Page:The lay of the Nibelungs; (IA nibelungslay00hortrich).pdf/14

x To the ordinary ear they resemble iambics with a central cæsura;—a measure familiar in ballad verse, and much used by Macaulay in his well-known “Lays.” This form accordingly has been adopted as the metrical equivalent; though, for the sake of euphony, the extra accent which characterizes the second half of every fourth line has been omitted in the translation. How far this method of rendering the original is justifiable the reader may determine by turning to the specimens given by Carlyle, and comparing it with his rougher versions.

It has been thought well to prefix to the volume this Essay of Carlyle’s, because, though it was written more than sixty years ago, when the subject had attracted but little attention, it gives in a sympathetic manner, yet in a style full of characteristic humour, an account of the relations between this poem and other German mediæval rhymes, founded on kindred subjects. So far as concerns the authorship of the poem, as it now exists, nothing has been discovered since Carlyle wrote. It must, however, be obvious to any careful reader that the poem is not in its original form. The references to people and events, not accounted for in it, prove that it is based on earlier legends. The strange juxtaposition of ethical motives; the contrast of ideals, as shown in the characters of Hagen and Rüdeger; the mingling of historical personages of different dates, show that in its earliest form as a whole it must have been full of anachronisms, due to the fusion of different elements. These have to some extent been elucidated by the increased knowledge of Scandinavian literature. The Eddas and Sagas exhibit, in a different form, the ancient legends on which the various parts of the poem are based. In the “Volsungasaga” we have a key to the earlier history of Siegfried and Brunhild, to which, in the Nibelungenlied, only obscure reference is made. In the “Thidreksaga” we have the Scandinavian form