y. Boer, on the other hand, will
not have it that there is any mythology at all in the Nibelungenlied,
and, according to him, the nucleus of the legend is an old story of
the murder of relatives. This became grafted on the Siegfried legend
according to some authorities, but Boer will not admit this, and
presents a number of arguments to disprove the mythical character of the
Siegfried story. The reasoning is ingenious, but by no means
valuable. We know that the mythologies of the ancient Germans and the
Scandinavians were in many respects, though not in all, one and the same
system, and we find many of the characters of the Nibelungenlied among
the divine beings alluded to in the Edda. It is unlikely that the
dramatis personae of a German murder story would find its way into even
the most decadent form of Scandinavian belief. There is every reason to
conclude that a great many historical elements are to be discovered in
the Nibelungenlied, but to discount entirely those which are mythical
is absurd and even more futile than it would be to deny that many of the
incidents related in the great epic reflect in some measure historical
events.

The Klage

The Klage, a sequel to the Nibelungenlied, recounts somewhat tamely
the events which follow upon the dire catastrophe pictured in the great
German epic. It is on the whole more modern than the Lied, and most
critics ascribe it to a period so late as the fourteenth century. It
is highly artificial and inartistic, and Grimm points out that it is
obvious that in penning it the author did not have the Nibelungenlied,
as we know it, before him. As it is practically unknown to
English-speaking readers, a resume of it may not be out of place here.
It describes the search among the dead bodies in the house of slaughter,
the burying of them, the journey of Etzel's "fiddler," Swemmelin, to the
Rhine by way of Bechlarn and Passau to give the tidings of the massacre
to Queen Brunhild, his return, and the final parting from Etzel of
Dietrich and his wife Herrat, who also take Bechlarn on their way. Level
and poor as the narrative is, it reaches pathos in the description of
the arrival of the messengers at Bechlarn. To spare his niece (Gotelint)
Dietrich tells them not to mention the terrible events which have
happened, but to say that he and Ruediger will soon come to see her, or
at all events himself. They are received with great rejoicing--Gotelint
and her daughter think "both to rec