Page:The lay of the Nibelungs; (IA nibelungslay00hortrich).pdf/21

Rh grain of Substance that casts such multiplied immeasurable Shadows? The primeval Mythus, were it at first philosophical truth, or were it historical! incident, floats too vaguely on the breath of men; each successive Singer and Redactor furnishes it with new personages, new scenery, to please a new audience; each has the privilege of inventing, and the far wider privilege of borrowing and new-modelling from all that have preceded him. Thus though tradition may have but one root, it grows like a Banian, into a whole overarching labyrinth of trees. Or rather might we say, it is a Hall of Mirrors, where in pale light each mirror reflects, convexly or concavely, not only some real Object, but the Shadows of this in other mirrors; which again do the like for it: till in such reflection and re-reflection the whole immensity is filted with dimmer and dimmer shapes; and no firm scene lies round us, but a dislocated, distorted chaos, fading away on all hands, in the distance, into utter night. Only to some brave Von der Hagen, furnished with indefatigable ardour, and a deep, almost religious love, is it given to find sure footing there, and see his way. All those Dukes of Aquitania, therefore, and Etzel’s Court-holdings, and Dietrichs and Sigenots we shall leave standing where they are. Such as desire farther information will find an intelligible account of the whole Series or Cycle, in Messrs. Weber and Jamieson’s “Illustrations of Northern Antiquities;” and all possible furtherance, in the numerous German works above alluded to; among which Von der Hagen’s writings, though not the readiest, are probably the safest guides. But for us, our business here is with the “Nibelungen,” the inhabited poetic country round which all these wildernesses lie; only as environments of which, as routes to which, are they of moment to us. Perhaps our shortest and smoothest route will be through the “Heldenbuch” (Hero-book); which is greatly the most important of these subsidiary Fictions, not without interest of its own, and closely related to the “Nibelungen.” This “Heldenbuch,” therefore, we must now address ourselves to traverse with all despatch. At the present stage of the business too, we shall forbear any