The Big Book of Treasures – Leseprobe

The
Treasure
of the
Nibelungen
THE SONG OF THE NIBELUNGS, A GERMAN POEM FROM
MEDIEVAL TIMES, TELLS THE STORY OF
VALIANT PRINCE SIEGFRIED, WHO KILLED A
DRAGON AND BATTLED A DWARF TO
WIN A COLOSSAL TREASURE. WHERE IS IT NOW?
At the end of the fourth century,
the Roman Empire was breaking
up. There were loads of fights all
over Central Europe, and many people
were on the move in search for a
place to live in peace. Historians called
this period the “Great Migration.”
The East Germanic tribe of the
Burgundians, for example, resettled
in the German city of Worms in 410
after leaving their homes at the
Weichsel river in modern-day Poland.
But the change of scenery did not
work out that well. They were
destroyed by the Roman commander
Flavius Aetius and an army of Hun
soldiers in 436.
This rather tragic tale inspired an
unknown author to write an epic
poem a good 700 years later. It was
called the “Nibelungenlied”, “The Song
of the Nibelungs” in English.
The hero of the poem is Siegfried of
Xanten (a town in western Germany),
a prince who captures the fabulous
treasure of two brothers with funny
names — Nibelung and Schibelung —
after battling hundreds of enemies,
a dwarf called Alberich, and a
dragon. Siegfried takes Alberich’s
magic cape (that makes the wearer
invisible and as strong as 12 men)
and bathes in the dragon’s blood to
become invincible.
THE SONG OF THE NIBELUNGS
WAS WRITTEN OVER 800 YEARS AGO.
PRINCE SIEGFRIED KILLED
A DRAGON AND PERFORMED
MANY OTHER HEROIC DEEDS.
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