12 h 35 minAudiobook5 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · 309 pagesHardcover · 6 × 9 in · 309 pagesAbout this book
What happens when loyalty to a king matters more than the lives of those you love?
At Worms on the Rhine, Kriemhild dreams of a falcon. Siegfried, a generous, boastful prince and dragon slayer, wants to marry her. Her brother Gunther seeks the powerful queen Brunhild. Their hopes bring love, strength and dangerous secrets into the same court.
The Nibelungenlied is an anonymous medieval epic told in rhymed four-line stanzas. Tournaments, weddings and a quarrel on cathedral steps draw its heroes toward conflict. Hagen guards his king’s honor whatever the cost, while bonds of marriage and kinship strain beneath pride. Each wrong invites another, and loyalty offers no easy way out.
What you’ll discover
- A dragon slayer at court Meet Siegfried, whose strength, treasure and cloak of invisibility cannot settle every human conflict.
- Two queens in conflict Watch Kriemhild and Brunhild clash over rank and honor on the cathedral steps.
- Loyalty with a cost Follow Hagen as devotion to Gunther makes the claims of honor dangerous.
- Love under growing strain Explore a world where marriage, brotherhood and friendship demand loyalties that pull against each other.
- The shape of an epic Discover thirty-nine adventures that carry older heroic legends into the formal world of medieval courts.
Who will love it
For readers who love sagas, medieval courts, tales of honor and revenge, or the roots of fantasy and Wagner's operas.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A princess dreams of a falcon
- Siegfried rides in from the Netherlands
- Gunther wins Brunhild with borrowed strength
- Two weddings and a wedding night
- Two queens quarrel on the cathedral steps
- Hagen plots, and Siegfried goes hunting
- The treasure sinks and a new husband calls
- Honor, loyalty and vengeance drive everything
- How the poem is told
Who’s who
- KriemhildA Burgundian princess who begins as a shy young woman and becomes a determined avenger, driven by love, grief and a hunger for justice.
- SiegfriedThe prince of Xanten, a dragon slayer with a hoard, a cloak of invisibility and a boastful, generous nature who wants to marry Kriemhild.
- GuntherKing of the Burgundians at Worms, brave but weak in judgment, who wants a strong queen and relies on others to help him get her.
- Hagen of TronjeGunther's fierce, clever vassal, loyal to the crown above all else, who guards the honor of his king whatever the cost.
- BrunhildThe proud and powerful queen of Isenstein, who marries Gunther and demands that her honor and rank be respected.
- Rüdiger of BechelarenA courteous margrave in Etzel's service who tries to keep faith with everyone, even when his duties begin to pull against each other.
- EtzelThe king of the Huns, a generous and trusting ruler who wishes for a wife and a peaceful court.
- GiselherThe youngest Burgundian king, kind and loyal, who loves his sister and believes the best of people.
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- Audiobook
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- 15-minute summary
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- Paperback
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- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
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The Nibelungenlied
by G. H. Needler · 1200
A dragon slayer seeks a princess's hand in a court where secrets and wounded honor threaten love and loyalty.
Medium level10–20 hours to read25 languages
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In short
A small insult can ruin a whole kingdom. The Nibelungenlied, a poem set down around 1200 by an unknown poet, shows exactly how.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A princess dreams of a falcon
The poem opens at Worms, home of the Burgundian kings Gunther, Gernot and Giselher. Their sister Kriemhild is said to be the most beautiful woman in the land. Beside the kings stands Hagen of Tronje, a fierce and absolutely loyal vassal who trusts his own judgment first.
Kriemhild dreams that two eagles tear apart a falcon she has raised. Her mother says the falcon is a noble husband whom she may lose. Kriemhild vows never to love any man.
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What is the Nibelungenlied about?
It tells of the dragon slayer Siegfried, his marriage to the Burgundian princess Kriemhild, a deceit that leads to his murder, and her long revenge on the men responsible. It is a story of loyalty, honor and ruin.
Who are the Nibelungs?
At first the name belongs to the people of a northern land whose hoard Siegfried wins. Later the Burgundians come to be called Nibelungs as well.
Is the Nibelungenlied a true story?
No, it is a legend. It draws on older tales and loosely echoes real events, such as the fall of a Burgundian kingdom in the fifth century and the death of Attila, but the plot is invented.
The author
G. H. Needler
Canadian scholar and translator
George Henry Needler (1866–1962) was a Canadian scholar and translator. He lived in Canada and taught German at the University of Toronto. He translated The Nibelungenlied from Middle High German into English. His translation was published in 1904 under the name G. H. Needler.
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