er.

The delights of conversation--so nearly, alas, a lost art!--consist
chiefly in the exchange of varied views on single topics. So, when we
note how the few primal story-themes and plot developments of all time
were handled by those who first told the tales in literate form, the
satisfaction is proportionate.

One final word must be said regarding the interest of epical material.
Heretofore a knowledge of the epics--save only a few of the better
known--has been confined to scholars, or, at most, students; but it
may well be hoped that the wide perusal of this book may serve to show
to the general reader how fascinating a store of fiction may be found
in epics which have up till now been known to him only by name.

J. Berg Esenwein

CONTENTS

Introduction by J. Berg Esenwein

Foreword

Greek Epics

The Iliad

The Odyssey

Latin Epics

The Aeneid

French Epics

The Song of Roland

Aucassin and Nicolette

Spanish Epics

The Cid

Portuguese Epics

The Lusiad

Italian Epics

Divine Comedy

The Inferno

Purgatory

Paradise

The Orlandos

Gerusalemme Liberata, or Jerusalem Delivered

Epics of the British Isles

Beowulf

The Arthurian Cycle

Robin Hood

The Faerie Queene

Paradise Lost

Paradise Regained

German Epics

The Nibelungenlied

Story of the Holy Grail

Epics of the Netherlands

Scandinavian Epics

The Volsunga Saga

Russian and Finnish Epics

The Kalevala, or the Land of Heroes

Epics of Central Europe and of the Balkan Peninsula

Hebrew and Early Christian Epics

Arabian and Persian Epics

The Shah-Nameh, or Epic of Kings

Indian Epics

The Ramayana

The Mahabharata

Chinese and Japanese Poetry

American Epics

Index

ILLUSTRATIONS

Odin Bids Farewell to Brunhild before He Surrounds Her by a
Barrier of Fire (Frontispiece)
From the painting by Th. Pixis

Oedipus Solving the Sphinx's Riddle
From the painting by Ingres

Achilles Disguised as a Girl Testing the Sword in Ulysses' Pack
From the painting by Battoni

Circe and Ulysses' Companions Turned into Swine
By L. Chalon

Venus Meeting Aeneas and Achates Near Carthage
From the painting by Cortona

Roland at Roncevaux