n Europe learned to believe
in one God and were converted to Christianity, but the old stories
about the gods and Valkyries and giants and heroes, who were half
gods and half men, were not forgotten.

These stories were repeated from father to son for generations,
and in the twelfth century a poet, whose name we do not know, wrote
them in verse. He called his poem the Ni'bel-ung'en-lied (song
of the Nibelungs). It is the great national poem of the Germans.
The legends told in it are the basis of Wagner's operas.

"Nibelungs" was the name given to some northern dwarfs whose king
had once possessed a great treasure of gold and precious stones but
had lost it. Whoever got possession of this treasure was followed
by a curse. The Nibelungenlied tells the adventures of those who
possessed the treasure.

II

In the grand old city of Worms, in Burgundy, there lived long ago
the princess Kriemhilda. Her eldest brother Gunther was king of
Burgundy.

And in the far-away Netherlands, where the Rhine pours its waters
into the sea, dwelt a prince named Siegfried, son of Siegmund,
the king.

Ere long Sir Siegfried heard of the beauty of fair Kriemhilda.
He said to his father, "Give me twelve knights and I will ride to
King Gunther's land. I must win the heart of Kriemhilda."

After seven days' journey the prince and his company drew near
to the gates of Worms. All wondered who the strangers were and
whence they came. Hagen, Kriemhilda's uncle, guessed. He said,
"I never have seen the famed hero of Netherlands, yet I am sure
that yonder knight is none but Sir Siegfried."

"And who," asked the wondering people, "may Siegfried be?"

"Siegfried," answered Sir Hagen, "is a truly wonderful knight.
Once when riding all alone, he came to a mountain where lay the
treasure of the king of the Nibelungs. The king's two sons had
brought it out from the cave in which it had been hidden, to divide
it between them. But they did not agree about the division. So
when Seigfied drew near both princes said, 'Divide for us, Sir
Siegfried, our father's hoard.' There were so many jewels that
one hundred wagons could not carry them, and of ruddy gold there
was even more. Seigfied made the fairest division he could, and as
a reward the princes gave him their father's sword called Balmung.
But although Siegfried had done his best to satisfy them with his
division, they soon fell to quarreling and fighting, and when he
tried to separate them they m