portions of the legend, the essential parts of
this immortal myth remain the same. And, if I succeed in
leading you to a clearer understanding and a wiser
appreciation of the thoughts and feelings of our old
northern ancestors, I shall have accomplished the object for
which I have written this Story of Siegfried.





Contents.