How Hartmut sued for Gudrun
Life Stories for Young People
GUDRUN
Translated from the German of
Ferdinand Schmidt
BY
GEORGE P. UPTON
Translator of “Memories,” etc.
WITH THREE ILLUSTRATIONS
CHICAGO
A. C. McCLURG & CO.
1906
Copyright
A. C. McClurg & Co.
1906
Published September 22, 1906
THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A.
Translator’s Preface
The charming story of “Gudrun” is aromance of the old heroic period, writtenby some unknown poet of Austria orBavaria in the thirteenth century. Nextto the “Nibelungen Lied,” it is the most importantof the German epic poems. Indeed some of thepersonæ in “Gudrun” are found in the “Lied,”though varying in personal characteristics, probablybecause they were taken from different legends.The scenes of “Gudrun” are principally laid alongthe shores of the North Sea and in Normandy.The men and women in this poem resemble generallythose in the “Lied.” The same elementalpassions are depicted. The men are brave, vigorousheroes, rejoicing in battle and feats of prowess;the women are beautiful, constant, and courageous.There are many fine delineations of character in theoriginal, as well as vigorous sketches of northernscenery. The figure of Gudrun stands out in boldrelief among the maidens. There are few morebeautiful characters, indeed, in the poems of the oldheroic period, and it adds to the charm of the epicthat she does not suffer the tragic fate of Kriemhildin the “Nibelungen Lied,” but that her constancyand devotion are rewarded by her ultimate reunionwith her knightly lover, King Herwig. There aremany serious passages, but from the very first thereis the conviction that Gudrun and Herwig, in spiteof all the dangers and vicissitudes through whichthey pass, will in the end be reunited. And so ithappens. Gudrun’s name is always spoken by herpeople with reverence. “Her courage and constancywere extolled by them, and in after days herfame was as radiant as the stars in the heavens.”
G. P. U.
Chicago, July 1, 1906.
Contents
- I. The Maiden and the Princely Suitor 11
- II. The Contest 17
- III. Siegfried’s Revenge 23
- IV. Hartmut Captures Gudrun 26
- V. The Evil Tidings 30 ...