German Hero-Sagas and Folk-Tales by Barbara Leonie Picard
"German Hero-Sagas and Folk-Tales" by Barbara Leonie Picard offers a rich exploration of medieval Germanic narratives and folktales, making them accessible to contemporary readers, particularly younger audiences. The work is divided into two parts: the first section presents modern adaptations of four significant hero-sagas, including the renowned "Nibelungenlied," which intricately weaves themes of love, vengeance, and heroic exploits in a medieval setting. The sagas portray a world marked by complex interpersonal dynamics, including loyalty and betrayal, while also delving into the darker aspects of human nature and fate.
In the second section, Picard shares fourteen popular German folktales, drawing from the oral traditions of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. These tales, such as "Till Eulenspiegel" and "The Ratcatcher of Hamelin," reflect the everyday life and struggles of common people, often infused with moral lessons and whimsical humor. Accompanied by illustrations, Picard's retellings aim to capture the authentic essence of these stories, presenting a cultural tapestry that highlights both the heroic grandeur and the relatable experiences of medieval German society. Overall, this collection serves as a valuable introduction to the rich tradition of Germanic storytelling.
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German Hero-Sagas and Folk-Tales by Barbara Leonie Picard
First published: 1958; illustrated
Subjects: Love and romance, social issues, and war
Type of work: Short fiction
Recommended Ages: 13-18
Form and Content
As the title suggests, German Hero-Sagas and Folk-Tales is divided into two parts. In the first section, Barbara Leonie Picard retells in condensed, third-person prose four celebrated medieval Germanic epic narratives: Gudrun, Dietrich of Bern, Walther of Aquitaine, and the Nibelungenlied. Originally employing elaborate medieval strophic forms and composed variously in Middle High German or Old Norse, Picard’s modern adaptations masterfully capture much of the authentic atmosphere associated with the epic milieu. While the shortening of the narratives necessarily results in the loss of some detail, Picard nevertheless is able to retain the central features of the respective plots as well as their salient thematic characteristics.
These sagas offer insights into the often grim and fatalistic, yet always fascinating medieval European heroic world. Such components as ill-fated marriages, knightly sport and warfare, fierce liege and kinship loyalty, and still fiercer vengeance are common to the epics presented in this collection. The Nibelungenlied (song of the Nibelungs), the story of Siegfried and Kriemhild, is at once representative and also perhaps the most striking of the heroic epics. Famous for slaying a dragon, bathing in its blood, and wresting a cache of gold from the Nibelung dwarfs, young prince Siegfried hears of the lovely maiden Kriemhild of Burgundy, who lives in Worms at the court of her three royal brothers: Gunther, Gernot, and Giselher. A visit to the Burgundian court strengthens Siegfried’s determination to marry Kriemhild. In return for her hand, Siegfried offers to help King Gunther woo Brunhilde, the queen of Eisenland (Iceland).
Gunther and Siegfried are successful, but only by means of deceit and with the help of Siegfried’s “Tarnkappe,” his magical cloak of invisibility. After both couples are wed, Brunhilde discovers that she has been tricked and considers her honor impeached. She calls for vengeance, and Gunther’s vassal Hagen (with only reluctant support from Gunther) undertakes the deed by thrusting Siegfried’s own sword through his back while Siegfried is drinking from a spring. Hagen also steals Siegfried’s gold from Kriemhild and hides it deep in the Rhine in order to deprive her of the means to attract vassals who could carry out her inevitable retaliation.
The remainder of the saga tells the story of Kriemhild’s lengthy and bitter revenge. She waits in mourning for years until she receives a marriage proposal from the recently widowed King Etzel (Attila) of Hunland. Out of loyalty to Siegfried and because Etzel is a heathen, she is initially reluctant to marry, but she ultimately accepts the proposal because she sees in it the opportunity for vengeance. Another period of years lapses and Kriemhild, now a queen in Hunland, urges Etzel to invite her brothers together with Hagen to the court for feasting and games. Hagen advises his lords to decline the invitation, but the royal brothers believe that after such a long time Kriemhild will certainly have forgotten her ill will. Etzel suspects nothing and receives the Burgundians magnificently, but Kriemhild soon invokes the allegiance of her vassals to initiate the bloody act of revenge, and the Huns and Burgundians begin to slaughter one another. The battle continues for several days and nights until only Gunther and Hagen are left alive of all the Burgundians. Kriemhild has her own brother decapitated and then herself shows Gunther’s head to Hagen, demanding that Hagen reveal where he has hidden Siegfried’s gold. Hagen refuses to concede, and the enraged Kriemhild cuts off his head. Aghast at the atrocity, the venerable Hildebrand—a friend of Etzel and with Etzel’s consent—slays Kriemhild with his sword.
The second section of German Hero-Sagas and Folk-Tales is devoted to fourteen of the most popular German folktales and fairy tales. These stories include the gruesome “Mousetower,” in which the evil Bishop Hatto is eaten alive by mice after he burns to death the poor of his city in order to ease a famine; “Till Eulenspiegel,” whose merry pranks inspired a tone poem by Richard Strauss; and the tale of “The Heinzelmännchen,” the kindly elves who take delight in helping servants, housewives, and craftsmen with their chores. Also found here are “Karl the Great and the Robber,” “The Water-Sprite and the Bear,” “The Seven Proud Sisters,” “The Ratcatcher of Hamelin,” “Richmuth of Cologne,” “The Werewolf,” “The Knight of Staufenberg,” “The Seven Mice,” “Reineke Fox,” “Eppelin of Gailingen,” and “Big Hermel.” Whereas the sagas are set in the society of the medieval heroic court and have their origins in the oral traditions of the distant past, the German folktales in this second section, by contrast, stem typically from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and find their settings in the workaday life of the poor and the peasantry.
German Hero-Sagas and Folk-Tales is furnished liberally with simple, if somewhat romanticized, illustrations by Joan Kiddell-Monroe.
Critical Context
The value of German Hero-Sagas and Folk-Tales lies in how it makes accessible to young audiences a culture far removed from their own. Heroic society with all its accoutrements comes alive in Barbara Leonie Picard’s retelling—the food and clothing, the journeys and festive diversions, the sordid and bloody feuding, the terrible and exacting oaths, the foundation and collapse of vast empires. Because she has had to reduce massive amounts of material to a manageable size (the Nibelungenlied in the original Middle High German consists of more than 2,300 stanzas), one could quibble over the criteria that have determined Picard’s choice of abridgments. It is odd, for example, that she has given her rendering of the Nibelungenlied the title “Siegfried,” when this figure is not present for the entire second half of the story (neither in the original nor in Picard’s version) and Kriemhild is patently the focus of attention for most of the work. Other modifications indicate most likely, and perhaps justifiably, Picard’s attempt to adapt her versions specifically to a young readership: At the end of Picard’s retelling, Hildebrand cuts off Kriemhild’s head, while in the original poem Kriemhild is hewn to pieces. Nevertheless, Picard’s adaptations of sagas and folktales should be considered among the most informed and proficient attempts to acquaint juvenile and young adult audiences with these standard works of Germanic culture.